There’s no need to salute the 1990 NIU Huskie football captains, but take notice of the leading Huskies. Head football coach Jerry Pettibone announced that senior free safety Kevin Cassidy, senior outside linebacker Paul Rogan, and senior tight end Claude Royster were voted the team’s 1990 tri-captains by their teammates.

Don’t tell Huskie center Eric Wenckowski size isn’t important. This 6-foot-3, 253-pound ball snapper was named to the National Strength and Conditioning Association All-America squad. With 496-pound squat lifts, why not? Wenchowski anchored the NIU offensive front for the nation’s No.6 rushing attack in 1989 when the Huskies averaged a school-record 330.8 ground yards per game, plus 409.3 yards total offense and 31.3 points per contest.

While we’re on the subject, Huskie power fullback Adam Dach earned himself the team’s “Top Dog Award” for off-season regimen. This year Dach established a team-record 1,807 index points—based on a 343-pound bench press, 631-pound squat lift, and a 319-pound hard clean. Watch out when Dach takes it up the middle next season!

Former NIU halfback J. W. Smith, now head football coach and athletic director at Julian High School, has been recognized as one of the eight outstanding Chicago Public League teachers by the Blum-Kolver Educational Foundation and the Office of Special Programs at the University of Chicago this spring.

Basketball Huskie-to-be Mike Lipnisky adds another accomplishemt to his already lengthy resume. The 6-foot-3 All-State guard from Rolling Meadows High School was selected to play for the North squad in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class AA All-Star Game on June 23 at the Peoria Civic Center. Lipnisky, who signed a National Letter of Intent with Huskie coiach Jim Molinari last fall, led the Mustangs to the “Elite Eight” in the IHSA tournament and a 27-3 won-lost record.

NIU senior Jenny Wendell closed her Huskie women’s swimming career with announcement as the 1989-90 Most Valuable Swimmer award—her second straight MVS honor. Wendell, holder of four individual and four relay NIU records, qualified both her junior and senior seasons for the United States Swimming Senior national meet as a member of a sprint relay team. She is a four-time Midwest Regional meet champion, winning the 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard breaststroke and two 200-yard individual medley titles. Wendell’s 1990 200 individual medley time (2:08.49 set both Midwest meet and NIU records.

The 1990 Academic Excellence award was presented to junior Joanne Sommer. Sommer, recently accepted into NIU’s School of Allied Health Professions’ physical therapy program, carried a perfect 4.0 grade point average from the spring 1989 through 1990 semesters. Sommer was inducted into the university’s junior-senior honorary, Phi Kappa Phi, in mid-April.