Jones named as Augie's Most Valuable on defense

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Preston Jones made it all the way back from a season-ending injury as a sophomore to be named the Most Valuable Defensive Player for the Augustana College Vikings football team.

Jones, a junior linebacker and member of Bureau Valley’s 2004 state runner-up, was the third leading tackler on the team with 54 total tackles (33 solos and 21 assists) with a team high 13 tackles for losses totaling 52 yards. The Sheffield product also tied for the team lead in quarterback sacks with five for 37 yards and he had two pass deflections and one fumble recovery.

Brad Monier (Walnut), Jones’ classmate at Bureau Valley, received his third varsity letter for Augie. He was a starting defensive back for the Vikings.

The Augie duo were just two of several area collegians to receive postseason honors from the 2007 fall season.

Senior Laura Luloff of Princeton earned her very first cross county letter for the Augustana harriers. The senior math/physics major has already started to run for the indoor track season and plans to run the outdoors season as well.

Freshman Molly Von Holten of Walnut received her first cross country letter for Central College in Pella, Iowa. The 2007 Bureau Valley High School grad also received team Rookie of the Year Award, running a season-best 25:01 in the Augustana Brissman/Lundeen Invitational, in Davenport, Iowa.

In volleyball, Lisa Klein (Ladd) earned her fourth letter for Saint Francis Univer-sity, capping a stellar senior season that saw the former Hall Lady Red Devil named five times as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Confer-ence Player of the Week. She set a school record for most kills in a season with 804.

Other area volleyball letterwinners included Klein’s sophomore teammates Kelsey Polte and Kara Decker of Spring Valley, Augustana College sophomore Angela Baumgartner of Princeton, Louisiana-Lafayette Univer-sity junior Carly Payan of Walnut, Breelyn McMahon (Princeton, Bureau Valley) and Beth Wenzel (Cherry, Spring Valley) at Ashford University and Jenna Luck (Spring Valley) at Lincoln College.

Basketball

• Arlington native Brett Barkman has been red hot for Illinois Valley Community College. He had 19 points to lead the Eagles to an 84-81 win Saturday over Triton and came back with 15 points Tuesday at Rock Valley.

Other Bureau Countians in uniform for the IVCC women are LaMoille’s Jackie Mon-roe, a freshmen, and Spring Valley’s Alyssa Smoode, a sophomore.

Princeton products Brooke Jensen and Andy Schmeck are home on Christmas break. Jensen scored 12 points for Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky. in a 74-52 win over St. Mary’s of the Woods on Dec. 15. The 6-8 Eagles are off until Jan. 8.

Schmeck is playing for the JV team at Trinity Interna-tional.

• Kailey Klein and the Cleveland State Vikings took a short break for finals, then took a trip east to New York, visiting Niagara Falls and Buffalo. Klein had Niagara falling all over her with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the Lady Vikings to a 64-54 win on Monday. Klein scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the first half.

“Kailey did a great job of getting to the line tonight,” CSU coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. “She is a very aggressive player and goes to the basket hard. Her ability to get to the basket really opens things up for the other players, especially in the second half.”

The Cherry Comet had 12 points and five rebounds two days before in a 63-60 loss at Buffalo. Klein and CSU had one more road trip before Christmas break, heading back to New York to Colgate on Friday, before she was able to head home for the holidays.

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