Playing two sports is difficult for a college athlete. Playing two in the same season is highly unusual.
But Rockford College junior Kyle Traux not only has played soccer and golf this fall, he has excelled at both.
Traux, a 5-foot-8-inch graduate of Hononegah High School in Rockton, finished his golf season this week as the low scorer on his team and the No. 2 scorer in the Northern Illinois Intercollegiate Golf Conference. In soccer, his 13 points on six goals and one assist make him the second-leading scorer on a team vying for the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference title.
“Kyle had to compete in two golf meets a week,” Rockford golf coach Bob Amsberry said. “He had to miss one golf match because he had a soccer game, so he didn’t have the luxury of throwing out his worst score, as the other golfers did.
“Kyle’s a great competitor. It’s tough playing two sports in one year, let alone two at the same time. He didn’t have much time to practice golf, but he kept his scores near the best in the [league] while going to class and playing great soccer.”
Soccer: Christine Carqueville from St. Charles, Julie Ward from Evanston and Jen Derstine from Hinsdale South scored seven goals and 18 points among them for the University of Chicago women’s team, which is ranked No. 8 in the nation among Division III schools.
Chicago, coached by Amy Riefert, has a 10-1-2 record, a 46-12 margin in goals and a home-field unbeaten streak of 23 (19-0-4), dating back to 1998.
Former Wheaton North player Elody Francik scored four goals, three in the first half, as College of DuPage’s women’s team (10-6-1) beat Indiana Institute of Technology 7-0.
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The Illinois-Chicago Flames’ men’s team improved to 10-3-2 for the season when Jake Stasko from Lincoln-Way scored the winning goal to beat DePaul 3-2, and Steve Collins from Glenbard North scored the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Northwestern.
Golf: Kyle Sears from Andrew High and Mike Orvis from Lincoln-Way qualified to represent Moraine Valley Community College in the NJCAA Division II national tournament June 3 at Texas A&M. Moraine sophomore Ben Cooney from Sandburg was named an alternate.
St. Francis College freshman Adam Tatro from Providence Catholic won the medal in the Northern Illinois Collegiate Golf Conference tournament. He averaged 75.3 for seven rounds.
Tatro was joined on the all-conference team by teammates Kyle Stenzel from Seneca, Ill., and by Sean Homolka from Lincoln-Way.
Volleyball: Loyola’s Sarah Poglits from West Bloomfield, Mich., was named Midwestern Collegiate Conference player of the week for her 24 kills, 16 digs, seven assists and five blocks in the first-place Ramblers’ four-game victory over Butler.
Cross country: Illinois-Chicago freshman Jenni Goebel from Willowbrook finished fourth overall in the 24-school UW-Parkside Invitational. Her time was 18 minutes 36 seconds over the 3.1-mile course.
Tennis: Three Illinois Wesleyan women, who rank among the school’s top 11 in career matches won, led Wesleyan into this weekend’s College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin meet. The players and their victory totals: Nicole Skalski from Homewood-Flossmoor, 49; Nikki Ogrin from Carmel, 44; and Nicole Tiberti from Lincoln-Way, 42.
Football: Rockford College freshman running back Marcus Howard from Bremen and Illinois Wesleyan senior defensive lienman Jeff Heinzl from Fremd had tremendous games last weekend. But only one of their teams won.
Howard ran for 343 yards in 43 carries, but Rockford lost 22-20 to Principia. Heinzl made 12 tackles, 10 of them for losses, including three sacks for minus-27 yards, as Wesleyan beat Elmhurst 23-7.
Finally, Truman State in Missouri retired uniform No. 3 of ex-De La Salle star Jarrett Anderson, 1996 winner of the Harlon Hill Award as the nation’s top Division II player. Anderson rushed for 6,166 yards.