Category Archives: Sports

Moultrie County Dive and Rescue visit Sullivan Blue Dolphins

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Moultrie County Dive and Rescue visit Sullivan Blue Dolphins
National Water Safety Month takes place each year in May. The Sullivan Blue Dolphins invited the Moultrie County Dive and Rescue to come speak with their younger swimmers. Yellow and Bronze group swimmers were visited by Joash Tiarks of the Moultrie County Dive Rescue. The swimmers had a very informative question and answer session on water safety with Mr. Tiarks. They were very thankful for the time he devoted to the swimmers and so grateful to have the Moultrie County Dive and Rescue in the community.

SMS Class 3A State Medalists 2024

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SMS Class 3A State Medalists
(Left to Right) First Row - Addie Patterson, Tenley Campbell, Emma Drake, Lyla Wright, Elin Watkins, Wren Wall, Karson Robinson, Natalie Stinson, Second Row - Aceon Fryman, Karson Ragsdale, Colt Wilson, Collin Shain, Nixon Dundee, Taevyn Dixon, Third Row- Easton Wickline, Asher Hendry, Payton Schum, Avery Renfro, Grace Crothers, Piper Conlin, Emma McCain, Anissa Herschberger. Not Pictured: Bryson Hill.
Julia Moody - All Conference 3200 and 1600M, Kelsie Hodge - All Conference 4 x 200, Devon Richardson - All Conference 4 x 200, Kharli Kelly - All Conference 4 x 200 , Mya Dyer - All Conference 4 x 200 
Shanice Brant - GRIT Award, Mae Dawkins - Co-Captain, Devon Richardson - Co-Captain, Julia Moody- Lady Redskin Award 
Riane Bear - IHSA Sportmanship Award & Class A 8th place high jump Medal (41st medal for SHS Track since 2010).

Girls track banquet awards

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Girls track banquet awards
SHS Girls Track held their end of year banquet Monday, May 20 at the VFW and the following awards were presented. 
Julia Moody - All Conference 3200 and 1600M, Kelsie Hodge - All Conference 4 x 200, Devon Richardson - All Conference 4 x 200, Kharli Kelly - All Conference 4 x 200 , Mya Dyer - All Conference 4 x 200 
Shanice Brant - GRIT Award, Mae Dawkins - Co-Captain, Devon Richardson - Co-Captain, Julia Moody- Lady Redskin Award 
Riane Bear - IHSA Sportmanship Award & Class A 8th place high jump Medal (41st medal for SHS Track since 2010).

Sullivan track has strong showing at State meet

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Mason Booker looks down the track as Kaden Guest watches the baton into Booker’s hand for a first exchange in the 4x100m.

•May 29, 2024•

by E. Scott England 

Head Sullivan track coach John Bertetto looked at the regular season meets and added up all the competitors Sullivan has faced leading up to the state series. If the record was kept by how many of those teams were beaten by Sullivan, the record for the track team would be 161 wins and just a tick over 20 losses. This over .800 winning percentage leaves little to wonder how Sullivan qualified for 10 of the 18 events for the state preliminaries

Starting last Thursday, the IHSA Class 1A Boys State Series was held at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. The meet got underway early on with Brett Bushue competing in both the high jump and pole vault. The starting height on Thursday was 1.80m for the high jump. After missing his first two attempts, Bushue cleared the bar to move on to 1.85m. Unfortunately, that is where his bid for advancing to Saturday’s finals ended. He instead turned his attention to the pole vault. Read More

Sullivan softball advances past Shelbyville; Falls to St. Anthony

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•May 22, 2024•

Sullivan welcomed Shelbyville last Monday for the IHSA Class 2A Regional Quarterfinals. They made it through three innings before the weather decided to get involved. The rain delay eventually led to a postponement to the following day. On Tuesday, with the field still wet, both teams agreed to meet in Effingham to play at St. Anthony. The winner would then get a short breather before facing the number one seed St. Anthony Bulldogs.

Regional Quarterfinals

It’s been a rough season for the Shelbyville Rams. They were just 3-13 on the year and 1-8 in their conference. That didn’t stop them from coming out against Sullivan with all they had.  Read More

Riane Bear medals at State; Receives Sportsmanship Award

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•May 22, 2024•

by E. Scott England

The IHSA Class 1A Girls State Series was held last week at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. Sullivan sent four girls to Charleston for the competition that began on Thursday with state final qualifying. 

Riane Bear started the day with high jump, along with 38 girls from across the state. The starting height was 1.50m, which Bear easily cleared on the first attempt. At the end of the first round, 22 girls moved on to tackle the height of 1.53m. Bear’s first two attempts just missed clearing the bar. The third time was a charm as she easily passed over the bar. Seven more girls were eliminated at this height which set the field of 15 to move on to Saturday. Bear finished fourth in the prelims. Read More

Sullivan boys finish second at Sectionals; Qualified in 10 events for State

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Photo by E. Scott England
Hayden Moody fires off the line in the 800m. The senior would finish fifth but qualify for state based on time.

•May 22, 2024•

by E. Scott England

The Sullivan boys’ track team have had an amazing year. Records have been broken, then re-broken as they continue to push each other. It was no surprise then that at the end of the sectional meet last Wednesday that the team qualified in 10 of the 18 events. In each event, the top two finishers get to advance. All other athletes can advance if they meet the state qualifying standard for that event. 

Brett Bushue became one of the first qualifiers as he advanced in both pole vault and high jump. The senior easily advanced to state in high jump as he finished second with a jump of 1.88m. He had narrowly escaped elimination at the 1.85m mark, but cleared it in his third and final attempt. He cleared the 1.88m height in the first jump. Bushue would go on to finish fourth in pole vault, but cleared the qualifying standard of 3.70m to earn his second invite to state. Read More

SMS State qualifiers 2024

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Photo furnished SMS State qualifiers Girls State Track Participants: 8th Grade - 100 meter: Avery Renfro, 4x100 meter relay: Karson Robinson, Piper Conlin, Natalie Stinson, Grace Crothers, Avery Renfro, 400 meter: Avery Renfro, 4x400 meter relay: Emma McCain, Emma Drake, Lyla Wright, Avery Renfro, Anissa Herschberger. 7th Grade - 100 meter hurdles: Emma Drake, 4x100 meter relay: Tenley Campbell, Elin Watkins, Wren Wall, Emma Drake, Addie Patterson, 200 meter: Tenley Campbell, Long Jump: Lyla Wright. Boys State Track Participants 8th Grade - 100 meter: Colt Wilson, 4x200 meter relay: Collin Shain, Taevyn Dixon, Nixon Dundee, Colt Wilson, Brynner Johnson, Aceon Fryman, 400 meter: Colt Wilson, Long Jump: Colt Wilson. 7th Grade - 1600 meter: Payton Schum, 4x400 meter relay: Karson Ragsdale, Easton Wickline, Asher Hendry, Bryson Hill, Payton Schum, High Jump: Karson Ragsdale.

North Mac puts an early end to Sullivan’s baseball season

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•May 15, 2024•

by E. Scott England  

Sullivan’s baseball season saw great improvement in the latter part of their season. They went 7-3 in their last ten games of the regular season. They wrapped up the season with two conference games last week. 

Last Tuesday, ALAH came to town. Schafer Ogle threw a six inning shutout, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out ten Knights. Fallon Rose was one for one with a double, a run, and an RBI. Cameron Crowe was also perfect at the plate going three for three with a double and two RBIs. Tristan Wright and Caden Saul were both two for three with two RBIs each. The game ended after six with Sullivan over the Knights, 10-0. Read More

Sullivan softball goes 3-2 on the week; Regional game postponed

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•May 15, 2024•

by E. Scott England  

It was a busy week for Sullivan softball as they closed out their regular season with five games over four days. They were scheduled to play their regional quarterfinal on Monday but it was called during weather in the fourth inning.

Huge win in Decatur

The girls began the week in Decatur against a struggling MacArthur team. Several players saw action in the 23-3 route of the Generals. Tabitha Webb was two for two in her five plate appearances. She also had a time high three RBIs. Kylee Freese and J’Nai Webb were also perfect at the plate. Each would have two RBIs as well. Taylar Mercer and Emerson Risley tacked on two RBIs apiece. Read More