Zick to stick with softball
Kaneland track star will switch sports at St. John’s
Lauren Zick may be the exception to the rule, but it has worked out well for the Kaneland senior.
Specialization may be a growing trend for high school athletes, focusing year-round on a single sport to increase their chances of earning a college scholarship, Zick went against the grain.
“It kind of shocks a lot of people when they hear,” said Zick.
The track standout will play softball — on scholarship — next year for St. John’s University in New York City.
“I’ve been playing softball since I’ve been four years old, so it’s kind of always been my dream since being little to play college softball,” Zick said.
She has never played softball for her high school, though.
“It was a tough decision and took a lot of thought and sitting down with my parents and discussing it,” the multiple state track meet qualifier said.
“We felt, as an athlete, it would be better for me to run track because I knew it would give me conditioning and help me in the summer when we play five, six, or seven games in a day.
“And, it has definitely made me faster. My times have dropped every year and it’s helped on the basepaths. I’ve had a really high steal percentage. I think last year it was like .970 (playing for her New Lenox Lightning summer team).”
Zick claimed Kane County Meet wins last Friday in the 100-meter dash (12.81 seconds) and 200 (25.95) and took second (17-11) in long jump. She also ran on the Knights’ runner-up 400 relay.
“I don’t think anyone from Kaneland has ever won the 100 and 200 at the county meet,” said Knights’ coach Doug Ecker.
Zick is first in the long jump and ninth in the 200 in the DyeStat Illinois rankings for Class AA. She’ll do both plus the 400 and 800 relays at sectional. After state, she will hang up those track spikes and move to softball for good.
“Last year I moved away from the 400 because we noticed my starts in the 200 were really good,” she said of dropping the longer event. “We feel that in the 200 I have a better chance of getting up higher on the podium (at state).”
At county, she was second in the long jump to former travel softball teammate Emma Spagnola of West Aurora, who went 18-9.5 and is one of the top contenders in Class 3A.
“We played softball together for five or six years on the Kane County Explosion before I moved to the Lightning,” Zick said. “We were known as the offensive dynamic duo on our team. It was definitely fun.”
Zick patrolled center field and Spagnola, who verbally committed to a softball scholarship at Northern Illinois before changing her mind and going with a track offer from Minnesota, played in left field.
Zick, who also had softball scholarship offers from Illinois and Indiana State, said all three coaches liked that she ran track in the spring.
“Lauren’s biggest asset will be her elite-level speed, and speed never has an off day,” St. John’s coach Amy Kvilhaug said when she signed in November. “She will be competing for a spot in the outfield and has the potential to be among St. John’s top base stealers.” Zick plans to major in business. “I think there will be great internship opportunities in the city,” she said. “It was a place I felt that I needed to be for what I wanted to go into.”
She’s visited the Big Apple twice.
“You’d think it’d be close to what Chicago is, but it’s definitely different,” she said. “So many kinds of people. Even the accent. I felt like an outsider. It was fun.
“I’ve always been an independent person so I feel like being out there is something I can handle.”