PR, Marengo runners head to same school

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Prairie Ridge’s Mitch Wilkins and Marengo’s Torben Hoffmeyer became friends through competitive running over the past few years and will get much better acquainted over the next few.

Wilkins and Hoffmeyer, two of the area’s best distance runners, signed last week with NCAA Division II Grand Valley State, where they will run cross country and track and field. They likely will room together.

Wilkins was the 2011 Northwest Herald Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year after finishing in the top group of almost every big invitational and winning the Fox Valley Conference Invitational individual title.

Hoffmeyer was second in the Big Northern Conference Meet and finished 27th at the IHSA Class 2A State Meet, two spots from All-State status.

They will be joining one of the best D-II programs in the nation.

“They were third at nationals and they’ve done well a lot,” Wilkins said. “I liked everything they had to offer. The team seemed really relaxed. And I like the way it is at D-II, where it’s a little more relaxed [than D-I].”

Wilkins signed his NCAA national letter of intent Friday, and Hoffmeyer signed earlier. Hoffmeyer and Allison Rogutich, a Marengo senior who will compete in track and field at Grand Valley State, will have a signing ceremony Wednesday at school.

“My freshman and sophomore years, running was kind of a fun activity,” Wilkins said. “Before my junior year, I started to see the big picture, and that I could get a scholarship and pay for my college, and that really became one of my goals.”

Hoffmeyer had the area’s fastest 1,600-meter time last spring (4:24.92) until Wilkins ran a 4:18.60 at the IHSA Class 3A State Track and Field Meet. They have been in closer contact since then and happened to visit Illinois-Chicago at the same time.

“It’s been my dream to run in college,” Hoffmeyer said. “It kind of came to reality when I ran the 4:24 at sectional last year. [Grand Valley State coach] Jerry Baltes started talking to me after that.”

Wolves want state berth: Prairie Ridge’s gymnastics team, a co-op among Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South and Prairie Ridge, will be a favorite to qualify for the IHSA Girls Gymnastics State Meet out of today’s Lake Park Sectional, which starts at 6:30 p.m.

The Wolves scored 147.35 points to win the Schaumburg Regional by a wide margin last week, and they left several possible points on the mat with three falls on the balance beam. With clean beam routines and added skills, which can boost their scores, the Wolves might be able to score higher. Each sectional winner advances to state, which is Feb. 17 and 18 at Palatine High School. There are four at-large berths given to the next four high scores from sectional meets.

Freshmen Rachael Underwood and Riley Mahoney will lead Prairie Ridge, along with senior Nikki Novak. They took the top three all-around spots at Schaumburg. Fremd will be one of the other top teams at Lake Park.

Two individual gymnasts, Jacobs freshman Allison Riedel and Dundee-Crown junior Claire Blume, also qualified for the sectional out of last week’s Fremd Regional. Riedel and Blume will be competing in the all-around. Riedel also won the floor exercise, was second on beam and in vault and fourth on uneven parallel bars.

CLC loses Celestin: For the second consecutive season, Crystal Lake Central’s girls basketball team has lost its leading scorer to a knee injury. Tigers coach Matt LePage said junior forward Paige Celestin suffered the injury last week against Prairie Ridge.

LePage said Celestin was scheduled to have an MRI this week, but the trainer and Celestin’s doctor think she has a torn ACL. Celestin was averaging 11 points and 28 minutes a game in FVC Fox Division games.

Last season, the Tigers lost senior point guard Nelle Youel to an ACL injury. Youel is playing tennis at Northern Illinois University.

• Joe Stevenson is the senior sports writer for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by email at joestevenson@shawmedia.com. You also can follow him on twitter@nwh_JoePrepZone.