Marist adds 5 athletes, wrestling team to sports Hall of Fame

By Jeff Vorva

The Marist Athletics Hall of Fame is pretty crowded, with 111 individuals or teams recognized. But there is always room for more.

Five more individuals and one team were honored Sept. 1 at halftime of the Brother Rice-Marist football game, won by the RedHawks in thrilling fashion, 30-24.

Peter Bilecki, who graduated in 1991, was a state qualifier in gold in 1990. In his senior year, the varsity team won the ESCC title and he finished in third place in the conference. He garnered ESCC honors all four seasons and was all-conference first team in 1990.

Bilecki, of LaGrange, played golf collegiately at Northwestern and was a multi-year starter and a captain. He set the single-season Wildcats men’s golf record for most rounds with more than 60 played.

Maureen Mulchrone Griffin, who graduated in 2008, was a four-year varsity basketball player at Marist, during which time the team program went 104-29. Her time included advancing to the sectionals in her first three seasons and an appearance in the 2008 IHSA state tournament, a first for the program.

Mulchrone was fourth as an all-time career rebounder at the school with 642, sixth in single-season scoring with 465 points during the 2006-07 season, seventh as leading high scorer with a career total of 1,259 points, and ninth in single-season scoring with 407 points during the 2007-08 season.

Mulchrone, of Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, played collegiately at DePaul and earned Big East All-Academic honors all four years. She teaches at Chicago High School for Agricultural Science in Mt. Greenwood where she is also the head girls’ basketball coach.

Dan Piko, who graduated in 2010, was a receiver and defensive back who earned back-to-back East Suburban Catholic Conference honors as a junior and senior. He was named all-state and all-area during his senior year, and was voted captain for the 2009 season.

Piko He was named ESPN’s Prep Athlete of the Week during his senior season, a campaign in which he had more than 85 receptions, 1,300 yards, and 17 touchdowns at wide receiver. He had 66 tackles and five interceptions as a defensive back.

He was a four-year starter and two-year captain at Ashland University. He racked up 152 receptions for 2,088 yards and 15 touchdowns. As a freshman, he had a touchdown in the team’s four-overtime win against Indianapolis.

Claire Smalzer Wolfe, a 2007 grad, is the first volleyball player in the Marist Hall of Fame.

Smalzer Wolfe was a three-year varsity player who was an outside and right-side hitter, with a short stint at libero. Her senior stats include 151 kills, 224 digs, 27 blocks, 26 aces, and 21 assists, earning her all-conference honors. That season, she tied the state record with 24 consecutive service points in a game.

Smalzer Wolfe competed on the Association of Volleyball Professionals sand volleyball tour from 2014 to 2019.

Wolfe, of San Antonio, is a senior business development manager with Amazon.

Nic Weishar, who graduated in 2014, was a wide receiver for the RedHawks and left the school as the all-time leading receiver in Illinois history with 237 catches. His 3,050 career receiving yards rank eighth in state history.

Weishar played four years at Notre Dame as tight end and was a valuable blocker on the offensive line. He had four touchdown catches in his career.

He works in private equity and with the Andrew Weishar Foundation, a non-profit that provides direct financial assistance to families with adolescents and young adults battling cancer. The foundation was created in 2013 after his brother, Andrew, died of colorectal cancer.

The 1983 wrestling state championship team was also honored.

Marist was the first private school to win the Class AA state wrestling title.

Members of that historic team were head coach Bill Stevenson, assistant coaches Mark Gervais and Dan Caufield plus athletes Pete Andreotti, Chris Beaudin, Ron Bednarczyk, Jim D’Angelo, Bob Dieringer, Dan Evensen, Tony Evensen, Don Florek, Rob Flynn, Pat Hanlon, Mike Houston, Ted Karamanos, Mike Kilroe, Kevin Krasowski, Dennis Nolan, Mike O’Brien, Eric Phillips, Mark Phillips, Ed Potts, Dan Powers, Bob Ryan, Bob Scheid, Brian Shannahan, Tom Trinley and Mike Walsh.