RBHS girls basketball
The Bulldogs won four of five games en route to third place at the RB Holiday Classic Tournament. RBHS (16-4, 4-1 Metro Suburban Conference) opened its home tourney in impressive fashion with wins over Lane Tech (57-41), St. Francis de Sales (55-18) and Reavis (61-50). In the semifinals, Nazareth defeated RBHS 54-45 as the Bulldogs’ Janae Dabney (21 points) and Samantha Bloom (15 points) kept the hosts close. However, the Roadrunners pulled away in the fourth quarter.
RBHS bounced back with a 57-41 victory against McHenry to notch third place. Dabney (11 points), Dana Rettke (10 points) and Lyndsey Hoyd (9 points) paced the Bulldogs who had 10 players scoring. Rettke and Bloom were selected as members of the all-tournament team.
LTHS boys basketball
The Lions (8-5) won their first three games at the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic, en route to a semifinals berth. Missing two of their top players, Chris Hester and Jim Cullen, short-handed LTHS lost to conference rival York 56-42. Harrison Niego led the Lions with 18 points. Highland Park defeated LTHS 53-39 in the third-place game in the tourney’s final day of action. Omarr Gilbert (12 points) and Jaquan Phipps (10 points) paced the Lions. Matt Mrazek, Sam Cybulski and Griffin Furlong also played well for LTHS at Tosh. The Lions host OPRF in a key West Suburban Conference Silver Division game on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Fenwick boys basketball
The Friars started off the 53rd Annual Proviso West Holiday Tournament in promising fashion with a pair of wins over Von Steuben and Rockford Auburn. Fenwick (11-4) met its match in the quarterfinals, however, as defending Class 3A champion Morgan Park cruised past the Friars 77-60. Fenwick responded with a solid 56-46 win over well-regarded Providence-St Mel before closing out the prestigious tourney with a hard-fought 59-51 loss to Proviso East. Junior point guard Mike Smith averaged 16.4 points and senior forward Tom Planek 14.2 points per game to lead the Friars. Dan Dwyer, Kevin Owens and Jamal Nixon also played key roles for Fenwick.
Fenwick girls basketball
The Friars lost all three games they played at the Junior Orange Bowl Classic hosted by Ronald Reagan High School in Doral, Fla. Tournaments results for Fenwick: Ferguson (Miami) 69, Fenwick 52; South Miami 50, Fenwick 47; Nova (Davie, Fla.) 78, Fenwick 40.
RBHS wrestling
The Bulldogs earned a split of matches against Johnsburg and Lincoln-Way East at their home triangular on Saturday. RB pulled out a 35-29 win over Johnsburg in its opening match as Gabe Lopez led the way with a critical 5-4 victory. Antonio Ochoa (tech fall), Mike Reeze (pin) and Zach Colvin (pin) also provided key wins against the Skyhawks. In the second dual, Lincoln-Way East overpowered the Bulldogs 54-21. Andrew Misiorowski, Reeze and Colvin notched wins via pin for RB.
The Bulldogs (9-9, 1-1 Metro Suburban Conference) host Glenbard South Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in a Metro Suburban Conference dual match.
Fenwick wrestling
The Friars earned a split of matches at the De La Salle triangular. The host Meteors edged Fenwick 42-36 in the opener. Emerson Harris (138) and Mike Kozyra (170) earned key wins via 11-7 and 3-0 decisions, respectively. Fenwick rolled past Nazareth 54-21 in its other match as Dom Daley, Steve Barshop, Al Aguilar, Ryan Sanchez, Harris, Ben Uphues, Kozyra and Nick Sacramento all collected wins with a fall.
“We’ve been working very hard over the holiday break with hardly any days off from the wrestling room,” Fenwick coach Chris Ruffino said. “After this, we’ll take a couple days to get healthy and heal up; then it’s back to the grind for the home stretch. With only seven weeks left in the season, we’ll use every day and every match as a tune up for February.”
LTHS boys swimming
The Lions celebrated the holidays with a strong second-place showing behind champion Neuqua Valley at the Homewood-Flossmoor Pentathlon on Saturday, Dec. 27. LTHS fared even better at the Marmion Invite (Dec. 21) by claiming the team title. The Lions won 7 of 11 events en route to their first title at Marmion since 2007.
“It’s been a great season so far,” LTHS coach Scott Walker said. “We have 72 guys out swimming and six divers. All have a great work ethic and are having fun with the training. The guys seem to take a ton of pride in what they do and how they go about doing their training. We just have to focus on keeping the boys healthy now.”
-roundup information compiled by Marty Farmer
