There is still time to register for the 36th annual Siberian Express on the Wild Wilderness Trail in Kickapoo State Park on Jan. 4, 2020.

The 7.45 mile trail run is the first 2020 event of the Kennekuk Grand Slam sponsored by the Kennekuk Road Runners.

Online registration is now closed, but Race Day Registration and bib number pick up starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Kickapoo Park Maintenance Garage.

The race starts at 11 a.m. with a 2-hour time limit. 

Runners who finish under the 2-hour time limit will get an award, and medals will be awarded to the top 175 finishers.

Participants are invited to a post-race party at Exit 210 Saloon in Oakwood beginning at 12:30 p.m. Free snacks and drinks or an Italian Beef dinner with chips and dessert for $10.

A limited supply of Siberian Express dry-core shirts and other merchandise for sale at the party.

The post Still time to register for Kennekuk Road Runners’ Siberian Express first appeared on SJO Daily.

The Spartans (7-1) continue to flourish in close games.

SJ-O followed up on a seven-point Thursday win at Danville (52-45) with a one-point triumph (41-40) on Saturday at Oakwood.

For the season, five of the team’s seven wins have been by margins of seven points, or less.

Against Danville, Payton Jacob and Payton Vallee each notched 10 points to lead SJ-O.

Ella Armstrong scored seven points.

The Spartans led at halftime, 29-13, but the Vikings closed within four points (36-32) entering the fourth quarter.

Against Oakwood, SJ-O needed a late free throw from Vallee to register the non-conference win. Her decisive point came with four seconds remaining.

Armstrong drained three three-point shots en route to a team-high 13 points. She hit five of her points in the fourth stanza.

Abby Behrens added seven points and Taylor Barnes contributed six.

Vallee scored both of her points from the free throw line.

The Spartans trailed Oakwood 13-6 after one quarter, but surged into a 24-23 advantage by halftime.

SJ-O will play its third road game in five days tonight when it travels to Mahomet-Seymour.

The post St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ basketball off to 7-1 start first appeared on SJO Daily.

Don Archer has had a few passions in his life: his family, his work, golfing, and pottery.

Archer began making pottery close to 30 years ago. 

“My wife and I always loved pottery, and when we were on vacations we’d stop at a pottery place if we’d see one. About 30 years ago, we decided we’d take a pottery class at the Champaign Park District.” 

Turns out, Archer had a natural talent for it. 

“My stuff kinda came up, and hers came up and fell in. She quit, but I kept going.” 

“I took a couple more classes, then I joined a potter’s club. Eventually, I got my own wheel and kiln and started doing stuff at home.”

For a long time, pottery was just a side hobby while Archer worked in the housing industry and then for both the City of Champaign and the City of Urbana.

“I was a fourth-generation house builder. I used to build houses in St. Joe.”

“Then housing slowed down, and I was the building inspector at the City of Urbana for a while. Then housing picked back up and I went back to it, then it slowed again, and I got a job in the Engineering Department at the City of Champaign. I stayed there until I retired.”

While working a full-time job, he also had another full-time job as the Golf Pro at Blue Needles Golf Course. Now that he is retired, he has more time to spend golfing and working on pottery. 

Archer used to live in St. Joseph, but it looked a little different when they lived there. 

“We used to live on 8th Street, when 8th Street was the last street on the edge of town.”

Currently, he lives outside of Oakwood, near Kickapoo State Park, and that’s where his shop is.

“We moved out here about 12 years ago, and I had this barn built,” he said. “I told my wife I’m gonna start doing pottery. I’m only open one weekend a month as my little retirement gig. I’m only open nine weekends a month the whole year, so it’s only 18 days the entire year.”

Archer’s pottery is mostly functional pieces that can be used every day. 

“My stuff is stuff that you use every day to eat, drink, cook, bake food in. It’s microwave, oven and dishwasher safe.”

“Everything can be put in the oven. Not everything you would put in the oven though. There’s some colanders, some batter bowls, luminaries, yarn bowls. All different sizes and shapes of cups and plates.”

Every month, Archer is making new pieces to replace the ones he sold. There is always something new to see.

“I make 30-40 brand new pieces a month. I try to keep an inventory around 700 pieces.”

“There’s always something new. Always something different.”

Archer also does pieces in Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue colors for sports fans. And he even does special orders.

“I do special orders, if you wanted something for a wedding or a birthday, or Christmas, you come pick out a piece, then I can remake it and put a custom message on the bottom.”

Archer has glazes in 21 different colors, and some of them he even makes himself. And he cuts designs in some of the pieces by hand. 

Kickapoo Pottery is open the first full weekend of every month, or by appointment. Archer decided to open a shop on his property rather than travel to art shows and festivals due to the labor of transporting his products and the fragility of those products.

“I thought I would go do a couple of shows to help people find out about my stuff. I went to an art show over in Danville. Clothing or jewelry isn’t too bad [to transport], but pottery is hard. I broke a couple pieces hauling the stuff to Danville and back.” 

“That was when I first opened, and I was still doing radio and newspaper advertising. I was having pretty good traffic in the pottery shop. I was selling three times more in a weekend than what I made in one weekend at the art show.”

Archer doesn’t do any radio or TV advertising now, so he relies mainly on word of mouth to bring people in. He does have an email list, and once a month before the weekend he is going to open the shop he sends out a coupon to his email subscribers. 

“Business has slowed down quite a bit since when I first started, about 8 years ago. It takes new people coming to see the pottery.”

Archer keeps himself busy and active. He still golfs regularly, sometimes five days a week if he can, and he walks every day with his dog, Emma. 

He has a big family: four kids and fourteen grandkids.

His wife never got into the pottery after that first class. 

Archer said, with a laugh, “She likes coming out to pick stuff out to give to people, but other than that she doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

Archer says he plans to be open as long as he physically can. 

“Probably as long as I can throw pots, and get to the barn physically. At my age, that may not be a long time.”

“I’ll be 75 next month. I’ve lived three-quarters of a century.”

Kickapoo Pottery will be open December 5th-8th as a part of the Little Country Tour. After that, the next official open weekend is in April of 2020. However, Archer will open up by appointment. More information on how to contact him and more pictures of his work are available on the Kickapoo Pottery website. 

The post Archer still finds joy in Kickapoo Pottery first appeared on SJO Daily.

Jack Carey scored two touchdowns on Friday as Oakwood bounced back from a Week 1 loss to overpower visiting Warrensburg-Latham, 35-7, in a non-conference football game.

Colby Smiley’s 25-yard scoring jaunt, followed by Caleb Lashuay’s conversion kick, lifted the Comets into a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

W-L countered with its lone TD before Carey broke loose for a tie-breaking 65-yard scoring run, followed by a two-point conversion from Rhett Harrison.

Oakwood continued to unveil its big-play potential, with Josh Young hauling in a 69-yard scoring strike from Harrison before the first half ended.

The Comets’ second-half scores came on a 16-yard pass play from Rhett Harrison to Bryce Harrison and on a 34-yard Rhett Harrison pass to Carey.

Three of Harrison’s six completions resulted in TDs. He ended 6-for-11 for 178 passing yards.

Smiley gained 70 yards on the ground, Carey rushed for 61 yards and Rhett Harrison added 55 yards rushing. Carey also had 87 receiving yards on three receptions.

Oakwood returns to action on Friday at Oblong/Hutsonville-Palestine.

Oakwood Soccer

For the second time in three days, the Oakwood/Salt Fork soccer program suffered a 1-0 loss.

Thursday’s setback was at Rantoul.

The Comets (2-3-1) return to action on Tuesday at Schlarman Academy, in Danville.

Oakwood Golf

Logen Hoshauer posted the top score for Oakwood in two matches to finish the week.

The junior carded a 95 on Friday in the Danville Invitational at Turtle Run.

The team’s other scores were Reed Sperry (101), Travis Goodner (106), Kyle McFarland (128), Joie Sollers (135) and Seth Halls (149).

As a team, the Comets were 18th with a composite score of 420. Meet champion Normal Community teamed up for a 305.

On Wednesday at Harrison Park, Hoshauer’s 40 led Oakwood, which dropped a 193-207 dual-meet decision to Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin.

Sperry fired a 49 and Goodner came in at 53.

The Comets return to action on Tuesday at Wolf Creek against Salt Fork.

Oakwood Boys’ cross-country

Oakwood/Salt Fork had two participants on Saturday in the Chrisman Cowchip Classic.

In the sixth-flight race, the Comets’ Ethan Brewer was 17th, running the 3-mile course in 21 minutes, 58.96 seconds.

In the seventh flight, teammate Bryce Tucker was 18th in 24:49.56.

O/SF did not have enough runners to be scored as a team. The Comets return to action on Tuesday in a multi-school meet at Kickapoo State Park.

Oakwood Girls’ cross-country

The Comets had three competitors in Saturday’s 39th Chrisman Cowchip Classic.

In the flight for No. 4 runners, Ally Morris was 13th with a 3-mile time of 25 minutes, 4.83 seconds.

In the sixth flight, Katie Fritz was 14th in 26:10.93. In the seventh flight, Cassie Fugate was 19th in 31:24.64.

Oakwood/Salt Fork returns to action on Tuesday in a multi-school meet at Kickapoo State Park.

Oakwood Volleyball

Through its first eight matches, eight Comets have landed kills, led by Katelyn Young with 69.  Aaliyah Denius has 25 kills and Alyssa Romito has 23.

Denius leads with eight aces. Maria Adams and Ashlynn Pinnick have each served six aces.

Young and Denius are the blocks leaders with 13 and 11, respectively.

Karsen Rupp has 55 assists followed by Young with 43.

The Comets (4-4) return to action Wednesday at St. Joseph-Ogden.

The post Oakwood Football bounces back, Hoshauer top marks for Oakwood golf first appeared on SJO Daily.

Oakwood, Ill. – Oakwood’s Josey Clem is a 14-year old who carries herself much like an adult.

While there are many factors that go into her ability to be articulate, it cannot be overlooked that she has been presenting for much of her childhood.

Clem followed her older brother into 4-H.

Because she was the single Cloverbud, a 4-H member under the age of eight, she ended up participating with the older children before she was supposed to based on her age.

Growing up in 4-H, Clem has explored a variety of subjects.

Her family’s small farm, which raises horses and rodeo livestock, has allowed her to also train dogs, raise rabbits, chickens and goats; all of which she has shown on the 4-H stage.

She’s also entered many hands-on projects in the Vermilion County Fair through the years.

The list of entries is slim for the incoming Oakwood High School sophomore this year. Clem said she cut back to participate in other activities, but she did enter a cooking project, a scrapbook and a heritage arts projects where she worked with leather.

Watching 4-H members who were involved when she first started, continue to foster a safe learning environment for the younger generation as she’s grown and that has inspired Clem.

Clem believes because 4-H, particularly the fair environment, helps to foster friendship.

“I’ve met so many friends. The little kids look up to the older kids. They love us. Young people make friends, older kids make friends, the adults even make friends with each other.

“We help each other during fair week. Last year, there were two little girls who are in my club and show horses along with me. The oldest one is also doing cooking with me. We both showed our horses, hopped on the golf cart, flew to cooking, showed that real quick, then jumped on the golf cart again to finish showing horses.”

Whether a participant wins Grand Champion, a ribbon, a Pitchfork Award or is on a team for Ag Olympics, Clem said she likes that 4-H finds a way to include everyone.

Clem has her eyes set on the future of 4-H.

Currently, her mom, Holly, is the leader of their club. But, Josey knows she doesn’t want to do that forever.

Instead, the hope is that as she ages out of being able to spend her summer months presenting to judges, she will step into the leadership role and continue to nurture an environment where other children are able to learn the life skills she has during her time in 4-H.

“It’s a family,” she said.

The post Josey Clem has sights set on future of 4-H first appeared on SJO Daily.

Oakwood, Ill. – A lot can happen in five years.

A fifth-grade student can introduce her teacher to her passion for 4-H. The teacher can make the choice to introduce her two children to ducklings and enroll them in 4-H. The student, now 14, can compete with the teacher’s children, now 9 and 11, at the 4-H fair.

This is the story of Oakwood’s Huchel family.

Allie and Ethan remember the ducklings, gifted by Josey Clem.

“We had ducks, and we wanted to learn more about agriculture, so we joined 4-H,” Allie said.

The ducks didn’t stay at the Huchel’s home long. There were two males and two females, and they didn’t want ducklings. So, the Huchels took them to their 8-acre property outside of town where they had their ducklings, and then their ducklings had ducklings.

Allie and Ethan remember feeding them bread before they sold their property.

But the siblings did not quit 4-H. In fact, they continued with their troop, learning how to crochet and paint, raise and show black giant chickens.

Their mom, Kim, said the time spent in 4-H is giving her children what they need to succeed in life.

“I knew (4-H) would be perfect for Allie,” she said. “She’s flourished. She’s done all this speaking; she’s so well-spoken. She can do all kinds of project and doesn’t get nervous anymore.”

While nine-year-old Ethan is slightly more soft-spoken, he carried himself well as he presented his birdfeeder made from recycled material at the Vermilion County Fair Tuesday.

Allie said participating in 4-H with her brother has brought them closer together as they work on projects together and work within the community with their team.

“We like to do things for our community,” Allie said. “We have a garden at the food pantry in Oakwood. We get fresh tomatoes and different things that we plant and bring them in. Then we load up different bags and give them to people.”

Allie is looking forward to showing her chicken’s eggs for the first time on Saturday morning.

She isn’t quite sure what to expect, but she knows that judges will look at the health of the egg.

Allie will also participate in the County Fair pageant this evening with Josie.

Three years ago she won the Little Miss Award, even with a broken toe.

A few days later as 4-H members participated in the annual Ag Olympics, the older girls had to carry her through the events as to not injure her more.

One of Allie’s favorite memories of Ag Olympics was making a chair out of duct tape with her team, and carrying a team member back and forth.

“We put our lightest person in there, and we took strips and did a weaving technique,” she said.

Ethan also enjoys playing the sponge passing game at the Ag Olympics and eating hamburgers from the 4-H booth where his sister works at times.

“I love helping out in the 4H food booth, taking people’s orders and taking care of them,” Allie said.

For the Huchel family, that’s what they’ve learned over the last five years: how to take care of their community.

4-H has given them the opportunity to connect with each other and their friends and fellow members of 4-H. But they’ve also been given the opportunity to reach outside of their group.

“We always take animals (to the Colonial Manor) and walk around with them and show people at the nursing home,” Allie said.

“(4-H has) helped them come out of their shell and it really opens the door as they grow,” Kim said.

The post 4-H has opened doors for Huchel family first appeared on SJO Daily.

But Oakwood’s Kylie Neuman feels blessed to have had the opportunity to learn.

“I guess it’s hard to describe what having the opportunity to learn is because I’ve always had it, and I think that is something we all take advantage of,” Neuman said. “Learning doesn’t always seem fun, but a life without it would be so different, and so at the end of the day, I’m very grateful.”

For Neuman — who joins Andrew Cook as valedictorians of Oakwood High School — gratitude fueled her desire to do her absolute best in everything in which she participated.

“I’m a perfectionist when it comes to school, and just hated getting B’s,” she said. “It sounds a little goofy, but it wasn’t necessarily about being valedictorian, it was just about getting and keeping A’s.”

As Neuman focused on her grades, she also excelled in athletics and student council.

Kicking off her junior year on the varsity basketball team, Neuman injured her knee, sidelining her for the rest of the season.

Staying down was not in her plans though.

“I had a lot of support from teachers, family, and friends,” she said. “Having someone in your corner is always a good thing, especially through the challenging times.”

Neuman came back her senior year, helping Oakwood volleyball to a 24-10 record and doing her part to help Oakwood basketball win the Vermilion County title.

She also rallied to score 349 points in basketball her senior year, pushing her over the 1,000-career point milestone, and she hit a team-high 10 home runs during softball season.

“Fortunately, I was able to get to 1,000 and it was a very gratifying moment for me,” Neuman said. “It felt so good because there was a time when I truly thought that I could maybe get close to 1,000 but would never actually get there. So it felt even better knowing that I was able to accomplish it despite my setback.”

Neuman holds the record for number of games played during any athletic career at 355 during her time at Oakwood High School.

She is also proud of the time the student council spent organizing the senior citizen holiday dinner.

“I think it’s important to get involved because high school is truly what you make of it,” she said. “It might get stressful at times, but accomplishing things makes you feel really good about yourself.”

As an incoming student at Danville Area Community College, Neuman will have to take her time management skills with her as she balances academics and softball.

Neuman plans to transfer to a four-year university, seeing her education through to a doctorate degree in physical therapy.

“Hard work pays off in the end,” she said. “You can truly get through anything as long as you trust that you will.”

The post Oakwood’s Neuman grateful for opportunity to learn first appeared on SJO Daily.

Fithian
Kyle A Weise

Homer
Haley L Miller
Megan C Perry
Taylor J Pruitt
Katherine M Quick
Collin K Rohl
Cole A Woodmansee

Longview
Kaylea D Webber

Oakwood
Clayton D Walker

Ogden
John M Acklin
Cody A Ayers
Bonnie G Collins
Tanner E Morris
Katelyn M Smith

Saint Joseph
Benjamin D Albrecht
Justin A Beck
Lacey N. Berlatsky
Abigail C Burnett
Austin R Chilton
Paige B Dalton
Dezarae R Dowers
Mason A Edwards
Carson D Florey
Tenneal R Frerichs
Justyn R Fruhling
Chloe A Graver
Kohlten D Johnson
Riley S Knott
Danielle C Long
Rebecca L Long
Alexis G Manning
Brendan Z Olauson
Adalyn J Parke
Autumn M. Pecchenino
Austin M Reitmeier
Sarah C Sanders
Raegan J Smith
Amanda M Stevens
Macy R Vallee
Jason M Waldeck
Taura Ward
Hannah O Watson
Sarah E Wiseman
Tori R Witruk

Villa Grove
Kyrsten N Cox
Logan D Hettinger
Courtney L Howard
Kari J Kemnetz
Cameron A Knell
Mokaylee M Knell
Kirsten L Oberg

The post Area Students named to Parkland’s Dean’s List first appeared on SJO Daily.