Published: May 15, 2008 12:04 pm            

Let there be light!

Let their be light . . . sunlight that is. I don't know about you, but I'm a little sick of rain.

I don't believe I've had a spring quite like this one before sports-wise. The comments from several umpires are they actually have lost hundreds and hundreds of dollars this spring in pay because the games they were going to call were canceled.

I know I haven't seen as many baseball and softball games as I have in the past. But now it's regional time and those games have to be played at some point. We may be working clear through June trying to get all the high school sports done!

Another thing I'm extremely tired of is cleaning my dogs off. My male dog Snickers seems to think he has to chase my neighbor's dogs Lilly and Max (boxers and much bigger than he is) up and down the fence. Of course by now he's almost got a rut along the fence and it fills with water and guess what . . . he comes in covered with mud and has to get a bath. You'd think after a while it would dawn on him that a hated bath follows his runs, but no, he can't seem to get that through his thick little head.

Anyhow, I digress. There are a lot of things coming to an end since there are only a few weeks left of the high school seasons. I'd like to congratulate all the area athletes on fine seasons.

The Apollo Conference All-Academic Team was named recently. Members must be a senior and have earned a varsity letter in an Apollo sport in their senior year along with being in the top 15 percent of their class.

Effingham High School athletes making this team were Landon Arney (basketball), Kaylee Krischel (volleyball, basketball), Ellen Sparks (golf, Scholar Bowl), Kristin Kohnert (volleyball, basketball), Jacklyn Buhrmann (Scholastic Bowl), Ayako Osawa (tennis, track), Jena Hecht (track), Holly Curia (Scholastic Bowl), Caroline Clasby (Scholastic Bowl), Jaimie Rueter (basketball), Steve Keller (football, basketball, track), Zach Worman (Scholastic Bowl), Amber Walker (softball), Cathy Funneman (volleyball), Laura Lustig (golf), Andrew Slavens (golf), Misty Snyder (track), Elizabeth Howze (track), Resa Ware (tennis) and Ryan Engel (football, baseball).

Newton athletes earning the honor were Kelcey Correll (softball), Sarah Hoffeditz (Scholastic Bowl), Michael Benefiel (football), Nicole Green (tennis), Mara Nix (tennis), Brian Fehrenbacher (football), Matt Webb (tennis), Holly Probst (volleyball, basketball), Laura Rudolphi (volleyball), Leah Rudolphi (tennis), Whitney Benefiel (basketball), Eric Schackmann (football, basketball, baseball), Allison Meinhart (volleyball, basketball), Kelli Wilson (Scholastic Bowl) and Ayla Ault (track).

Illinois High School Association Scholar Athlete awards at Beecher City were presented to Allyson Doty (rodeo, basketball, softball), Roma Ryan (Scholar Bowl, volleyball), Adam Evans (golf, Scholar Bowl), Maria Randall (volleyball, softball), Nicholas Kline (basketball, soccer), Ramsey Stepp (soccer, Scholar Bowl), Shawna Myers (softball), Tyler McKay (basketball, baseball), Brittany Zacha (basketball, softball, volleyball), Hilary Shields (softball), Randi Lilly (softball, volleyball), Lydia Wendte (basketball volleyball), Kayla Ohnesorge (softball, volleyball, cheerleading), Jared Laue (basketball, baseball), Kelsey Myers (softball, volleyball, basketball), Nicole Gardner (basketball), Matthew Kline (soccer, basketball, baseball), Janae Wolf (volleyball, basketball) and Hayli Summers (cheerleading).

Matt Repking capped his career at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Repking, a Teutopolis graduate, ran a time of 9:28.57 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at Indiana University to place seventh overall against a predominately Division I field. His time of 9:28.57 topped the previous mark set by Barry Wallen in 1982 by a two-second margin.

Indiana University sophomore Jared Nuxoll is set to compete in the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships. This year's championships will be held at the Illinois Track & Soccer Stadium in Champaign Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Hoosier jumper, currently ranked fifth in the Big Ten with a jump of 6 feet, 9 1/2 inches at the Jesse Owens Classic, will compete at 1:15 Saturday and hopes to improve on a sixth-place finish last year.

The 2006 Effingham High School graduate, is the EHS high jump record holder as well as a four-time medalist at the high school state track meet and two-time junior high state champion. He is majoring in business/marketing at the Kelley School of Business.

I don't know if you've been reading about Mount Zion deciding on leaving the Apollo Conference. The Braves are remaining in the conference, which makes me pretty happy. I've always thought Mount Zion has had very competitive teams in most sports.

I see, however, that two of their coaches are leaving. Tim Nolen is taking the head football coaching job at Robinson High School, so he isn't actually leaving the conference. I knew Tim when he coached at Newton.

Nolen will take over for Bob Goebel who coached two years with both teams going 1-8. Nolen coached at Newton for two years where his teams went 8-10 combined. Then he headed to Villa Grove and finally came to Mount Zion in 1994. In the past eight seasons, his teams have qualified for the playoffs seven times. The Braves had a 58-22 record in conference play in his tenure as head of the program.

Nolen is heading back to his roots. He attended Robinson High School and played quarterback for the Maroons.

This morning I read where Greg Blakey, the softball coach resigned. However, it's only for a year as he takes off to watch his children play baseball and softball next season. Blakey has been the head softball coach for 17 years where he's compiled a 426-160 record, winning 12 regionals and two sectionals.

Millie Lange can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or millie.lange@effinghamdailynews.com.