2024-25 Preparations Year in Evaluation: Leading 10 moments of the

in the 2nd frame of the Class 3A state championship match versus Limestone at CEFCU Arena in Typical. Then, led by Ellie Barker’s soothing existence and dazzling serving, M-S began clawing its way back. Before you understood it, the Bulldogs had actually rattled off a 14-3 run to connect the match at one set each. They went into the third and choosing set with all the momentum on the planet and travelled to their very first state title in program history.

Champaign Central senior Luke McClure commemorates while rounding the bases after striking a walk-off crowning achievement in the bottom of the 11th inning to provide the Maroons a 1-0 win against beat Mahomet-Seymour on Saturday afternoon in a Class 3A Lincoln Sectional national championship.

Liz Brunson photos/For The News-Gazette

2. Luke McClure strolls it off in extra innings for Champaign Central

The Class 3A Lincoln Sectional baseball championship in between Champaign Central and Mahomet-Seymour was the best game of the year. Without a doubt. Patrick Kennedy pitched 8 nothing innings with seven strikeouts for the Maroons, and Max Young went seven nothing innings with 10 strikeouts for the Bulldogs. Still scoreless in the bottom of the 11th inning, Luke McClure stepped up to the plate and blasted a walk-off solo home run to right field to send out Central to the super-sectional with a 1-0 success.

Monticello fans and players celebrate a 23-20 success in Saturday’s dramatic Class 3A semifinal against Unity. Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette 3. Monticello football punches ticket to state in significant fashion Rushing to his right in the final seconds of the Class 3A state semifinal game versus host and competing Monticello, Unity quarterback Dane Eisenmenger introduced a Hail Mary pass to completion zone. Brady Parr captured it with three defenders curtained all over him, and the Rockets started celebrating what seemed the touchdown that would send them to the state championship game. Rather, a penalty eliminated the play, and the Sages emerged triumphant with a 23-20 win in among the most bizarre endings you’ll see.

Wendy Brent/For The News-Gazette The LeRoy softball team rushes out of its dugout to begin celebrating a 2-1 win against Dakota on Friday afternoon in a Class 1A state semifinal game at Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria. The Panthers will play

Carrollton at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the program’s very first state championship

game. Wendy Brent/For The News-Gazette 4. Emily Mennenga sends LeRoy softball to state champion More extra-inning heroics, this time in the Class 1A state softball semifinals in Peoria. Connected at 1 with Dakota with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd base in the bottom of the 10th inning, Emily Mennenga singled home the game-winning run to send out the Panthers to the state championship game for the very first time in program history with a 2-1 success. Shrieking the entire way, her colleagues ran out of the dugout to mob her at first base. It was the exclamation point on the best season in LeRoy softball history.

Tuscola senior Lia Patterson, second from left leans near the goal to win the Class 1A 100-meter difficulties race during Saturday’s IHSA ladies’ track and field satisfy at O’Brien Field in Charleston. Patterson won the race in 14.39 seconds before winning a state title in

the 300 difficulties and placing 2nd in the 200. Knox Mynatt/The News-Gazette 5. Lia Patterson’s final day and performances at O’Brien Field Might 24, 2025, was going to be a special day at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field no matter the outcomes. Because that was Tuscola senior Lia Patterson’s last go-around on that renowned blue track. She started the day with her 2nd straight Class 1A 100-meter difficulties state title and by anchoring the 800-meter relay to 3rd place. Exhausted after her third successive 300 difficulties champion, she ran a perky runner-up 200-meter dash to protect a fourth straight team trophy for the Warriors.

Tuscola junior Kate Foltz runs towards the surface of the Class 1A state champion race on Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Foltz won a state title, doing so with a record time of 15 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Tracy Hornaday photo 6. Kate Foltz races to state cross-country title in record fashion It was the most remarkable run anyone had actually ever seen in Class 1A women’state cross-country history. Tuscola’s Kate Foltz jumped out to an early lead and kept it for the whole race, even widening the gap at Detweiller Park in Peoria as it advanced. She crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 59.4 seconds, a 1A state record by 22 seconds and clear of 2nd location by half a minute. She collapsed in her household’s arms as she captured her breath, now the only Tuscola cross-country runner to ever win a private state title.

Champaign Central softball players, from left, Haley Helm, Kaitlyn Helm and Grace Bandy commemorate the Maroons’long-awaited local title on Saturday afternoon after Central’s 4-1 triumph against Mahomet-Seymour in a Class 3A local national championship at Wabash Park in Rantoul. Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette 7

. No more waiting: Champaign Central softball lastly wins local The only item the Maroons talked about all season long was winning a Class 3A regional champion. They got close the year before and understood this was their time. Led by Kaitlyn Helm’s 2 hits, Molly Kloeppel’s two RBI and Haley Helm’s eight strikeouts in the circle– which put the sophomore over 400 for her career– Central had the ability to earn a 4-1 win against Mahomet-Seymour to claim its very first local title in 44 years with members of that 1981 team in attendance in Rantoul.

Unity elders Camryn Reedy, left, and Josie Cler celebrate after fellow senior Ashlyn Denney crossed the goal on Saturday at O’Brien Field in Charleston to provide the Rockets a Class 2A state title in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 9 minutes, 19.34 seconds. Knox Mynatt photos/The News-Gazette 8. Ashlyn Denney’s incredible last push to give Unity relay a state title After a solid first 3 legs from Josie Cler, Mackenzie Pound and Camryn Reedy, Ashlyn Denney got the baton in 3rd location, about 15 meters behind the leaders in the Class 2A 3,200-meter relay state last in Charleston. She then ran a personal-best relay split to make it close at the finish line, doing simply enough to give the Firecrackers the win by three-hundredths of a 2nd. Later on in the day, she anchored the exact same 1,600-meter relay to a runner-up surface to protect Unity’s first-ever group state trophy.

1A-106-Steven Uden, Oakwood/Salt Fork, right, and Charlie Flores, Hoopeston Location, are introduced before their championship match

at the state fumbling finals at the State Farm Center in Champaign on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette 9

. Regional flair: Charlie Flores, Steven Uden battle for wrestling title No matter what occurred on the last day of the IHSA specific fumbling season, we were going to have at least one location wrestler win a state title, as Hoopeston Location’s Charlie Flores and Oakwood/Salt Fork’s Steven Uden compared in the Class 1A 106-pound last at State Farm Center in Champaign. It was among the much better matches of the night, with the training partners scoreless through the first two periods. Flores made an escape to begin the third, and a takedown in the last 30 seconds to protect a 4-0 win.

St. Joseph-Ogden kicker

Charlie Schmitz. Nora Maberry-Daniels/The News-Gazette

10. Rather the kick: Charlie Schmitz hits game-winning basket

Connected at 21 with Illini Grassy field Conference rival Unity, St. Joseph-Ogden kicker Charlie Schmitz trotted onto the field for a possible game-winning 31-yard basket with 5.9 seconds on the clock. Brennan Oleynichak’s snap was excellent, Tayton Gerdes’ hold was excellent and Schmitz’s kick was great, splitting the uprights to all however seal a Spartans win. The defense held strong for the last 1.2 seconds remaining, and SJ-O put its stamp on the current interesting entry in this storied rivalry with a 24-21 home win at a raucous Dick Duval Field.