The Beardstown Junior High Track team hit the road to Rushville on a beautiful morning last Saturday and had a very successful day in an eight-team meet. The boys placed fifth in the seventh grade meet and fourth in the eighth grade meet for a fourth-place combined finish. The girls took fourth in the seventh-grade competition and fifth in the eighth grade for a fifth-place combined finish.
Two long road trips last week resulted in two wins for the Beardstown baseball team, pushing their record to 4-2 on the year. On Friday the boys pounded Pleasant Hill-Western 15 to 3 in five innings and on Saturday, the Tigers made a huge seventh inning comeback to knock off West Hancock 11 to 6.
The Beardstown Middle School Track team hosted a meet last week with good team finishes on the 7th and 8th grade level for both the boys and the girls. The Tigers had a handful of meet champions and numerous medal winners. The 7th grade and 8th grade boys each finished in fifth place and in fifth place combined. The 8th grade girls placed third, the 7th grade girls placed fourth and the girls finished in fifth place combined.
The Beardstown Tiger baseball team won twice last week to even their record at 2-2 for the season. They started the week with an 8-1 road loss at Mendon Unity then won a thriller at home, 7 to 5 in nine innings over Augusta Southeastern, before trouncing South Fulton 16 to zip on the road.
A youth movement is at hand for the Beardstown baseball program. The Tigers have to replace seven departed seniors from last year’s somewhat disappointing 12-16 squad in Head Coach Brian Dour’s debut season. Beardstown is not used to having losing seasons in baseball so expect Coach Dour, his staff and the boys to put in the work required to make sure it does not happen again. He will do so with just two seniors at his disposal and a host of sophomores and freshmen expected to play significant roles.
With numbers up, Beardstown Girl’s Track Coach Jacki Kelly is looking forward to being able to fill out full relay teams and to having girls competing in most events this year. Four girls return from last year, several girls are coming up from middle school and a few new faces have joined the squad to fill out the roster. The team will be young but talented. Coach Kelly commented, “we are looking for Diana Huerta to have another great season after being a state qualifier as a freshman in the long jump and triple jump and we are planning to see great things from Freshman Laetitia Kanda, who was a state qualifier in middle school in the high jump.” Freshmen Rosalba Quintana and Ayelen Gabriel along with Junior Mia Playan should make the girls competitive in the distance races. Freshman Stella Petersen will join Sophomore
The Beardstown Tiger baseball team opened the 2024 season with a 6 to 2 home loss to Canton.
Each team could manage just three hits, but two walks and two hit-batters in the Little Giant’s second inning let them push across five runs while Beardstown did not get on the board until single tallies in the fifth and seventh. Canton added an insurance run in the sixth.
The Beardstown High School track team won first place in a boys only home meet last week featuring five teams.
The Tigers 106 points easily outdistanced second place Havana’s 87 points and third place Brown County’s 84 points. Jacksonville Routt finished fourth and Virginia-Meredosia-Triopia came in fifth.
The Beardstown Middle School Track team hit the road to Canton for their first meet of the season competing in a triangular with the host Little Giants and the Ducks of Havana. The Tigers had a handful of first place finishers and a slew of medal winners.
All four Tiger wrestlers representing Beardstown in last weekend’s State Tournament action picked up at least one win. None of the grapplers was able to bring home a medal but all four had very good weekends and great seasons. Beardstown sent two individuals to the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Fresh/Soph State Tournament and two individuals to the Illinois Elementary School Association State Tournament. Brothers Maddox and Alcantar Medrano qualified for the Tigers at the Fresh/Soph level and Jude Dawson and Kellen Brown competed in the junior high event.