by: Kerry Lippold Jr.
Parkland Athletics recently announced that three students will continue their athletic and academic careers at the next level. Emily Meinert of the Parkland Women’s Basketball team will be taking her talents to Northern Illinois University next semester while Parkland Golf’s Mason Ghidina and Evan MacLean will be making their transitions to Houston Baptist University and Bowling Green State University, respectively.
Meinert’s success at Parkland is evident by her receiving a spot on the NIU team and her other accomplishments as a Cobra. The Galesburg native earned her place in women’s college basketball as tenth in the nation for rebounds, tied for sixteenth in rebounds per game, and eighteenth in field goal percentage.
Meinert’s efforts at the back of the court did not go unnoticed as she secured a spot at 53rd in the nation with 33 blocks. Additionally, Meinert positioned herself at the top of the Region 24 leaderboards as first in rebounds, rebounds per game, field goals made, and field goal percentage as well as second in points, points per game, free throws made, and blocks. She was also the only player in Region 24 to score double digits in every game. During the 2020 season, Meinert’s abilities were recognized by the coaches of Region 24 and the Mid-West Athletic Conference, and she earned All-Region 24 First Team and First Team All-MWAC honors.
Meinert found Northern Illinois University to be a perfect fit athletically and academically. “I committed to Northern Illinois University to continue playing basketball for the next two years because it felt like home, and that’s what it felt like at Parkland, and I succeeded… It felt great when I first walked onto campus, and I’m excited to go to Dekalb in June,” Meinert said in an interview with Parkland’s athletic department.
Ghidina and MacLean, although from the same school, found themselves competing at the top of the men’s college golf leaderboards. Ghidina, a Pekin native, earned his offer from Houston Baptist University by positioning himself as at first in Region 24 and in the top 10 in the nation, all while receiving All-Region honors and All-MWAC honors for 2019. These recognitions come from Ghidina’s 41st place finish at the NJCAA National Championship, seven top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes including two wins at the IVCC Invitational and MWAC Tournament.
MacLean, an Ontario native, earned his offer from Bowling Green State University with a 35th place finish at the 2019 NJCAA National Championship, All-Region 24 honors, All-MWAC honors, five top-three and seven top-10 finishes including two wins at the Purgatory Invite and the Dick Park National Invitational. Additionally, he was ranked second in Region 24 and top-15 in the nation during his sophomore year.
Coach Corbin Sebens expressed very positive things about the hardworking student-athletes to Parkland Athletics. “(Mason) is always putting in extra work to perfect his game but works even harder in the classroom,” Sebens said. Sebens sees MacLean in a similar manner and added that “Evan is a leader and great teammate who everyone wants to be around. He leaves as one of the most decorated players in program history.” The program is excited to see two of its own at the next level of the game.
