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Friday, Oct. 25

Lady Railers finish well

By Rick L. Hobler

[OCT. 25, 2002]  Team winning. That is what the Lincoln Lady Railer volleyball team does best. And, since I last wrote this column, that is what they have been doing — working as a team and winning in the process.

The Railers traveled to Bradley Bourbonnais last weekend and took four of five matches in the tournament there. Lincoln was successful against Plainfield South (15-12, 15-0), Manteno (10-15, 15-7, 15-8), Bradley Bourbonnais white squad (15-0, 15-8) and United Township (15-5, 15-1). The only Railer loss came to the Bradley Bourbonnais red squad (12-15, 16-14, 11-15).

Then, this Tuesday, the Lady Railers returned to CS-8 Conference action at Springfield Southeast, spoiling the Spartans’ senior night by winning 18-16 and 15-8.

To cap off the week and the regular season, the Railers returned home last night for senior night and their final CS-8 match, against Springfield High School. Seniors who were given well-deserved recognition were Missy Aper, Mindy Crawford, Kari McFadden and Christina Xamis.

The Railers took care of SHS 15-7 and 15-5. The JV squad was also victorious, as they downed SHS 15-10, 15-8.

The varsity stats were as follows:

Digs: Missy Aper, 6; Samantha Conrady, 6; Brooklyn Robbins, 5.

Assists: Brooklyn Robbins, 26.

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Service points: Christina Xamis, 13; Kari McFadden, 7.

Blocks: Kari McFadden, 3; Michelle McFadden, 3; Missy Aper, 2.

Kills: Kari McFadden, 10; Michelle McFadden, 6.

The Railers finish the regular season with a 6-1 conference record and 27-8 overall. The Lady Railers finish in second place, behind Jacksonville, in the CS-8 Conference standings.

The Lady Railers enter the postseason in the Rantoul Sectional Complex. They will begin defending their 2001 champion status in 2002 regional action which begins at LCHS on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 6:30 p.m. LCHS faces Decatur MacArthur in the semifinal match. If victorious, the Lady Railers will play for the regional championship at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at LCHS against the winner of the Taylorville-Decatur Eisenhower semifinal match.

One at a time. GO RAILERS!

[Rick L. Hobler]

High school volleyball

[OCT. 25, 2002] 

At Stanford

Olympia def. Mahomet-Seymour 15-6, 15-11.

Olympia:  Service points, Amber Darnel and Kristen Goebel 6. Kills, Brianne Crawford 10. Blocks, Goebel 7. Assists, Jaime Ahlers 22. Digs, Crawford 7.

Record:  Olympia 20-9 overall, 7-3 in conference.

At Mason City

Williamsville def. Illini Central 15-8, 15-9.

Illini Central:  Service points, Audrea Kastner 8. Kills, Audrey Love 8. Assists, Kastner 10.

Record:  Illini Central 10-18.

Junior varsity:  Williamsville def. Illini Central 15-5, 15-9.

At Mount Pulaski

Mount Pulaski def. Tri-City 15-1, 15-3.

Mount Pulaski:  Service points, Erin Schmidt, Bethany Dulle and Mary Olson 6. Kills, Laura Reeter, Bethany Dulle 6. Blocks, Schmidt, Sarah Reeter, Mallory Clements 2. Assists, Clements 15.

Record:  Mount Pulaski 28-2.

Junior varsity:  Mount Pulaski def. Tri-City 15-1, 15-3.

Lincoln College women’s basketball preview

[OCT. 25, 2002]  Lincoln College will be aiming for its third straight 20-win season under the guidance of coach Carol Wilson when the Lynx open play Nov. 2 against Florissant Valley in St. Louis, Mo. The Lynx will play their first home game Nov. 4 against Carl Sandburg.

Last season the Lynx finished with a record of 21-10, while the 2000-01 squad finished at 20-11. Wilson begins her fifth year at Lincoln College with an overall record of 68-57.

Nine sophomores return from last year’s squad; however, none of the returnees averaged double figures. Ronni Beebe and Jesse Dullard were the only double-figure scorers last season, and both have moved on to MacMurray College.

Among those returning are Victoria Scott, who averaged 7.7 points per game last season, and Zabrina Harper, who averaged 6.6. Other sophomores on the squad are Ariel Lamb, 1.9 points per game; Lakeisha Graham, 3.6, Audrey Hinrichsen, 1.0; Kim Calhoun, 5.6; Ashley Sims, 4.2; Mary Rossio, 0.6; and Sereida Melker, 0.5.

"Quickness should be the catalyst for us this season," said coach Wilson. "We will be a little taller overall but a little shorter in the post. We are going to need to box out and try to create some problems in the post for our opponents. Hopefully we will be able to press a little better, but that is going to depend on how hard we continue to work and distract our opponents."

Coach Wilson rates Parkland as the team to beat in the conference, with Lake Land close behind. "Parkland has most of its key players returning from last season, when they won the conference," said Wilson. "I do feel that on a given night anyone in the conference can beat another team."

The Lynx mentor continued, "We need someone to step up and take a leadership role. Finding the right person and stepping up our defense, along with ball handling, will be the key to our success. We have good shooters, as long as we don’t try to do too much. We need to distribute the ball because we don’t have any one person for our opponents to key on."

"Lamb has a lot of athletic ability and has the option of playing either inside or outside, and Graham is a good defensive player and should be one of our quickest players," said Wilson. "Scott could be the key to our season. She has the ability to dominate and control a game both offensively and defensively. Hinrichsen is a great kid who plays very smart at the guard position, and Calhoun is another player who could be dominating. She needs to improve her work ethic and her consistency. If she does that, she could be a dominating player in the conference."

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Coach Wilson continued, "Sims is presently recovering from knee surgery, and we don't know how available she will be. If able to get in shape, she will definitely help us in the paint. Rossio plays hard, and we will use her around the basket, while Harper is a good athlete and a good rebounder. She can go out to the corner and hit the 3-point shot. Melker is a good jump shooter and a good defender."

About the freshmen, coach Wilson indicated, "Pettis, Bell and Dearing are three good guards with a lot of quickness. They will need to keep a lot of pressure on the ball, and their attitude has been tremendous in practice. They have been willing to go the extra, working on weight lifting and their weaknesses. Future is one of the quickest players on our squad. She needs to work on her shot but is one of our better athletes.

"Spears, Coronel and Ernst round out our squad, and all three have been working hard, and they have shown a lot of hustle in the early practices."

"I feel like we have some depth and can play 10-13 girls each game," said Wilson. "Each of the girls contribute in different ways, and it will depend on who we are playing as to who gets the playing time. We need to develop a little better work ethic and work on our weakness instead of our strengths in practice sessions. I think our schedule is a little tougher this year, but we play several of our early games at home, which should be beneficial. The three-week break we have every year in January has been a problem in the past, but we hope to improve in that area this season."

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College
sports information director]

Articles from the past week

[OCT. 21, 2002]  My player and team of the week is an easy choice this week. It’s an automatic. It’s a no-brainer. It’s Harvest of Talents coordinator Pat Snyder and her team fighting world hunger! This team won’t win any sports trophies, but look for them to someday have crowns with plenty of jewels in them, if you know what I mean.

I am so glad that there are people like Miss Pat in this world. Because there are too many people like me. I see the devastating effects of hunger everywhere I travel, and I am concerned about them. BUT, not enough to organize a committee that works all year for one little Saturday in October. If you could talk to Pat, she would tell you these amazing stats about hunger:

1.  One-seventh of the world’s population suffers from hunger or malnutrition.

2.  Every 3.5 seconds somebody on earth will die from hunger.

3.  One out of 10 children around the world will die of hunger before their 5th birthday.

4.  Every one of these children and their parents are also hungry for respect!

5.  Every one of these people is hungry for answers!

6.  Every one of these people is hungry for hope!

You may say that we’ve got enough problems, and there’s nothing you can do to help. Wrong again! Go on out to the Fellowship Center at 204 N. McLean this Saturday, Oct. 26, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cinnamon rolls are scrumptious. The chili, smoked and roasted beef and pork sandwiches will hit the spot. The crafts and other handmade items will solve many of your gift-giving problems. The Harvest 5K walk-run will keep you healthy and give you another T-shirt for your wardrobe. The chips and potatoes are coming all the way from South Dakota, and they are delicious. The auction is by far one of the best, most well-run and certainly the funnest one you will attend all year!

NO… they won’t win any major awards this week, but Harvest of Talents WILL be the best game in town this weekend. I guarantee IT! AND I’ve tried to NEVER let you loyal LDN readers down! This isn’t even my church! In fact, this event is so great, I would’ve felt comfortable going to this thing even in the days when I wasn’t even going to church. You don’t have to be a "church" person to realize that people are starving in this country and all over the world. And when there’s a chance that you could help a group in Lincoln, Ill., impact the world, that’s an opportunity that you just can’t pass up.

In fact, Pat and her team have already collected $800,000 for this effort in the 18 years that they have held this event. That’s incredible! I hope that you will honor this great Lincoln player of the week and her team by going on out Saturday and supporting this most worthwhile cause. Nothing else I can say or do would be nearly as important as this!

Keep up the good work, Pat! We’re pullin’ for you!

I think the San Francisco Giants are on a roll and that they will win the series in six games or less. BUT, I would love to be wrong on this one! AND you need to understand that as a boy, I spent some of my finest moments in the bleachers of old Candlestick Park. But that was a different time, and that was a different team — not just because they beat the Cardinals.

I’ve just never been much of a Barry Bonds fan. It’s like he’s carrying a chip, and the rest of us are not good enough to be on the same planet with him. I’m sorry, Barry, but I don’t accept that… from you or ANYone! For crying out loud, you’re getting paid to play a game! They have other personalities on their team that are hard to like in Jeff Kent and Kenny Lofton, just to name two.

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I would love to see the Angels sweep them in four — especially for Adam Kennedy’s sake — but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I’m stickin’ with… Giants in six!

Some say yes, I say NO! They’re just NOW starting to figure things out… SO how about another game right now?! On the other hand I guess another week of healing and learning wouldn’t kill them. On deck: the IU Hoosiers, who just shocked the Badgers of Wisconsin! From my vantage point the Illini better jump on this one because I don’t see a lot of winable games out there the rest of the way!

Lincoln’s Brian Cook put his face right in the middle of a bunch of big bodies on Wednesday and came away with a broken nose. The injury did require surgery and Brian wanted to go back to practice on Thursday, but Illini trainer Rod Cardinal said NO. Cook was fitted for a mask and fully intended to be back on the practice floor by last Friday, but I had no report when this story went to post!

Lincoln’s Andy King was still flying high after his first few days of practice. We’re all hoping that this will be a season-long run for Andy, but it all depends on injuries and how fast everyone heals up. We’ll bring you a lot more on Andy’s story when we get it.

Lincoln College had LCC’s number for most of the first game of their last match, but the Angels finally caught them at 26 and then never faltered again. I STILL think that LC has really improved under Mark Tippett! Kevin Crawford’s Angels are young, and it will be interesting to see how they fare in this year’s playoffs. AND, it will be sad not to see Breanne Prunty on the floor after this season. She reminds me of everything that is good about women’s volleyball!

Lincoln High School has certainly played a brutal schedule. Hopefully when the IHSA playoffs roll around that will bode well for them. Unless the IHSA rules that Aaron Monts’ infractions were so hideous that ALL teams in central Illinois should be ineligible for ANY postseason play! Sorry, I’m still a little bamboozled by whatever in the heck the IHSA is trying to do. Guess I’m not smart enough to figure them out. Wonder IF I had a boatload of money, if I could get more understanding out of them. Guess we’ll never know!

This week’s guests include:

•  Jan Bowers and her LCHS Lady Railer golfers.

•  Jason Fitzpatrick of the LCHS Railer boys golf team.

•  Michelle Aeilts and her LCHS cross country team.

Not confirmed yet is the LCHS soccer team. We do hope to have the LCHS swimmers showcased on our Nov. 3 show!

Have a GREAT week, EVERYone, and be a GOOD sport!!!

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Illini finally have something to cheer about, Oct. 14
• ‘Monday Night Football’: A total blast... other than the score, Oct. 8
• I was wrong, Oct. 7
• More...

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