Vrana working on dunk routine
Ryne Vrana first dunked in practice his freshmen season at Princeton High School. He later tried again during a freshman game and hit the back of the rim with the ball bouncing up and back through the basket.
He got a “look” from PHS coach Eric Tinley and shelved the dunk until the final game of his sophomore season. Over the past two varsity seasons, Princeton fans know well dunks have been a common occurrence for the 6-7 Tiger, a count of about 15 this season alone.
Vrana’s next dunks will come during the preliminaries of the IHSA Slam Dunk Contest Thursday evening at Carver Arena in Peoria. He will be one of 32 competitors, including St. Bede 6-3 sophomore Joe Galas, nominated to represent their respective regionals, seeking the distinction of being “Mr. Dunk” in Illinois.
Vrana said he has been practicing his routine and trying to come up with some tricks. He plans on opening with a reverse slam, his favorite and easiest dunk, and then maybe try a couple off the backboard.
“We’ll see. It’ll be interesting,” he said.
He said bouncing the ball off the backboard and catching the ball to dunk is “hard to get the ball to settle in your hands there.”
St. Bede coach Terry Nelson said he understands Galas, a reserve for the Bedan sophomore squad, has a repertoire of seven dunks.
Two of the competitors Vrana will run up against will be familiar faces — 6-8 senior Chaz Cross from Winnebago, an adversary from the past two postseasons, and Rock Falls’ senior Tevin Rumley. Meyers Leonard a 7-foot all-stater from Robinson, is the defending 2A Slam Dunk champion and IHSA finals runner-up, but will unlikely participate in the dunk contest with his team making it to state. Leonard is a second cousin to Vrana’s teammate Michael Murray.
Fieldcrest’s Nathan Ropp will participate in the Three-Point Showdown. He won the Farmington Sectional title by making 11 of 15 shots.
• AP All-state: Ropp was named to the Associated Press 2A All-State First Team Tuesday. He averaged 21.6 ppg for the 29-1 Knights, finished as Fieldcrest’s all-time leading scorer with 1,464 points. His teammate Tyler Baxter earned second team honors.
The first team is rounded out by Robinson’s Leonard, a University of Illinois signee, Peoria Manual senior Lawrence Alexander, Pat Miller of Chicago Hales Franciscan and Chas Cross of Winnebago.
Princeton’s Murray was named 2A All-State Honorable Mention.
The 1A All-State First Team is made up of Delevan’s Brady Zimmer, Newark’s Kyle Anderson, Sesser-Valier’s Justin Matyi, Madison’s Xavier Williams and Williamsfield’s Alex Ott.
Annawan senior Sean Walker earned All-State honorable mention.
• All-State Academic: Hall senior Claire Faletti was named to the IHSA All-State Academic Honorable Mention Team. She was one of 50 students along with 26 named to the First Team.
Every IHSA member school was invited to nominate one female student and one male student. Nominees needed to possess a minimum 3.50 grade point average on 4.0 scale after their seventh semester, have participated in at least two IHSA sponsored activities during each of the last two years and demonstrated outstanding citizenship.
The nominations were evaluated by a committee made up of IHSA principals, representatives of the Illinois Activities Directors Association and representatives of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association. One male winner and one female winner from each of the seven IHSA Board of Directors Divisions were selected initially, while the final 12 spots on the team were then rounded out with at-large candidates from anywhere in the state.
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