College Notebook | Former area prep athletes shine in cross country



Plotner helps UT-M finish sevent

Jillian Plotner finished 67th overall out of a field of 90 long distance runners at the Florida State University Winter XC Classic in Tallahassee. A freshman with the University of Tennessee-Martin, the former St. Joseph-Ogden cross country specialist finished the women's 6000m event at 25:08.6 to help the Skyhawks to a seventh place finish on Friday, February 5.

Plotner and UT-M run again on February 19 at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.




Brooks' season nears start at Eureka College

Jordan Brooks is just nine days away from hoping to see action as one of the newest members of the Red Devils of Eureka College. The program's first game of the season is a home game against Spalding College on February 20.

A junior college transfer from Lincoln Land College in Lincoln, IL, he started all 31 games for the Loggers. He averaged 10.5 points per game and was a proficient shooter delivering point on 40% of his attempts.

Brooks is currently one of St. Joseph-Ogden's top 25 career scorers with 786 points amassed during his three-year varsity career. The 2018 graduate is #4 in the Spartans career 3-pt shots made list after burying 176 of them.




Knudsen bestowed 2nd CCIW P-O-W

Philo native and Unity High School basketball product Elyce Knudsen collected College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin player of the week recognition for a second straight week. She earned the well-deserved honors after scoring 23 points and padding her stats during a 90-82 road win over Illinois Wesleyan on February 4. The rising Big Blue star had five rebounds, four assists and five steals in that game. Two days later in Millikan's 73-51 win at Carthage on February 6, tallied 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal to lift the team's record to 4-1.




Kylie Decker in Eastern's top 5 at cross country meet

Kylie Decker finished in ninth place overall at the Eastern Illinois Spring Meet last Saturday. The EIU freshman from Philo crossed the finish line at 19:32.4 to give the Panthers' cross country program the team trophy in the 5k race.

Thanks to Decker, Eastern Illinois tallied with 26 points in the team standings. Southeast Missouri came in second with 47 points followed by DePaul in third and Saint Louis fourth in fourth place.

One other former Unity cross country runner was in the field of 41 runners at the event. Audrey Hancock, a sophomore in Pre-Nursing and Tolono native, finished in 28th place at 20:44.2.



Know a Unity or St. Joseph-Ogden graduate playing at the collegiate level? Let us know their name, sport(s) and where they are playing. An email or a link to their social media account for interviews is a big help, too. Send The Sentinel a message to us at sports@oursentinel.com.