ARCOLA — Brody Phillips looked in the mirror ahead of the Arcola baseball team’s sectional semifinal game against Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and almost didn’t recognize himself.
“It was definitely different,” Phillips said with a laugh. “It looked so much different, but I’m starting to get used to it. I’m starting to like it a little more.”
What the freshman saw was his hair wasn’t its usual dark brown. Instead, it was bright blond. But when he looked at the rest of his teammates, he felt right at home, as they all had the same new hairdo.
At the start of this baseball season, the Purple Riders made a pact that they would all dye their hair if they won their first regional title since 2016. If you could see the looks they were getting at school the next day, you’d know exactly how they fared on the baseball field the night before.
“Walking through the halls at school, all of us with the blond hair would look at each other and smile, and everybody was talking about it around us,” Phillips said. “Everybody else just looks completely different, but it’s really fun to do, especially with your teammates. It’s a really good bonding moment.”
The Purple Riders ultimately fell to GCMS 8-5 on May 22 to end their season. It wasn’t up to the expectations they set for themselves, but they did win a regional and 21 games, two things they hadn’t done in eight years.
“We’re only graduating two starters, so we’ll bring back a full load next year,” junior Braden Phillips said. “We’re just going to keep working over the offseason and have higher expectations for next season.”
The Phillips brothers and junior Tanner Thomas had a quick turnaround from their late night of baseball against the Falcons, as they had to wake up early the next morning and head to O’Brien Field in Charleston for the Class 1A boys’ state track and field prelims.
That trio, Oden Barron and Ryan Lindstrom represented Arcola in the 400- and 800-meter relays, with at least half of both relays sporting a new hairdo. While they didn’t make the finals in either, the 800-meter relay ran its best time of the season at 1 minute, 31.15 seconds, less than a tenth of a second away from qualifying for the final.
“I was pumped up,” Brody Phillips said. “During warmups, I felt like I was zooming with the adrenaline of being in this stadium and everything. It’s a really cool experience to have these two big events back to back.”
A look back
Congrats to all our Athletes of the Week
Tuscola’s Josiah Hortin and Champaign Central’s Kaitlyn Helm are our latest Athletes of the Week. As has been the case for the last 18 weeks, we’ll have a Q&A with our winners published this coming Monday. What makes this time different is it was our final week of voting for the year.
Thanks to Copper Creek Contractors, we switched to the voting method back in January to get you guys, the readers, more involved. It’s been encouraging to see the thousands of votes come in each week and even more exciting to hear the kids’ reactions after learning they had received so much support.
I’d say our new Athletes of the Week process has been a success, from Armstrong-Potomac’s Kollin Asbury and Salt Fork’s Alexa Jamison leading the first polls to Hortin and Helm closing out the last ones.
We’ll be back at it once fall sports get underway again. Until then, congratulations to all our Athletes of the Week from the 2023-24 school year.
A look ahead
Area IBCA All-Stars
The annual Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Games are set for next week, and six of our area seniors made the rosters.
Prairie Central’s Tyler Curl made the 1A/2A North boys’ team, and St. Joseph-Ogden’s Tanner Jacob and Unity’s Henry Thomas will represent the 1A/2A South squad. On the girls’ side, Salt Fork’s Macie Russell, Watseka’s Haven Meyer and LeRoy’s Molly Buckles will all play for the 1A/2A South team. Full rosters can be found at ibcaillinois.org.
The event will take place on June 8 at Pontiac High School. The 1A/2A girls’ game will start at 11 a.m., followed by the 1A/2A boys’ game at 1 p.m., the 3A/4A girls’ game at 3 and the 3A/4A boys’ game at 5. Admission is $5.
Shoutouts
Demarion Forman, Monticello boys’ track and field
Won a Class 2A state title in the discus last Saturday. His throw of 193 feet, 11 ½ inches in Friday’s prelims broke the 2A state meet discus record.
Will Foltz and Josiah Hortin, Tuscola boys’ track and field
Foltz won a Class 1A state title in the 3,200-meter run last Saturday with a time of 9 minutes, 18.86 seconds, and Hortin won a title in the 800 with a time of 1:51.98.
Dominic Martin, Ridgeview/Lexington boys’ track and field
Won Class 1A state titles in the 110-meter hurdles (14.41) and 300-meter hurdles (38.87) last Saturday.
Graydon Leonard and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley baseball
Leonard pitched a no-hitter with eight strikeouts last Saturday to lead the Falcons to a 7-1 win over Mt. Pulaski and their first sectional championship in program history. GCMS then advanced to its first state finals with a 3-0 win over Annawan/Wethersfield on Monday.
Villa Grove softball
The Blue Devils qualified for their first state tournament in program history with a 5-2 win in eight innings against Serena on Monday.
Zach Piatt is a prep sports reporter at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at zpiatt@news-gazette.com.
