Sports

RIVERDALE SCHOOL BOARD

Parents push back against masking at Riverdale

BY SARAH FORD For Shaw Media

The Riverdale Board of Education heard from three concerned citizens about children having to wear masks and get vaccinated for the 2021-2022 school year during the meeting on Monday, June 28.

Rochelle Arnold noted that 64 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the district during the past year, with kids at a low risk of death due to the virus. She expressed concern about kids being forced to wear masks or get vaccinated and encouraged parents to think critically and research for themselves, even calling the virus a “biological weapon.”

M a t t S h a w a c k n o w l e d g e d t he “tough position” the school board was in, while adding they wouldn’t be the only school to push back against the mandates, especially with the Illinois governor “perpetually extending the orders.” He asked that the board do what’s best for the kids and their families, and not to punish them for their individual choices. “We need to treat the students with respect, with no hard stance to segregate or isolate and make them feel different. Let the kids make the decision, they should have a choice,” he said of the mandates.

Bill Kirkham said he is 71 years old and survived Covid, adding that he had colds that were worse. “Let the kids grow up and be kids,” he told the board.

S u p e r i n t e n d e n t J o s h T e m p l e thanked the speakers, saying that the district must follow IDHP guidelines. “I appreciate you sharing this info, and I encourage you to share it with legislators, who have the power to make changes. The school board’s hands are tied, but we’re hoping for more local control,” he said of ongoing changes to CDC guidelines and state regulations.

He did note that the board could vote on mask mandates at a future meeting, since the item wasn’t on the agenda. A group of parents have since started petitions on Change.org to bring to the board.

The board also held a budget hearing prior to the regularly scheduled meeting and approved an amended budget with Health Life Safety Funds to be used for an emergency repair to a rooftop HVAC unit last winter. They voted to purchase new motion sens o r s t o c o m p l e t e t h e u p g r a d e t o the security systems at the middle school and approved a contract with Aunt Millie’s for bakery goods for the 2021-22 school year.

For summer capital outlay projects, the middle school girls’ bathrooms will get updated, the middle school HVAC will get upgraded, and the high school sidewalk near the main entrance and cafeteria will be replaced. A $15,600 bid for landscaping around the school sign, administration office, and front entrance at the high school was tabled until more bids could be acquired.

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS

Riverdale boys track and f ield team competes at 1 A state championships

BY KEVIN CLAUS Riverdale assistant coach

On Thursday, June 17, seven members of the Riverdale High School boys track and field team competed in the IHSA Class 1A state championships at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

The state-qualifying squad of David Arney (long jump, triple jump, 4x100, 100 meters), Cole Jennings (4x100), Brandon Stone (4x100), Luke Wiklund (4x100), Will Leighty (triple jump), T o m m y M u r r a y ( 3 , 2 0 0 , 1 , 6 0 0 ) a n d Landis Musser (800) made school history as they tied for 19th in the team standings – Riverdale’s best finish ever at the state meet.

Arney, the lone senior in the group, was a major contributor to the team’s success as he became the first Riverdale athlete to medal twice in the same state meet. The first medal he won was in the triple jump. Going into the event seeded 17th and competing in the first of two flights, Arney improved his school record by jumping 44 feet, 2 inches – a huge 5.5 inches over his previous personal best – on his last jump to place second. Arney’s second medal came a couple of hours later in the 100, the last of four events he competed in. Arney’s blazing time of 11.14 seconds earned him an eighth-place finish, the highest placing ever by a Riverdale athlete in the 100. Arney also competed in the long jump (15th, 20-3) and the 4x100.

Speaking of the 4x100, Arney, Jennings and track and field newbies Stone and Wiklund put together an inspirational season. Every week, this group showed progress as they refined their sprint mechanics and improved their handoffs to the point in which they were almost flawless at the sectional meet. The first Riverdale 4x100 to ever compete at the state meet ran 45.45 seconds to finish 23rd.

Leighty, a sophomore, competed in the triple jump, an event he’s improved on by well over two feet since last season. In his first appearance at the state meet, Leighty jumped 12.12 meters to place 19th. He was one of only four sophomores to compete in the 28-athlete event.

A few hours before the 3,200, Murray’s first race of the day, he and his coach talked about race strategy and developed a potential game plan. Murray simply said he was going to follow Jacob Belha, a senior from Sherrard and one of the best distance runners in the state, as long as he could. The only problem was Belha and his coach had decided to scratch the 3,200 so Belha could devote maximum effort to the 1,600, the event they thought he had the best chance of winning (Belha placed second in the 1,600 in 4:22, a little more than a second behind the state champion). Without Belha in the 3,200 race, Murray toed the line with 17 unfamiliar faces on a stage he’s never been before and pieced together a truly awes o m e p e r f o r ma nc e . M u r r a y w e n t through the mile in eighth place with a time of 4:49 – faster than he’s ever started before – and then passed a runner during the fifth lap to move into seventh place. With 200 meters to go, he took a look back, saw that a runner was closing in on him and kicked to hold his all-state seventh-place position. Running in 9:54.33, Murray became the second Riverdale athlete in school history to medal in the 3,200. In the 1,600, Murray finished 16th with a time of 4:41.51. Out of all the race scenarios and strategies that Musser discussed with his coaches, he never thought he, the only sophomore in his heat of the 800, would be leading the race through 400 meters, but that’s exactly the position Musser was in with one lap to go in his first state appearance. Musser led the field through the first 59 seconds and hung on to that pace as well as he could before crossing the line in 2:03.18, just .15 off his lifetime best. The winner of Musser’s heat, Eli Mojonnier of Bismarck-Henning-Rossville, was the eventual state champion with a time of 1:57.33.

Supplied photos Seven members of the Riverdale High School boys track and field team – Luke Wiklund (from left), Will Leighty, Landis Musser, Cole Jennings, David Arney, Brandon Stone and Tommy Murray – competed June 17 at the IHSA Class 1A state championships in Charleston.