McAsey, Falvey win SPC championships

Minooka High School senior Joe McAsey and junior Brian Falvey each won Southwest Prairie Conference championships in different sports last week.

McAsey, a finalist for the SPC Report Student-Athletic Scholarship, captured the difficult distance double at the SPC boys track and field meet, winning the 1,600 (4:28.54) and 3,200 (9:28.7) runs.

“The plan was to go out conservative and in the last couple of laps, take the lead and get the win,” McAsey said of his finish in the mile.

The only other champion for the Indians at the league meet was Dan Lentz, who finished the 110-meter hurdles in 15:17.

As a team, the Indians took second with 121 points. Plainfield South won the SPC meet for the third year in a row, scoring 143.

Revenge was the theme for Falvey at the SPC boys tennis meet.

Falvey exacted revenge on Oswego East’s Blaine Hrovat to claim the title at No. 1 singles with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over the SPC’s No. 1 seed Monday at Plainfield North.

No. 2 seed Falvey lost to No. 1 Hrovat 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 during the dual-meet portion of the season.

“I went to the net a lot more and put some big points away,” Falvey said. “I’ve been working hard on my ground strokes and volleys.”

It paid off as Falvey beat Hrovat for the season year in a row in the SPC title match.

“I lost a tough three-set match to him during the season,” Falvey said of Hrovat, a sophomore. “It was a close match and he’s a good player. We’re so close, so whoever was hitting their shots was going to win.”

The meet was postponed Friday and Saturday because of rainy and cold conditions.

Joliet Township’s Jack Carney and Collin Shea won the SouthWest Suburban Conference’s No. 1 doubles title and could be a force in the doubles bracket at the Joliet West sectional Friday and Saturday in Joliet.

The other teams entered in the tournament are Bolingbrook, Joliet Catholic, Lemont, Lockport, Providence Catholic, Plainfield East, Plainfield North and Romeoville.

Minooka is entered in the Oswego sectional Friday and Saturday.

The top four singles and doubles finishers from each sectional will advance to the state meet next weekend at a host of sites in Chicagoland’s northwest suburbs.

Girls Track

Minooka’s Kiley Saunders earned a spot at the girls track and field state meet by taking second in the 800 in 2::21.04 at the Naperville North sectional Friday in Naperville.

The state meet will be held Friday and Saturday in O’Brien Stadium on the Eastern Illinois University campus in downstate Charleston.

Joliet West did not feature a state qualifier at the meet.

Softball

For the second time this year, Minooka beat Oswego East by the slimmest of margins, taking home a 3-2 Southwest Prairie Conference victory Tuesday in Minooka.

Oswego East scored twice in the top of the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead.

However, Minooka scored two of its own in the bottom half to earn at least a share of the SPC championship.

The Indians are 25-7 overall and 12-1 in the SPC. Plainfield Central (21-7) is a game back at 11-2 in the loop. Minooka hosts Romeoville (11-10, 2-9) while Plainfield Central visits Plainfield North (5-14, 3-7) on the final day of league play Thursday.

The Indians edged the Wolves 4-3 in their first meeting this year in Oswego.

Tuesday, Katie Chitkowski (2-for-3) was credited with the game-winning single, making a winner of Sara Novak (10-2). She fanned 12, allowed just one hit and walked two.

Kassie Marsala also went 2-for-3 with a double.

Kayla Ruettiger doubled, while Payton Laczynski and Mikala Melone each had safeties.

Girls Soccer

Joliet West (5-11-2) was eliminated from the state playoffs after a 4-0 loss to host Lincoln-Way Central in a regional semifinal game Tuesday in New Lenox.

The Tigers beat Joliet Central 5-1 in a regional quarterfinal game to advance to the semifinal round. Taylor Adler and Morgan Graves each had two goals for the Tigers.

Minooka’s season came to an end in a 6-3 Lincoln-Way Central regional semifinal loss to Providence Catholic Tuesday. The Indians ended the season 8-10.

Boys Volleyball

John Savickas had eight blocks and Jordan Smith dished out 21 assists as the Indians beat the Wolves 25-14, 19-25, 25-12 in a Southwest Prairie Conference game Tuesday, May 17 in Oswego.

Nick Vertin’s six kills led the Indians, who ran their records to 25-5 overall and 11-2 in the SPC. Rick Bishop added five kills for Minooka, who hosts SPC champion Plainfield North Thursday during the final day of league play.