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Wednesday, Feb. 12

LCHS swim results

[FEB. 12, 2003]  Stats from the LCHS senior swimming night Tuesday at Scully Pool:

Lincoln 57

Macomb 112

Lincoln results

200-yard medley relay -- 2, Omar Obaisi, Steve Rogers, Aaron Meyrick, Eric Weaver, 2:05.17

200 free -- 1, Sean Weaver, 1:58.18; 4, Chris Allen, 2:28.50; 5, Dustin Knollenberg, 2:29.00

200 IM -- 2, Eric Weaver, 2:33.68; 3, Steve Rogers, 2:34.60

50 free -- 2, Omar Obaisi, 26.09; 4, Aaron Meyrick, 26.93; 6, Andrew Ryan, 30.11

100 fly -- 1, Sean Weaver, 1:00.28

100 free -- 3, Aaron Meyrick, 1:00.97; 4, Omar Obaisi, 1:01.37; 6, Andy Schreiber, 1:12.22

500 free -- 3, Chris Allen, 6:57.21

200 free relay -- 3, Sean Weaver, Omar Obaisi, Eric Weaver, Aaron Meyrick, 1:52.40; 4, Steve Rogers, Dustin Knollenberg, Andy Schreiber, Chris Allen, 2:09.69

100 back -- 4, Dustin Knollenberg, 1:21.92; 5, Andrew Ryan, 1:35.11

100 breast -- 1, Eric Weaver, 1:10.57; 2, Steve Rogers, 1:12.22

400 free relay -- 3, Sean Weaver, Andy Schreiber, Christopher Allen, Dustin Knollenberg, 4:30.69

[Provided by Ruth Sloot]

High school basketball

[FEB. 12, 2003] 

At Mackinaw

Illini Central     17   29   47     67

Dee-Mack      14   27   40     56

Illini Central - Cunningham 3-2-9, Tra. Scott 6-5-18, Swaar 0-1-1, Hieronymous 0-0-0, Williams 4-2-10, Harrison 6-4-16, Genbrod 0-0-0, Norton 1-0-3, VanEtten 0-0-0, Schrick 4-0-10.  Totals - 24-14-67.

'Birds looking for consistency back on the road

[FEB. 12, 2003]  NORMAL -- Taren O'Brien is going to her home state, Missouri, to play for Illinois State Thursday against Southwest Missouri State, and the Redbirds' leading scorer is hoping her team can earn a C for the effort.

That would be "C" for "consistency." The Redbirds are hoping to show the kind of consistent play that helped them win back-to-back road games at Southern Illinois and Evansville in mid-January ... the kind of consistency lacking in four straight home losses since that SIU/UE sweep.

O'Brien boiled her team's recent struggles down to putting different parts of the game together consistently.

"We would be very good on defense, but not on offense," said O'Brien, a Savannah, Mo., native who also leads the Redbirds in assists. "We would get our rebounding going, but we wouldn't get the defense we need. It's up to us. We have to be more consistent. It doesn't matter if we're playing at home or on the road."

The Bears, 10-10 overall, 6-5 in the Missouri Valley, have been more successful since a 58-54 loss Jan. 16 at Illinois State. O'Brien and senior Sharon Blade carried the offensive load for the Redbirds in that game with 15 and 11 points, respectively. ISU made 16-of-17 free throws and took the lead for good when freshman Sara Stevenson hit a jumper with 1:23 left.

Redbird coach Jenny Yopp enjoyed the victory.

"We played tough against SMS, and it was a game that went down to 'time-and-score' the whole second half," said Yopp. "It will be different (at Hammons Student Center). SMS has tremendous sixth-man support."

[to top of second column in this article]

SMS coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson respects O'Brien and the Redbirds, hoping her team is able to adjust to Illinois State's defensive sets better this time.

"They did a good job against us defensively, and we didn't do a good job when they switched defenses," said Abrahamson-Henderson, in her first year in Springfield. "Our team will be working on that. Taren O'Brien is a great player, and we have to be attentive to what they are trying to do. Now, our players know how good Illinois State is."

The Redbirds, 5-15 overall, 3-8 in the Valley, have five of their last seven games on the road. Normally, that doesn't look promising, but three of Illinois State's five wins this season have come away from home. The 'Birds are striving to become the first Illinois State team in 19 years with more road wins than home victories.

"We have to come out with our confidence up and our intensity up," said Yopp. "We have to bring a tremendous amount of intensity and belief to these games."

ISU's road trip ends with a Saturday match at Wichita State.

[Thomas Lamonica, Illinois State University]

Articles from the past week

[FEB. 10, 2003]  Get out the sleds, the saucers and the inner tubes… There may not be many more snowy opportunities left. My 2-year-old already thinks that sledding is a sanctioned Olympic sport and wonders why Greg and I don't devote more time to it on "FANdamonium." At any rate, it is a peaceful, serene Monday morning after yet another wacky weekend in the sports world! Where should we even start???

In 7A action involving LDN-area teams, the Hartsburg-Emden seventh-graders suffered their first loss of the year -- a heartbreaking 43-38 loss to Monmouth ICS. But hats off to Hartem for the 22-1 season that they turned in. Nice going, fellas!

In 8A play, once again it was Hartem (Can someone bottle up some of their water and send it to my son in care of this paper immediately?) with a 50-36 win over that gritty Carroll Catholic bunch. Congrats to them on their 18-4 final record.

Also congrats to both the WL-B squads who turned in solid seasons. I believe that Mount Pulaski also had a pretty good year.

Good luck to Hartem in the Holy Trinity sectional!

According to our report and notes, the Lincoln Lady Railers split this week. They are right in the middle of a tough stretch that finds the ladies meeting all four of the CS8's top four teams in succession! That never seems to faze Coach Moore or his players, as evidenced by their win over Taylorville! They did lose to Chatham but didn't feel like they played their best game against them. Good luck this week, girls!

I'm sure the judging panel gave the Railers no marks for style points and nothing for the degree of difficulty, but Lincoln got the most important stat in the world -- the W. Chatham is very well coached, and they do what you have to do against the Railers -- they hit shots. But once again it wasn't enough, as Lincoln moved to 24-2 and 11-1. The No. 9 team in the state now has won 13 games in a row and 19 of their last 20!

This week finds the Railers hosting SH-G and then taking to the road at Moline.

With one victory, Neil Alexander will tie for the most wins ever for a Railer coach. With a sweep this weekend, he would obviously be crowned with the top spot. Catch "FANdamonium" on Lincoln Daily News or CITV Channel 5 or FIX 96.3 FM radio tonight at 6 to hear what Greg Taylor, I and others have to say about this remarkable feat!

We also know that our area volleyball teams are in action but have no reports from any teams as of now. Please get your stuff to us so we can let the community know how you're doing!

[to top of second column in this article]

Lincoln College Lynx back in the rankings

Behind another stellar 31-point performance by Terrance Chapman, the Lincoln College Lynx dismissed Lewis & Clark 75-55 in Godfrey on Saturday. The Lynx are now 17-6 and 10-0 in league play. They also find themselves back in the rankings where they belong as the nation's No. 14 team. Actually, as well as they're playing, they should be in the top 10! No info on the Lady Lynx was available at posting time.

The LCC Angels fell 99-91 to Grace out of Michigan Saturday. But how ‘bout the play of former Lady Railer, Brittany Robbins? Robbins exploded for 43 points behind six made 3's and then played big by crashing the boards for 13 rebounds! She has to be (along with LC's Terrance Chapman) our player(s) of the week!

Warrensburg-Latham lost for the first time all year, 50-40, this weekend. They now are 19-1 on the season. The Monticello team that beat them is now 19-2.

Illini Central moved to 15-7 this past weekend.

The West beat the East 155-145 in double OT last night. Michael Jordan scored 20, but Kevin Garnett walked away with the MVP.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured the Bud Shootout as NASCAR prepares for the upcoming Daytona 500.

Davis Love III wins the AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. It was also good to see Tom Lehman's name back at the top of the leader board!

Lincoln's Gregg Alexander shined for the ISU Redbirds on Lincoln Day! [Click here for details.]

Lincoln's Brian Cook should be able to pass Andy Kauffman for seventh place on the Illini's all-time scoring list with any kind of a game at Purdue on Saturday. Cook was really sore after Illinois' win over Ohio State. He had two ice bags and was looking for a whirlpool when we saw him.

It's hard to believe, but it's baseball time. Pitchers and catchers report for duty later this week. If anyone wants to send us down there for a LIVE report, just let us know… I'll even offer to go one way!!!

Have a GREAT week, sports fans!!!

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Last week: "Redbirds finally back on track"
• More columns...

Announcements

Softball pitching clinic in Bloomington

[JAN. 31, 2003]  The Bloomington Hearts' annual softball pitching clinic will be Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan University. Former Illinois State all-American and current Hearts pitcher Nicole Kurth will lead the clinic. Other instructors will include pitchers from the Hearts, IWU and Illinois State University who are very experienced in both playing the game and teaching.

There will be two sessions, so attendees can sign up for 9:30 a.m. until noon or for 1:30 to 4 p.m. The cost is $30 per session, and that includes a heavy-duty T-shirt. For groups of three or more, the cost is $25 per student. The sessions will be limited in number to allow maximum individual instruction.

To register by telephone or for information, call (309) 828-2686 or (309) 662-5861.

[News release]

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