Sports

Alcantar (right) and Maddox Medrano each placed Fourth in the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Fresh/Soph Sectional and will compete in the State Finals this weekend in Springfield.

Four Tiger Wrestlers are state bound – Fresh/Soph and Middle School Sectional results

Four more Beardstown Tiger wrestlers have qualified for State Tournament action.  Two high school freshman/sophomores and two junior high wrestlers placed in the top four in the Sectional Tournament to advance.  The Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association sponsors the Fresh/Soph State Tournament and Beardstown’s Alex Armenta, and Maddox and Alcantar Medrano all qualified for the Sectional held at Granite City.  Armenta, wrestling at 106 pounds, lost by technical fall to the number one seed from Cahokia in round one and fell again by tech fall in round two to bow out of the tourney.

Area All-Star games set

Dates, rosters, and coaches have been announced for two central Illinois boys’ basketball All-Star Games with Cass County well represented. The Country Financial West Central Illinois All Star Classic will be held at 7:00 p.m. Friday, March 15 at the Jacksonville Bowl. This is the 44th edition of the all-star game. Rich Thompson of Triopia will coach the North Squad and Bryon Graven of South County will lead the South Squad.

volleyball

Area Junior High Volleyball

The AC Central seventh grade volleyball team are the 1A Regional Champions. The Knights, seeded #1 in their own regional, followed an opening round bye with a regional semifinal win over fifth seeded Springfield St. Agnes 25-16, 25-9. In the Championship game last Thursday, the Knights took down #2 seed Springfield Calvary in a thriller, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, to win the title and advance to Sectionals. They were scheduled to play undefeated Carrollton St. John’s at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 4 in Virginia. The eighth-grade team was the number four seed in the Calvary Regional and were eliminated from post season play in the opening round by Jacksonville Our Savior by scores of 25-20, 25-16.  

Trophy

BHS winter sports awards

The Beardstown High School Winter Sports Banquet was held last week at the Elk’s Club. Following a delicious spaghetti dinner provided by the club, the cheerleading, dance, boys and girls basketball and wrestling teams recognized all participants and announced their season award winners.  Each coach specifically thanked the Elks Club for the evening and Athletic Director Elliot Craig for his dedication to the sports programs and his never-ending willingness to help the coaches.  

Exauce Mulumba gets the rim for basket in the Tigers regional loss to Illini West.

Chargers Sneak by Tigers

A poor start, red hot free throw shooting by the opponent, a failure to defensive rebound and a missed call by the referees, all combined to contribute to the season ending loss in the first round of the regional by the Beardstown Tiger varsity basketball team. On the road at Illini West, the Tigers fought back from a cold start and had a late lead but could not hold on to it in losing a heartbreaker 46 to 45 to the Chargers.

Riverton Stops PORTA-AC

The PORTA-AC Central boys’ basketball team’s season ended last week with a semifinal loss to the Riverton Hawks in the Athens Regional. 

The Bluejays had snapped a lengthy season ending losing streak with a nice first round win over arch-rival Athens at their place to advance. The Jays could not get their offense on track in the loss to Riverton and fell by a final score of 46 to 30.  They found themselves within striking distance, down 34 to 24 after three quarters but the offensive struggles continued in the fourth ending their season. PORTA-AC finished with a 13-19 record.

volleyball

Area Junior High Volleyball results – A-C, B’town, Triopia and Virginia

Three of the four Cass County seventh grade volleyball teams’ seasons ended last week in regional play.  

The only surviving team did not play, as AC Central is the #1 seed in their own regional and received a bye in Saturday’s opening round. They were scheduled to play in the regional semifinal on Tuesday, February 27 against fifth seeded Springfield St. Agnes. The AC Central eighth grade team is the four seed in the Calvary Regional and open play on Saturday, March 2 at 9:00 a.m. against Jacksonville Our Savior. If they win, they play the host team later in the day at approximately 12:00 p.m.

Vipers Strike Down Trojans

Playing for the second time in a week, the Triopia-Meredosia-Virginia boys basketball team lost again to the South County Vipers, this time ending the Trojan’s season in the regional semi-final game. The loss followed an opening round crushing of Brown County by the Trojans.

Alcantar Medrano gets the pin for BHS in the Fresh/Soph Regional Wrestling Tournament.

Tiger Wrestlers advance to Regionals

The Beardstown High School freshman-sophomore and the Beardstown Middle School wrestling teams competed in Regional Tournament action last week with a host of Tiger grapplers qualifying to move on to the Sectional Tournament. 

Gavin Cristman is shown receiving his plaque and medal after winning the title on beginner trampoline for the boys. He is a 6th grader at Brown County School with parents, Jason and Heather Cristman of Mt. Sterling.

AADM Airborne Team attends USTA National Team Trials meet

The AADM Airborne Team attended an USTA National Team Trials meet at Pana High School in Pana, on Feb. 17-18th.  

This meet was an open nation-wide invitational meet, hosting 71 clubs. There were 34 athletes from the Airborne team that competed in 91 events total on tumbling, trampoline, and double mini.  Twenty of those athletes competed in the national team trials where you must place top in your level against all ages. Gavin Cristman made the team by achieving first place in Beginner Trampoline. He will be representing AADM in the 2024 USTA Nationals in Louisville, KY. this summer.