Crowe shines in Parkland season opener
Trimble scores 13 at Parkland
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.
Baker captures two firsts
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.
Plotner makes college running debut
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.
Mabry #3 runner for EIU
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.
That phrase will no doubt echo the feelings around the state after the Illinois High School Association released the schedule high school sports for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year in Illinois.
The Board of Directors issued the following statement:
"Unprecedented circumstances create extraordinary decisions. The IHSA Board of Directors faced one of the most difficult decisions in the Association’s 100-plus year history today. Please know that we did so with great diligence, empathy, and understanding. There were an immense number of factors that went into today’s decisions. We knew there would be obstacles no matter what we decided. Whether those hurdles included overlapping seasons for multi-sport athletes, equity between sports, preseason acclimatization guidelines, the prioritization of spring sports, facility conflicts for schools, officiating, and that is just naming a few. Please know that each potential roadblock was recognized and given consideration. The IHSA membership, like our state, is incredibly large and diverse. Each Board member brought different concerns to the table that impacted their own school or region differently. There was never going to be a one-size fits all solution to playing 25 sports seasons in a little over four months. What did occur was collaboration and camaraderie. Each Board member may not have been able to have all of their specific concerns addressed, but we worked together to produce a schedule and plan that we believe will work for our student-athletes."
In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the list of the sports along with their start and finish dates.
