The Sentinel

Unity, SJO, and Uni-High boys advance to IHSA State Cross Country State Finals

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks

St. Joseph-Ogden's Jack Fisher runs in the main pack at the 2023 IHSA Cross Country State Finals. Fisher and the Spartans earned another trip to state after placing second at Saturday's sectional meet in Mattoon.

MATTOON - Notre Dame de La Salette captured the team title at the Illinois High School Association Class 1A Sectional Cross Country Meet on Saturday at Lake Land College, finishing with 97 points to secure the top spot. St. Joseph-Ogden and Urbana University placed second and third, respectively, each tallying 152 points, with Unity rounding out the top four teams at 194 points. Cumberland and Gillespie also qualified for the Class 1A state finals, finishing fifth and sixth.

St. Joseph-Ogden's Jack Fisher led the way among area runners, finishing sixth with a time of 15:42.6. The senior recorded his best time of the season last month at the Patriot XC Invite, clocking in at 15:31.7. Urbana University’s Ross Kimme and Kai Schwartz also delivered strong performances, placing 13th and 22nd respectively. Kimme crossed the finish line at 15:59.6, while Schwartz posted a time of 16:21.6, both contributing to Urbana University’s third-place finish and a ticket to state.

Unity’s top finishers included Camden Fairbanks and Eli Crowe, placing 16th and 21st. Fairbanks, a junior, completed the course in 16:03.0, just shy of his season-best of 15:33.1 set at the Illini Prairie Conference meet. Crowe, also a junior, recorded a time of 16:20.9 after setting a personal record of 15:19.7 at the Spartan Classic earlier this season. Their consistent efforts helped Unity secure the fourth-place position and continue their season at the state championship.

The meet’s top three individual runners turned exceptional performances. Gillespie’s Chaz Oberkfell earned first place with an impressive 15:11.8, leading from the start. Evan Cook of St. Teresa secured second, clocking 15:20.6, while Will Fuson from Cerro Gordo-Bement took third at 15:22.0. These athletes set the tone for a competitive field and will enter the state meet with momentum.

Additional area runners making notable appearances included Collin Graven, Ryan Akers, and Alex Mowrer from Unity, finishing 55th, 59th, and 74th, respectively. Urbana University’s Bruce Tang placed 37th with a time of 16:43.5, further bolstering the Illineks' third-place finish.

Keywords: IHSA Class 1A Cross Country, Lake Land College, St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans, Urbana University Illineks, Unity Rockets, Illinois high school sports

Recent study suggests childhood trauma could haunt Illinois adults for life

Photo: Dan Meyers/Unsplash

by Terri Dee
Illinois News Connection

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed 75% of U.S. high school students said they have had at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE.

Research has shown ACEs can alter a child's brain chemistry and produce a prolonged toxic stress response. Experiencing at least one ACE as a child is linked to having alcohol and substance use problems in adulthood, and chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Joe Bargione, a certified school psychologist, said the symptoms are troubling.

"We're seeing some of the same kinds of patterns," Bargione pointed out. "That increased sense of loneliness, isolation in our youth, increased levels of suicide ideation, exposure to violence, exposure to other adverse childhood experiences."

The Illinois Department of Public Health said 61% of adults have had at least one ACE, including witnessing domestic violence in the home, parental separation, or physical and sexual abuse. Females and several groups who identify as a racial or ethnic minority were at greater risk for experiencing four or more ACEs.

The Illinois Department of Health said preventing ACEs may lower the risk for depression, asthma, cancer, and diabetes in adulthood. Bargione added schools can help address the youth mental health crisis by cultivating a sense of belonging and connectedness, as well as increasing suicide prevention programs.

"Promoting mental health awareness," Bargione urged. "Teaching kids around social-emotional learning and dealing with their emotions in an effective way, increased mental health services."

The Illinois Department of Health said healthy childhoods can provide lasting benefits throughout their lives. One way to help at-risk youth is by educating communities, youth-serving and faith-based organizations, coaches, and caregivers to better understand ACEs.

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Editorial |
Which candidate do we endorse for president? We're not the marrying type

During the 2016 election, only 20 papers endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy. Hillary Clinton received 243 endorsements from daily newspapers. Just six weekly papers endorsed Trump’s first run, while Clinton received support from 148. However, the endorsements had no measurable effect on the outcome. Clinton, who lost the election in the Electoral College, had 2.9 million more votes nationwide than her opponent, a margin of 2.1% of total votes cast.

"In 2016, nearly every newspaper in America endorsed Hillary Clinton. Obviously, the endorsements of Clinton did not lead to her victory, but it was a reflection of a widespread belief that Trump was unfit for office," David Mindich told Temple Now. Mindich is a professor of journalism at Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication.

Last week, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, two of America’s most prominent newspapers, broke with the longstanding tradition of endorsing a presidential candidate. The owners of both newspapers forbade their editorial staffs from selecting and endorsing the candidate they deemed best suited to lead the United States.

Newspaper endorsements of political candidates date back to before the 1830s. Newspapers were once partisan tools owned or funded by politicians themselves to disseminate political views and give endorsements. That changed with the rise of the independent press.

"After the commercial press in the United States was born in the 1830s, newspapers started to become independent. The leading newspaper of the so-called penny press era was the New York Herald, run by an editor named James Gordon Bennett," Mindich said. "From the inception of his paper to the American Civil War, Bennett endorsed candidates from both major parties. Endorsements became a regular feature of independent American newspapers."

Melita Garza, associate professor and director of graduate studies in journalism at the University of Illinois, said, "There is little empirical evidence that these presidential endorsements swayed readers to vote one way or another."

There is speculation that C-suite executives feared backlash and subscription cancellations from readers angered by a particular endorsement. Garza notes that journalists on the ground are ultimately the ones who suffer.

"The only people hurt by the cancellation were the journalists, who probably will face another round of layoffs," she said.

However, another likely reason for the abstinence from endorsements is the increasingly hostile climate created by conservative politicians and their social media agents. It is rare, if not unheard of, for liberal politicians to threaten media outlets or employees. Meanwhile, Trump has made numerous threats aimed at journalists and publishers. The fear of retaliation if he takes office runs deep not only among the billionaire owners of America’s largest news organizations but also among independent community publications that challenge or criticize him.

In 2022, at a Texas rally, Trump said he would jail reporters and “marry them to a prisoner” if they did not reveal confidential sources for stories he didn’t approve—a clear violation of the First Amendment. He repeated this stance weeks later at a rally in Ohio.

Donald Trump: "The reporter goes to jail, and when the reporter learns that he's going to be married in two days to a certain prisoner..." pic.twitter.com/wvK7Ilrhn9
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 8, 2022

While newsrooms and editorial boards are often operated as separate departments or even entities within a newspaper, readers may not understand the distinction between an editorial and a news article.

News articles state facts, answering the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and sometimes how. The purpose is to provide a clear, accurate account of an event as observed by the reporter or witnesses.

Editorials (and editorial columns) express opinions and viewpoints—right or wrong—by the publication’s editorial board. The objective is to present a perspective or stance and persuade readers toward that stance. Commentaries have the same purpose but are written by individuals not employed by the paper.

All that said, the editorial staff at The Sentinel agrees that the best candidate to lead the United States into the future would be one not leading a party that threatens the bodily autonomy of women, the freedom of the press, and economic recovery now in full effect. However, we won’t be endorsing either candidate because, as they say, we aren’t the marrying type.