Category Archives: Sports Section

OVHS Catcher Named All Area First Team

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Photo by Jason Brown
Catcher Garrett Fritz made All Area first team.

•June 28, 2017•

Okaw Valley baseball catcher Garrett Fritz was named to the all-area first team last week.

Despite teams pitching around him all season, Fritz hit .515, had an OBP of over .600 and hit seven home runs and seven doubles.

An injury kept him from taking to the mound the whole season, but he threw 19-2/3 innings that featured 23 strikeouts.

“Garrett is arguably the best overall player in the area,” said OV coach Andrew Hagerman. “He is an exceptional defensive catcher as well. He controls the game when he is behind the plate.”

Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond’s Marcus Vanausdoll earned second all-area honors.

The junior Knight hit .555 on the season. Read More

ALAH Track Athletes Earn First Team All Area

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•June 28, 2017•

Three Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond athletes were named to the 2017 girls’ track and field News Gazette All-Area teams last week.

Freshman Kenli Nettles earned first team-all area honors.

Nettles placed in the top six in two events at the IHSA Class 1A State Track and Field Meet at O’Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Read More

Best Basketball Player is OVHS’s Paige Robinson

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Photo by Jason Brown
OVHS Paige Robinson-Best Player.

•June 28, 2017•

The 2016-2017 basketball season has been over for three months, but Okaw Valley guard Paige Robinson is still collecting awards.

Robinson won the female basketball player of the year award at the 9th Annual ESPNDecatur ESPY Awards in Decatur Saturday.

I am just proud of Paige as she is very deserving.” Coach Brad Akers began. “We are not a very big school and it is nice to see her getting the recognition she is with all of the work she has put in over the past two years.”

“She was not at the ceremony, again with the basketball camp,” he explained. “You can see her name on the screen via a picture from the Okaw Valley Timberwolves twitter.” Read More

Tennis Receives a Boost with New Court Surface

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Photo by Mike Brothers
Tennis anyone? Back row, left to right: Jo An Mathias, Evelyn Ashley, Aastha Patel, coach Chris Dobosz, Neej Patel, Kathy Camp. Front row, left to right: Mikhayla Mathias, Elizabeth Mathias, Aarya Patel, coach Susie Dobosz, Clayton Bone, Xander Ashley and Natalee Hunter.

Players From 3-90 Years Old

•June 28, 2017•

By Mike Brothers

Tennis courts at Wyman Park in Sullivan are riddled with tennis balls on Tuesdays and Thursday, but it’s all in the name of fun.

That is in large part due to the gaining popularity for tennis in the area and the efforts of Chris and Susie Dobosz.

Tennis began growing in Sullivan in 2010 when Chris, who operates Evolve Yourself Fitness, began discussing the possibility of starting a youth tennis program.

The program grew from those humble beginnings to developing a middle school tennis program in Sullivan last year.

“This sort of grew organically from those first discussions,” Dobosz said, noting that 100 people went through the program last year.

That kind of traffic took its toll on the Wyman tennis courts which hadn’t seen much action in years. Read More

National Trampoline Champion

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National Trampoline Champion
Ten year old Shaylin Hunter of Sullivan won National Champion on trampoline at the 2017 national tumbling competition held in Madison, Wis. recently. She is the daughter of Siobhan and Austin Hunter.
She has been in tumbling for three years, training two days a week at the Mattoon Academy under coaches Liz White and Sara Maynard. She has made Nationals all three years that she has competed, this year placing first on the trampoline, third on the double mini, and seventh on the floor. Hunter has made Nationals in years past in Rapid City, S.D., and Knoxville, Tenn. and has won 56 trophies. She has advanced from a beginner to intermediate level in just three years and competed this year at nationals against 40-45 competitors.

Area Softball Players Honored

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•June 28, 2017•

Several players from Moultrie County earned softball all-area honors last week.

Soon to be Okaw Valley senior Paige Robinson earned second team honors.

The short stop had 43 hits, 29 runs and batted .531. Read More

ALAH Softball Team Recognizes Individuals

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•June 28, 2017•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond softball team handed out individual awards this past week.

Sophomore Reagan Miller received the offensive player award, and junior Macy Hollingsworth received the defensive player award.

Senior Mycaela Miller won the most valuable player award, and sophomore Marissa Herschberger won the most improved award.

Mycaela Miller was a unanimous first team Little Okaw Valley All-Conference player and was chosen for the first team all-area team in the News Gazette. Read More

ESPY Awards Finalists

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Photos by Jason Brown
(Paige Robinson Above)
ESPNDecatur 1050 AM and NowDecatur.com announced the finalists for the 9th Annual ESPNDecatur ESPY Awards. Two Okaw Valley athletes were nominated for player of the year. Paige Robinson was named a finalist for girls’ basketball player of the year. Garrett Fritz was named finalist for the baseball player of the year. Richland Community College’s Shilling Hall will host the banquet inside the theater where winners will be announced Sunday.

Garrett Fritz

Coaches Association Announced its 2017 Class 1A All-State Teams

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Grace Harlin

•June 21, 2017•

The Illinois Coaches Association announced its 2017 Class 1A All-State Teams.

Two Okaw Valley players earned all-state honors.

Natalie Jeffers earned second team honors, and Grace Harlin earned third team honors.

Jeffers and Harlin were both third team all-state players as sophomores.

Jeffers specialized in driving in runs.

She drove in 42 in 27 games and had a career high eight home runs.

She sported a .448 batting average and a .538 on base percentage, and she scored 32 runs and tallied 11 doubles. Read More

Commodores Win

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Commodores Win
The Decatur Commodores won the Sunnyside Invitational recently. Okaw Valley High School seniors Garrett Fritz and Cody Drake are a part of that team.