Prep Zone: Heptathlon in future for PR’s Nirva

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Perhaps the best word to describe Prairie Ridge senior Sam Nirva is versatile.

Nirva will attend St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and receive scholarship money for academics, athletics and music.

And when Nirva is competing in track and field, it will be in that sport’s demanding heptathlon, in which athletes compete in seven events to determine one overall champion.

“We were both thinking about it, so I agreed when they asked me about doing it,” Nirva said.

Nirva signed with St. Joseph’s, an NCAA Division II school, in February after visiting the school twice. After she placed her information on berecruited.com, a website for prospective college athletes, St. Joseph’s coaching staff was the first to call her.

“I’d never heard of them before,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Who are these people?’ They have a good team and were really interested in me. I visited in December, then did an overnight visit in January.”

Nirva qualified for the IHSA Class 2A State Meet in three events last year and in two as a sophomore. Nirva, Jessica Ayers, Kyra Saley and Shannon Calahan qualified in each of the past two years in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays. Nirva also made it in the 200 last year.

Nirva also has competed in the long, high and triple jumps, which will benefit her in the heptathlon. She also will hurdle this spring, another event that will help prepare her for college. The heptathlon consists of the javelin, shot put, long jump, high jump, 100 high hurdles, 200 dash and 800 run.

Nirva, who sings alto in choir at Prairie Ridge, also will receive scholarship money for singing at St. Joseph’s.

Polites to McKendree: Cary-Grove outfielder Eleni Polites, a left-handed leadoff hitter with great speed, has signed with McKendree College, an NAIA school in downstate Lebanon that will move to NCAA D-II next year.

Polites was a Northwest Herald All-Area second-team selection last season for the Trojans and is playing her third season of varsity softball.

“[Going D-II] won me over a little bit,” Polites said. “I like being in the first class when they move up.”

Polites said McKendree coaches saw her play in the fall with the McHenry County Heatwave, her travel team the past two years. Polites started playing softball around the time she was in kindergarten and also figure skated.

“I think figure skating helped me get fast,” she said. “That was something [McKendree] liked. They needed outfielders and thought I could give them some diversity with slap hitting or power.”

Polites signed her NAIA national letter Sunday with C-G coach Tammy Olson and Heatwave coach Connie Weathersby. She also thanked her former coach with Cary Crush, Jessica Wapotish, for helping further her career.

• Joe Stevenson covers high school sports for the Northwest Herald. He can be reached by e-mail at jstevenson@nwherald.com.