BELOIT — Their athletic careers at Beloit Turner began in the shadows of COVID-19, but the four seniors saluted in a collegiate signing ceremony rose above that adversity to achieve their goals.
First and foremost was to compete in college in the sport they are most passionate about.
Tyshawn Teague-Johnson is headed to UW-Stevens Point to play basketball. Caitlin Wirth will run cross country and track and field at UW-Platteville. Mariya Babilius will be shooting 3-pointers for Kankakee Community College in Illinois and Desmond Pennie will throw the shot and discus for St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
• TEAGUE-JOHNSON: Turner head boys basketball coach Ken Watkins cited the impressive improvement the 6-foot-5 Trojan made over his four years. As a senior, he averaged 19.8 points and 11 rebounds per game.
“The growth he’s made from freshman year to senior year might be as big a jump as we’ve ever had in a player here,” the coach said. “I’d like to take some credit for that, but it had everything to do with him.
“We saw his potential start to emerge his sophomore year and his junior year he had a great season when he was an all-conference player. He had a great spring and summer in AAU ball where he got the attention of college coaches and his senior season was one of the best that a player has had in program history.”
As a senior, Teague-Johnson was All-State honorable mention, one of only seven players in program history to receive that honor. He was co-conference Player of the Year and a First Team all-Rock Valley selection for the second time. He was also a Beloit Daily News All-Area First Teamer.
Teague-Johnson finished ninth in career scoring at Turner with 966 points and everyone ahead of him played a full four years. His freshman year was abbreviated due to COVID. He is sixth all-time in career rebounds with 577.
“With all his success and accomplishments, he still remained grounded and humble,” Watkins said. “Everybody who knows Tyshawn says the same thing. That he is a really nice young man.”
WIRTH: On Tuesday, Wirth became the Rock Valley Conference Rock Division 1600-meter champion with a PR of 5:48. Last fall she earned All-RVC Second Team honors in cross country.
“A lot of our attention in high school athletics goes to football, basketball and baseball,” Coach Riley Clark said. “With cross country and track, we have some really hard-working athletes who put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go without a lot of recognition. Caitlin is an example of that. She is really defined by her hard-work ethic. You wish you could have a team of Caitlins because of how hard she works.”
Clark said Wirth is peaking at the right time.
“Her times keep dropping in both the mile and the two-mile,” the coach said. “I think she will have an incredible career. Platteville is lucky to have her in both cross country and track.”
BABILIUS: Turner’s career leader in 3-point shots in a season and a career, the guard earned All-Area Second Team honors after helping her team go 18-6. She converted 69 treys for the season, shooting 37.7 percent from beyond the arc. The 5-7 guard grabbed 3.1 rebounds per game, dished out 41 assists and had 43 steals.
“We’re excited for Mariya,” Turner head coach Nick Faralli said. “You talk about players growing, she had some ups and downs, but at the end of the day she met the challenges and she put herself in the position to play at the next level. We’re all so proud of her.”
Faralli said Babilius became an effective outside shooter by putting in the work in the gym.
“She put the shots up and not just in our practice,” he said. “That work comes outside of the season on her own. She made it a commitment year-round to be the best she could be.”
PENNIE: Athletic Director Andy Coldren said Pennie has continued to grow as an athlete throughout his career and plans on throwing the shot, discus and the hammer at St. Mary’s.
“Over the past year, you can tell that Dez has spent a lot of time in the weight room,” Coldren said. “He has a great work ethic. He’s usually one of the first out to practice and the last to leave. A lot of the kids are drawn to him and he’s one of the leaders of our program.”
Coldren said Pennie’s distances on his throws have continued to improve.
“He is just now starting to scratch the surface of his potential,” the coach said. “We’re looking forward to some big things from him in the future.”
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