Category Archives: Sports Section

IESA Cancels State Series for Wrestling and Volleyball

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•March 18, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports

The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) state wrestling and volleyball tournaments were canceled Friday because of concerns with the spread of coronavirus, COVID-19.
The IESA has made the decision to cancel the remainder of the IESA volleyball state series for both seventh grade and eighth grade.
“As we mentioned yesterday (Wednesday), we were hoping that if there was a reasonable chance to resume the state series, we would try to do so,” said IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley. “However, several factors have been taken into consideration just in the last 24 hours to reach this decision”
Factors for cancelling included the following.
• The increasing number of schools who are closing for an extended period of time
• The variability in state host availability
• Scheduled spring breaks and extended school closures after spring breaks
• The availability of contest officials as we transition into the high school spring season Read More

Basketball at Lake Land

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Basketball at Lake Land
On Tuesday, Feb. 25 Avery Still signs a letter of intent to play basketball for Lake Land College in the fall. She is pictured above with her parents at the Sullivan High School gymnasium.

Nuzzo Competes With Fighting Scots

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•March 4, 2020•

Jadon Nuzzo from Sullivan is a member of the Monmouth College men’s track and field team.
The Fighting Scots are set to compete in the Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship on Feb. 28-29 in Grinnell, Iowa, and select athletes will compete in early March for the right to compete at the NCAA indoor meet March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Scots’ outdoor season will begin April 3-4 at Washington University in St. Louis.

Timberwolves Win Two on Way to Regional Championship Game

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Photo by R. R. Best
Okaw Valley coach Brooks Inman screams words of encouragement to his players during the regional championship Friday.

•March 4, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

The Okaw Valley boys’ basketball team won two games to reach the Class 1A Bethany Regional championship, but came up short against Casey-Westfield.
In the championship game, OV fell behind by double digits in the first half but kept the score within striking distance.
In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves made their move.
Down by 16 in the fourth quarter, OV battled back to cut the lead to six with seven minutes remaining.
But the Warriors’ defense, which helped OV to 14-of-44 (.318) shooting from the field, including 1-of-11 (.090) from three-point range, stifled OV the rest of the game to go on a 19-1 run and pull away for the eventual 57-37 win. Read More

OV Cheerleaders Perform

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Photo by R.R. Best
OV Cheerleaders Perform
The Okaw Valley Timberwolves cheerleaders performed a dance routine for the hometown crowd last week. They were front from left:- Autumn Burns, Julia Hildebrandt, Marissa Bell, Madalyne McPheeters; back- Grace Moeller, Shaukana Tipsword, Danae Nave and Faith Briggs.

Blue Dolphins Complete Swimmers Supporting Soldiers Drive

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(At left) the Blue Dolphins Terre Haute Team: First Row: Kara Chambers, Tyson Schmohe, Logan Booker, Johnathan Iacobazzi, Kaiden Smith.   Second Row: Isabel Donovan, Deanna Clark, Mason Booker, Liam Donovan, Josh Cremeens, Max Kersten.  Third Row:  Head Coach Jason Drury, Mackenzie Erixon, Gabrielle Spain, Madalyn Booker, Ethan Schmohe, Isaac Chambers, Miles Kersten. Blue Dolphins photo

•February 26, 2020•
Sullivan Blue Dolphins are finishing out the short course season with success in and out of the pool.
The Dolphins competed in Terre Haute at the Artic Blast meet. The team brought home the 2nd place team trophy against twelve other teams. Gabrielle Spain in the girls open division won the 2nd place high point award. Ethan Schmohe in the 13-14 boy’s division came home with the 1st place trophy. SBD has a moto “You earn your trophies at practice; you bring them home from meets” is a theme that is really showing for the team.
They have thirteen swimmers qualified to swim in the Regional Championship meet in Peoria at the end of February. Read More

Sullivan Competes at Swim Sectionals

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Sullivan Competes at Swim Sectionals
The Sullivan swim team competed in IHSA Swimming Sectionals at Champaign-Centennial High School Saturday.
The Redskins placed eighth overall out of 19 teams, accumulating 79 points.
Individual places and results are below:
Ethan Schmohe, Clayton Schmohe, Matthew Wesselman and Julian Poston swam the 200 medley relay in 1:56.39 for fifth place.
Ethan Schmohe placed third win the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.92 and fourth in the 100 butterfly.
Wesselman, Ethan Schmohe, Clayton Schmohe and Poston placed fifth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:42.03.
Poston also placed 19th in the 100 breastroke at 1:22.93.
Matthew Wesselman swam the 500 freestyle in 5:13.57 for sixth place and set a new school record and he placed seventh in the 200 freestyle at 1:55.76
Clayton Schmohe placed 20th and 21st in the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle, respectively.

ALAH Knights End Winning Season with Tough Games

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Photo by Jason Brown
Jamison Rocke jumps high in the air to catch a ball to break Okaw Valley’s full-court press.

•February 26, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

After winning an emotional home game to secure the regular-season Lincoln Prairie Conference championship Friday, the Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond boys’ basketball team could not carry that momentum into the semifinals and lost to Stewardson-Strasburg in the Meridian Regional, Monday.
Against Okaw Valley Friday, a team ALAH lost to 60-57 on Feb. 1, the Knights took the lead in the middle two quarters and held on to ten-point advantage until the fourth quarter.
OV battle back cutting the lead to three points several times in the final period but could not tie the game in the 54-49 win.
“I’m proud of these guys working so hard. We fought through it. These kids went through 3-23 last year to get where they are today is amazing,” said ALAH coach Brad McGill. Read More

Redskins Basketball Season Closes

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Photos by R.R. Best
Leyton Ellis fights for a rebound against Tuscola on senior night Friday.

•February 26, 2020•
The Sullivan boys’ basketball team lost to Newton in the regional quarterfinal game 67-51 to end its season with an overall record of 5-22 and a Central Illinois Conference record of 0-7.
The Redskins also lost to Maroa-Forsyth 53-44 last Tuesday and Tuscola 72-41 on senior night Friday.
Against Meridian, Ian Plank scored a team-high 21 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Photo by R.R. Best
Four SHS seniors pose before the game on senior night. Luke Harlin, Ryan Batman, Gary Herschberger, Blake Thompson and Aaron Garvey are senior team members.