Area runners qualify for IHSA state cross country championship on Saturday

Sixty-eight individual runners qualified for the Illinois High School Association's state meet in Peoria this Saturday.

Urbana High School's Celia Barbieri and University High School's Henry Laufenberg qualified as individual competitors. Laufenberg finished in 15th place with a time of 16:55.85 at the St. Teresa sectional last Saturday. Barbieri, a senior, made the cut running the Class 2A race on the same course in 20 minutes, 12.07 seconds.

The remaining 66 runners made of athletes from both St. Joseph-Ogden, Unity, and Urbana will represent their school programs at Detweiller Park.

Unity cross country runner Malia Fairbanks carries the team 2021 cross country sectional plaque after the team was honored during halftime at Saturday's Unity home playoff game against Newton. "We're super excited about going to state," Fairbanks said. "It's crazy how fast the season has gone by." The Rockets' along with girls teams from St. Joseph-Ogden and Uni-High will race for a possible state title at 9am on Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

---

St. Joseph-Ogden finished in second place on the mud-soaked course at Hickory Point golf club with 87 points in the 1A race. University High came in 10th place and Unity rounded out The Sentinel area schools in 11th place with 316 points.

It was nearly a clean sweep of the top three places with the three programs The Sentinel covers. The Unity girls team won the sectional title with four runners finishing under the 19 minutes and 47 seconds. The Rockets secured the title with a 13-point advantage over St. Joseph-Ogden, who finished in second place with 75 points. University High finished fourth in the final standings just one point behind Monticello 108.

In Class 2A action, the Urbana boys' team celebrated a fourth-place finish ahead of 14 other programs. Leading the Tigers' contingent over the finish line was senior Sam Lambert who was ninth overall at 16:35.75 and Park Mitchell 15 seconds later at 16:50.51 in 16th place.

Saturday's championship race schedule starts at 9am with Class A girls running first followed by the boys' race at 10a. The Class 2A race featuring Barbieri starts at 11am and the Urbana boys squad will race for the title at noon. The awards ceremonies will occur one hour after the start of the last race for that class.

Below is a list of our area qualifiers.

Boys 1A Qualifiers

Aiden Armstrong (SJO)
EJ Beckett (SJO)
Ethan Blackburn (SJO)
Braden Clampitt (SJO)
Jack Fisher (SJO)
Joe Griebat (SJO)
Mason Guido (SJO)
Holden Jones (SJO)
Charlie Mabry (SJO)
Carson Maroon (SJO)
Isiah Mock (SJO)
Elijah Mock (SJO)
Luke Stegall (SJO)
Payton Wendell (SJO)
Henry Laufenberg (Uni-High)

Girls 1A Qualifiers

Chloe Allen (SJO)
Addie Allen (SJO)
Kaytlyn Baker (SJO)
Chloe Burkhalter (SJO)
Madison Clampitt (SJO)
Savanna Franzen (SJO)
Kailyn Ingram (SJO)
Ava Knap (SJO)
Malorie Sarnecki (SJO)
Taryn Sexton (SJO)
Josie Cler (Unity)
Krystal Crossin (Unity)
Emily Decker (Unity)
Malia Fairbanks (Unity)
Harper Hancock (Unity)
Annabelle Jokisch (Unity)
Caelyn Kleparski (Unity)
Arianna Pruitt-LeFaivre (Unity)
Camryn Reedy (Unity)
Audrey Remole (Unity)
Olivia Shike (Unity)
Sophia Stierwalt (Unity)
Reagen Stringer (Unity)
Erica Woodard (Unity)
Kate Ahmari (Uni-High )
Marina Bowers-Wong (Uni-High)
Stefania Dzhaman (Uni-High)
Edie Hoganson (Uni-High)
Cadi Hu (Uni-High)
Madeleine Keenan (Uni-High)
Bridget Lu (Uni-High)
Kara Mathias (Uni-High)
Erin Smith (Uni-High)
Jeana To (Uni-High)
Grace To (Uni-High)
Maxine Van der donk (Uni-High)
Bonnie Weaver (Uni-High)
Clara Wood (Uni-High)

Boys 1A Qualifiers

Michael Allison (Urbana)
Brian Allison (Urbana)
Julio Angrave (Urbana)
Christian Berry (Urbana)
Hudson Coady (Urbana)
Feras Hamayel (Urbana)
Dereje Jahiel (Urbana)
Sam Lambert (Urbana)
Emmanuel Lokango (Urbana)
Asaph Lokango (Urbana)
Patrick Lyon (Urbana)
Park Mitchell (Urbana)
Jonathan Sanchez-Huanca (Urbana)
Parker Schroeder (Urbana)

Girls 2A Qualifiers

Celia Barbieri (Urbana)

Volleyball team's road to state blocked, Unity falls 2-1 in nailbiter against Monticello

Heading into Thursday's regional title match against Monticello, the #1 seeded Unity volleyball team enjoyed a six-match win streak and hadn't lost a match in 19 days. The clear favorite, with a 33-3 record to back it up, the Rockets suffered an unexpected, bittersweet ending in an otherwise promising postseason run in a 2-1 loss to the Sages.

Senior Maddie Reed makes a pass in the last match of her prep career during the Unity's regional title match against Monticello last Thursday. The Rockets, who beat the Sages earlier in the season 2-0, lost to the Sages on their home court at the Rocket Center, 2-1.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

It was clear from the get-go that fans from both teams were in for a gritty dog fight between the two Illini Prairie rivals.

"This is one of their rivals outside of St. Joe, I suppose. They were ready for that," said Unity first-year head coach Erika Yerry about her squad, which featured seven battle-tested seniors. Given the proximity of the two schools and their blooming rivalry, she anticipated a deafening and highly-charged match environment. "They were expecting that. We knew there would be a lot of fans and a lot of screaming."

What the Rockets were not prepared for were Monticello's tenacity and grit.

Yerry said, "We were ready for the battle. I don't think we ready for them to push us as much as they did."

Unity trailed on the scoreboard for the first 25 points in the opening set. Down by three at 14-11, Yerry called a timeout. Soon after, the Rockets pieced together a four-point run to tie things up at 17-all. A return error on the next serve gave the Rockets their first lead in the set.

There would be two more lead changes before the Sages prevailed, 25-23.

Yerry was not overly concerned after losing the first set by two points.

"I wasn't worried. I was more upset about some of the mistakes that we made," she said. "We just had way too many unforced errors in the first set and Monticello only beat us by two. We cleaned that up in the second set and then the third set was just a dogfight."

Behind Emma Bleecher's down-the-line kills and cross-courters from Katey Moore Unity took the second set easily, 25-11. Unfortunately, the shift in energy and momentum for the Rockets did not last.

(Left to right) Unity's Reagan Little, Ruby Tarr, Julia Ping, Jayci McGraw, an unidentified player and Katey Moore cheer for teamates after winning a point in the second set of their Class 2A regional title match. (PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

---

Before two teams entered the deciding third set, Monticello head coach Kim Allison delivered a message to her team that they took to heart.

"I told them: 'Go out there and put everything out on the court. Be competitive all the way through and truly believe you can beat Unity.'"

Allison told the Sages to focus on how they played in the opening set and to take the energy back out on the floor.

"It was nice to be able to say it 'it's a whole new match,'" she told her players. "Think about how you came out that first set. That's the way we're coming out this set."

Yerry had a different message for her squad between the second and third set of the evening.

"I thought we would be more in-system, be more in rhythm going into set three," she said. "But, you can never underestimate Monticello. I told them to be ready and that they would come out firing."

Unity senior Taylor Henry serves the ball during third set action against the Sages. (Photo: PhotoNews Media)

Monticello won the first three points in the final set, but the Rockets held their ground working their way back to their only lead of the game at 4-3. The Sages then scored six unanswered points to go up 9-4 for their largest lead of the do-or-die set.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Rockets' Macie Knudsen and Taylor Henry intensified their play. The burst of energy helped the Rockets outscore Monticello 7-1 and trail by one at 12-11. Bleecher & Co. would get within one to tie three more times but the Sages repelled their efforts each time to win the final set, 25-20.

"We played a tough Monticello team. I don't think we were ready for their defense on every single ball," Yerry said after her first season at Unity came to an unexpected close. "As the rallies go longer and longer, you get more and more tired, and you start to make mistakes. I think that threw us for a loop a little bit."

While their prep career had come to an end, she said three of her seniors plan to play at the collegiate level and were ready to "move on to the next step." Without their dedication, work ethic, and leadership the Rockets would not have concluded their season with an impressive 33-4 finish.

"Overall, our season was amazing," Yerry said.

Photo of the Day - November 2, 2021

Orion Ciota carries the ball on a 12-yard touchdown run for St. Joseph-Ogden during their 2013 home football game against PORTA. Behind Ciota's 166 rushing yards and two TDs, the Spartans rolled over the Bluejays in their first-round Class 3A playoff game 43-25 on November 2, 2013. SJO went to win their next two contests to face Stillman Valley in the Class 3A championship game. (Photo: PhotoNews Media Archive)