St. Joseph-Ogden’s volleyball team achieved closure on Saturday afternoon.

Closure for the season.

Closure for the career of nine seniors.

Closure for a match that could have gotten away from the Spartans in the same manner that played out in the season-opener.

Back in August, SJ-O won the first set against eventual Class 2A state champion Decatur St. Teresa, before suffering losses in the next two sets.

On Saturday, in front of a cheering throng of fans at Illinois State University’s Redbird Arena, SJ-O won the first set in the match that would determine third place in Class 2A.

Rockford Lutheran won the second set and had the Spartans facing a late-match deficit in the tiebreaking set.

This time, there was not a replay, no sadness or déjà vu.

SJ-O reeled off four of the final five points – two on kills by Kennedi Burnett – to clinch the third-place trophy thanks to a 25-11, 20-25, 25-23 triumph.

“They fought the entire season,” head coach Abby McDonald said. “The way they carried themselves and represented the community to end with a win is extremely fitting.”

In the third set, the Spartans scored the first three points and went on to more than double the score at 15-7 before Rockford Lutheran rallied to gain leads at 19-18, 20-19 and 22-21.

“The key,” McDonald said, “is the experience of being in those moments prior to today. We used every opportunity to learn from mistakes so we would be prepared when it counted.”

Burnett led the Spartans with 14 kills – matching her performance from Friday’s semifinal round – and Emily Bigger distributed 29 assists.

Rylee Stahl had 14 digs and, according to McDonald, “was a difference-maker.”

“She hardly let anything drop, tips or aggressive swings,” McDonald added.

SJ-O ended the year with a 37-5 mark and a school-record total for wins in a season. The team ended the year by playing four consecutive three-set matches.

“The season, in general, will be difficult to match up to in the future,” McDonald said. “But we learned in 2016 (after placing second at state) what a difference it makes to know dreams can come true if you believe in yourselves.”

Katelyn Berry landed six kills in the season-finale. Teammates with four kills apiece were Lacey Kaiser, Stephanie Trame and Payton Vallee.

Other defensive stalwarts were Kenly Taylor with nine digs, and Burnett and Kaiser with seven apiece.

Nine SJ-O seniors closed their prep volleyball careers on Saturday: Lindsey Aden, Jenna Albrecht, Katelyn Berry, Emily Bigger, Lacey Kaiser, Rylee Stahl, Kenly Taylor, Stephanie Trame and Anna Wentzloff.

In a sport where only six players are on the court at one time, a large number of players from one class can potentially cause friction within a program.

“It’s a challenge to have so much talent in one class,” McDonald said, “but they are not just great volleyball players, but better people.

“They were all in and know it takes everyone to be successful. To buy in is a testament to who they are. They are kind kids.”

Following Friday’s three-set emotional loss, McDonald tried to alleviate pressure on her squad for the season-ending third-place match.

“I told them that trophies collect dust, but the memories on this journey are ones they will never forget,” the coach said.

In the first set of the third-place match, there were five ties before SJ-O snapped a 5-5 deadlock. With Stahl at the service line, the Spartans doubled the score, building a 10-5 advantage and not trailing again in the set.

Rockford Lutheran scored the first five points of the second set and the Spartans never caught up.

McDonald expected the competitiveness of the match.

“We knew after watching them on Friday, they never quit and they battle like we do,” McDonald said. “I thought it was a comparable matchup.”

The Spartans wound up in the third-place match after falling to Breese Mater Dei in the semifinals on Friday, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22.

The decisive third set was tied at 18-18, 19-19, 20-20, and 21-21.

The Spartans made an impression on Mater Dei coach Chad Rakers.

“That St. Joseph-Ogden team was legit,” Rakers said. “They are the real deal defensive team.

“They are a force to be reckoned with and made us fight for every point.”

Mater Dei landed four of its 10 service aces in the third set.

“They kept us moving,” McDonald said, “and our serve-receive broke down at times.

“It’s one of the first times our serve-receive has broken down in some time. That makes it hard for us to get into any kind of system offensively.”

SJ-O rolled up five of the final six points in the second set. McDonald felt good entering the tiebreaker.

“I hoped the momentum would carry us longer than it did,” she said.

The Spartans scored the first point – on a kill by Berry – but couldn’t take more than a one-point advantage in the set and fell behind for good, 8-7.

Burnett totaled 14 kills, Kaiser had eight kills, Berry had seven and Vallee six.

Bigger put up 32 assists. Stahl had 17 digs and Burnett ended with nine digs.

McDonald expected her team to rebound as strong as it did in the third-place match.

“It may not be the match they wanted, but we came to do a job and play as hard as we could,” she said. “So many teams would love to be in this moment.”

For the season, Bigger ended with a school season-record total of 949 assists. She also had a team-high 55 service aces.

Burnett, a 6-foot sophomore, slammed a team-high 327 kills. Berry had 264 kills.

Stahl led the Spartans with 314 digs. Burnett collected 297 digs. Kaiser had the most blocks, 45.

SJ-O ended the season with wins in 22 of its final 23 matches.

Impressively, the nine seniors have a bookend win for their high school careers to go with a victory in their final matches in junior high school.

St. Joseph Middle School won an IESA state title in Class 3A when the current seniors were in eighth-grade. That team included Albrecht, Berry, Bigger, Stahl, Trame and Wentzloff.

Royal Prairieview/Ogden, which feeds into SJ-O, ended its junior high season four years ago with a third-place win in Class 1A. That team included Aden, Kaiser and Taylor.

That is closure, with an exclamation mark.

The post St. Joseph-Ogden Volleyball: Showing dreams can come true first appeared on SJO Daily.

The duties of captains on high school athletic teams are pretty uniform.

They are the team leaders, the ones who counsel younger squad members on expectations as well as serving as the liaison between the coaching staff and the entire squad.

They offer encouragement, advice and are the role models for behavior.

There is much less similarity on how the captains are chosen, not just from school to school, but also within different programs at the same school.

Incoming Mahomet-Seymour varsity football coach Jon Adkins uses the selection of captains as a learning experience for the teen-agers interested in those roles.

Adkins has followed the same formula at his various coaching stops.

It starts, he said, with players deciding if they are interested in becoming a captain.

Those who are, he said, “submit a resume, letter of interest for the position, and then references.”

From there, they get a real-world experience which – for many – is a first.

“I put each candidate through an interview process with our interview panel,” Adkins said. “Each candidate will be asked the same 10 questions and then the panel will provide them feedback on their interview.”

Those helping to conduct the interviews are not just members of the football coaching staff.

“My interview panel is comprised of a different makeup of people,” Adkins said. “I’ve had other sports coaches, teachers, community business people and administrators sit in and be a part of my interview panel.”

The coach doesn’t have a specified quota he needs to fill.

“I have had anywhere from one captain to eight captains, a lot just depends on all the criteria,” Adkins said.

Regardless of the selections, Adkins believes everyone comes out ahead.

“At the end of the day, it is my job to help prepare these kids for their future and real life,” he said. “Some of them have never been through an interview process, so this is always a great learning experience for them.”

The M-S football captains will be selected at the end of July.

The interview panel makes recommendations, but Adkins has the final say-so.

The choices, he said, are “based on score criteria from the interview process, as well as offseason attendance, commitment and leadership.”

The qualities that he is seeking will go beyond football.

“I expect them to be leaders,” Adkins added. “I have a saying that goes, ‘anyone can be a captain, I want you to be a leader in the school, in the community, in the classroom and on the field.”

The football captains are making more of a commitment than attending the weekly captain meetings.

“I also put them through my leadership academy,” Adkins said. “It’s a nine-week course to enhance their leadership skills.

“I open this academy up to anyone, but I require the captains to attend.”

***

When Neal Garrison took over the boys’ cross-country program at M-S 18 years ago, he maintained the tradition already in place for selecting captains.

“I continued to do what was done before me of letting the athletes vote for a captain at the end of the previous season,” Garrison said.

After a few years, however, Garrison switched the method prior to the 2006 season.

“I didn’t think it was the best system for our program,” Garrison said. “I think a popular vote sometimes missed picking some of the strongest leaders.

“I also have found that leaders can come from more grades than just the seniors, and the popular vote tended to miss some of the younger leaders.”

The captains are still picked by the runners in the program, but no longer by vote. It’s strictly based on the documented number of miles run during the offseason.

“One of the main criteria I use is work ethic,” Garrison said. “I feel the hardest workers are the ones leading the team by example. It isn’t based off speed or age or popularity.

“While work ethic is hard to measure, we use the amount of summer miles a runner runs as the standard.  Over the years, we have raised the standard of miles needed to be run. This standard was set by myself and my past runners over the years and it has been adjusted over the years by the advice of my past runners.”

Currently, the standard is set at 750 summer miles, which is about the equivalent of 250 miles per month, or approximately 8 ½ miles per day.

Garrison places no limits on the numbers of captains.

“Some have suggested this could water the honor of captain down if we had too many,” Garrison said. “My thought is that if we have more runners on our team that were willing to put in the work, then our team would be stronger and ultimately each of them did their job to help lead the team to being better.”

His lone restriction is that all captains must be a returning cross-country runner.

“I think that to lead in the program, you at least had to have been in the program for one year so you know what the expectations of the program are,” he said.

The Bulldogs have had as many as eight captains (in 2012) to as few as zero (2018).

Garrison sees a direct correlation to the off-season training and the in-season success.

“The first year we had a runner meet our current standard for being a captain (2011) was the first year our team qualified for state as a Class AA team,” Garrison said. “The first year (in his tenure) that we didn’t have a runner that ran enough to be captain was the first year we didn’t qualify for AA state, which was last year.”

M-S produced back-to-back state championship teams in 2016 and 2017.

“Our strongest years as a team both in terms of winning, but even more so in terms of depth of our team was when we had the most captains or runners willing to put in the work to be very strong,” Garrison said. “The year we made it to Nationals was the year we had a significant portion of our team with runners that put in the miles, which both drove our team and themselves to being great.

“I very much appreciate their commitment to each other and the team so they all very much earned the honor of being captain. They did exactly what the team needed to be great.”

The 750 miles is a basic measuring stick for earning the title of captain, but the coach added, “we want them to run most of the miles with their teammates so that it motivates their teammates to run more to get stronger as well.”

He allows the summer miles to accumulate through Aug. 31, so Garrison said, “as of now, who is going to be our captain is still in the hands of the runners.”

***

M-S boys’ soccer coach Jeremy Davis lets his athletes have input on which squad members will serve as captains.

“After the squads are finalized, I will have the kids fill out a form to rate each other,” Davis said. “Then I will interview those that wish to be a captain.”

From there, the captains will be finalized.

Davis said there are certain traits that the candidates must exhibit: “respect of peers and coaches; good role model and a good leader,” he said.

The captains will have an assortment of responsibilities, most importantly, “be an example for which the other kids in the program should aspire,” Davis said.

Other duties for the team captains, he said, include “talking with refs on the field, and they also do some miscellaneous organization, such as what the team will wear to school.”

***

St. Joseph-Ogden football coach Shawn Skinner implemented a new system for selecting captains for the upcoming season.

It’s sort of an on-the-job training program.

“We have ‘summer captains (selected by coaches) who have been working as team leaders in the summer for a variety of competitions and workouts,” Skinner said. “There are eight summer captains, two per team.”

Those individuals are Blake Primmer, Brayden Weaver, Jarrett Stevenson, Jaden Miller, Creighton Burnett, Conner Hodge, Max Shonkwiler and Blake Dable.

“From there, the team will vote on three full-time season captains,” Skinner said.

The week of each game, the Spartans’ football coaches will select a fourth captain.

“Basically, it’s a way to allow a player to earn their way into that role,” Skinner said. “It could be a new player weekly or the same individual.

“This is our first year of doing it this way, so we will see how that goes.”

The three full-time SJ-O football captains will be voted on by squad members the last week of July.

***

Of course, there is no requirement that a team needs captains.

Among those that do not pick captains are M-S girls’ cross-country and St. Joseph-Ogden cheerleading.

The post Area athletic programs have different ways of selecting team captains first appeared on SJO Daily.

Six athletes from St. Joseph-Ogden received All-Area first-team accolades on spring-sport honor teams chosen by The News-Gazette in recent weeks.

Oakwood had one All-Area first-team representative.

Villa Grove/Heritage had spring-sport athletes earn recognition, but none on an All-Area first team.

St. Joseph-Ogden softball

For the third year in a row, shortstop Bailey Dowling headlined the All-Area team as the Player of the Year. The junior slugged 22 home runs, raising her IHSA career state record to 65. She had a .674 batting average.

One other SJ-O junior, catcher Hannah Dukeman, was also named to the All-Area first team for the third consecutive year. She batted .543 with 13 home runs and 50 runs batted in.

Senior outfielder Katie Poulter and junior pitcher/second baseman Zoey Witruk were special mention choices.

The honorable mention unit included SJ-O senior infielder Savannah Smith.

Oakwood softball

Senior pitcher/shortstop Kylie Neuman was accorded All-Area second-team honors.

Two other Comet seniors were chosen for the honorable mention team: first baseman/center fielder Paiton Frerichs and pitcher/third baseman Kerrigan Shafer.

Heritage softball

Senior utility player Gracyn Allen was picked for the All-Area special mention squad.

Junior pitcher/shortstop Aliya Holloman was an honorable mention pick.

St. Joseph Ogden baseball

Sophomore pitcher/infielder Crayton Burnett and senior pitcher/outfielder Adam Rose were each awarded All-Area first-team honors.

Burnett struck out 96 batters in 69 1/3 innings pitched while compiling an earned run average of 0.40. He batted .351. Rose batted .375 and stole 45 bases for a 27-9-2 team. He struck out 72 batters in 52 2/3 innings and registered an ERA of 1.99.

SJ-O had one All-Area second-teamer: junior pitcher/first baseman Keegan McCarty.

Junior pitcher/infielder Drew Coursey was chosen for the special mention unit while senior catcher Adam Frerichs was an honorable mention pick.

Oakwood baseball

Sophomore pitcher/infielder Isaiah Ruch was selected to the 12-player All-Area second team.

The Comets had two representatives on the honorable mention list: junior pitcher/first baseman Elijah Harden and senior utility player Noah Ruch.

Villa Grove/Heritage baseball

Senior pitcher/infielder Evan Wilson earned All-Area second-team mention.

Sophomore catcher Ryan Cheatham was named to the special mention list.

Teammates named in the honorable mention category were sophomore utility player Nick Coffin and senior outfielder Kane Davison.

St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ track and field

Two seniors and one sophomore were named to the All-Area honorable mention list.

Senior sprinters Lane Gaskin and Aiden Meyer were honored as was sophomore thrower Hayden Knott.

Oakwood boys’ track and field

Two squad members were assigned to the All-Area honorable mention group.

Senior distance runner Cameron Helka and junior sprinter Cameryn Taylor were the Comets who were recognized.

Villa Grove/Heritage boys’ track and field

Junior thrower Chase Burwell was the program’s lone postseason choice. He earned a spot on the all-Area honorable mention list.

St. Joseph-Ogden girls’ track and field

The Spartans had two first-team and two second-team All-Area honorees.

The first-teamers were sophomore jumper and sprinter Atleigh Hamilton and senior sprinter Maclayne Taylor.

Hamilton is a two-time Class 1A state champion in the long jump and this spring also ran a leg on the state-winning 800-meter relay.

Taylor was a four-event state placer, including running the anchor leg on the triumphant 800-meter relay. She ran legs on two other state-placing relays and was a medalist individually in the 100 meters.

Junior sprinters Hailey Birt and Danie Kelso were the SJ-O second-team picks.

Two Spartan distance runners, freshman Ashlyn Lannert and senior Rylee Sjuts, were part of the All-Area honorable mention list.

Oakwood girls’ track and field

All-stater Katelyn Young was one of 14 athletes chosen for the All-Area first team.

The junior was a state-medalist in the shot put. She placed third in Class 1A and broke the school record (43 feet, 5 inches) in her specialty.

Junior distance runner Grace Davis was chosen for the All-Area honorable mention team.

Villa Grove/Heritage girls’ track and field

The lone squad member to receive recognition was sophomore sprinter/jumper Meike Herbrandt. She was an honorable mention All-Area choice.

The post SJ-O, VG/Heritage and Oakwood spring athletes receive honors first appeared on SJO Daily.

With an entry fee of $100 per person, golfers will enjoy 18-holes of golf with a cart, food, beverages and will have opportunities to win prizes throughout the day.

The Scramble is open to the first 36 teams that pay the fee. The deadline to register is June 1, 2019.

The post SJ-O golf scramble to support athletic program first appeared on SJO Daily.

St. Joseph-Ogden’s softball program is celebrating its 40^th year of existence this season.

The sport was first offered in the fall of 1979 with an abbreviated schedule of 12 games.

As improbable as it seems, the current 2019 team has a link to the inaugural team.

The tie centers around Kim (Brooks) Allen, a player on the first SJ-O team, and her mother, Nita Brooks, who was recognized as the school’s top sports fan.

Nita Brooks’ license plate cemented her reputation: “SJO FAN 1.”

She passed away in July, 2017. Tributes to Nita Brooks were a part of the 2017-18 school year at various SJ-O home sporting events.

First-year Spartan softball head coach Larry Sparks was anxious to continue some sort of recognition this spring.

“I wanted to do something in Nita’s name without adding yet another award at the end of the season,” Sparks said.

He broached the topic at a pre-season meeting with his assistant coaches.

“Almost as fast as I talked, Dave Richmond had a picture of a shirt picturing the bubble gum (Dubble Bubble) that Nita used to supply the girls at all the games,” Sparks said.

Shortly later, the Nita Brooks Award was created.

“It is a Player of the Game who shows effort and attitude above and beyond the normal softball stuff,” Sparks said. “The coaches handed it out first, and whoever possesses it picks the next recipient.”

The recognition occurs only following wins.

“After a loss, it will go back to the coaches, and the process resumes on the next win,” Sparks said.

Some of last year’s traditions have also remained intact.

Nita Brooks’ license plate is affixed to the right field fence – near where she would always park – and for the second year, players individually run out and touch it on their way to their positions prior to the game.

One occupant of the right field seating area beyond the fence now is Kim Allen.

“I would sit (there) with mom and dad,” she said. “I sit in right field where my parents always sat.”

Another SJ-O softball assistant is Aaron Allen, Kim’s husband.

When he told his wife and daughter (Morgan), about what was planned for the season, he said, “they were in tears.”

The honor is also especially meaningful for the current juniors and seniors, who became aware of Nita Brooks’ loyalty to the softball team when they were freshmen and/or sophomores.

“It’s a big deal and elates them,” Aaron Allen said. “They know how much Nita loved the softball team and the Spartans.

“Carrying her tradition on means the most.”

Ironically, Kim Allen doesn’t remember her mom supplying gum when she was playing. The family is unsure exactly when the tradition started, but Aaron Allen is sure of one date.

“Since at least ’96 when we started dating,” he said.

The T-shirt is Columbia blue, one of SJ-O’s school colors. The chosen player is pictured in the shirt with Aaron Allen, and the photo is distributed through social media.

After the first 10 wins, just two Spartans had won it twice (senior Katie Poulter and freshman Kennedy Hudson).

Other early winners: Raegan Crippen, Bailey Dowling, Savannah Smith, Lauren Trankina, Kaylee Ward and Zoey Witruk.

“Nita was one of the greatest fans that SJ-O has ever had,” Sparks said. “The shirt award is our contribution to keeping her legacy as the No. 1 Spartan fan alive.

“She was a Spartan fan. Period. Whatever the season, she was there.”

The availability of gum for the softball team has also not faded away.

“I still do it,” Aaron Allen said.

There is no foreseeable end to when he will stop.

“Even after I quit coaching, I’ll make sure it still gets done,” Aaron Allen said.

The post Nita Brooks memory lives on through bubblegum award first appeared on SJO Daily.

Kaden Jacobs’ seventh-inning double delivered the game-winning run on Saturday as St. Joseph-Ogden pulled out a 2-1 baseball victory over IVC in Chillicothe in the first game of an Illini Prairie Conference game.

IVC posted an 8-6 win in the second game.

SJ-O is 15-6-2 overall and 5-1 in Illini Prairie games.

Jacobs had two of the Spartans’ three-first game hits. Teammate Sam Wesley was the only SJ-O player with hits in each game. He was 3-for-5 for the doubleheader.

Zach Martinie pitched two hitless innings of relief in the first game and earned the win. He walked one and struck out two.

Starter Adam Rose allowed three hits and no earned runs over five innings. Rose walked three and fanned seven.

Drew Coursey suffered the second-game loss.

Besides Wesley and Rose, Crayton Burnett had two hits in the second game.

Adam Frerichs and Blake Primmer each scored two runs in the nightcap. Wesley had two RBI in the second game.

The post Jacobs delivers game-winning run against IVC first appeared on SJO Daily.