New Woodstock school can’t break old bonds

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As a freshman, Mary Kelley was part of a standout group of freshman runners who immediately turned Woodstock into a local girls cross country power.

In her first two seasons, Kelley formed a nucleus with Elise and Kayla Beattie, Lisa Kucharski and Nikki Greenhill, and the Blue Streaks won two Fox Valley Conference championships.

Now, Kelley is a junior at Woodstock North running with her new team. Kucharski graduated, the Beatties still are tearing it up at Woodstock, and Greenhill, who also is at North, is concentrating on softball. North opened last year, then began competing in varsity sports this year, but has no senior class.

Kelley and her former teammates still run at several of the same meets during the season, including Saturday’s Woodstock-Ryan Byrne Festival at Emricson Park, and often travel to invitationals on the same bus.

But many things are different for both teams.

“It’s hard to lose that sense of winning,” Kelley said. “It’s more based on being a team here. Everybody’s excited about a new start. People who wouldn’t be in cross country at Woodstock are running here.”

And in the spirit of this particular sport, there is something redeeming about that.

“At first, I thought I’d be losing teammates and friends, but I’m gaining things, too,” Kelley said. “You have to look at what you’re gaining, not what you’re losing. Everything here is new.”

Plus, Kelley and former Streaks Nancy Julio and Carmen Wilke haven’t really lost the Beatties and other Blue Streaks.

“I still consider them teammates,” senior Elise Beattie said. “Woodstock’s pretty small, and everyone knows each other. It’s definitely weird. We’ve been through a lot of changes since our freshman year.”

North starting varsity sports cut enough into Woodstock’s enrollment to drop the Blue Streaks to Class 2A in cross country and track. It’s an advantage for Elise and Kayla Beattie, who could be among the state’s best in that class, but without the depth provided by Kelley and others, the Streaks will have a tough time winning three consecutive FVC titles.

“Personally, we would like to be 3A because there’s more girls at the same level,” Elise Beattie said. “We want to go out and be the best in state, regardless of division.”

D-C Hall inducts new class: This weekend marked the induction ceremony for another class into the Dundee-Crown Athletic Hall of Fame.

The inductees were recognized at Thursday’s football game against Grayslake North, and the ceremony was Saturday night.

This year’s class comprised Howard Mitchell (1932, Dundee), Kelley Storm Lawson (1998), Jennifer Scarpelli Colby (1982, Dundee), Jim Rumsa (athletic backer), Kevin Tomasiewicz (2001) and David Silva (2002).

Mitchell was a two-time all-conference player in basketball and an all-conference player in football. Lawson passed 1,000 points in her basketball career and was a three-time All-FVC basketball player. Colby was named Dundee’s swimming MVP all four years and held eight school records. Rumsa does public address at D-C football games and used to do radio play-by-play of Dundee and Crown games from 1967-78. Tomasiewicz was a key member of the 2001 baseball team that advanced to the IHSA Class AA State Tournament and won an NCAA Division III championship with Wisconsin-Whitewater. Silva holds the D-C record for career wins in wrestling (149) and is one of two wrestlers in FVC history to win four individual conference championships.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached at 815-526-4513. He also can be reached by fax at 815-459-5640 or by e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.