Photo furnished
Grant Martin with his $25 Swim Outlet Gift Card Participation Award.
•April 15, 2020•
By Kevin Cremeens
SBD Publicity Director
The Sullivan Blue Dolphins Swim Team has not been allowed to gather and practice in the pool since March 16th, but they are not letting that stop them.
Don’t be alarmed, they are not still meeting and working out together, but are doing so “virtually”. Read More
Korey Hostetter bends for a rebound.
•April 1, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Sullivan Lady Redskins defeated the Lady Rams of Shelbyville to take eighth in the Okaw Valley Tournament in 2005, but dropped four other games this week.
Sullivan took a six-point lead into the half and tacked on one more in the third quarter.
In the fourth, the Lady Redskins spread
the lead open for the 48-37 victory. Sullivan outscored the Lady Rams in every quarter with help from Kasey Hamilton who led Sullivan with 20 points.
Carrie Kuhns followed with eight.
Micah Heddins, Kelly Malloy and Megan Buxton each scored four points, and Lacey Florey and Shaylee Walker had three each.
Lara Seelhoefer rounded out Sullivan’s scoring with a bucket. Read More
•March 18, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
Several area girl basketball players earned all-conference honors this past week.
Central Illinois Conference
From Sullivan, three Redskins earned all-Central Illinois Conference honors.
Emily White was one of four unanimous choices for the six-member all-conference team.
The junior was the Redskins leading scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game. Read More
Photo by Jason Brown
Jamison Rocke defends Eli Hagerman during the Lincoln Prairie Conference regular-season championship game Feb. 1 at Arthur. Both players earned all-LPC honors.
•March 18, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
The Lincoln Prairie Conference announced its boys’ basketball all-conference team Thursday.
In its inaugural year, several area players earned honors.
For Okaw Valley, senior Cameron Sharp earned unanimous first-team selection.
Sharp averaged a team-high 18.7 points and 2.9 steals per game to go with 3.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest.
He shot 46 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point range. Read More
•March 18, 2020•
By Jason Brown
NP Sports
The changes to high school sports came rapidly at the end of last week.
Earlier in the day Thursday, March 12, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced the limitations of attendance to no more than 60 spectators.
Then later in the day, the IHSA decided to cancel the events because of concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We appreciate the patience and understanding that we have received from everyone involved in this process over the past 72 hours,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “We have stressed the fluidity of this situation and have been transparent about the possibility that a suspension or cancellation could occur. While we had support from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Peoria City/County Health Department to continue our events with limited spectators, it has become untenable to continue the events among our member schools.” Read More
•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
Photo furnished
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.
•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.
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
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.