Fanella finds fit in D-I

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Amy Fanella had a dominant track and field season as a junior last spring at Huntley.

Each meet, Fanella seemed to knock a little off her time in the 300-meter low hurdles and jump a little farther in the triple jump.

Fanella registered area-best performances in both of those events, which gave her great college résumé material. Fanella’s college search ended last week when she accepted a scholarship offer to run at NCAA Division I Indiana State.

Fanella, a senior, will sign her NCAA letter of intent in February. She also considered Illinois, Illinois-Chicago,
Illinois State and Western Illinois.

“Indiana State had the program I wanted – I want to become a dietitian – and I really liked their coaches,” Fanella said. “Their facilities are really nice. It was a pretty difficult decision, but at the end I weighed all the pros and cons.”

Fanella won Fox Valley Conference and McHenry County Meet titles in the 300 and triple jump. Her 300 time (44.4 seconds) and triple jump (36 feet, 10 inches) were the best in the area. Her 100 high hurdles time (15.26) was the second-fastest during the season.

The season ended with disappointment for Fanella, however, when she did not qualify for state finals in either of her two events. She had the fourth-best triple jump out of sectionals and the 11th-fastest 300 time, although that time was well off her best time. But she didn’t make it out of a preliminary heat at state in either event.

“If it was my last year, it would have been harder,” Fanella said. “It just pumps me up more for this year. It just wasn’t my weekend. I thought I was mentally prepared, but I messed up.”

Fanella channeled her energy into working with trainer Rocky Scalise at Going Vertical in Huntley, a speed and agility facility. After her sophomore season, Fanella knew she wanted to compete in college and started training with Scalise.

Her state meet results, she said, had little affect on college coaches recruiting her.

“None of the coaches even brought it up,” Fanella said. “They looked at my times more than my place. It was more of a big deal to me than to them.”

Gigeous honored: Jacobs sophomore Henry Gigeous was honored at the 64th annual Pitch and Hit Club of Chicago Awards Banquet with its Bo Jackson Courage Award.

Gigeous is the half-brother of late Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. Golden Eagles coach Eric Sanders is expecting big things this spring from Gigeous, who is 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and plays pitcher and first base. Gigeous spent some time with the varsity team last season.

Adenhart died in April, a few hours after throwing one of his best games as a major leaguer. He and three others were struck in their vehicle by a drunken driver, with one passenger surviving.

Adenhart’s death hit the Jacobs program hard because he knew many players and had worked with some of them in the offseason.

After Adenhart died, Gigeous finished his freshman season at Jacobs.

• 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.