Williams on indefinite leave from women’s basketball

The University of Illinois Sports Information department announced on Wednesday that freshman Destiny Williams will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Illinois women’s basketball team for undisclosed reasons, issuing a statement from head coach Jolette Law.

“Destiny Williams is on an indefinite leave of absence from the Illinois women’s basketball team. She is still attending classes and is a part of the Illini family, however, she won’t be participating in team activities while dealing with some personal issues. Right now, my main focus is on the team as a whole and on moving forward with the games that we have in front of us.” Bizzarri named Midwest Region Athlete of the Year

On Wednesday, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches named senior Angela Bizzarri the Midwest Region Athlete of the Year.

At the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, the senior ran her season-best time of 20.07.5, finishing nearly seven seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Bizzarri is also the first Illini to have a top-10 finish at the regional in all four years of her career.

Bizzarri is only the second Illini to receive this honor. The last was Cassie Hunt who won in 2004. Women’s gymnastics ranked 13th in preseason coaches poll

Coming off of its most successful season in program history, the Illinois women’s gymnastics team is ranked 13th in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll. This is the third consecutive year the program has earned its highest preseason ranking in school history and the fourth time overall that Illinois has been in the top 25 for preseason rankings.

Last year the team made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships and finishing at No. 12. The Illini return 19 of 24 routines as well as three All-Americans in senior Sarah Schmidt and juniors Melissa Fernandez and Allison Buckley.

Smith named to Naismith Award Watch List

Senior Jenna Smith was named as one of the 50 candidates for the 2010 Naismith Trophy. This is the second consecutive year Smith has been named to the watch list. The Naismith Trophy is presented annually to college basketball’s player of the year.

This is the fourth major national award that Smith has been named a preseason candidate for. She is also on the watch list for the Wade Trophy Player of the Year Award, the Wooden Player of the Year Award, and the Senior CLASS Award, which focuses on performance on and off the court.

Smith has had a strong start to her senior year, tallying double-doubles in both of Illinois’ first two games, including a 24-point, 10-rebound performance in the season-opener at Temple.

Men’s tennis adds four recruits for Spring 2010

Illinois men’s tennis head coach Brad Dancer announced the signing of four newcomers starting this January. The recruits include Brian Alden, Karunuday Singh, Jean Anderson, and Stephen Hoh.

Alden, from Barrington, Ill., currently ranks No. 59 nationally and third in the state, according to TennisRecruiting.net and advanced to the final eight at the Midwest Open as well as the final 16 in the USTA Spring National Championships.

Singh, from Gurgaon, India, has captured two singles and three doubles titles at junior International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments and advanced to the quarterfinals in two Futures tournaments in August and October.

Anderson, from Cape Town, South Africa, won the South Africa F2 Futures tournament in October and was part of the South African Davis Cup training squad. He is also the winner of two ITF singles and doubles titles.

Hoh, from Eaglemont, Australia, has won four ITF junior doubles titles and two singles titles.

He was also a member of Australia’s Junior Davis Cup team in 2007.

Daily Illini staff reporting