Five earn Player-of-the-Game recognition at Christie Clinic Shootout

St. Joseph - After each of the seven games at the Christie Clinic Shootout at St. Joseph-Ogden High School on Saturday, the best player in each contest was awarded a player-of-the-game plaque. Here's a look at the seven recipients and how they did.

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Christopher Benning

Streator

Christopher Benning poses with his Player-of-the-Game award with St. Joseph-Ogden tournament and athletic director Justin Franzen. Benning scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to fuel Streators' come from behind victory in the first game of day at the Christie Clinic Shootout. Tallying 23 points, his last quarter effort resulted in 60-53 win over Normal Community West on Saturday.

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Miles Kirin

Normal U-High

Going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, Normal University Miles Kirin led all scorers with 18 points in his team's decisive 68-42 win over Carterville in Game 2. The 6-foot-1 senior drained eight of his total points in the fourth quarter.

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Trey Welter

Monticello

Monticello improved their record to 8-8 after a 19-point performance from 5-foot-5 senior Trey Welter against New Berlin (11-4). Behind Welter's second through third quarter outburst and a solid team defensive effort, the Sages defeated the Pretzels, 57-26.

Photos: PhotoNews Media / Clark Brooks

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Nick Allen

Bradley-Bourbonnais

Nick Allen hit ten field goals and drained four free throws, finishing with 22 points in Boilermakers' 62-61 win over the Maroons of Belleville West (7-8). Down 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, Bradley-Bourbonnais (12-4) continued to trail on the scoreboard through the first three quarters to later pull out the W thanks Allen's six 4th-quarter points.

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Andrew Thomas

Unity

Unity's Andrew Thomas was named Player-of-the-Game after he finished with 13 points. The team's relentless defense and attacking offense paid dividends against Quincy Notre Dame (9-7). Thomas, a senior starter, collected all of his points in first half. After 15 games and the 58-35 win, Thomas and the Rockets are still undefeated.

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AJ Keith

Pinckneyville

Panther AJ Keith was the top shooter of the day, finishing with a game-high 33 points against shootout host St. Joseph-Ogden (13-3). The 6-foot-4 Pinckneyville shooting guard made 13 of his 14 free-throw attempts to defeat the Spartans, 72-57.

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JC Anderson

Mt. Zion

After scoring 18 points in the first half, Mt. Zion's JC Anderson received the nod as player-of-the-game in the final game of the day. Anderson added another four to his total in the second half, finishing with 22 points in the Braves 64-49 win over Washington. Like Unity, Mt. Zion came, saw, and conquered the Panthers (9-7) to remain undefeated at 17-0.

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24 area runners compete at Siberian Express

OAKWOOD - It was 33.8º when the starter's gun signaled the start of the 36th installment of the Siberian Express trail race at Kickapoo Park on Saturday. Running across lightly snow-covered ground and through muddy ruts, 146 runners finished this 7.45 mile race.

The Sentinel's top area finisher was St. Joseph's Justin Jones. Finishing first in the 30-39 year-old division, he was the third runner out of the field to cross the finish line, turning in a sub-hour time of 51 minutes.

Justin Jones, right, and Jolee Paden, on the left, pose for a photo after receiving their awards at the 2009 St. Joseph Community Festival 5k, the name of the race before becoming the SJO 5K. Jones was the third runner to cross the finish line at Saturday's Siberian Express.

PhotoNews File Photo

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The top womens' competitor was Sarka Petrickova, from Urbana, who took first in the Womens 30 - 39 group and 29th overall. She completed the course 1 hour, six minutes, and 45 seconds.

Other area runners included Jared Chenoweth, finishing third in the Mens 40 - 49 group and 13th overall. Luke Morrison crossed the line second in the Mens 20 - 29 group and 25th overall. Scott Tess finished seventh in the Mens 40 - 49 group and 32th overall. Chenoweth finish the race at 1:01:52, Morrison at 1:05:41, and Tess clocked in 1:07:57.

Four runners from The Sentinel area competed in the Womens 30 - 39 age group. Nicole Olson finished in second place and was 35th overall. She crossed the finish line at 1:09:06. Urbana's Olga Makarova finished the course at 1:24:37, good for fifth place in the division and 70th overall. Ellen Vore, also from Urbana, finished eighth and 128th overall with a time of 1:52:23. Coming in ninth was Nikki Campbell at 1:55:57 for a 141th overall.

There were five area runners in the Womens 40 - 49 division. Kaura Owen, from Sadorus, finished 13th and 120th overall at 1:44:07. Shonda Barto finished 14th in the Womens 40 - 49 group and 134th overall. The Philo resident clocked in at 1:53:43.

Jennifer White, from Savoy, and Sidney's Brooke DiBello finished seventh and tenth, respectively. White finish the race at 1:11:19, 46th overall. DiBello was 59th overall after crossing the line at 1 hour, 19 minutes and 09 seconds. Urbana's Anne Sickles completed the run 1:33:47. She finished 101th overall and 12th.

Brian Barto, from Philo, ran the course under two hours, finishing at 1:53:46. He was 17th in the Mens 40 - 49 group and 136th overall.

Mark Dixon led the 50-59 men to the finish line, running a 1:11:12 to finish sixth in the group. He was 45th overall. Following the Urbana resident over the line almost 20 minutes later, Steve Darling, from Oakwood, finished 16th in the division and 93th overall with a time of 1:31:41. Christopher Korose finished 97th overall at 1:32:11. He carved out a 17th place in the divison.

Savoy's Nancy Roth also braved the chilly running conditions, turning in a time under the two hour mark. She finished fifth in the Womens 60 & up division and 119th overall at 1:44:06.

Robert Ogden completed the course 1:19:38. The Sidney resident finished eighth in the Mens 40 - 49 group and 61st overall.

Urbana's Brenda Straka finished first in the Womens 20 - 29 group and 73th overall. She stop the clock at 1:24:50.

Elizabeth Withers-Sickles ran the course in 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 54 seconds. She came in fourth in the Womens 19 & under and 74th overall.

Hugh Bowman rounded the list of area runners. He finished 16th in the Mens 30 - 39 group and 71th overall at 1:24:38.

The Siberian Express is the first race each year in the Kennekuk Road Runners annual race series.

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