February 12, 2025
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Local Sports Digest: Hagenbuch sisters advance to junior nationals out of Waltham Curling Club

By Shaw Local News Network
Qualifiers to the upcoming USA Curling’s U21 Junior National Championship includes a pair of local products from the Waltham Curling Club, Mae and Bella Hagenbuch. Pictured here is the team of (left to right) Bella Hagenbuch, Rilee Kraft, Mae Hagenbuch and Lauren Hein.

Qualifiers to the upcoming USA Curling’s U21 Junior National Championship includes a pair of local products from Waltham Curling Club, Mae and Bella Hagenbuch. Pictured here is the team of (left to right) Bella Hagenbuch, Rilee Kraft, Mae Hagenbuch and Lauren Hein. (Provided by Waltham Curling Club)

Hagenbuch sisters advance to junior nationals

Local curlers Bella and Mae Hagenbuch earned a bronze medal and qualified for USA Curling’s U21 Junior National Championships in April at Broomstones Curling Club near Boston.

The Hagenbuch sisters out of Waltham Curling Club in Triumph were teammates with Rilee Kraft (Capital Curling Club, Bismarck, North Dakota) and Lauren Hein (Pardeeville Curling Club, Pardeeville, Wisconsin). The team is coached by Jed Brundidge of St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Hagenbuchs’ team is ranked fourth in the U.S. for women’s U21 teams. The winning teams at the 2023 USA Curling Junior National Championships advance to represent the U.S. at the 2024 World Junior Curling Championships. They also qualified as the Midwest Women’s representative for USA Curling’s U18 Nationals this week at Rock Creek Curling Club in LaFayette, Colorado.

The Hagenbuchs attribute their success to having nearby accessibility to curling.

“While we have to travel for competitions, having practice ice only a short 10-minute drive away offers me many opportunities to improve my skills,” Bella Hagenbuch said.

“I’m a fourth-generation curler from Waltham Curling Club,” Mae Hagenbuch said. “It’s really neat to be able to curl in the same place my great-grandfather did so many years ago.”

Waltham Curling Club is the oldest curling club in Illinois and is situated in Triumph, just a short drive from Ottawa, La Salle-Peru and Mendota.

Marquette spikers take 2 of 3 from St. Mary’s

The Marquette junior high volleyball teams played Pontiac St. Mary’s recently.

The eighth grade Knights won in two sets, led by Hunter Hopkins (19 assists, three aces), Anna Hjerpe (seven kills), Kinley Rick (five kills), Giada Pattelli (three kills, three aces), Kelsey Cuchra (three kills, four digs) and Emily Ryan Adair (eight digs, three aces).

Marquette’s 7s fell in two sets despite leading efforts from Lucy McGrath (seven digs), Rick (four kills), Jakobi Reed (five assists) and Mackenzie Hamm (three digs).

The sixth grade team won in straight sets, paced by Cayla Blood (12 service points), Ady Boaz (six aces) and Mackenzie Hamm (four aces).

Shepherd boys secure tourney wins

The Shepherd boys basketball teams both won their Starved Rock Conference Tournament openers.

The seventh-grade Rams (19-1) beat Northbrook 32-6 (Luke McCullough six points, Rory Moore, Blake Schiltz and Amari Molina five points apiece, Landyn McEmery eight steals). The 7s then topped Northlawn 48-17 in the semifinals. Moore provided 13 points for the Rams, with Nevan Holloway, Molina and Luke McCullough adding eight points apiece.

The eighth grade team (15-3) defeated Spring Valley 49-14 (Griffin Dobberstein 11 points, Sam Clift five, four apiece from Aleixo Fernandez, Darien Gutierrez, Dane Schmitz and Kayden Kundert).

Shepherd previously swept Coal City – the 7s winning 36-29 (Schiltz nine points, McEmery eight, Holloway six, McCullough five); the 8s 31-23 victors (Dobberstein and George Shumway 12 points each, Landon Mangold four points).