Palestine-Hutsonville's Negus Bogard pushes toward the finish line in the 1600 during the preliminary round of the IHSA Class 1A Boys State Track Meet May 24 in Charleston. Board would go on to finish 10th in the finals May 26, while he also finished fifth in the 3200. (Blake Nash photo)
Nearly two handfuls of Robinson High School athletes were recognized for their exploits on the diamond this spring by being named to one of the All-Little Illini Conference teams announced recently.
Robinson had six baseball players named, along with three softball players, with six of those being First Team selections.
The selections were based on the players' statistics and performances in conference games only.
Another solid day on the track for Crawford County netted a trio of top-10 finishes and points for both teams represented at the IHSA Class 1A Boys Track State Finals in Charleston Saturday (May 26).
Members of both Robinson High School and Palestine-Hutsonville's boys' track team will have a chance to win medals and earn points at the state track meet, but which ones and how many is yet to be determined.
Both the Maroons and Pioneers had solid efforts at Thursday (May 24)'s preliminary round at the IHSA Class 1A State Finals in Charleston and each team qualified at least one entry for Saturday's final round.
Another strong season came to an abrupt and disappointing end for Oblong High School's softball team.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to an early lead, but couldn't make it stand up, eventually losing in 10 innings to Marissa, 4-3, in the semifinals of the IHSA Class 1A Marissa Sectional Tuesday (May 22).
"That was a tough way to end the season," OHS head coach Galen Slover said. "The kids played well and they played hard. There is no give-up in our kids. We had our opportunities, but we just didn't get it taken care of."
A handful of Lincoln Trail College athletes were recognized for their achievements on the diamond this past season by receiving all-conference and/or all-region honors recently.
Three LTC baseball players and one softball player grabbed some postseason hardware by being named to one or more of the All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference and All-Region 24 teams.
Regional titles have become the norm for Oblong High School's softball team.
The Lady Panthers won their fourth title in the last five seasons Saturday (May 19) after whipping Red Hill, 13-3, in the championship game of the IHSA Class 1A Red Hill Regional in Bridgeport.
Getting back to the state tournament has been difficult in recent years for Robinson High School's boys' tennis team, but they were finally able to break through this year.
Robinson will have a representative at the state finals for the first time in five years following Kaden Buchanan's fourth-place finish at the IHSA Class 1A Effingham Sectional over the weekend (May 18-19).
"Kaden played great at times," RHS head coach Tom Buchanan said. "He has been thinking about qualifying for state since the sixth grade. He had two very tough matches on Friday, winning both. Then Saturday with the pressure off he played the best set of the season."
A chance to earn a state medal came up just short for Oblong's Shyanna Chapman Saturday (May 19).
The OHS junior fell one spot shy of earning a medal, as she placed 10th in the discus at the IHSA Class 1A Girls Track State Finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
Moral victories are not what a team wants, especially in the postseason, but, that's what Robinson High School's baseball team earned themselves Saturday (May 19).
The Maroons battled tooth-and-nail with a talented Teutopolis team, only to run out of steam late in a 14-7 loss in the championship game of the IHSA Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
"The score doesn't reflect what a great ball game this was," RHS head coach Reggie Truitt said. "We just ran out of gas and let the game get away from us in the bottom of the sixth. We were facing the top seed in our Sub-Regional, one of the best pitchers in 2A baseball, and came back to tie it twice. We came back from three runs down and then from four runs down."
