Huntley makes it 8 in a row: 2023 Northwest Herald All-Sports Award

Huntley capped perhaps the best athletic year ever put together by a Fox Valley Conference school in appropriate fashion.

The Red Raiders won the Class 3A team title at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet in May, the second team state championship in school history and the first FVC team ever to win a trophy in track.

While that counted nothing toward Huntley winning its eighth consecutive Northwest Herald All-Sports Award, it was, as Raiders athletic director Glen Wilson said, “the cherry on top” of an overall outstanding season.

Huntley scored 145 points, an all-time best for any winning school, to take the honor by 45 points over second-place Prairie Ridge. The All-Sports Award was started in 1990 and is given each year to the FVC school with the best overall boys and girls sports.

There are 16 sports figured into the scoring, with 10 points awarded for first-place finishes, nine for second and so on.

Huntley won or shared the FVC title this year in nine sports and finished no lower than a tie for third in any sport. The Raiders’ previous high scores were 132 in 2022 and 126 1/2 in 2021.

2023 Northwest Herald All-Sport Award Standings

“We’re really fortunate. Our kids and coaches and parents and families just really get behind the notion of the student-athlete and put forth the efforts and the commitment to see them achieve on the ladder of success,” Wilson said. “It’s just really exciting for our school and our kids. When you win a girls track state championship – holy cow! – what a buzz that sent through our school, on top of all the other great things going on.

“It’s a really great time to be a part of Huntley athletics. It takes the convergence of all those things I mentioned. That’s where we’re at. I’m really happy for the kids and their families, and the coaches.”

Huntley won titles in volleyball, girls tennis, girls cross country and tied in football in the fall season. The girls basketball team won a title in the winter, while the baseball, softball, boys and girls track teams won championships in the spring.

“We’re such a large school that there’s so much competition to get on the team, and we are able to put out such good teams,” recent graduate Ally Panzloff said. “Pretty much any sport I can think of you’re not just guaranteed being on varsity if you walk in and try out. Everyone I know is working hard in tryouts just to make it on to the team.”

Huntley is the largest FVC school with an enrollment of 3,056 students.

Panzloff played for the volleyball team and competed in track and field. The girls track team joined the 2019 softball team as Huntley’s team state champions. Panzloff (discus), Alex Johnson (long jump) and Dominique Johnson (triple jump) all won individual state titles. It was Alex Johnson’s third consecutive win in the long jump.

“Spring sports is always a really strong aspect of our [Huntley] sports,” girls track coach Jason Monson said. “That Fox Valley Conference championship is one we’re always striving for, one of the three, conference, sectional and state.

“It’s pretty incredible. It’s still unfathomable what these girls accomplished. We’re incredibly proud of them. The girls have affectionately named [the trophy] ‘Baby.’ We’re having a lot of fun with it. It’s been really cool the community has embraced this team. It’s awesome.”

Panzloff, who will play volleyball at Brown University, competed in track and field her final two years. She threw a career-best 48.73 meters (159-10) to win the discus. She and the other seniors missed graduation for the state meet.

“I could not have been happier,” Panzloff said. “It was an amazing end to my career and our season and our group of seniors. There’s nothing I would have rather missed graduation for. It was a super exciting day.”

Note: The Northwest Herald’s All-Sports Award is given each year to the Fox Valley Conference school with the best overall sports for boys and girls. First-place finishes are given 10 points, second place nine and so on. Girls golf and boys and girls swimming were not counted because not all 10 teams compete in those sports.

Past Winners

Here is the list of all the Northwest Herald All-Sports Award winners:

2023: Huntley

2022: Huntley

2021: Huntley

2020: Huntley

2019: Huntley

2018: Huntley

2017: Huntley

2016: Huntley

2015: Jacobs

2014: Crystal Lake Central

2013: Crystal Lake Central

2012: Crystal Lake Central

2011: Crystal Lake Central

2010: Cary-Grove

2009: Prairie Ridge

2008: Cary-Grove

2007: Cary-Grove

2006: Cary-Grove

2005: Lake Zurich

2004: Jacobs

2003: Lake Zurich

2002: Lake Zurich

2001: Cary-Grove

2000: Cary-Grove

1999: Cary-Grove

1998: Cary-Grove

1997: Crystal Lake Central

1996: Crystal Lake Central

1995: Crystal Lake Central

1994: Crystal Lake Central

1993: Crystal Lake South

1992: Crystal Lake Central

1991: Crystal Lake Central

1990: Woodstock