St. Viator will don pads from Kordecki

Not only will St. Viator have a new football coach this fall, it will also sport some new equipment.

Less than a month after hiring former Wisconsin Lutheran College position coach Dave Archibald to run the program, school officials announced the football players will wear Riddell RipKord shoulder pads this fall.

The pads, designed by St. Viator alum Mike Kordecki (class of 1977) are the same ones that have been worn by players from 24 NFL teams and 57 collegiate teams since 2011.

Kordecki donated 40 sets to St. Viator's football program.

"My hope is that all of the football players will be protected just a little better," said Kordecki in a release from the school.

Kordecki is a sports physical therapist who worked with Bears' training camps in the 1980s and 90s.

"God forbid any type of spine or neck injury happen to one of the players," he added. "But by getting these new shoulder pads, it brings St. Viator in line with the new protocol by the National Athletic Trainers Association."

That protocol was announced in June.

At least one of the members of its task force called the RipKord shoulder pads and the ease of removing protective equipment prior to transport off the field, one of the most sweeping changes.

"Removing equipment on the field provides access to the airway and chest in the event of life-threatening emergencies and facilitates packaging," said Ron Courson, a member of the NATA Joint Task Force and University of Georgia's Director of Sports Medicine. "Upon arrival at the emergency facility, it facilitates physician evaluation and diagnostic testing."

Kordecki now is the principal owner of Praxis Physical Therapy in Vernon Hills.

Back in 2008, he patented the technology for this new type of shoulder pad that allows them to be removed when a player is treated for any type of spinal or head injury.

St. Viator assistant football coach Mike Tubridy helped facilitate the donation from Kordecki.

He said the new shoulder pads will advance St. Viator's commitment to limiting serious injury to its football players at all levels.

Tubridy, who also teaches religion at St. Viator, said that over the past three years the St. Viator Athletic Boosters have helped the team replace older helmets, with the upgraded Riddell Speed helmets.

As team officials continue with its replacement program, they hope to look into the Riddell Speed Flex, the type of helmet worn by Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler, among others.

"All our athletes take a preseason concussion test to establish a baseline measurement, which helps trainers know if there have been changes," Tubridy said. "We also limit hitting and contact during preseason and weekly practices. All of these actions have helped us reduce concussions on the varsity level."

Men's track

Illinois freshman Konrad Eiring (Barrington) brought home the title in the 800-meter run at annual Orange & Blue meet at the UI Armory. He posted a time of 1:53.47, just ahead of runner-up Garrett Lee, who finished in 1:55.86 for the Orange and Blue.

• Augustana senior Ethan Koch (Prospect) took second in the mile (4:18.82) at the Spartan Invitational in Dubuque, Iowa.

Augustana sophomore Josh Yamamoto (Fremd) placed sixth in the 200 (: 23.02) and seventh in the 55 (6.75).

• North Central College freshman Michael Anderson (Prospect) placed second in the 800-meter run (2:00.22) at the nine-team Cardinal Classic at Al B. Carius Track.

Women's basketball

• Carthage sophomore guard Morgan Harris (Hersey), who was a possible candidate for College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Player of the Year, has suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Harris was recently named player of the week in the CCIW when she averaged 26.5 points and 11.5 rebounds while helping lead the Lady Reds to wins over Augustana (game-high 27 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals) and Elmhurst (double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals) in a 72-65 win.

• Saint Louis sophomore guard Jackie Kemph (Rolling Meadows H.S.) was named women's basketball player of the week in the Atlantic 10 Conference and selected the College Sports Madness High-Major National Player of the Week.

Kemph averaged 19.7 points, 11 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals to lead Saint Louis to A-10 victories over Davidson, Duquesne and Fordham last week.

Kemph began the week by recording a game-high-tying 19 points, a career-high-tying 14 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in an 88-51 win over Davidson.

She followed with her fifth double-double of the season, a 19-point, 13-assist performance, as the Billikens toppled A-10 leader Duquesne 84-81. Kemph sank a career-high 10 free throws (10-of-12) and added 4 rebounds and 2 steals against the Dukes.

Kemph concluded the week in dramatic fashion, scoring with 2.2 seconds to play to lift Saint Louis to a 51-49 victory at Fordham. The game-winning bucket was part of a game-high 21-point effort (9-of-17 field goals). Kemph also had a game-high 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal against the Rams.

• Alabama-Birmingham freshman Deanna Kuzmanic (Wheeling), the team's leading scorer (13.0 ppg), had 10 points in a 64-49 victory against Louisiana Tech.

• Oakton freshman captain Mallory Gonzalez (Prospect) had a double-double (12 points, 14 rebounds) in a 43-37 loss at the College of Lake County. She also had 4 assists and 3 blocked shots.

• Millikin senior Alyssa Saklak (Schaumburg) closed out her career in style by scoring 19 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in a 71-61 win over Carthage.

Swimming

Washington College freshman swimmer Julia Portmann (Fremd) won three relay medals and broke two relay school records at the 2016 Centennial Conference Championships at Gettysburg College.

Portmann swam the leadoff leg of the silver medal-winning 400 freestyle relay, which finished in 3:35.55. She swam the anchor leg of the bronze medal-winning and school record-breaking 800 freestyle relay, which finished in 7:51.15.

Portmann swam the leadoff leg of the bronze medal winning 200 freestyle relay, which finished in 1:38.98, and swam the butterfly leg of the fourth-place 400 medley relay, which broke the school record by finishing in 3:59.45.

She also turned in three individual top-five finishes. She was fourth in the 500 freestyle in a team season-best time of 5:03.55 to become the Shorewomen's third-fastest swimmer ever in that event. In the 1,650 freestyle she was fourth in 17:45.60. (During that race, her 10:42.90 split time made her the Shorewomen's fourth-fastest swimmer ever in the 1,000 freestyle and was a team season-best.) She placed fifth in the 200 freestyle in 1:55.65. Her leadoff times of 25.11 (200 freestyle relay) and 53.87 (400 freestyle relay) made her the Shorewomen's seventh- and fourth-fastest swimmers ever in the 50 and 100 freestyles, respectively.

• A handful of former area swimmers led Rose- Hulman Institute of Technology's (Terre Haute, Ind.) to its second consecutive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin team championship.

The Rose's women's team had its best performance in program history at the CCIW championships.

Rose's men's team trailed Carthage College by 58 points heading into the last individual event of the meet, the 200 butterfly.

Sophomore Patrick King (Libertyville) won the event for the second consecutive year in 1.50.9, an NCAA Division 3 provisional qualifying time.

Junior Matt Schulstad (Buffalo Grove) was third (1.50.6), followed by sophomore Austin Salisbury (Warren) who was fourth (1.54.7) and senior Matthew King (Libertyville) who was eighth (2.00.5).

Teaming with two other Rose swimmers, they captured six of the top eight places in the event and turned the deficit into an 17-point victory.

Schulstad and Patrick King were named to the all-conference team for their performances.

Matthew King also was named all-conference for the fourth consecutive year with his third-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle (16.25.03).

Other area swimmers contributing to the men's championship team included sophomore Kirk Dickson (Grayslake Central), freshman Andrew Mueller (Fremd) and sophomore Dan Skiroock (Schaumburg).

Helping the Rose women to their highest point total in school history and a fourth-place finish was freshman Lauren Blake (Mundelein), who was a member of three Rose relay teams which set school records.

Women's track

North Central College junior Tori Capozziello (Schaumburg) was part of the distance medley relay team that turned in a national-caliber effort to finish first in 12 minutes, 3.84 seconds in the Cardinal Classic at Al B. Carius Track.

It was the fifth-fastest time in North Central history and the eighth-fastest time in Division III this season.

The Cardinals placed second out of eight teams in the meet.

Women's hockey

St. Cloud State senior goalie Katie Fitzgerald (Maine West) was nominated player of the week in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. She recorded a 39-save shutout in SCS's 1-0 triumph at No. 9 North Dakota.

• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com