by Alan Look
Back in August, St. Joseph-Ogden basketball standout Taylor Wells announced her plans to continue her academic and athletic career at Mount Mercy University. The senior, who is making waves with the Spartan volleyball team this fall, joined the basketball program at the private institution of about 1,488 students.
The Mustangs are members of the Heart of America Athletic Conference and have made NAIA national tournament appearances six times since 1991. In the previous season from November through February during the Coronavirus pandemic, the program played 20 games and finished 7-13 overall.
On September 12, teammate Payton Jacobs announced on Twitter that she will pursue her dream to play college basketball at Illinois Wesleyan University. She is no stranger to the Shirk Center or the Bloomington-Normal area where she has played basketball at the State Farm Holiday Classic.
Late last week, a third Spartan announced a verbal commitment continue their basketball career. Senior Ella Armstrong join the Truman State University program in 2022. Located in Kirksville, Mo.. The Bulldogs finished the 2020-2021 season with a record of 17 wins and 5 losses. The Bulldogs are members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Like college basketball fans across the country, Illini fans watching the game and other teams play over the next week will need game day snacks. Shipt is one of many companies around the country that will deliver fans their favorite foods just in time for game day.
"Knowing that many fans won't be traveling to stadiums, bars or restaurants to watch games this year, we wanted to offer up a solution to get them their favorite foods come tournament time," said Rina Hurst, Chief Business Officer at Shipt. "One of the advantages to using Shipt for your game day snacks is that you don't need to get off the couch to do so, which is great considering there is nonstop basketball in the coming weeks!"
Illini fans across the country can use Shipt to get their favorite snacks delivered to their door throughout the entire tournament. The delivery service has a number of retail partners such as Meijer, H-E-B, Winn Dixie, Target, Dierbergs, and Kroger, and offers same-day delivery in as soon as one hour through its network of trusted personal shoppers.
Shipt and Kellogg's are offering an exclusive deal to all existing and new customers. Fans who spend $15 on select Kellogg's products through Shipt.com or the app will receive a $3 credit towards their next Shipt order. The offer is valid through the app until March 29.
According to a recent press release, Shipt provides personal shopping and delivery and is available to 80% of households in more than 5,000 U.S. cities.
"Shipt Shoppers go above and beyond, communicating in real time about preferences and substitutions," the company says. "A curated marketplace of retailers, Shipt offers access to a variety of stores and product categories including fresh foods, household essentials, wellness products, office and pet supplies. Shipt is an independently operated, wholly owned subsidiary of Target Corp."
During last year's college basketball season, the company's data points to clear favorites when it came to snack preferences for basketball fans. Shipt's delivered more than 231,000 bags of Doritos, 136,000 boxes of Cheez-Its, 133,000 bags of Goldfish and 107,000 bags of Tostitos.
Like Indiana, home to some of the top snack aficionados last season ordering more than 13,000 bags of Doritos last year, Illinois residents are big on the same Frito-Lay snack, too. Around the rest of the Big10, the Buckeye State tends to be partial to Little Debbie Nutty Bars, a snack didn't even crack Michigan's top five most ordered.
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.
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.
Starting along side teammate Peyton Crowe, Bree Trimble went 2-for-2 from the free throw line to finish the night with 13 points in Parkland College's second home contest of the season. She led the Cobra with four of the team's 17 assists in the 71-64 victory on January 23.
Last Saturday, Riley Baker, a junior on the Eastern Illinois University track team, set a new indoor facility record at the Indiana State John Gartland Invite in Terre Haute. The former Spartan hurdler and sprint specialist took first in the men's 400-meter run with a time of 50.00 in the new the state of the art Indoor Track & Field Facility that opened in 2018.
Later, as a member of the Panthers' 4x400 relay squad, along with teammates Damian Clay, Tadiwa Mhonde and Gregory Downs, he earned another first place award when his foursome led the field with 3:22.52 win the event.
Baker and the EIU men's track team are back in action again on February 12 at the Grand Valley Big Meet in Allendale, Michigan.
Freshman Jillian Plotner started her college cross country career with the University of Tennessee at Martin by helping her team to a third place finish at the Redhawks Invite held at Osage Centre Fields on January 23. Plotner, the fifth runner from the Skyhawks to cross the finish line, turned in a time of 20:05.6 in the 2020-21 season opener. UT Martin competed in a field which included regional foes Eastern Illinois, Memphis, SIUE and Southeast Missouri. The women's team finished with 74 points.
Former St. Joseph-Ogden distance specialist Sam Mabry was the third runner to finish for the Eastern Illinois University Panthers at the Redhawks Challenge at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO.. EIU finished fifth in the women's 5k race. Mabry, a 2019 grad from SJO, who raced against former teammate Jillian Plotner (SJO '21), now at UT Martin, turned in a time of 20:34.8 to finish 29th overall.
Know a Unity or St. Joseph-Ogden graduate playing at 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.
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