Titans' Sports Roundup: Spring Sports Previews

After a long winter, Glenview Patch brings you previews for some of Glenbrook South’s spring sports. Find out what to expect out of the Titans from the lacrosse field to the tennis courts.

GIRLS SOCCER: In building Glenbrook South’s soccer program into a regional power, Coach Seong Ha doesn’t want last year’s fourth-place state finish to be considered the peak of the mountain top.

Even with a younger group of players, Ha has set the team’s season goals to return to the IHSA state finals.

“[We] need to find a new identity,” Ha said. “ What happened last year was last year. [We] need to build upon past successes, but create our own to be proud of this year's successes.”

Pacing this year’s squad will be senior forwards Nina Kodros (4 goals) and Kathryn Ficho (5 goals). Junior Colleen McDonagh, who just finished leading the basketball team to a regional title, will anchor the midfield for the Titans.

“Though we might struggle at the beginning, the girls will find themselves to play for each other, and continue to play hard and be motivated,” Ha said.

GIRLS LACROSSE: The Titans finished last season ranked fourth in the state and will be working hard to keep that ranking.

“We are led by captains Nicole Pullano, Nicole Lander, Beth Ridge and Laura Hanley,” Coach Annie Lesch said.

Glenbrook South has a solid group of returnees coming back from last year’s team, including goalie Steph Sparrow. Lesch looks for her upper classmen to set the pace for the younger girls on the varsity roster.

GIRLS BADMINTON: The badminton team comes into this season expecting to qualify several players for the state tournament. Olivia Nelson and Angela Cho qualified last year in doubles and coach Teresa Kimur is hopeful they will return this season.

“We finished second in conference last year,” said Kimur, whose team won their first conference meet against Evanston, 15-3. “I hope to do as well, if not better. However, New Trier is hard to beat.”

Other returnees from last year’s squad include seniors Nabeela Ahmed and Crystal Thomas.

BOYS TENNIS: Glenbrook South’s boys tennis team knows starting over each year is tough, especially after losing a plethora of talented seniors. But that hasn’t tempered expectations for this year’s team.

“Despite almost half the team not having varsity experience, I expect a solid performance from a very talented group of young players,” Coach Larry Faulkner said.

Players returning from last year’s team include senior Konrad Ryba, a two-time state tournament qualifier; junior Michael Sellitto, who was First Team All-State Doubles as a freshman and Second Team All-State Doubles as a sophomore; and junior Michael Levin, who was a state qualifier last year.

Some of the new players who will be counted on this season are juniors Merrick Topping and Steven Minkus, sophomores Ross Gan and Will Lyon and freshman Sam Hoogland and Michael Baddeloo. 

BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Glenbrook South returns four full-time starters from last season in seniors Lucas Rytel and Vince Gabuzzi and juniors Brian Brennan and Peter Rafalo. Three other returnees played on the varsity team last season and made contributions off the bench.

“With this group and our six other varsity players, we plan on having a very successful season,” Coach Tim Monahan said.

Boys volleyball begins competition Wednesday at Vernon Hills and have their home opener on March 24 against York.

BOYS GYMNASTICS: Coach Steve Gale isn’t shy about his expectations for senior Adam Klosowiak. After a season that saw Klosowiak qualify for the state preliminaries in pommel horse, parallel bars and still rings and place sixth in the horizontal bar, Gale wants Klosowiak to provide the leadership expected from seniors.

“He has the talent, skills, ability and work ethic we need to set the tone in the gym and in competition to move our team forward,” Gale said.

Junior Kevin Hamilton rounds out what Gale calls “serious one-two punch on each piece of equipment” for Glenbrook South this season. He expects a number of people to step up and fill in the remaining positions.

“I am very pleased with the work many of our team members did in the off season,” Gale said. “We had a terrific response from last year's freshman team members in the off season.”

Editor's note: This previews includes only the Glenbrook South teams whose coaches responded to an e-mail from Patch. While every coach received the message, we  were unable to get in touch with coaches from GBS' baseball, boys lacrosse, track and field, water polo and softball teams.