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School Sports

  • Austin, Bell advance to state meet

    NEWTON — Two members of the Vandalia High School boys track team qualified for the state track meet on Friday night at the Newton sectional meet.

    Junior Quenten Austin qualified by winning the 300-meter hurdles and placing second in the discus.

    Senior Daniel Bell qualified after winning discus and placing second in the 800-meter run.

    As a team, the Vandals placed third despite using only a handful of athletes.

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  • Hill sisters ousted in prelims

    Both Abby and Molly Hill of St. Elmo High School were eliminated from the state meet during the preliminaries of the discus throw.

    Molly, who was one of just two freshman in discus, had a throw of 97 feet, 4 inches.

    Abby, a senior, threw 88 feet, 11 inches.

    The shortest distance that qualified for the finals was 116 feet, 1 inch, which is better than both Hills' personal-best.

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  • Three area teams to play for regional championships on Saturday

    Three area teams will play for regional championships on Saturday morning.

    The second-seeded South Central High School baseball team will face top-seeded North Clay at 11 a.m. in Kinmundy. The Cougars advanced after defeating St. Elmo in a 1-0 pitcher's duel on Wednesday.

    The difference-maker was a solo home run by Larry Schoreck.

    Senior Derek Harmeier will start for the Cougars, as they look to win their sixth straight regional title. North Clay had a slow start against Brownstown in the semifinals before prevailing 14-4 on Wednesday.

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  • Senior Spotlight: Matt Hoffman

    Four years ago, Matt Hoffman had an admittedly ugly curveball.

    “I didn’t even have a curveball when I was a freshman,” the Vandalia senior said. “It was just a big hanger and wasn’t good.”

    His freshman season was when he first began working on a curveball with then-Legion coach Steve Hosick, and since then, he has developed a big breaking ball that has fooled several hitters this season.

    Against South Central last month, the right-handed hurler had 12 strikeouts, and the majority of them came via the curve.

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  • Hill sisters qualify for state meet in discus

    ROBINSON – Sisters Abby and Molly Hill this week will represent St. Elmo at the state track meet in Charleston after placing first and second in the discus throw at last Friday’s sectional meet.

    Abby, a senior, placed first, with a throw of 108 feet, 2 inches, and Molly, a freshman, was right behind, with a throw of 102 feet, 2 inches.

    “I’m really excited that we are going back to state,” said coach Travis Redden. “It’s great to have the sisters going, because there is a lot of camaraderie between the two.”

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  • Seven Jr. Vandals qualify for JH state

    PANA – Through on-and-off drizzling rains and chilly temperatures, the Vandalia Junior High boys and girls track teams combined to qualify seven athletes for this weekend's Illinois Elementary School Association Class AA state meet in Peoria.

    Eighth-graders qualifying were:
    •Luke Hollinshead (shot put)
    •Ryan Bayles (long jump)
    •Ben Strobel (1,600-meter run)
    •Allie Holtmann (high jump)
    •Johanna Walton (high jump)

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  • Lady Vandals end season with new record

    The Lady Vandals ended their season on Monday with an 11-1 loss to Carlyle in the regional tournament, but that does not diminish the accomplishments the team achieved throughout the season.

    Vandalia set a new school record with 17 wins, besting the previous record by two, and a victory against Hillsboro in the regular-season finale last Friday gave the Lady Vandals a share of the South Central Conference East Division for the first time since 2003.

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  • No qualifiers for Vandalia in Travelstead's final meet

    ROBINSON – No one from Vandalia’s girls track qualified for the state meet at last Friday’s sectional, but several individuals and relays had personal-best times, leaving coach Mike Travelstead satisfied at the end of his final meet as a coach.

    “I’m jumping up and down,” he said. “I got pretty excited that they were getting their best times and marks.”

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  • Vandals set new 3,200-meter relay record

    The 4X800-meter relay team of sophomore Wade Cowger, sophomore Ryan Ambuehl, junior Quenten Austin and senior Daniel Bell set a new school record last Thursday during a meet at Hillsboro.

    The quartet ran the race in 8:52.34 (fully-automatic timing) to best the old record by more than 10 seconds.

    The old mark was set in 2009 by Drew Bell, Daniel Bell, Quinn Phillips and Andy Koonce. Their time was 9:03.54 (FAT converted).

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  • Vandals end season showing resilience

    The Vandalia baseball team had a brief winning streak halted last Thursday, but coach Luke Hohlt said the game was still a step forward, because the Vandals fought to the finish.

    Knowing that game was one of the last before the regional tournament, Hohlt knew Vandalia would need to continue showing that resilience to pull off an upset at regionals.

    The Vandals, however, would lose their season finale to Hillsboro on Friday, before dropping a first-round regional game to Litchfield, 3-1, on Monday to end the season.

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The Leader Union is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Vandalia, Il, and the surrounding area.