Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
The IHSA board of directors approved the forming of a committee to review a “success factor” formula that could move schools that have experienced sustained postseason success within their classification up a class.
The Illinois High School Association has approved changes in the regulation of safety and heat acclimatization for preseason football practices.
Here’s the link at the Springfield State Journal-Register
This comes from a blog, ‘Baseball Perspectives’ written by Colin Young, a former professional baseball player. I think it’s an interesting read. Please feel free to share your opinion.
Here’s the link.
Cindy Caldwell became a member of the Fast Pitch Hall of Fame in Decatur recently. At church Sunday this accomplishment was brought to the congregation’s attention. Typical, Cindy spoke up saying, “not me, our team the West Frankfort Cardinals of whom I was a member was put in the Hall of Fame.”
Cindy Caldwell, right, with former Christopher coach Tom Wheeler.
To me, Caldwell is my ex short-stop at Christopher Community High School, one of the best I ever had, and she was also my first Black Diamond All Conference player. To students at Rend Lake College, she is Ms. Caldwell, associate professor in mathematics.
Going to the garage I came up with this info on Caldwell’s background. After graduating from Christopher she became a “Wren” at RLC (that’s what the women teams were called while the men’s teams were Warriors). For the Wrens she did it all, playing volleyball, basketball and softball. From the “small world department” her volleyball and softball coach was John M Kretz who played short stop on the Zeigler Raiders fast pitch team while Caldwell’s High School coach (me) played second base on the same team. Cindy was elected Most Valuable Player by her teammates that year.
At RLC her coach in basketball was Carol Whipple, assisted by Lila Waugh where she had CCHS classmate Christy Cook as a teammate. As a freshman in softball Cindy was All Conference at short-stop along with Wrens first baseman Kelly Stewart (Benton) in the Southern Illinois College Conference.
Playing short stop for Coach Tim Broy with the WF Cardinals was a great experience for the now math teacher as she was surrounded by the best fast pitch players in the south including ex- Bearcat Sue Ramsey. Winning state with this team was “one of my biggest thrills,” she said.
A very typical game for Cindy was hitting a grand slam and triple while going 4-for-5 against a good team from McLeansboro. Checking some clippings I noticed it was not unusual for the infield to turn double plays, Caldwell to second baseman Ramona Weiser (who’s Dad Raymond also helped coach) to first basemen Lisa Bernhardt.
When I first watched Cindy play I was sure of one thing, she will do what it takes to win, and she was and is such a great competitor. All the time I coached her I never called her Cindy, it was always “Caldwell.”
So let me finish by saying, ‘Nice job, Caldwell!’
By Tom Wheeler
Rich Herrin took the 85-86 SIU basketball program when it was at an all-time low. The year before Coach Allen Van Winkle had five starters back while Herrin started his era with only FOUR letterman back: Doug Novsek, Steve Middleton, Dan Weiss and Brian Welch. These four played .o8 percent of SIU’s game minutes and contributed 108 of 2,044 points (.05 percent) in the 84-85 season. Somehow Rich’s first team won 8 games (4-12 in the conference) including a big win at St. Louis University. Remember also, this team was put on probation by the Missouri Valley and was not allowed to play in the post-season tournament.
Coach Herrin has always said that this team laid the groundwork for the Saluki’s later success. Checking closer I found that that is not the only groundwork that five of these players laid.
Let me explain about five of these special players!
Thad Matta is now head coach at Ohio State University. He is one of only two coaches who have posted 20 wins in their first 13 years. He has won five Big Ten titles, was runner –up in the NCAA tournament in 2007 and made the final four again in 2012. The Hoopston-East Lynn High School star played at SIU and Butler where he also coached. He moved on to Xavier before Ohio State and has a great resume of his assistants moving up the coach’s ladder, Illinois Coach John Groce being an example.
Steve Middleton is in his fifth year as an associate head coach at Oklahoma State. The Brooklyn New York native ended up in Carbondale and after a great career at SIU he became a very prosperous coach at St. Mary’s High School in Paducah, Kentucky where he was 81-35 his last four years. Ex-University of Kentucky standout Travis Ford was so impressed with Coach Middleton that he convinced him to enter the college scene. Middleton has become one of the top recruiters in the nation and he has joined Coach Ford at Eastern Kentucky, then Massachusetts University and now at Oklahoma State.
Doug Novsek came to SIU from the famed Ron Felling Lawrenceville High School period. He was runner-up for the prestigious Illinois’ Mr. Basketball award after leading the Indians to an undefeated record which included an Illinois State Championship. Doug was the basketball captain his last two years at SIU before entering the college coaching ranks. He has been an assistant for five years at Southwest Texas, three years at Illinois State, four years at the University of Nebraska and is in his seventh year as the associate head coach at the University of Nevada.
Randy House was a four year starter at SIU where he scored over 1,000 points and he has taken these “Rambo” type qualities he learned under Coach Herrin at Benton High School and then at SIU to become a top Junior College coach at Rend Lake College. Last season Coach House got his Warriors to the National tournament for the first time in the school’s history and topped that journey this year by winning the NJCAA D-II Tournament in Danville. Their 87-69 Championship win over Morraine Valley of Chicago was a fitting way to prove to fans they were truly the number one team at Danville. More impressive during their 30-3 season record is the fact they won the GRAC Conference being the “only” school in the conference that was not a Division I school.
Wayne Harre was a Nashville high School All –State player who first played at Kaskaskia College in Centralia (where he was later inducted into the schools Hall of Fame) before moving to SIU to be a Saluki. Wayne returned home to coach the boys JV team before he decided to become the Nashville girls’ coach. In 13 years at the helm of the Lady Hornets his team has won 362 games while losing only 64. His worse season in these 13 years was in 07-08 when he “only” won 22 games and lost 8 (that was his worst). His team’s success at the IHSA state tournament includes finishing fourth twice, finishing third twice and this year they were the IHSA Class 2A state champs finishing 33-2.
SIU Salukis – 1985-86
The Benton girls’ track team won the Carmi-White County Invitational with what coach Andy Sloan called “the very best effort of the year, a great team effort.”
” Any time you can win an invitational track meet you have to be happy,” said Sloan. “We were without Schutt (Kaitlyn) today who is nursing sore hamstring, and we are just getting Fowler back so some other kids stepped up and really gave us all they had.”
Sloan listed these highlights:
Miller nine second personal record (PR) in 3200
Distance kids (Johnston, Tabor, Miller) combined to score 34 points in 3 events.
We won all 4 relays, bringing our consecutive relay win streak to 10!!
McDaniel 7” PR in triple jump
Biddle stepped up in 4×800 – ran really well and helped her team get a victory.
Fowler looked really good in 200 when the meet was on the line. We were down two heading into that race and she tied it with her victory.
Sloan said his team is improving heading into the final three weeks of the season.
“Overall great team effort and very proud of our kids,” said Sloan. “They have worked hard and are getting better. They were down but kept chipping away and gave us a chance with three events to go. I hope they enjoy it as much as I will and know that meet championships don’t come around too often. We’ve had a long, tough week and as we head into Friday’s meet we will take a different approach and try to rest some kids. With three weeks to go, our focus has to be the conference and sectional and just getting healthy and rested.
BENTON GIRLS TRACK RESULTS FROM CARMI INVITATIONAL
TEAM SCORES: BENTON 125, CHRISTOPHER ZR 115, FLORA 64, HARRISBURG 60, HAMILTON COUNTY 43, CARMI 43, SESSER 28, JOHNSTON CITY 21, FAIRFIELD 21, ELDORADO 19, WEBBER 18, NCOE 1
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4X800 1ST 11:23.1
TABOR 2:45.1, EUBANKS 2:53.9, BIDDE 2:54.7*PR, JOHNSTON 2:45
4X100 1ST 53.3
REPP 13.3, HAGERMAN 13.2, FOWLER 13.2, MCDANIEL 13.7 *PR
3200 RUN
MILLER 3RD 14:09*PR
100 HH
EUBANKS 2ND 17.8
100 DASH
REPP 2ND 13.9
800 RUN
JOHNSTON 1ST 2:45.8
TABOR 2ND 2:49.9
4X200 1ST 1:53.7
MCDANIEL 28.6, HAGERMAN 28.2, BIDDLE 28.8, FOWLER 28.3
400 DASH
REPP 2ND 66.6
300 LH
NEAL 3RD 51.0 *PR
1600 RUN
JOHNSTON 2ND 5:55.9
TABOR 5TH 6;32.7
200 DASH
FOWLER 1ST 27.5*PR #7 ALL-TIME BCHS
4X400 1ST 4:30.0
REPP 66.9, JOHNSTON 68.9, NEAL 65.4, EUBANKS 68.7
LONG JUMP
BIDDLE 13’3 ½”
MCDANIEL 12’1”
TRIPLE JUMP
MCDANIEL 5TH 29’1” *PR
NEAL NP 28’0”
SHOT PUT
HAYDEN 3RD 32’6”
CORN NP 27’11” *PR
DISCUS
CORN NP 76’5”
HAYDEN 6TH 82’6”
POLE VAULT
NEAL 2ND 8’0”
HIGH JUMP
HAGERMAN NP NH
Benton girls’ track is back in action on Friday at theMarion Invitational. Field events start at 3 p.m. with Running 3:30
By Tom Wheeler
Johnston City Coach Wade Thomas was on the phone and he asked “Coach, when did you coach track at J City? Pos and Turtle say you were their coach and they remember a meet here which was the last time a track meet was held here at Johnston City until our meet yesterday.”
So I did some research, meaning I went to the garage, and found that in 1971, my last year at the “City” we had a couple meets at home. I remember our first home meet with Eldorado that spring was cancelled because of snow and I had to call Eagle coach Don Kingston to cancel the meet. I found a clipping from another meet in which the Indians won over five other teams. Jr. High Coach Joe Castrale was my starter as the Indians scored 125, Sesser-Valier 43, Anna-Jonesboro 30, Waltonville 20, Zeigler-Royalton 18 and Carterville 10.
It was only 42 years between track meets at Johnston City – 1971 to 2013 — and from the ‘cinders’ as the newspaper article below points out to the new all-weather track at the new JC Sports Complex.
Lindell “Turtle” Edwards won the 440 yds. for us while other Indian winners were freshman Mike Grant (2 mile and mile), Donnie Gaddis, (highs and discus), Jimmy Dean (100), Keith McKown (shot put), Jim Cargal (high jump) and Glenn Hampton (200). We also won the frosh relay, the 880 relay and the mile relay.
So 42 years later the Indians finally have another home meet, needless to say Indian Coach Dan Mings didn’t have to stay after practice to drag the track and “line it” the ole fashion way (by hand). Also, I don’t think Coach Mings had to get foam from Herrin dumped into pits lined in bales of hay for the high jump and the pole vault. Mr. John Parks, principal, helped us fix these “pits” and was upset when one pit went up in flames one day during lunch hour.
What Coach Mings does have is one of the nicest facilities in the south, no the state. Ironic was that 42 years ago I was the head track coach and then 42 years later I’m watching my grandson Hunter Wheeler compete in the very next track meet being run in Indian land. As proud as I am of the fantastic all-around athletic facility at Johnston City it made me just as proud to see two of my ex-athletes timing at the meet, “Turtle” and Jimmy “Pos” Poskevich
By Jim Muir
Cameron Rock had a two-out, two-strike single helping Benton to a 5-run third inning and an 8-4 SIRR Ohio Division victory over Murphysboro in action at Eovaldi Field.
The Rangers trailed 2-0 entering the third inning after the Red Devils had scored one in the first and another in the top of the third. On top of the 2-0 deficit starting pitcher Dakota Head was moved from the mound to shortstop after experiencing soreness in his shoulder and senior Zach Mocaby was called on in relief.
The Rangers half of the third inning began with Tyler Owens going down on strikes followed by a walk to Gus Gibbs. Martin Ward, who had three hits on the day, singled moving Gibbs to second and Head laced a line drive up the middle scoring Gibbs. Benton catcher Ethan Hughes, who missed three games after being hit in the head with a pitch, flied out to shallow left field leaving runners on second and third with two outs for Rock.
The Benton senior hit one back up the middle scoring two to give Benton a lead it would never relinquish. Benton added another run in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to secure the win.
The Rangers had lost three in a row heading into the Ohio Division match up and improved to 12-8 over all and 4-3 in conference play with the win.
“I don’t think we’re where we can be,” said Benton coach Brett Blondi. “But, this was a nice win for us and something to build on.”
Along with Ward’s three hits Head and Mocaby also had two hits for the Rangers who pounded out 10 hits in the victory.
Benton will be in action on Tuesday afternoon against West Frankfort at Eovaldi Field at Benton Community Park.
Results from West Frankfort Co-Ed Track Meet held April 9.
West Frankfort Co-Ed – Apr 09, 2013
Mens 3,200 Meter Relay Final – 04:03:16 PM
800 Meter – Gardner – 2:16.67
800 Meter – Wilson – 4:49.03 [2:32.36]
800 Meter – George – 7:22.12 [2:33.09]
Stopped at: 04:12:59 PM [9:43.12] 2nd place
Mens 400 Meter Relay Final – 04:26:27 PM
100 Meter – ALLEN – 0:10.98
100 Meter – SEVENSKI – 0:24.41 [0:13.43]
100 Meter – Nilo Korolinko – 0:34.15 [0:09.74]
Stopped at: 04:27:14 PM [0:46.65] 3rd place
Mens 3,200 Meter Run Final – 04:29:20 PM
Finish – SUMMERS – 14:23.49 4th place
Finish – ERTHALL – 15:13.14 5th place
B Porritt 15:32
Stopped at: 04:44:52 PM [15:32.18]
Mens 110 Meter High Hurdles Final – 04:54:55 PM
Finish – TAYLOR – 0:16.02 2nd place
Finish – Lenzini – 0:18.54 5th place
Stopped at: 04:55:15 PM [0:19.60]
Mens 100 Meter Dash Final – 05:10:22 PM
Allen 12:16 3rd place
Karnes 14:47
Woods 14:13
Stopped at: 05:11:09 PM [0:47.16]
Mens 800 Meter Run Final – 05:26:09 PM
Finish – GEORGE – 2:30.35 4th place
Stopped at: 05:28:45 PM [2:35.78]
Mens 4 x 200 Meter Relay Final – 05:32:10 PM
200 Meter – Unnamed Athlete 2 – 0:22.85
200 Meter – Leg 2 – 0:49.73 [0:26.88]
200 Meter – Leg 3 – 1:14.13 [0:24.40]
Stopped at: 05:33:52 PM [1:46.11] FRESHMAN 3rd place
Mens 4 x 200 Meter Relay Final – 05:42:51 PM
200 Meter – ALLEN – 0:25.59
200 Meter – Maller – 0:53.49 [0:27.90]
200 Meter – Nilo Korolinko – 1:20.82 [0:27.33]
200 Meter – Royal – 1:45.25 [0:24.43] 3rd place
Stopped at: 05:44:39 PM [1:48.07]
Mens 400 Meter Dash Final – 05:53:07 PM
Finish – Shoemaker – 1:05.05
Stopped at: 05:54:13 PM [1:06.64]
Mens 400 Meter Dash Final – 05:56:01 PM
Finish – Yocum – 1:12.02
Stopped at: 05:57:15 PM [1:13.59]
Pole vault 1st Menees 116″ WF
3rd Lenzini 96″ WF
Mens 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles Final – 06:08:29 PM
Finish – GARDNER – 0:46.33 3rd
Stopped at: 06:09:17 PM [0:47.53]
Shot Put Karnes WF 367″
Triple Jump Fort 2nd place 390″
Sevenski WF 353″
Discuss Teal 5th 968″
High jump Fort 54″ 5th
Long Jump Allen WF 4th place 183″
Korolinko 175″ 5th place
Mens 1,600 Meter Intermediate Hurdles Final – 06:24:30 PM
Finish – EASLEY – 5:10.21 3rd place
Finish – Wilson – 5:38.98 5th place
Finish – CASH – 5:56.83
Finish – SIEVEKING – 6:12.96
Finish – ERTHALL – 7:06.50
Finish – Weigand – 7:20.18
Stopped at: 06:31:21 PM [7:24.61]
Mens 200 Meter Dash Final – 06:37:08 PM
Finish – ALLEN – 0:25.98 3rd place
Finish – SEVENSKI – 0:26.66 5th place
Stopped at: 06:37:36 PM [0:28.09]
Mens 200 Meter Dash Final – 06:39:22 PM
Finish – Woods – 0:29.10
Stopped at: 06:39:52 PM [0:30.67]
Mens 200 Meter Dash Final – 06:41:41 PM
Finish – Lenzini 7 – 0:28.47
Stopped at: 06:42:14 PM [0:32.48]
Mens 200 Meter Dash Final – 06:43:58 PM
Finish – Niko Korolinko – 0:28.81
Finish – Jordan Karnes – 0:31.10
Stopped at: 06:44:31 PM [0:32.51]
Mens 1,600 Meter Relay Final – 06:56:35 PM
400 Meter – Royal – 0:57.99
400 Meter – TAYLOR – 1:53.75 [0:55.76]
400 Meter – Nilo Korolinko – 2:59.37 [1:05.62]
400 Meter – GARDNER – 3:59.42 [1:00.05]
Stopped at: 07:00:35 PM [4:00.04] 3rd place
Sparta 1st 129
WF 2nd 53
Massac 3rd 49
Goreville 4th 15
Vienna 5th 12
Staff Report
The Benton Rangers’ bats heated up with the weather on Monday as they pounded out 15 hits en route to a 13-0 shellacking of Massac County in a SIRR Ohio Division game at Eovaldi Field at Benton Community Park.
The Rangers got three hits each from Gus Gibbs, Ethan Hughes and Tyler Owens and a solid pitching performance by Dakota Head, who tossed a one-hitter while allowing only one walk in the five-inning game that was shortened due to the 10-run rule.
Benton jumped on Massac County with three runs in the first inning and then blew the game wide open with an 8-run second inning.
With the victory the Rangers improved to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in Ohio Division play. The Rangers will reach the halfway point in conference games Tuesday when they meet Harrisburg, 12-3 overall and also 3-1 in a key Ohio Division game at Eovaldi Field at Benton Community Park.
Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
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