THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2008

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MSL, CSL Show Off Conference Strength

By DWIGHT ESAU

Journal Sports

At a state tournament, you not only measure the talent of athletes, you assess the quality of a conference.

Take last weekend's IHSA state badminton finals, for instance.

A total of 128 players from 49 teams and more than a dozen statewide conferences competed. When it was over, two conferences stood out in the team standings, and they just happen to be in the Journal area.

Both the Mid Suburban and Central Suburban leagues showed strength in this sport, and demonstrated again why MSL and CSL players are always in the forefront when the medals are passed out.

* The MSL placed five of its teams in the state's top 12 (Fremd fifth, Hersey 10th, Buffalo Grove 10th, Palatine 12th, Wheeling 12th).

* Four other MSL teams - Conant, Schaumburg, Prospect, and Rolling Meadows - placed in the top 33 places.

* Five CSL teams - Evanston 14th, Glenbrook South 17th, New Trier 20th, Glenbrook North 28th, Deerfield 38th, scored points in the state finals. (The downside of this is that only one of these schools - Glenbrook South - is in the Journal area).

* Four MSL players won top-six medals at the state finals. Heather and Ashton Nisbet of Buffalo Grove were runners-up at doubles, Ashley Lepcin of Wheeling was fifth and Jenna Langhorst of Fremd was third, in singles.

* More than 40, or nearly one-third of the state final qualifiers, were from the two local conferences.