When the 2014-2015 season comes to an end for St. Xavier later this month, there will be a passing of the torch.
Senior Morgan Stuut will leave the women’s basketball program as the most decorated in school history. Her heir apparent is freshman Kara Krolicki.
The Lincoln-Way East graduate is the CCAC Freshman of the Year and broke Stuut’s record for most points in a season by a freshman. The 5-foot-8 guard is the first Cougar to win the conference’s top freshman award since Stuut in 2012.
“Kara has stepped up big time and really expanded our offense,” Stuut said. “She’s helped take a lot of pressure off Suzie (Broski) and me. She’s a good shooter with a lot of heart.”
“Kara is going to be one of the top players in this conference for the next four years,” St. Xavier coach Bob Hallberg said.
Krolicki will finish the season with the second-most 3-pointers made in a season. On her current pace, she will hit more than 400 three-pointers for her career, which would destroy the current program record of 216.
All the accolades will garner a lot of attention over the next three seasons.
“She’s going to be targeted starting next year,” said Stuut, a four-year starter and the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. “I was targeted after my freshman year. I’ve known what that’s like the last three years. The good thing is she has a great supporting cast around here. We have good guard play and good post play coming back, which is going to help her.”
“We’re definitely going to miss our graduating seniors,” Krolicki said. “They are going to be a big loss. But we do have girls who are going to pick it up next year. We aren’t going to replace them. But we’re going to have to work hard, tweak our games and do the same thing next year.”
Bama bound
The Lewis men’s and women’s track and field team will be well represented at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 13 and 14 in Birmingham, Alabama.
The men are sending four in five events, while the women feature six in five events. The men’s qualifiers are juniors Andre Barnes, Oak Forest graduate Adam Barr, Isaac Jean-Paul and Andrew McLain.
Barr will compete in the weight throw for the second straight season after breaking his own school record with a 65-7.5 at the Hillsdale Wide-Track Classic. That is the sixth-best throw in the Midwest Region and eighth-best in the country.
“Having our top four guys competing at nationals will be a great end to the indoor season,” Lewis coach Dana Schwarting said.
Representing the women are Amanda Farrough, Romeoville’s Rebecca Priesler, Bolingbrook’s Chantel Stennis, Kristen Bonsor, Zoe Mead and Amy Polhemus.
Priesler, who was a 2014 NCAA Outdoor All-American, broke her own school record in the pole vault with a 12-5.5, tying for 11th in the country.
Stennis has qualified in the 200 (24.26) and 400 (54.12). She broke her own school record in the 200 with a time of 24.26. Her 200 time is 10th best in the nation, while her 400 time sits fifth.
Dennis Nelson is a freelance writer.
