By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Twenty years ago, I was tasked with a challenge that was nothing less than daunting.

My superiors at The News-Gazette asked me to select an all-decade team. They limited the choices to those individuals who had attended high school or junior college in Vermilion County.

As I recall, there were 10 high schools and one junior college. A total of 19 sports were in play.

They didn’t provide any guidelines or restrictions.

“Make it your own,” I was told.

My first thought was to remember one of the first All-Area teams I was involved in picking.  At the time, the thinking was that – in theory – the All-Area teams should be able to go out and play in a game. Thus, the sports with positions had to have each one represented.

It sounds good until you look at the practical side. Often times, the top players are at many of the same positions.

One year in softball comes to mind. The three top players were all dominating pitchers. I had to tell one particular coach that the best his candidate could do was to gain a spot on the second team.

He didn’t like it, and I liked it even less. I wanted to see the best players honored, even if we didn’t have every single position represented.

The coach asked me what he could do. I mentioned that in this particular year, there was a shortage of outfielders. The coach said that his player never played in the outfield. As he hung up the phone, the frustration was obvious in his voice.

The following week, I received a call from the same coach. He was reporting a result and asked for me personally. Before he provided any game details, he let me know that he had a different pitcher for the game.

He had assigned his normal pitcher to the outfield.

His decision helped me fill out the All-Area first team. A most-deserving player made the squad as an outfielder.

Granted, it goes against the spirit behind the creation of the All-Area teams. I’m sure this player was not one of the three best outfielders that year, but she was clearly one of the area’s top three players and the designation was warranted.

Fast forward a decade, from 1999 to 2009. The management folks at The News-Gazette had liked so much the limited All-Decade teams that were selected for the Vermilion County schools that I was asked to choose similar teams for the entire 45-school circulation area.

Talk about thankless challenges.

I haven’t heard if The News-Gazette will continue this tradition or let it slide into oblivion.

However, there’s good news for the readers in the communities where The Daily is regularly published.

All-decade teams have been finalized for Mahomet-Seymour (located on mahometdaily.com), St.  Joseph-Ogden, Oakwood and Heritage (Villa Grove).

We’ll debut the winter sport seasons today and the fall sports teams and spring sport teams will follow in short order.

There were so many deserving candidates that thought was given to adding a special mention list, but the fact is there would then be another group that would just miss inclusion on that list.

So, there are no special mention or honorable mention categories. Some positions might not be included, but that is OK. We feel good about the lists we are providing although we understand and recognize any such list is subjective and there will certainly be disagreements.

Let us know what you think.

One final caveat: to be considered, athletes needed to have been active in their sport during the decade. For example, fall sport athletes during the 2009-10 school year were not considered, but if they were involved in a winter or spring sport, their names might appear.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but to be clear, it was not necessary to have graduated during the decade that is about to end, but to have participated between 2010-19.

Without further ado, the Oakwood All-Decade Winter Sport teams, listed alphabetically:

Oakwood Boys’ basketball

First team

NAME                 HT. GRAD YR.    POS.

Kyle Elliott         6-4     2013        F
Bryce Jones       6-4     2019        G
Cameron Lee    6-5     2012        C
Parker Lee         6-3     2015        G
Chase Vinson   6-0      2018        G

Second team

Hank Chesnut   6-5     2016           C
Casey Fletcher 5-11   2011                G
Trevan Garrett  6-3   2019         G
Skyler Slade       6-4   2014         C
Cameron Wise 6-3   2018         G

Player of the Decade – Parker Lee, who amassed 1,276 career points and ranks fourth on the school’s list for all-time boys’ scoring leaders.

Oakwood Girls’ Basketball

First team

NAME                 HT. GRAD YR.  POS.

Makenzie Baker 5-10  2012              F
Brenna Durst     5-10  2018              F
Amy Martin       5-11  2010              F
Kylie Neuman    5-7    2019             G
Katelyn Young   6-1     2020              F

Second team

Delaney Durst   5-9     2015         F
Sadie Edwards   5-6    2015         G
Angela Elliott     5-3    2012         G
Paiton Frerichs  5-9    2019         G
Shaelyn Turner 5-7     2018         G

Player of the Decade – Katelyn Young, who has a current point total of 2,102 and ranks third on the school’s all-time girls’ scoring list.

Oakwood Wrestling

NAME                 WT.       GRAD YR.

Mason Ajster    160       2019
Antonio Alvarez 145       2015
Dacian Alvarez  112       2012
Gevin Ashikyan 285      2015
Cody Ayers         220      2016
Caide Borden    285       2020
Ren Dazey         126       2018
Ashton Haton   120       2013
Garrett Lashuay 126      2018
Wesley Patton  125      2011
Hunter Phelps  195       2017
Gage Reed        113          2021
Austin Shelton  145      2015
Hunter Tharp       195       2013

Wrestler of the Decade – Mason Ajster, who won 33 matches as a senior and was the state runner-up in Class 1A at 160 pounds.