Sports

By DAN WUSSOW dwussow@shawmedia.com

One of the fastest-growing sports in the Sauk Valley area – and in the nation – is high school trap shooting.

In the Sauk Valley area, several teams have sprung up in the past few years. Included in those local schools are Milledgeville, Polo, Eastland, Morrison, Prophetstown, Forreston and Faith Christian School.

Prophetstown is one of the bigger teams in the area with about 38 competitors. After seven competition weeks this year, it made a June 4 trip to Bunker Hill for the state championship, finishing eighth out of 47 teams.

At state, the competitions are broken down into three categories: novice, JV and varsity.

Prophetstown coach Gabe Olinger was pleased with how his team performed overall, and he was especially impressed with the novice group this year.

“At the state tournament, our novice team actually got second in the whole state,” Olinger said. “One boy from the team, Bryce Folsom, he just started shooting this year and his average was low enough during the league that he was still a novice. Well, in the last couple of weeks before state, he really improved and he ended up getting first in the novice division.”

Another standout for Prophetstown this season was Sabrina Soleta, who got second among females in Conference 4. Overall, the team finished third in its conference.

A t s t a t e , t h e s c o r i n g s y s t e m i s designed in a way that allows smaller teams to compete with bigger ones. With the amount of variance there is from team to team, this system allows a team such as Morrison to contend with a team such as Prophetstown.

“For state, they take the five best scores from the team from the varsity to get your team score. It kind of really levels the playing field since we have a r e a l b i g t e a m o f a r o u n d 3 8 k i d s , ” Olinger said. “There’s some schools like Morrison, I think they only have like 12 kids on the team. If they have five kids that shoot really well, they can compete with the bigger teams.”

Morrison, which is coached by Andy Riggen and Mary Schaefer, is one of the startup teams, having begun just two years ago.

With only eight competitors on the roster – seven boys and one girl – the Mustangs are one of the smallest teams in the area.

Morrison also made the trip to Bunker Hill this season after battling through some challenging weather early on.

“We started with a lot of bad weather – rain, wind, etc. So the better weather made the shooting more fun,” Riggen said. “We had six school competitions and we went to Bunker Hill for state. Most of the kids have only shot at one gun club because the scores are on the internet and we don’t know who we’re shooting against. Being at state for the kids was a real eye-opener. They did very good that day.”

When Olinger started six years ago, there were about 80 students competing at state. This year, there were 800.

“The sport has grown almost double every year since we started,” Olinger said. “It is actually the fastest-growing sport in the nation right now.”

Olinger and Riggen expect that trend of growth to continue for the foreseeable future.

“Trap shooting is a safe, growing sport and just getting a good start in Illinois,” Riggen said. “Trapshooting is known for having the nicest, friendliest people. We really enjoy it.”

“From what I’ve seen the last six years, the sport is growing exponentially every year,” Olinger said.

On July 6-10, Prophetstown competed at national s at MTA Home grounds in Mason, Michigan, in a field of more than 3,000 youth shooters.

Morrison High School trap shooter Nate Schaefer pockets one of the spent shells.

Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com Prophetstown trap shooting team member Kyle Skromme waits for a competition to begin.

Por t Byron’s Murray takes second place in Reagan Run 5K in Dixon

By DAN WUSSOW dwussow@shawmedia.com

DIXON – Back at its usual location through the streets of Dixon – stretching from Ronald Reagan’s Boyhood Home on Hennepin Avenue, across the Rock River and through the woods in Page Park and then back across the river to Haymarket Square on Highland Avenue – the 22nd annual Reagan Run 5K took place Saturday morning, July 2.

A field of 774 participants, ranging in age from 7 to 84, ran or walked this year’s race as onlookers gathered on either side of the course, dotting the landscape over its 3.1-mile route.

Sterling’s Jacob Gebhardt, 22, was first to cross the finish line, recording a personal-rec ord time of 15:24.25 –nearly 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher and almost 40 seconds faster than his previous best at the annual race.

Port Byron’s Tommy Murray was the second-place finisher, running a personal-record time of 15:53.80. Like Gebhardt, Murray is a veteran of the Reagan Run, having competed three or four times in the annual 5K.

Coming off recent third- and fourthplace finishes at the IHSA Class 1A boys track and field state championships in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter races, Murray, a 17-year-old Riverdale High School runner, was itching to get back into competition and run in a familiar area again.

“It felt really good. It’s my first road race, 5K this summer,” Murray said. “I’m super happy with it, good time. My grandparents live here and my mom grew up here, so I like to come to this race whenever they have it.

“It’s a fun course. It’s a little bit tricky because there’s some steep hills back in the woods over there, but I thought it was a super fun course just to come out here and run a nice 5K.”

Dixon’s Brock Drengenberg, 19, came in third with a time of 16:05.03. Drengenberg was a state champion for the Dukes in the 800 meters in the Class 2A state finals in 2021.

Sterling junior Dale Johnson, 16, finished fourth, completing his run in 16:08.27. Johnson was a Class 2A state track medalist in May, nabbing ninth place in the 1,600 and fifth in the 4x800 meters with teammates John Cid, Thomas Holcomb and Jordan Britt.

Dixon’s Cadyn Grafton, 19, rounded out the top five with a time of 17:23.81.

For complete results of the 2022 Reagan Run 5K, visit reaganrun.com or raceresultsplus.com.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com Port Byron’s Tommy Murray finishes second in the Reagan Run 5K on July 2 in Dixon.

Sarah Ford for Shaw Media ABOVE: The Garden Plain Ripsnorters held a bake sale during the 4-H Show. From left are Jason Powell, 10, Vienna Powell, 6, Lara Bielema, 17, and Dante Ketelsen, 17, who all volunteered for a shift. RIGHT: Gracelyn Abell, Chloe Slock, Gabi Abell and Elle Slock, all of Tampico and of the Hume Happy Hustlers 4-H Club, gather for a photo while at the Whiteside County 4-H Fair on Saturday, July 9. The Whiteside County 4-H Clubs are Cottonwood, Fenton Wizards, Garden Plain Ripsnorters, Genesee Hillbillies, Hume Happy Hustlers and Self Help Tigers.

Photo provided Sarah Ford for Shaw Media Aidan Jepson, a member of the Fenton Wizards 4-H Club, entered a Lego ukulele for the “Do Your Own Thing” 4-H fair category. Whiteside County 4-H members had a variety of projects to choose from, ranging from visual arts, photography, scrapbooking, baking, sciences, woodworking, clothing and textiles, floriculture, farm animals and more, with ribbons and prizes awarded.

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Personal Banker & Teller Positions

F U L T O N B R A N C H

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Denise Ward, Human Resource Officer 101 North State St, PO Box 89 Geneseo IL 61254 Or e-mail to: recruiter@central-bank.com Equal Opportunity Employer