Illinois: Huntley is top girls soccer seed for Pepsi Showdown

Mundelein, which has won its first four games, is among the 14 schools hosting Nike Bracket games on Tuesday. Huntley (6-0) is the top-seeded team, and will host a second-round game Thursday.

The Pepsi Showdown is billed as the largest prep girls soccer tournament in the country, and will conclude with the championship game in late April at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, home of the MLS Chicago Fire and WPS Chicago Red Stars.

Loyola, a Class 4A regional finalist last year, is the defending champion. Laura Gardner, who has scored three goals in her last two games, leads the Ramblers (4-1-1). Loyola is the No. 5 seed. The Showdown also includes No. 2 seed Glenbrook South and Class 2A defending champion Wheateon Academy.

Around Chicagoland: Lake Park’s Clark wins national honor

* Tori Clark, a senior who played on the basketball and volleyball teams at Lake Park High School in Roselle, Ill., was named winner of the National High School Spirit of Sport Award. She is the first Illinois student-athlete to win the honor, which is given annually by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Clark coordinated a "Teams Helping Teams" event during a fall volleyball match against Naperville Neuqua Valley, which raised more than $3,500 for a Naperville family whose mother was suffering from Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a pre-leukemia condition. "When you consider all the exceptional candidates from around the country, it really is a significant honor for Tori, Lake Park High School and everyone who was involved in this event," said Marty Hickman, Illinois High School Association Executive Director.

* St. Rita won its first state title in hockey since 1982, defeating Loyola 3-1 in the Blackhawk Cup championship game at Chicago’s United Center. Chris Foley scored the go-ahead goal for the Mustangs (47-9-7) with 10:22 left and Sean Gerich had 25 saves and was named tournament MVP.

* Jaylin Fleming, a fifth-grade student at Chicago’s Beasley Academic Center, is already getting attention from college and high school basketball coaches. Bulls star Derrick Rose, a No. 1 NBA draft pick from Chicago Simeon Academy, says Jaylin is better than Rose was at Jaylin’s age (Rose also was a student at Beasley). The 5-foot-1, 10-year-old draws comparisons to former NBA star Isiah Thomas, who was coached by Gene Pingatore at St. Joseph High School. "It‘s crazy," Pingatore told the Chicago Tribune. "The fact that Jaylin‘s getting all this publicity so early means that the sharks are out there."

* Lena Brottman of Palatine Fremd is quickly establishing her dominance in softball this spring, but no game was bigger than her win Wednesday over defending Class 4A state champion Loyola. Brottman helped Fremd to its fourth consecutive victory, striking eight and yielding zero earned runs in a 10-6 win over the Ramblers. Six Fremd errors led to Loyola’s scoring. "They’re a great team and maybe we’ll see them again at the end of the year," Brottman told the Sun-Times News Group. That’s exactly what happened last year; Loyola defeated Fremd 1-0 in eight innings in the 4A semifinals, then shut out Edwardsville the next day for the state title, completing a 36-2 season.

* Oregon State recruit Ahmad Starks of Class 4A runner-up Whitney Young, Illinois recruits Jereme Richmond of Waukegan and Meyers Leonard of Robinson, and Louisville verbal Wayne Blackshear of Morgan Park were among those named to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) All-State First Team. To see the complete lists, go to ibcaillinois.org.

* Richmond, an Illinois signee, scored 11 points for the West squad in its 107-104 win over the East in the McDonald’s All-America Game at Columbus, Ohio. Richmond, a 6-foot-7 guard who was named Illinois Mr. Basketball this week, was the first Illinois recruit to play in the game since former Boston Celtics star Dee Brown in 2002.

* Northwestern University baseball recruit Kyle Ruchim of Stevenson (4-0) struck out 10 Palatine batters, and went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in two runs in an 11-0 win.

* Deerfield’s Zach Pearstein went 4-for-4, hitting three doubles and a home run, in a 19-13 win over Von Steuben. Deerfield (3-2) had seven home runs.

* St. Laurence (Burbank) (6-0) at St. Rita (Chicago) (5-1), baseball, 11 a.m. Saturday: St. Laurence tests the Mustangs, 2009 Class 4A runner-up and the Chicago area’s No. 2-ranked team. Kyle Wood hit a home run in St. Laurence’s 15-1 win Wednesday over Bolingbrook. St. Rita’s only loss was to Joliet Catholic in the second game of the season.

Jay Harris, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Oswego East, verbaled to Valparaiso University this week. Harris had also been offered by Ball State, and had received interest from Virginia Tech and Texas A&M.