Benet Preps

Here is the 2025 Suburban Life All-Area girls soccer team.

In a dramatic Class 3A title showdown, Benet's Luke Wildes, just months post-ACL surgery, kept hope alive with a crucial hit. Despite a valiant effort, the Redwings fell to St. Laurence 8-5, marking a historic season finale.

Benet Academy sophomore Quinn Rooney isn’t going to finish the baseball season where he started it, the JV team. His two-run triple highlighted a five-run seventh, giving Benet an 11-6 win over Cary-Grove and a berth in Saturday's Class 3A state title game.

Benet senior pitcher Jake Rifenburg is an absolute competitor in whatever he does – even, it turns out, batting practice. He leads a stellar pitching staff that's thrown three playoff shutouts into the program's first-ever state semifinal appearance this weekend.

Benet scored four runs in the first inning, and its starting pitching came through again as the Redwings beat Washington 6-3 in Monday's Class 3A Geneseo Supersectional.

Gino Zagorac threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout, and Merrick Sullivan blasted two doubles and three RBIs to help pace Benet to a 7-0 victory over St. Francis for the Redwings' first Class 3A sectional title since 2017.

Merrick broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning, while Jake Rifenburg allowed zero earned runs over eight-plus innings to help Benet get a 3-0 victory over Burlington Central in a Class 3A sectional semifinal.

Benet faced Burlington Central in a Class 3A Kaneland Sectional semifinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Maple Park.

Downers Grove North faced Crystal Lake Central girls lacrosse in the Benet Supersectional on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

Benet baseball faced Kaneland in the Class 3A Kaneland Regional final on Saturday, May 31, 2025 in Maple Park.

Quinn Rooney's three-run home run capped off Benet's five-run fifth inning, as Benet rallied past Kaneland 5-4 to win the Class 3A Kaneland Regional title.

Senior Charlie Foley scored five goals to help Wheaton Academy get back to the supersectional with an 18-5 win over Benet on Friday in the Geneva Sectional championship.

Will Downers Grove North go for a repeat in the 4x800 relay? Can Benet's Finn Richards get the distance double with a 3,200 title? And what about football stars from York and Wheaton Warrenville South? Here are 5 storylines to watch for Suburban Life-area athletes this weekend.

Benet's season came to an end with a 3-0 loss Naperville North.

Oswego sophomore Dontrell Young, after missing all of indoor season recovering from a torn meniscus, swept the 100, 200 and 400 titles at the Class 3A East Aurora Sectional, while Oswego East won its first team sectional title and NIU football recruit Zach Morrisroe swept throws.

How will St. Francis' record-setting distance crew line up in Charleston? Can Westmont's Kyla Babb pull off the distance double? Here are five storylines to watch for Suburban Life area athletes at the IHSA girls state track and field meet.

Wheaton Warrenville South softball beat Wheaton North 1-0 in a wild ending, Sophia Rosner struck out 11 and homered for Benet softball, plus the rest of the baseball, softball soccer and volleyball results in Wednesday's Suburban Life roundup.

Solecki showed off her improvement by winning the discus (36.53 meters) and the shot put (11.17) at the Class 3A Downers Grove South Sectional to stamp her ticket to next weekend’s state track and field meet in Charleston. Both winning tosses were personal bests for Solecki.

Senior pitcher and Cincinnati recruit Tucker King put his name high atop the Lyons' pitching charts, capturing his 14th career win for the program's most wins this past decade. That, plus Matt Devoy doing it all for Lemont and Benet's big series in Bob Narang's baseball notes.

Benet senior guard Blake Fagbemi, who helped lead the Redwings to the first state championship in school history in March, announced on Wednesday that he will continue his playing career at Illinois.

Both the CCL and GCAC announced Monday the high school conferences will be absorbing members of the ESCC beginning with the start of the 2026-27 school year.

Downers Grove South senior Kailee Rodeck soars to record pole vault, Vanderbilt commit Finn Richards chasing Benet track records from 50 years ago, and Willowbrook's Amelie Ojeda breaks her school 3,200 record. That and more in Bill Stone's track and field notebook.

With three straight 2-0 victories against West Aurora, Andrew and host Plainfield North, Glenbard West had a good showing in the Plainfield Classic tournament. That, plus notes on Lemont, Downers Grove South, Benet, Hinsdale South and Morton in Chris Walker's soccer notebook.

After a disappointing loss to Oswego in Thursday’s pool play, the Benet volleyball team beat Metea Valley and St. Charles North on Saturday to win the Silver Division title at Wheaton Warrenville South's Tiger Classic.

Benet soccer has begun its ESCC title defense in fine fashion. One season removed from claiming its fifth straight conference championship, the Redwings have won their first two games in league play after earning a 3-0 win Wednesday afternoon over visiting Carmel in Lisle.

Here are previews of boys track and field teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

The track and field season is heading outdoors and here are previews of girls teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

Lemont junior Gabe Sularski, who led his team to a sectional final in his first year at the school, was named Class 3A First Team All-State by Illinois Media in voting released this week.

Bryson Norwood slugged a grand slam, and Jacob Fehrmann squeezed in the tying run and scored the winning as Oswego three times came from behind against Benet, the last with two in the sixth for a 12-11 win.

Here is the Suburban Life All-Area boys basketball team.

The 2025 high school soccer season starts this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

The 2025 high school softball season starts this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

Benet built a double-digit lead and then held off Warren in the closing seconds 55-54 in a thriller of a Class 4A final to win the school's first boys basketball state championship on Saturday in Champaign.

Benet boys basketball faced Evanston in a Class 4A state semifinal on Friday, March 14, 2025 at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Some of Benet's key team characteristics were missing during the first three quarters of its Class 4A State Tournament semifinal against Evanston, but its defensive effort never wavered in a 56-47 win on Friday.

Here is the 2024-2025 Suburban Life All-Area girls basketball team.

Benent took an early lead and held on late to beat Quincy 58-50 in the Class 4A Illinois State University Supersectional on Monday, punching its fourth trip to state under coach Gene Heidkamp.

A game after not playing at all, sophomore Edvardas Stasys came off the bench to help anchor Benet's sterling defensive effort as the Redwings beat Downers Grove North 44-32 in Friday's sectional final.

Benet boys basketball faced Downers Grove North in the Class 4A Benet Sectional final on Friday, March 7, 2025 in Lisle.

Benet and Oswego East combined for just three field goals in the fourth quarter as the Redwings claimed a 49-40 win to collect a regional title on the Wolves' home court.

Two nights after a scoreless game, Waubonsie Valley sophomore Maya Pereda scored a career-high 12 points with the game's two biggest shots, and the Warriors – after leading by 17 – held off a furious Benet rally for a 66-61 win in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional final.

Benet used a fourth quarter surge to finish off Downers Grove North in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional on Tuesday.

Benet's Ava Mersinger and Ava Thomas limited Naperville North star guard Natalie Frempong to six points, and the top-seeded Redwings overwhelmed the Huskies 64-13 for Benet's 11th straight regional title.

Benet faced Naperville North girls basketball in the Class 4A Benet Regional final on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025 in Lisle.

Does the road to a state title go through La Grange? What about big-time sectional rematches? Can Glenbard South make a return to state? Here are five storylines to watch for Suburban Life area teams as the girls basketball postseason tips off next week.

Here is a list of CCL/ESCC football players who have committed to colleges at various levels and can sign their financial aid agreement or letters of intent starting on Wednesday.

Benet took control early and barely gave it up in a 57-37 win over St. Viator to stay tied for first in the conference with Marist, which beat Notre Dame.

Sophia Towne tallied 12 points, five assists, two steals and two rebounds to spark visiting Nazareth to a 55-49 victory that snapped Benet’s 22-game winning streak.

Benet hosted Nazareth in girls varsity basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in Lisle.

Blake Fagbemi scored 11 of his 22 points in the first quarter and came up a few assists shy of a triple-double, and Benet shot 67% and blew open a four-point game at halftime to beat Rich 73-56 in the finale of the When Sides Collide Shootout.