Marc Nesseler
Moline, Rock Island
Math teacher/athletic director - Quad City Christian HS, Moline
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Articles by Marc Nesseler
Alleman makes history with first-ever WB6 girls track title
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Youthful Leafs win final NIB-12 meet
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Alleman AD: Pioneer baseball team 'champs for life'
ROCK ISLAND — Alleman athletic director Joe Conklin stood beside a table full of trophies, gaining in importance as they neared him at the podium inside Don Morris Gymnasium. Yet, the writing on them didn't matter to the words he chose at the Pioneers' "welcome home" celebration after taking fourth place in the Class 2A State baseball tournament. "I don't care whether the plaques say first, second, third of fourth," Conklin told the team.
CLASS 2A STATE BASEBALL: Thrilling Alleman baseball season goes down to final out
AURORA CHRISTIAN 3, ALLEMAN 2 PEORIA – Given the precipitous spring weather, the Alleman Pioneers had to be one of the few baseball teams in the state to play the maximum 42 games – 35 in the regular season and seven in the postseason. Right down to the final inning, they sure got their money’s worth.
Alleman falls in state baseball semifinals
TEUTOPOLIS 7, ALLEMAN 2 PEORIA — There was no comeback magic for a third straight game for the Alleman Pioneers in the baseball semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament on Saturday at Dozer Park. However, they may need some magic when they come back to the minor-league stadium today for the third-place game, with a forecast of rain looming from noon on. Alleman will be playing for a third-place trophy after falling to the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes, 7-2, in the second semifinal of the night.
Alleman rallies for Class 2A state baseball trip
The Alleman Pioneers celebrate Monday's 7-5 win over Brimfield at the Class 2A super-sectional held at Augustana's Swanson-Brunner Complex in Moline. The Pioneers advance to the state semifinals on Friday in Peoria. ALLEMAN 7, B-E 5 MOLINE — The Alleman baseball team very could have Aerosmith’s “Livin’ On the Edge” as their postseason theme song. In fact, with Class 2A State approaching this weekend, they are still alive and playing with an edge.
Blue Devils rocked by reigning champs to open regionals
Posted: May. 21, 2019 12:01 am Updated: May. 22, 2019 7:40 am EAST MOLINE, Ill. -- The Rock Island softball team were pronounced ready to go for its state title defense. Rock Island announced that by sending 14 batters to the plate in an 11-run first inning on the way to a 16-1 four-inning victory over Quincy High School in the opening round of the Class 4A United Township Regional Tuesday afternoon. "I just think they are ready to go," Rock Island coach Chris Allison said.
Prep report: Geneseo wins sectional crown
LaSALLE — Geneseo sophomore Esther Brown is not a fan of running, especially long distances. However, winning a long-distance sectional gold medal and qualifying for the Class 2A girls track and field state meet with three relay teammates changes that tune just a bit.
Alleman makes history with first-ever WB6 girls track title
MOLINE – How surprising was it that the Alleman Pioneers won their first Western Big 6 Conference girls’ track & field championship Friday night at Browning Field’s Gene Shipley Track? Discus champion Ali VandeHeede, a senior, cupped her hands to her face in shock at the end of the meet when informed that the Pioneers won their first-ever title in the last year of a six-team WB6. “We’ve been working toward this since the beginning of the season,” VandeHeede exclaimed.
METRO PACESETTER: Rocky rarity Hathorn goes from distance to sprint success
ROCK ISLAND — Success on the track is a distance memory for Rock Island junior Jayla Hathorn. She’s now on the fast track to winning gold medals. When her high-school career began, going from cross country in the fall to track in the spring seemed to be a natural distance-event evolution for Hathorn. True to that form, as one of Rocky’s top harriers, she started out as a mile runner. Two years later, she’s the track team’s top sprinter.
Plenty of proud moments at Rock Island Invite
ROCK ISLAND — Rock Island senior Austin Taylor runs a fine line between preparing for his current athletic sprint success for the Rocks’ track & field team and his future with the U.S. Marine Corps. “Last week, for the Homewood-Flossmoor meet, he had a big training session for the Marines a couple of days before and he had heavy legs and it wasn’t one of his better meets,” RI coach Ed Lillis said of Taylor, who was one of nine Rock seniors in their last Rock Island Track & Field Invitational.
METRO PACESETTER: Alleman's Tori Thomas soaring to new heights
ROCK ISLAND — It is as if Alleman sophomore Tori Thomas already has an advertising slogan readily available should she ever become nationally pole-vault famous. "Keep Going Higher!" Those were the words Thomas proclaimed when asked whether she modifies her season goals after tying a second-straight Quad-Cities girls' track & field invitational pole vault record. First was the Gene Shipley Invitational three weeks ago with a vault of 11 feet.
Becky Fonseca: ER admissions work has its superstitions
DAVENPORT — The clock strikes half past 6, and Becky Fonseca knows it's the start of a 12-hour shift of unpredictability. What is certain is that Fonseca will be greeting and admitting people in pain from one end of the spectrum to the other. “There are a lot of animated people coming in during third shift,” she says of her work period, which ends at 6:30 a.m. She does three of those a week, and then every other weekend. In this case, it’s a mother and child coming in.
Becky Fonseca: ER admissions work has its superstitions
DAVENPORT — The clock strikes half past 6, and Becky Fonseca knows it's the start of a 12-hour shift of unpredictability. What is certain is that Fonseca will be greeting and admitting people in pain from one end of the spectrum to the other. “There are a lot of animated people coming in during third shift,” she says of her work period, which ends at 6:30 a.m. She does three of those a week, and then every other weekend. In this case, it’s a mother and child coming in.
Becky Fonseca: ER admissions work has its superstitions
DAVENPORT — The clock strikes half past 6, and Becky Fonseca knows it's the start of a 12-hour shift of unpredictability. What is certain is that Fonseca will be greeting and admitting people in pain from one end of the spectrum to the other. “There are a lot of animated people coming in during third shift,” she says of her work period, which ends at 6:30 a.m. She does three of those a week, and then every other weekend. In this case, it’s a mother and child coming in.
Donaldson on target as BHS trounces Moline in regional
CHAMPAIGN — But for a miss on his easiest shot of the night, a layup at the end of the game, it was a perfect night for Bloomington senior Caleb Donaldson, making 13 shots, three beyond the arc, and four free throws. For the Moline Maroons, it turned out to be a perfectly unsettling night, unable to make shots in the first half and unable to keep up in the second as the Purple Raiders advanced to the Class 4A Champaign Centennial Regional championship game with an 87-69 win.
Legends' Cara Hiner: It pays to have a good memory
ROCK ISLAND — Not long after a couple walks into Legends Corner at 30th Street and 7th Avenue at 7:12 on a Tuesday night, Cara Hiner comes to their table with a drink in each hand. “Water for you and unsweet tea for you, right?” the bartender/waitress asks, quite certain that is the case before she nails what each person might order from the menu. That’s the secret to the job for Hiner, who has been doing it for 15 years, almost always during the second shift. She remembers things like that.
Donaldson on target as BHS trounces Moline
CHAMPAIGN — But for a miss on his easiest shot of the night, a layup at the end of the game, it was a perfect night for Bloomington senior Caleb Donaldson, making 13 shots, three beyond the arc, and four free throws. For the Moline Maroons, it turned out to be a perfectly unsettling night, unable to make shots in the first half and unable to keep up in the second as the Purple Raiders advanced to the Class 4A Champaign Centennial Regional championship game with an 87-69 win.
Moline's Wiemers a born winner
MOLINE — For his senior high-school basketball season, Moline’s Drew Wiemers has become a take-charge guy. “When things aren’t going right, I try to settle us down,” he said as the Maroons, 23-6 and receiving votes just outside of the Top 10 in the Class 4A state rankings, embark on regional play as a No. 3 seed, opening Wednesday against No. 5 seed Blomington at Champaign Centennial. Game time is 7 p.m. “I try to be one of the leaders on the team, trying to help the young guys any way I can.
Rock Island's Douglas Park to get $500k in upgrades
ROCK ISLAND — Douglas Park will feature a new multi-use sports field and the northwest ball field will be refurbished this year, thanks to two grants received by the parks department. John Gripp, director of Parks and Recreation, said during Monday night's Rock Island City Council meeting he was proud other public-private partnerships his department had developed during his time in the position. He said it's important to note that minimal tax dollars had gone into the refurbishment of the park.
Lights on for Learning coordinator Larry Harris all about the kids
ROCK ISLAND — One of Larry Harris’ favorite parts of the day rolls around when 2:30 in the afternoon arrives. Mondays through Fridays, that is when he starts arranging after-school lunches at Washington Junior High School for students who need them. For Harris, any opportunity to do something positive for kids is right up his alley. He serves as the school’s Lights on for Learning coordinator, and he is in his second year of that job.
Heavy medal: Orion's Lee, Fulton's Pannell nab state mat titles
CHAMPAIGN — The heaviest of weights of the Class 1A state finalists from the Quad-Cities area became the gold standard of wrestling. Logan Lee, a senior from Orion wrestling at 285 pounds, and Eli Pannell, a senior from Fulton at 220, went back-to-back near the end of the tournament night on Saturday to add weight to the strength of wrestling in the Q-C area.
Gain worth the pain for Rock Island's Guzman
CHAMPAIGN — Ever have a hangnail, or maybe a paper cut, that made you scream bloody murder for hours on end? Yeah, well watching Rock Island junior Victor Guzman wrestle four matches in two days at the IHSA State Wrestling Tournament with a partial elbow ligament tear — winning three of those and going the full six minutes against an undefeated top seed in the other — would have those that whine like that feeling quite salty.
Rocky's Guzman overcomes injury to clinch state mat medal
CHAMPAIGN — All Rock Island junior Victor Guzman wanted to do was to show those at the state wrestling tournament that he was what he called “the top dog” of his Class 2A 132-pound weight class. After tearing a “Tommy John” elbow tendon in his first-round match, Guzman likely will finish sixth, get a medal and earn all-state status on Saturday.
Life-changing teacher heralded
ROCK ISLAND — Washington Junior High School teacher Elizabeth “Liz” Wayne is a “LifeChanger” and deserves to be treated that way, according to the father of one of her students. Parent Fred Venable III has nominated Wayne for the LifeChanger of the Year award in an annual program that recognizes teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade from across the country. The program has been run by National Life Group and the National Life Group Foundation since its inception in 2006.
Western Big 6 to celebrate its 50 years
The Western Big 6 Conference is anxious to celebrate its half-century of its existence before it evolves into an eight-team league in 2019-20. According to Bob Swanson, the WB6 league secretary, each team will play a part of that party in a five-week span in January and February.
Shootout shutout: Illinois dunked at 25th anniversary
ROCK ISLAND — In a day in which the Genesis Shootout record book got a workout, the Hawkeye state certainly added to its legacy at the 25-year-old boys' basketball bragging rights battle. For the first time since the field expanded to seven teams from each side of the Mississippi River in 2010, the Iowa squads swept all seven games played at Augustana's Carver Center. That gave the Hawkeye state the all-time series lead at 12-11 with two ties. It also cut Illinois' overall lead in games to 73-70.
Wainwright-led Riverdale rally falls short at Shootout
ROCK ISLAND — When a basketball team trails by 23 points at the end of the third quarter, it usually is time for reserves filling out the rest of the game just to get to the finish. The Riverdale boys nearly turned that situation on Saturday morning into the greatest comeback in the history of the Genesis Shootout.
Billups, Harding light it up in Moline opener
MOLINE — Brody Harding had 20 points 90 seconds into the third quarter. Deonte Billups had 30 points just 50 seconds into the fourth quarter. Yet, Harding reserved the highest praise for senior Treyton Lamphier, getting his first-ever varsity start. “Treyton was all over the floor, doing all the little things that don’t show up on a stat sheet,” said Harding, who finished with 24 points, hitting 10-of-16 shots and 4-of-8 beyond the arc.
Alleman's Georlett steps in and dominates inside
GENESEO — Going into Saturday morning’s round of the Geneseo Tournament, Alleman’s Parker Georlett figured she had a good grasp on her girls’ basketball role with the Pioneers. “As a senior, I envisioned being a team leader and a role model for the underclassmen,” said the 6-foot-center. That all changed with 30 seconds left in the first half of a game against Sherrard, with the Pioneers up just 21-14. Senior post starter Bailey Gorgal went down, with curdling cries of pain, with a left-leg injury.
Thirty-six years of understanding Coach Reid
ROCK ISLAND — Duncan Reid might be the most misunderstood, and yet the most understood, person in Quad-Cities sports history. Through 36 years of a coach-sports writer relationship, allow me enlighten on the understood part. Rock Island basketball coach Reid passed away at the age of 80 early Sunday morning, after finding out just last Tuesday that he had pancreatic cancer. It was a battle that this man who loved to win, craved to win, just could not defeat.
United Township football coach DuPage resigns
EAST MOLINE — The United Township Panthers football team will have an eighth head coach over the course of 17 seasons, dating back to the school’s last winning team of 2001. Jim DuPage, head coach of the Panthers for the past two seasons, submitted his resignation on Monday and athletic director Mark Pustelnik confirmed it on Tuesday. DuPage steps down after compiling a 3-15 record. He was 2-7 in his first season at UT. DuPage says his decision has “nothing to do with the program or the kids.
UT football coach DuPage resigns
EAST MOLINE — The United Township Panthers football team will have an eighth head coach over the course of 17 seasons, dating back to the school's last winning team of 2001. Jim DuPage, head coach of the Panthers for the past two seasons, submitted his resignation on Monday and athletic director Mark Pustelnik confirmed it on Tuesday. DuPage steps down after compiling a 3-15 record. He was 2-7 in his first season at UT. DuPage says his decision has "nothing to do with the program or the kids.
Sterling rolls past rival Leafs with speed, power
GENESEO – The Green Machine has been a productive and efficient machine for decades of Geneseo football. On Friday night at Bob Reade Field, the Maple Leafs witnessed a Golden Machine from Sterling that was very impressive with its speed and power. Scoring over 42 points for the fifth time this season, the Golden Warriors, ranked No. 4 in Class 5A, was shut out in the first quarter but still wound up with an impressive 43-7 rout.
St. Charles East topples Rock Island
ROCK ISLAND -- For a second straight football season opener, the St. Charles East Saints set the tone early against the Rock Island Rocks. On Friday night at Almquist Field, the Saints did so on the first offensive play. Taking a handoff, junior running back Colton Conn went up the middle, and was 80 yards downfield before a Rocky defender had put a hand on him. A play later, Ronan Macaluso scored from 5 yards out for the start of a 41-14 victory.
Rocks see positives in opening setback
ROCK ISLAND — The Rock Island Rocks lost a second straight football season opener to the St. Charles East Saints on Friday night, but nowhere near the degree that they did last year.In 2017, not only could the Rocks not generate anything offensively, nor could they stop the Saints’ offense, but they also lost their top two running backs and top two linebackers to injuries in the game’s first eight plays.
Newsome wants to be UT difference-maker
EAST MOLINE -- Trey Buchanan was a difference-maker for United Township boys' basketball before graduating in 2017. His younger brother, Willie Newsome, dreams of doing the same for the Panthers on the football field."He is one of my biggest inspiration," Newsome said of Buchanan. "When we were kids, he would always throw the football around with me, have me run routes, go through conditioning.
Six-time UFC champ Couture submits to Q-C's heart
EAST MOLINE – The Quad-Cities made a great first-time impression on six-time UFC champion Randy Couture this past weekend.“This is my first time here and I definitely will be back next year, if ‘Bam’ (event organizer Mark ‘Bam’ Pustelnik) will have me back,” Couture after an autograph session at Runners Park following the first Q-C Xtreme Couture GI Foundation “Ride For The Troops”.“This is probably the biggest (involving motorcycles and cars to various sponsored stops) that we’ve ever had...
UFC's Couture, UT's AD join forces to raise money for GI Foundation
EAST MOLINE — Mark Pustelnik, United Township's athletic director, and Randy Couture, an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Famer and six-time champion, have a history of being teammates.It was back in 1990 that they both won Greco-Roman wrestling titles in the U.S. Open in Las Vegas.
Giant golf club and ball a big hit with JDC fans
SILVIS -- Steve Edwards can remember putting the dimples on a gigantic John Deere Classic golf ball 18 years ago, creating an eye-catcher for the entry road at TPC Deere Run.This year, that ball got some company. Edwards' firm, Edwards Creative of Milan, is responsible for putting a giant driver behind that ball to create what has to be one of the most photogenic elements on the PGA Tour.“I can’t take credit for the idea,” Edwards said of the addition of the driver.
Body of missing Illinois girl found in Mississippi River
DAVENPORT -- The body of Maci Jade Chavez, 5, of Milan, was found Saturday morning in the Mississippi River. The news was first reported on Facebook in a post by her mother, Melisssa Chavez-Huston.It was confirmed by Sgt. Tony Petreikis, with the Illinois Conservation Police, and by Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson.The body was found by the general public, Petreikis said, around 11 a.m. Saturday in Pool 16 of the Mississippi River. That area is located between Rock Island and Muscatine.
'I'm too young to die!': Mom relives horror of 5-year-old's drowning
Melissa Chavez-Huston, of Milan, had a day of summer-vacation fun mapped out for her two children and a neighbor boy on Monday. They loved to canoe, and to watch the Backwater Gamblers water-skiing troupe, so she planned to put oars in the water to do both.As their Rock River adventure reached early evening, though, it turned into a mother's most horrific nightmare.In Milan, their canoe was swept into the Steel Dam's current.
Randle cements QC love
BETTENDORF — Chasson Randle enters a summer of uncertainty when it comes to his professional basketball career, having just finished a one-year contract with Real Madrid, champion of the EuroLeague.Even so, he is in the midst of a summer of certainty when it comes to how he is revered in Quad-Cities basketball circles.
DeWitte's heroics not enough for Alleman
WASHINGTON — Alleman senior Haley DeWitte left no regrets on the Washington High School softball diamond, the Pioneers season ending in a tough, 2-1 loss to Normal U-High in a Class 3A sectional semifinal on Tuesday afternoon.“I have played with a lot of these girls for over four years and it definitely is sad that this is our last game together,” said DeWitte, one of six graduated Pioneers.
Rockets put the heat on Lady Bruins
EAST PEORIA – Two months ago, amid a real-feel temperature of 32 degrees, the Rockridge Rockets defeated the St. Bede Lady Bruins 8-0 on the softball diamond. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, where there was a major change of a heat index nearing 100 degrees, but little change in the outcome, with the Rockets winning 10-0 in six innings to win the Class 2A East Peoria Super-Sectional. And yet, there was plenty of change to note in those two months.
Rockets turn the heat on Lady Bruins
EAST PEORIA – Two months ago, amid a real-feel temperature of 32 degrees, the Rockridge Rockets defeated the St. Bede Lady Bruins 8-0 on the softball diamond. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, where there was a major change of a heat index nearing 100 degrees, but little change in the outcome, with the Rockets winning 10-0 in six innings to win the Class 2A East Peoria Super-Sectional. And yet, there was plenty of change to note in those two months.
Uneasy Buller makes it look easy
DUNLAP — Alleman pitcher Mattie Buller admitted to not being at ease even with a 1-0 lead through four innings, 2-0 through five, or 3-0 through six in Saturday afternoon’s Dunlap Regional championship in Class 3A softball.“I’m never comfortable in a game like this, whether it’s a regional or any game,” she said.
In 'crunch' mode, Rockets win again
ROCKRIDGE 9, BEARDSTOWN 0FARMINGTON — The Rockridge softball team takes postseason magic numbers to a whole new level. And, after Tuesday’s 9-0, Class 2A Farmington Sectional semifinal victory over Beardstown, that way now has a name — the “Countdown Crunch.”Since their sophomore season, seniors Grace Preston, the Rockets’ pitcher, and Sarah Bisland, the catcher, have counted down that number with crunches after post-season victories.
Frutiger homers Chargers to regional win
PORT BYRON — Orion senior Hailey Frutiger hit a home run Saturday in Farmington, with the Chargers celebrating what they thought was a school softball single-season team record of 21 homers.
Pats on back abound for slugging Rockets
MOLINE — In the world of Rockridge softball, a pat on the back might have an entirely different meaning than what one would think.For sluggers Amelia Thomas and Hailee Dehner, it's all in the spirit of fun and competition.
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