St. Joseph-Ogden announces 2024 Christie Clinic Shootout teams

St. Joseph-Ogden's Tanner Siems dribbles around Nashville's Parker Renken during the 2023 Christie Clinic Shootout. The Spartans are scheduled to take on Pinckneyville in the 2024 installment of the annual all-day basketball event at the high school.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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ST. JOSEPH - The line-up for the 2024 Christie Clinic Shootout at St. Joseph-Ogden High School was announced this week. The one-day event on January 6 will feature seven varsity basketball games between several top-tier programs around the state starting at 11 am in the Main Gym. SJO will also host a JV side of the shootout, with the contests decided in the school's practice gym starting at 9am.

SJO, Unity, and Monticello will represent the Illini Praire Conference at the annual shootout. SJO, Unity, Normal University and Mount Zion are the four teams returning from last January.

This year's teams include top programs from downstate Illinois. Belleville West, Bradley-Bourbonnais, Carterville, New Berlin, Normal West, Quincy Notre Dame, Pickneyville, Streator, and Washington.

Five teams - SJO, QND, U-High, Carterville, and Pinckneyville - made deep postseason runs into winter's state series. The Panthers from P'ville were only three points away from state appearance, falling to Teutopolis in the supersectional, 42-40 .

Admission for adults is $8.00 for the day, and $5.00 for students with their student ID.

Last year's winners included host St. Joseph-Ogden, Normal University High, Mount Zion, Centennial, and Beecher.

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Above: St. Joseph-Ogden's Logan Smith dribbles around Nashville senior Connor Cameron during first hald action of their 2023 Christie Clinic Shootout game. SJO defeated the previous season's Class 2A champions, 59-35.

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Bottom Left: Dalton O'Neill tries to dribble around Normal University's Jonah Harms. Both the Rockets and Pioneers will return to St. Joseph-Ogden's Main Gym as part of the shootout's line-up on January 6. Bottom Middle: Nashville's Carter Schoenherr boxes out SJO's Coy Taylor during a first-half free throw attempt by the Spartans. Bottom Right: Surrounded by Pioneer players, Unity's Henry Thomas is fouled while trying to take a shot during second-half action.

Photos: PhotoNews MediaClark Brooks

Varsity Schedule

11:00 AM: Streator vs. Normal West
12:30 PM: Carterville vs. Normal University
2:00 PM:  New Berlin vs. Monticello
3:30 PM:  Belleville West vs. Bradley-Bourbonnais
5:00 PM:  Quincy Notre Dame vs. Unity
6:30 PM:  Pinckneyville vs. St. Joseph-Ogden
8:00 PM:  Washington vs. Mt. Zion

Junior Varsity Schedule

9:00  AM: Streator vs. Normal West
10:30 AM:Carterville vs. Normal University
12:00 PM: New Berlin vs. Monticello
1:30 PM:  Belleville West vs. Bradley-Bourbonnais
3:00 PM:  Quincy Notre Dame vs. Unity
4:30 PM:  Pinckneyville vs. St. Joseph-Ogden
6:00 PM:  Washington vs. Mt. Zion

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Avoiding holiday acid reflux is a cinch; Dr. Greg Ward explains how

Eating before bed, especially foods like ice cream is a no-no for people who suffer from acid reflux.

Abhishek Hajare/Unsplash

by Tim Ditman
OSF Healthcare

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URBANA - No eating after 6 p.m.

The advice from Greg Ward, MD, is sure to raise some eyebrows.

But he’s serious. It’s one way to prevent reflux, an ailment that’s painful and annoying in mild cases and can necessitate surgery in advanced instances. And it's something to be aware of during holiday eating.

Terminology

Dr. Ward, an OSF HealthCare surgeon, says you may hear many terms in this area of medicine: reflux, acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). They all describe the same thing: acidic contents of your stomach coming up into your esophagus and burning it.

Key takeaways:

• Reflux is when acidic contents of your stomach come up into your esophagus and burn it.

• Prevention includes not eating late; avoiding junk food, nicotine and alcohol; exercising; and sleeping with your head above your body.

• Treatments include medicine and, for tricky cases, surgery where the stomach is wrapped a bit around the esophagus.

“People lose sleep over it. They wake up in the middle of the night coughing. They have other discomfort,” Dr. Ward says.

One outlier term: Barrett’s esophagus. That’s when your esophagus (also called the food pipe) is damaged from chronic reflux, and abnormal cells grow. It’s named for Australian-born surgeon Norman Rupert Barrett, according to the National Institutes of Health. Barrett’s esophagus comes with an increased risk of esophageal cancer, and Dr. Ward says typical reflux treatments won’t work to lower the cancer risk. Instead, a doctor can use heat energy to destroy the abnormal cells.

Reflux treatment and prevention

Dr. Ward says changing your lifestyle is the best way to prevent reflux. Here’s a checklist to know:

• Don’t eat after 6 p.m. This can upset your stomach.

• “People love to have things like ice cream right before bed. That’s a killer for reflux,” Dr. Ward says.

• Avoid excess fatty food, nicotine, caffeine and alcohol.

• Exercise regularly.

• Sleep on an incline with your head above the rest of your body. This keeps the stomach fluid in place, Dr. Ward says. Don’t just do this with pillows, he warns. That can actually pinch the stomach. Instead, put the head of your bed frame on six-inch blocks.

Advanced cases

Dr. Ward says if simple lifestyle changes aren’t helping, the next step is likely medication. Protonix, Prevacid and Tagamet are common ones.

But some people won’t respond well to medication, or they don’t want to take it for the rest of their life, perhaps due to side effects like bone weakening and increased pneumonia risk. Dr. Ward says those people are candidates for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.

The person will do some pre-surgery tests to see how well their esophagus is working. The muscle needs to be working well for surgery to be an option.

On surgery day: “We wrap the stomach a bit around the esophagus to keep food from going back up into the esophagus when it shouldn’t,” Dr. Ward explains.

Dr. Ward adds that the procedure is usually a one-night stay in the hospital, but people usually report feeling better quickly.

“Very satisfying,” he says.

Another eyebrow raiser, but important guideline post-reflux surgery: no more carbonated beverages like soda. For life.

“You’re unable to burp,” Dr. Ward says plainly.

“You’ll really get uncomfortable if you drink a carbonated beverage. And if you force yourself to burp, it loosens the work we’ve done in surgery. All of a sudden, you’re having heartburn again.”

A small price to pay for a lifetime of minimal or no reflux.

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Play it safe, play it smart with holiday cooking, food safety is a must for any gathering

Photo: Tim Douglas/PEXELS

by Paul Arco
OSF Healthcare

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Key Takeaways:
• Food poisoning cases increase over the holidays due to the raw ingredients in many traditional dishes.

• Always wash your hands before you prepare any meal.

• Keep all food like meat, chicken, seafood and eggs separate in your shopping cart and refrigerator.

• A food thermometer is a handy tool used to properly cook meat, chicken and seafood.

• Avoid eating raw cookie dough or batter which can contain E. coli and Salmonella.

ROCKFORD - Eating is a huge part of any holiday celebration or get-together. But if you’re not careful with preparation and treatment of your special feast, your party could go from festive to misery before you even get the decorations packed away and the tree taken down.

Food poisoning cases tend to increase in  November and December, because many traditional holiday foods include raw ingredients such as egg, meat or unpasteurized milk. That’s why health experts like Nicole O’Neill, a clinical dietitian for OSF HealthCare, stress the importance of playing it extra safe this time of the year.

“Make sure you’re always washing your hands before you prepare," says O'Neill. "If you can get all of your guests to wash their hands before they join the buffet line that is an excellent way to keep everyone safe. Make sure your hot foods stay hot and your cold foods stay cold. There are lots of products out there that can help you do that. Make sure you have a great thermometer. One that you use through the entire process, and make sure you clean your thermometer between different foods so you don’t accidentally cross-contaminate.”

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A food thermometer is a helpful instrument that helps determine that the meat, chicken or seafood is properly cooked to a safe internal temperature.

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Another important reminder is to keep all food separated. Remember to keep meat, chicken, seafood and eggs separate from other foods in your shopping cart and in the refrigerator. Store these items in containers or plastic bags to ensure their juices won’t leak or drip onto other foods.

“You don’t want to ever mix things," says O'Neill. "In your refrigerator all your meat should be on the bottom and away from everything else. Your fruits and vegetables should be separate too. You don’t ever want to mix raw and ready to eat things together because that’s an easy cross-contamination. It’s easy for bacteria to move back and forth.”

Cook food thoroughly until it’s done. A food thermometer is a helpful instrument that helps determine that the meat, chicken or seafood is properly cooked to a safe internal temperature.

O’Neill says bacteria can grow quickly in the danger zone between 40°F and 140°F. Perishable foods should be refrigerated within two hours of preparation or serving.

“Make sure you cook your food properly to the right temperature; there are a lot of charts out there, or you can buy magnets to put on your fridge," says O'Neill. "Certain meats should be cooked to a certain temperature, which means you have to have a thermometer. There are many versions. Some you can leave in the meat or in the oven. As you cook – you pull the thermometer out and you’re good to go.”

And who doesn’t love a nibble of raw cookie dough or batter? If you do, O’Neill says to walk away. Dough for cookies, cakes, pies and other treats is made with eggs or flour that can contain E. coli and Salmonella. If you simply can’t resist, shop for edible cookie dough that uses pasteurized eggs or no eggs. Pay attention to labels.

The bottom line, O’Neill says, is to take the extra steps to ensure your meal or appetizers doesn’t leave your guests feeling blue this holiday season. After all, no one wants a gift that keeps on giving.

“Everyone needs to be super safe especially if you are going to have other people in your home. You have to, that’s all there is to it.”

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Prep Sport Notebook | Hall big on the boards for Urbana, Unity loses first game

URBANA - Janae Hall hauled in nine of her team's 28 rebounds in Urbana's 51-10 loss to visiting MacArthur on Thursday.

"Urbana was shorthanded tonight but worked hard," said head coach Bobby Boykin.

Hall and newcomer Zion Reid finished with just four points apiece on offense. Freshman Lai'yonna Harper rounded out the Tigers' scoring effort with a field goal.

Urbana hosts Mahomet-Seymour in a non-conference contest on Monday.

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Rockets suffer first loss

GIBSON CITY - Raegen Stringer exploded in the second half of Unity's Lady Falcon/Bunnie Tip Off game against Tri-Valley scoring 12 of her 18 points. Her effort was not enough to overcome the 13-point halftime deficit against the Vikings on Thursday night, which resulted in the Rockets' first loss of the season, 42-28.

Addison Ray finished with six points and six rebounds, while Reagan Little, credited with six boards and four steals, was held to a third quarter field goal for two points. Stringer added four rebounds, three steal, and two assists to her season stats.

Claire Meharry and Lauren Haas each sank a free throw to detail UHS' scoring effort. Haas' defensive effort produced five rebounds and two steals. She also dished out five assists.

Tri-Valley (3-0) had three players in double figures. Sophomore Addy Friehaut led her team's effort with 13 points, Kelsey Bartels added 11 points, and Cadence Geiser scored eight fourth quarter points to finish with ten total.

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Attention Coaches: Help us keep area fans informed! Email us your team's game and match results for the Prep Sports Notebook. Please send us a clear photo of the scorebook and other stats or information to us at sports@oursentinel.com.

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