March Madness is for excitement, championships, and even for conference realignment.
Notable championship achievements include the many avenues such as the following:
• Anthony Lynch and Jalen Shaw (see page 1) of Larkin High School, led the Royals to a fourth place finish in the Class 4A high school State tournament last week. Lynch was named Upstate Eight Conference River Division player of the year. Both were among 32 players on the ballot for Illinois Mr. Basketball.
• Cameron Krutwig, Loyola University freshman starting center, played an integral role in helping the Ramblers win two games in the NCAA Division I and gain the Sweet Sixteen round this week. As a senior at Jacobs High School (see page 1) last season he led the school team to a sectional championship. The 6-9 versatile center finished his high school career eighth in all-time rebounds in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) with 1,281. Loyola won two games last week in the NCAA on dramatic last-second shots, literally.
• West Aurora High School, in spite of its lopsided defeat at the hands of Belleville West, 81-43, in the Illinois State University super-sectional Tuesday, March 13, won regional and sectional tournament championships. Camron Donatlan and Jared Crutcher of West Aurora were named Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division co-players of the year. Donatlan was on the Mr. Basketball ballot. Damian Virgen and Traevon Brown were all-conference selections and Ben Young was all-conference honorable mention.
• Marmion Academy won the Illinois high school ice hockey boys varsity White Division State championship with a 2-1 victory over New Trier Gray Friday at the Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville. The fledgling Marmion program produced victories over Homewood-Flossmoor, 5-0; Crystal Lake South, 1-0; Fox Valley Hawks, 5-2.
• West Aurora head coach Brian Johnson: “I am extremely happy about how our team (25-5) performed this season. I’m very proud of how the team members carried themselves on and off of the court and the West Aurora community can be proud.
“(State champion) Belleville West is a tremendous team. They were able to expose some of our weaknesses and took full advantage of our mistakes. We were unable to control the tempo.”
• Conference realignment: Aurora Christian will move from the Northeast Conference in basketball next school year to the Metro Suburban Conference. Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville will move into the Northeast and to the IHSA from the Illinois Christian Conference as an approved, but, not full member of the IHSA. Parkview head basketball coach, Don Davidson, led Aurora Christian to two final four berths in the 1990s.