The Oswego East High School girls volleyball team hit the road and posted a 25-20, 25-12 Southwest Prairie Conference victory over Plainfield North Thursday in Plainfield. The Wolves’ defense was spearheaded by Jordan Reifsteck, who came up with 12 digs. Brittany Warnecke turned in a solid performance with six kills and six digs. Setter Natalia Mendieta was credited with eight assists, seven service points and three aces. Nicole Kindelin had seven service points and six digs for Oswego East (5-8, 3-3 in the SPC). Following a trend, Oswego dropped a 25-22, 28-26 SPC home game to Plainfield …

Rumors of the demise of the Oswego High School football team have been greatly exaggerated. Oswego failed to make the playoffs last year for the first time since 2001 and started the season 0-2. That had naysayers leery of the Panthers' 2011 postseason plans. However, Oswego has started the Southwest Prairie Conference portion of the campaign 2-0 and have benefited greatly from early-season losses during week one and week two. “Those first two weeks, even though we lost, those were two quality opponents we played,” said senior quarterback Ryan West, who has thrown for more than 4,500 yards …

Friday’s Southwest Prairie Conference football match up pitting Oswego East at Oswego is part of the sixth annual CrossTown Challenge presented by Allied First Bank. Currently, Oswego East has 1.5 points to Oswego’s 1. Oswego is 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the SPC after rallying for a 25-14 win over Romeoville last week. Oswego East fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the league after a 34-27 setback versus Plainfield South. Also, don't forget to vote to have NBC 5 Dance Friday travel to Oswego this week with their game of the week. Vote here on Facebook. Boys Golf Boys golf duals in the Southwest …

The Oswego high schools co-op girls swimming team has been gaining momentum. It started the season swimmingly by winning the 13-team Lockport Relays Saturday in Lockport. Oswego scored 318 points. Cross Country The Oswego and Oswego East high school boys and girls cross country seasons are underway. Oswego East opened the season by winning the Rich Dust Invite at Thornton Fractional South in Lansing. The Wolves’ top three runners finished one-two-three as defending Class 3A state champion Ariel Michalek of Oswego East picked up where she left off last year by winning the individual title in …

The Oswego East High School football team had Rich South seeing stars by handing the Stars a 27-12 non-conference setback Friday during senior night in Oswego. It was the Wolves’ first season-opening win since 2008. Rich East led 6-0. Oswego East’s Chris Cooper rushed for 141 yards and two scores. The Wolves (1-0) led 20-12 at the half and added a second-half touchdown for good measure. Oswego East next faces Oak Lawn (1-0)Friday, Sept. 2 in Oak Lawn. Girls Volleyball  Oswego East reached the Plainfield North Class 3A regional final last year. The experience of playing in the program’s first …

Oswego High School golfer Matt Anderson is off to a hot start. Anderson tied with teammate Mike Wenc for first place by shooting a65 at the 10-team Aurora Christian Early Bird Scramble Aug. 15 at Phillips Park Golf Course in Aurora. It was the start of three 18-hole events in three days for the Panthers. A day later, he scored 40 points to win the individual title at the Oswego Stableford Invite at Blackberry Oaks Golf Course in Bristol. "He had a terrific summer and posted some low scores,” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. “He played in several tournaments and is poised to anchor our team. …

How many of us wish we would have been more active during our four years of high school? Reynolds Cross has no regrets! The 2011 graduate of Oswego High School was busy the last four yearsacademically and athletically. The North Central College in Naperville presidential and alumni scholarship award-winner will study elementary education. A member of the National and Oswego Technical honor society, Cross played four years of girls tennis and two years of girls soccer. She was all-Southwest Prairie Conference and captain during the girls tennis season in the fall and all-academic in the league…

One of the top returning Southwest Prairie Conference girls basketball players will enter the season off an injury. Oswego High School incoming senior forward Paige Harmon broke her foot at the Notre Dame Shootout earlier this summer, but will be back at 100 percent in time for the season in November. “Paige Harmon was having a terrific summer season before she broke her foot at the Notre Dame Team Camp,” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said of the all-SPC performer of a year ago. “She ended up with a fracture in her left foot and will be out for the next five weeks. She has had surgery and is in …

The Illinois High School Association released football schedules for the entire state earlier this week. Oswego and Oswego East are members of the Southwest Prairie Conference and will play two non-conference games before startingleague play in week three. Football practice across the state begins Wednesday, Aug. 10. Opening night is Friday, Aug. 26. Football playoffs begin Friday, Oct. 28. The sixth annual Crosstown Challenge between the two schools will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 at OHS. Class 7A quarterfinalist Minooka, Plainfield North and Plainfield South each won a share of the SPC …

Would you reward your teenager if he or she was failing a class in high school? Do you think someone deserves a promotion if they could not complete tasks listed in their job description? Seems the Illinois High School Association would. Thursday, the state’s multiplier waiver and classification policy was made public. The new multiplier waiver policy establishes criteria for an automatic waiver of the multiplier in individual sports and activities, taking into account each program's advancement in state-tournament action the past six years. Previously, a school had to apply for and receive a…

Oswego and Oswego East high schools were well represented when the Southwest Prairie Conference released its girls soccer and softball teams. Oswego’s Lisa Bajkowski, Cathy Tram and Cindi Chavez earned spots on the team, as did Anita Phetchanpheng and Carli Schlaker of Oswego East. Bajkowski, who served as captain, led the Panthers with six assists and was named to the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association all-sectional team. Tram, who scored a team-high 10 goals for the Panthers, will study education at Benedictine University in Lisle. Sophomores Jessa Garcia of Oswego and Oswego …

Oswego East High School won the CrossTown Challenge championship for the first time this year. The competition awards a trophy to the school with the most head-to-head victories. This year’s version came down to the final competition of the year. The Wolves beat the Panthers 8-4 in softball to win the coveted title, which is sponsored by Allied First Bank. All-SPC teams released Now that the high school spring sports season is over, student-athletes from Oswego and Oswego East high schools are raking in awards. At the top of that list is two-time, all-state track and field medalist Riley Vann…

Winning the Class 3A girls cross country state championship in the fall wasn’t enough for Ariel Michalek. The Oswego East High School junior captured the 3,200-meter run at the Class 3A state girls track and field finals Saturday afternoon inside O’Brien Stadium on the Eastern Illinois University campus in downstate Charleston. Michalek covered the two-mile race in 10:47.32 to bring home the school’s second individual state title in school history. She won the first at Detweiller Park in November. One of many reasons behind Michalek’s success is her attitude. “I want to break my times, better…

Oswego High School did not have a hit, but plated a run in the top of the second inning of a 1-0 Southwest Prairie Conference win over Romeoville Tuesday in Romeoville. Taylor Lofthouse walked and Ashley Blocker pinch ran in the second inning. She later came around to score for Oswego (5-16, 4-7 in the SPC). Despite being seemingly out-dueled, Lofthouse was the winning pitcher, allowing three hits over seven innings. She struck out seven and walked two batters. Girls Soccer Oswego blanked Downers Grove North 4-0 in In a Naperville North regional feed-in game Friday in Oswego. Cathy Tram …

Oswego High School’s Bre Vergonet became the school’s first badminton singles player to reach the state meet two consecutive years after her performance at the Naperville North sectional Thursday in Naperville. Vergonet, the SPC champ at No. 1 singles, took second place to punch her ticket to the state meet Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13, in the Lantz Building on the Eastern Illinois University campus in downstate Charleston. Vergonet reached the title match at the Neuqua Valley sectional, but lost to Bradley-Bourbonnais junior Susan Oo 21-12, 21-16. Oo was a state qualifier a year ago.It…

Oswego’s Bre Vergonet successfully defended her title of a year ago with a 21-8, 21-19 win over Plainfield North’s Amanda Mear at the Southwest Prairie Conference badminton meet Saturday at Plainfield North. Plainfield North won the SPC with 59 points. Two-time defending conference champ Oswego took second with 37 points. Plainfield South (24 points), Oswego East (19), Plainfield East (9), Romeoville (7) and Plainfield Central (5) rounded out the field. “It means a lot for me and the school because I won it last year,” Vergonet said of capturing the No. 1 singles title for the second year in …

Oswego East High School pitcher Morgan Ettinger silenced hot-hitting Plainfield South to just four hits in a 4-0 Southwest Prairie Conference triumph Wednesday in Oswego. Ettinger allowed just three hits and struck out 10 to earn the victory on the mound. A three-run third inning sent the Wolves to 6-6 overall and 3-2 in the SPC. The Cougars scored 20 runs in their first four league outings. Ettinger started a Wolves rally in the third inning, reaching base on a bunt. Brittany Russell singled. Brittany Warnecke belted an RBI double and Bri  Wright followed with an RBI single. In the fifth, …

Oswego High School used the Plainfield South girls track and field triangular as preparation for its weekend invites. Riley Vann’s first-place efforts in the pole vault (12’0”) and 100 hurdles (15.56) highlighted the day’s events for the Panthers. “These meets are about gaining experience racing and prepping for our big weekend meets,” Bechina said. “You can’t deny race experience as part of your training. We did a really nice job today, which was fun.” Other winners for Oswego included Kelsey Hjorth in the 800 (2:30.91) and Allison Darby in the mile (5:50.5). Oswego also won the 3,200 run …

The next time you plan on watching the Oswego and Oswego East high school boys volleyball teams play, don’t make any plans the rest of the evening. In the first of two District 308 matchups, Oswego outlasted Oswego East 25-13, 22-25, 33-31 Thursday at Oswego. “It was an awesome game,” Oswego East coach Jim Mueller said. “We just came up short.” The 149 points scored in the match ranks third in state history. The Panthers’ 33 points in the last game is the sixth most scored in a single game in Illinois High School Association history. Oswego East’s total ties for 10th in state history. Leading…

Oswego High School picked the perfect time to earn its first win of the season, beating Romeoville 8-0 in Oswego to open Southwest Prairie Conference girls soccer play. Erin Apolzan scored three goals and had an assist while goalkeepers Laura Gallardo (40 minutes) and Amy Annala (25 minutes) combined to post the shutout. “This was a great game for us tonight,” Oswego coach Jamie Bartkowiak said. “We put together a lot of good soccer and focused on a lot of things we were working on in practice. I'm very proud of what we accomplished tonight.” Cathy Tram found the back of the net twice for the…