Signs of the times

LOCKPORT -- Nikko Carson, Greg Gonsoulin, Nolan Scott and Chris Wilson all were standouts on the football field for Lockport High School during the past two years.

Now that group gets the opportunity to not only compete in the sport at the next level, but also do it either playing with or against one another.

Gonsoulin and Carson will be going to Valparaiso University while Wilson and Scott are headed for Drake University. Both schools are members of the Pioneer Football League.

"It's real exciting to be going to Valparaiso," Gonsoulin said. "I might be one of the top running backs, so I could start, and they have a nice coach and their players are close. And academically, they have one of the best meteorology programs in the country."

With the addition of Tom Hart, who will go to Coe College, the Porter football program has five players who plan to play college football.

That group joins the 13 other Lockport male athletes who made their college plans known during a special ceremony at the school last week.

Three Porters will be going on in baseball while two apiece plan to continue their careers in basketball, golf and water polo.

Two players who have helped made history for Lockport's basketball teams the past three years, Brian Bradley and Justin Jarosz, both will play in college.

Bradley will attend Butler University while Jarosz plans to continue his education and career at Lewis University.

"I like the coach and the campus so I look forward to going to Lewis," Jarosz said. "They also recruited kids from Stagg and Sandburg, so it will be great playing with them again. Also, having the chance to play there in my first year made my decision easier."

Baseball players who are moving on are Josh Stanton (Central College), Steve Sabatino (Notre Dame) and Mike Frigo (Western Michigan).

"Western went out of its way to make sure that I knew everything about the school," Frigo said. "Their baseball program is pretty good so it will be a nice place to play ball at. This has been my dream since I was a little kid so I can't wait for the opportunity."

Water polo players Ben Bentley (University of Illinois) and Ryan Oldendorf (Iona College) are the first from their program to play the sport in college.

"I'm really excited about playing in college," Oldendorf said. "In eighth grade I played baseball and didn't know what water polo was, so I never thought this is what I'd do. Iona is a beautiful school, the coach was interested in me and the team was friendly."

Porter golfers who are college-bound are Jordan Christensen (Parkland College) and Mike Chakos (Southern Illinois).

Kyle Engnell plans to compete in both cross country and track and field at the University of Illinois while swimmer Alex Webster will go to the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Two others who plan to continue their educations and careers in college are wrestler Jared McCarthy (Elmhurst College) and Bart Kowalczyk (Moraine Valley Community College).