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Friday 5: 2/26/10
Northern Illinois Big 12 Unveils Logo - Craig Anderson Named IHSA's Newest Assistant
Executive Director - Area Swimming and Diving State Qualifiers - Area Girls Basketball
Three-Point State Shooters - Quest for 100 Games To Be a Reality
Executive Director - Area Swimming and Diving State Qualifiers - Area Girls Basketball
Three-Point State Shooters - Quest for 100 Games To Be a Reality
<----- Got something to include in the Friday 5? Contact us!
By Cody Cutter
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
Today is Friday, February 26, 2010. This is Week 27 of the high school sports season.
This weekend is a busy one for the Bloomington-Normal area, as Redbird Arena is
hosting the small school Girls Basketball State Tournament, while U.S. Cellular Coliseum
is hosting the Dual Team Wrestling State Tournament in all three classes. Along with
these two, the Boys Swimming and Diving State Meet is being held this weekend at
Evanston High School.
Northern Illinois Big 12 Unveils Logo
The new Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference will see its first sporting action in August. Not
a year has passed since the founding of the conference. At the press conference
unveiling the new conference this past summer, a contest was being planned for students
to come up with a logo for it.
Anthony Sperando, a sophomore at Kaneland High School, designed the winning logo for
the new
Northern Illinois Big 12 conference. The logo is pictured above. Sperando made two
versions of the logo: the one above will be used as the logo for conference signs in each
school, and the other one omits the school names and will be used for all other purposes.
Seven other logos were created by students from the 12 new conference schools.
Sperando plays golf for the Knights.
Craig Anderson Named IHSA's Newest Assistant Executive Director
The Illinois High School Association named Craig Anderson of Morton as its newest
Assistant Executive Director. Anderson was announced as the 32nd person to be named
to the administrative staff on Monday.
Anderson, who is currently the athletics director at Washington High School, will replace
Dave Gannaway, who announced his retirement effective at the end of the current school
year.
“Craig has proven himself to be a consummate professional time and again throughout
his career and we are excited for him to join our staff,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty
Hickman in a press release. “The selection process was very reaffirming for our staff, as
we were overwhelmed by the number of capable candidates who believe in the IHSA’s
mission and wanted to help support it. To emerge as the top candidate from such an
exceptional field speaks volumes about Craig’s talents and convictions.”
In addition to his work for Washington, Anderson sits on the Illinois Athletic Directors
Association’s Board of Directors, as well as the IHSA's Athletic Administrators advisory
committee and its Legislative Commission. He has also been the tournament director for
the Tournament of Champions basketball event, held during Thanksgiving week at
various sites in the Peoria area.
“The reason I got into education is to help kids, so this position is a dream job for me,”
added Anderson in the press release. “There is no other position where you will have the
opportunity to have a positive impact on more students. Working at Washington was an
incredible experience and I received an amazing amount of support from the teachers,
coaches, administrators, students and community. A lot of people give me credit for some
of the success the school has enjoyed, but it really falls on an exceptional group of
students who worked extremely hard.”
Anderson is expected to assume most of Gannaway's duties, which include being in
charge of football, wrestling and baseball, as well as coordinating the IHSA's officials. A
1987 alum of Cambridge High School and a 1991 alum of Monmouth College, Anderson
began his teaching and coaching career at Morton High School. Gannaway was athletics
director at Morton at the time of his arrival. Anderson moved to Stanford Olympia in 2000
before taking over at Washington in 2005.
Area Swimming and Diving State Qualifiers
The 79th Annual IHSA Boys Swimming and Diving State Meet will be held today and
tomorrow at Evanston High School. The diving preliminaries begin at 9:00 a.m. Friday
morning, and the swimming preliminaries will begin at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. Saturday's
swimming and diving action will start at 1:00 p.m.
Qualifying for two events were: Byron's Seth Holbrook (50 and 100 Fresstyle), Auburn's
Ondrej Vicen (200 and 500 Free), Kaneland's Grant Alef (100 Backstroke and 500 Free),
Morrison's Shelby Miller, Boylan's Jack Tribble and DeKalb/Sycamore's Chad Thompson
(100 Back and 200 Individual Medley), and DeKalb's Michael Gordon (100 Breaststroke
and 200 IM).
Qualifying in one event were: Newman's Dan Nieman, Byron's Aaron Helander and
DeKalb's Kei Ishimaru (100 Butterfly), Rock Island's Kilian Macias (100 Free), Byron's
Luke Holbrook and Moline's Matthew Roche (100 Breast), and Ottawa's Sam Rappaport
(50 Free).
Qualifying for the diving competition are Sectional champions Nick DeLong of Newman
and Reid Keller of Boylan, as well as Josh Stice of United Township.
Relay teams from Byron (200 Free and 200 Medley) and DeKalb (400 Free and 200
Medley) also qualified, as well as the Rock Island 200 Free relay, Hononegah and
Moline's 400 Free relay, and UT's 200 Medley relay.
Area Girls Basketball Three-Point State Shooters
Seven girls basketball players have qualified for the Country Financial Three-Point
Showdown in Class 1A: Alyssa Baunach and Maxzine Rossler of Hinckley-Big Rock,
Carley Rote of Orangeville, Holly Kortemeier and Alex Ludwig of Forreston, Haley Magee
of Stockton and Lauren McNanna of Newark.
Five players have qualified for the Class 2A event: Tori Groves of Riverdale, Abbie
Ledford of Alleman, Molly Stevens of Princeton, Ashley Crosby of Harvard and Paige Last
of Rock Falls.
Prelimaries were held on Thursday. Finals will be held in between Class 1A and 2A
semifinal games. The 1A and 2A winner will compete for the Queen of the Hill
championship on Saturday, March 6. (Thursday results were unavailable at press time).
Quest for 100 Games To Be a Reality
Alleman's Class 2A Boys Basketball Regional semifinal win over Monmouth-Roseville was
not only a huge accomplishment for the Pioneers, but also for a person broadcasting the
game.
Galesburg radio personality Beau Spencer has been on a mission to broadcast 100 boys
and girls basketball games this season. Doing so has meant long hours on the road trying
to inch closer to the prestigious 100-game mark. Spencer's goal was met at Sherrard on
Wednesday, having broadcast the Pioneer win.
Spencer, who also runs the Illinois High School Sports Network, has kept a blog on that
page detailing each broadcast. Among his travels were broadcasts at Camp Point,
Normal, Riverton and Sterling. Spencer will return to Normal for the small school Girls
Basketball State Tournament this weekend.
The “Quest for the Century Club” Blog details each game Spencer has broadcast. One
can view details on each game by going to: http://ihssn.blogspot.com .
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
Today is Friday, February 26, 2010. This is Week 27 of the high school sports season.
This weekend is a busy one for the Bloomington-Normal area, as Redbird Arena is
hosting the small school Girls Basketball State Tournament, while U.S. Cellular Coliseum
is hosting the Dual Team Wrestling State Tournament in all three classes. Along with
these two, the Boys Swimming and Diving State Meet is being held this weekend at
Evanston High School.
Northern Illinois Big 12 Unveils Logo
The new Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference will see its first sporting action in August. Not
a year has passed since the founding of the conference. At the press conference
unveiling the new conference this past summer, a contest was being planned for students
to come up with a logo for it.
Anthony Sperando, a sophomore at Kaneland High School, designed the winning logo for
the new
Northern Illinois Big 12 conference. The logo is pictured above. Sperando made two
versions of the logo: the one above will be used as the logo for conference signs in each
school, and the other one omits the school names and will be used for all other purposes.
Seven other logos were created by students from the 12 new conference schools.
Sperando plays golf for the Knights.
Craig Anderson Named IHSA's Newest Assistant Executive Director
The Illinois High School Association named Craig Anderson of Morton as its newest
Assistant Executive Director. Anderson was announced as the 32nd person to be named
to the administrative staff on Monday.
Anderson, who is currently the athletics director at Washington High School, will replace
Dave Gannaway, who announced his retirement effective at the end of the current school
year.
“Craig has proven himself to be a consummate professional time and again throughout
his career and we are excited for him to join our staff,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty
Hickman in a press release. “The selection process was very reaffirming for our staff, as
we were overwhelmed by the number of capable candidates who believe in the IHSA’s
mission and wanted to help support it. To emerge as the top candidate from such an
exceptional field speaks volumes about Craig’s talents and convictions.”
In addition to his work for Washington, Anderson sits on the Illinois Athletic Directors
Association’s Board of Directors, as well as the IHSA's Athletic Administrators advisory
committee and its Legislative Commission. He has also been the tournament director for
the Tournament of Champions basketball event, held during Thanksgiving week at
various sites in the Peoria area.
“The reason I got into education is to help kids, so this position is a dream job for me,”
added Anderson in the press release. “There is no other position where you will have the
opportunity to have a positive impact on more students. Working at Washington was an
incredible experience and I received an amazing amount of support from the teachers,
coaches, administrators, students and community. A lot of people give me credit for some
of the success the school has enjoyed, but it really falls on an exceptional group of
students who worked extremely hard.”
Anderson is expected to assume most of Gannaway's duties, which include being in
charge of football, wrestling and baseball, as well as coordinating the IHSA's officials. A
1987 alum of Cambridge High School and a 1991 alum of Monmouth College, Anderson
began his teaching and coaching career at Morton High School. Gannaway was athletics
director at Morton at the time of his arrival. Anderson moved to Stanford Olympia in 2000
before taking over at Washington in 2005.
Area Swimming and Diving State Qualifiers
The 79th Annual IHSA Boys Swimming and Diving State Meet will be held today and
tomorrow at Evanston High School. The diving preliminaries begin at 9:00 a.m. Friday
morning, and the swimming preliminaries will begin at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. Saturday's
swimming and diving action will start at 1:00 p.m.
Qualifying for two events were: Byron's Seth Holbrook (50 and 100 Fresstyle), Auburn's
Ondrej Vicen (200 and 500 Free), Kaneland's Grant Alef (100 Backstroke and 500 Free),
Morrison's Shelby Miller, Boylan's Jack Tribble and DeKalb/Sycamore's Chad Thompson
(100 Back and 200 Individual Medley), and DeKalb's Michael Gordon (100 Breaststroke
and 200 IM).
Qualifying in one event were: Newman's Dan Nieman, Byron's Aaron Helander and
DeKalb's Kei Ishimaru (100 Butterfly), Rock Island's Kilian Macias (100 Free), Byron's
Luke Holbrook and Moline's Matthew Roche (100 Breast), and Ottawa's Sam Rappaport
(50 Free).
Qualifying for the diving competition are Sectional champions Nick DeLong of Newman
and Reid Keller of Boylan, as well as Josh Stice of United Township.
Relay teams from Byron (200 Free and 200 Medley) and DeKalb (400 Free and 200
Medley) also qualified, as well as the Rock Island 200 Free relay, Hononegah and
Moline's 400 Free relay, and UT's 200 Medley relay.
Area Girls Basketball Three-Point State Shooters
Seven girls basketball players have qualified for the Country Financial Three-Point
Showdown in Class 1A: Alyssa Baunach and Maxzine Rossler of Hinckley-Big Rock,
Carley Rote of Orangeville, Holly Kortemeier and Alex Ludwig of Forreston, Haley Magee
of Stockton and Lauren McNanna of Newark.
Five players have qualified for the Class 2A event: Tori Groves of Riverdale, Abbie
Ledford of Alleman, Molly Stevens of Princeton, Ashley Crosby of Harvard and Paige Last
of Rock Falls.
Prelimaries were held on Thursday. Finals will be held in between Class 1A and 2A
semifinal games. The 1A and 2A winner will compete for the Queen of the Hill
championship on Saturday, March 6. (Thursday results were unavailable at press time).
Quest for 100 Games To Be a Reality
Alleman's Class 2A Boys Basketball Regional semifinal win over Monmouth-Roseville was
not only a huge accomplishment for the Pioneers, but also for a person broadcasting the
game.
Galesburg radio personality Beau Spencer has been on a mission to broadcast 100 boys
and girls basketball games this season. Doing so has meant long hours on the road trying
to inch closer to the prestigious 100-game mark. Spencer's goal was met at Sherrard on
Wednesday, having broadcast the Pioneer win.
Spencer, who also runs the Illinois High School Sports Network, has kept a blog on that
page detailing each broadcast. Among his travels were broadcasts at Camp Point,
Normal, Riverton and Sterling. Spencer will return to Normal for the small school Girls
Basketball State Tournament this weekend.
The “Quest for the Century Club” Blog details each game Spencer has broadcast. One
can view details on each game by going to: http://ihssn.blogspot.com .
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
