The two-time defending state champion Geneva girls cross country team finished fifth at Saturday's 3A state meet in Peoria.

The Vikings were not expected to win it again after struggling more than they had hoped during the season but Geneva still hoped to pull a surprise on Saturday and earn the three-peat.

No Geneva runners finished in the top 10 individually. Palatine won the title as a team.

For more on the girls and boys cross country state meets, check back at KCChronicle.com tonight.

St. Charles North senior Karlie Giesler verbally committed Friday to play volleyball at Central Arkansas beginning in the fall.

A setter and right-side hitter, Giesler helped the North Stars advance to the IHSA Class 4A Geneva Sectional semifinals. Central Arkansas is an NCAA Division I school located in Conway, Ark., that competes in the Southland Conference, which also includes schools in Louisiana and Texas.

 

As of when the story on Kaneland's Dave Dudzinski selecting Holy Cross for college went to press on Tuesday, Kaneland boys basketball coach Brian Johnson was unaware of any previous Kaneland players who played Division I basketball.

Upon further research, Johnson said Wednesday that Joe Fischer, who played at Kaneland from 1979-82, did play Division I ball. Fischer played at Northern Illinois and the University of Denver, Johnson said.

The St. Charles East girls volleyball cheering section gave host Geneva a run for its money Tuesday night at the IHSA Class 4A Geneva Sectional.

Apart from the giant East banner that hung on a wall well into the Vikings' match against York in the night's second semifinal, a large and loud group of students made the trip to support the Saints, who topped rival St. Charles North for a berth in Thursday's sectional final.

"We had an amazing group of our high school kids and they were all helping our kids get psyched up," Saints coach Jennie Kull said. "That, too, helped our kids have a great performance."

Check out Wednesday's Chronicle for much more on both sectional matches as well as a look at how St. Francis fared in Class 3A sectional play.

Kaneland senior basketball standout Dave Dudzinski committed Monday night to play college basketball at Holy Cross, a Division I program in Worcester, Mass.

It came down to Loyola and Holy Cross for the 6-foot-8 center, who wanted to commit before practice began next Monday. Dudzinski also took an official visit to Austin Peay.

For more on Dudzinski's pick, check out Wednesday's Chronicle.

The Upstate Eight Conference announced its All-Conference football and soccer teams Monday, and several athletes from St. Charles East and St. Charles North made the lists.

In football, conference champion East boasted five All-Conference selections, including Bryce Barry, Phil Bucaro, Rafael Flores, Nolan Possley and Jon Voytilla. North also had five selections: Matt Mautone, Conner Mohs, Brian Pedersen, Jeff Stolzenburg and J.J. Weaver.

Voytilla, a defensive lineman, finished 10 points behind Waubonsie Valley counterpart Rickey Simpson for the league's defensive MVP.

In soccer, North's Angelo Catalano, Dan Figura and James Reed were All-UEC selections while Charlie Lyon and Jonny Schnell received the honor for East.

Here are the starting times for the area's second-round playoff games, released by the IHSA on Monday.

7A

Elk Grove Village at St. Charles North, 7 p.m., Friday

Geneva at Wheaton Warrenville South, 7 p.m., Friday

6A

Marmion at Prairie Ridge, 7:30 p.m., Friday

The Marmion boys soccer team's 2A Hampshire Sectional championship match Saturday against Wheaton Academy has been moved to Wheaton College at 5 p.m., the school announced Friday.

The match was originally scheduled to be played at Hampshire but was moved due to field conditions.

Chronicle sports editor Jay Schwab and sports reporter Kevin Druley talk about all of the upcoming playoff matches in this week's video.

You can view the video by clicking here.

The Marmion football team will face Huntley in the first round of the IHSA Class 6A playoffs at Aurora Christian on Friday after standing water and the threat of future rain made the Cadets' home field unplayable.

"It's something that you can't do spur of the moment," Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said, "so we decided to get it out of the way early."

Marmion had been gearing up to host the program's first home playoff game since 1998. For more on the shift and Cadets football, check out Friday's Chronicle.