At the halfway point of the Ironmen baseball team’s 2023 campaign, Community is 15-5 and 8-1 in Big 12 action–good for second place in the Conference. Power Pitching Head coach Mr. Ryan Short’s three-headed pitching monster has been chewing up batters.  The trio of Ethan Eberle, Troy McLeese...

The 2023 baseball season took off with a 10-0 Ironmen win over the Limestone Rockets on March 15. The Ironmen hope that their run-rule decision over Limestone is a sign of things to come this season. Jacob O’Day and Ethan Eberle threw a combined no-hitter in the season opener, which was called...

Champions. That’s a title Josh Fujimoto and Kenneth Wills can forever boast after competing at the IHSA Swimming and Diving State Finals on Sat., Feb. 25. The pair showed their mettle in the 500 freestyle finale, medaling in the competition’s longest individual race.  Fujimoto finished...

The Ironmen boys basketball program secured its third consecutive 4A Regional Title on Friday, Feb. 24, with a 61-45 win over the Yorkville Foxes. After a quarter of play Friday, the Iron (20-13) trailed Yorkville (26-6) by a score of 12-9. In the second period, something clicked.  The Ironmen...

Three members of the boys wrestling team -- Caden Correll, Cole Gentsch and Cooper Caraway -- compete at the 3A IHSA State Wrestling Tournament in Champaign this weekend, each entered Thursday's opening round ranked among the State's top five competitors in their weight class. Seeded second in the...

In the February Issue of the Inkspot magazine, Mallory Thomison offered up an easy and affordable Cake Pop recipe. Like Valentine's Days from years gone by, Thomison brought her cakey creations into class to share. This edition, the Sweet Spot breaks the regular mold -- veering away from the norm....

Romance movies make us feel like we, too, have a special someone waiting to be found, a soulmate out there for us — even if just for a couple of hours on a Saturday night. From the comfort of our couch, we can experience love’s ups and downs, its giddy highs and crushing lows, moments of joy and...

“It was definitely like we were appointed to be enemies”—the Cavaliers locked in an eternal struggle with the Eagles—swords and talons drawn.  At least, that’s how it felt to Community’s libero Anna Dunne before her freshman volleyball season. Dunne, now a senior, attended Kingsley...

The girls cross country team placed 27th at the IHSA 3A State meet on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Peoria’s Detweiller Park. While the race conditions were unlike any the girls had experienced all season -- a muddy, rainy, windy day -- junior Abigail Ziemer and her six teammates were mentally prepared for...

The boys cross country season came to an end at the Normal Sectional on Oct. 29 after the team finished 14th. With 393 points, Community trailed Oswego High School, the last of the seven teams to qualify for State, by nearly 200 points. Plainfield South won the meet with 32 points. Jack Thomas was...

The girls cross country team qualified for Saturday’s IHSA 3A State meet after finishing among the top seven teams at the Normal Sectional on Oct. 29.  Racing on their home course, the Iron finished 6th in the 18-team race with 178 points, 115 points behind Sectional Champions Minooka.  Ali...

Each week, the Sweet Spot puts desserts from eateries around town to the test, deciding whether they hit the spot or miss the mark. Two Inkspot staffers review each product based on taste, presentation and value - separating the savory sweets from the crummy confections. This week, Abby Ruebush...

The Ironmen improved to 4-3 on the season with Saturday’s 47-26 victory over Dohn Community High School, keeping Normal’s playoff hopes alive.  Junior Brady Augstin was a decisive factor in the Ironmen’s win, playing a pivotal role on both sides of the ball.  In the first half of the “Clash...

Baseball  After sweeping a doubleheader against Sacred Heart-Griffin and Joliet West on Saturday, and defeating Mahomet-Seymour on Monday, the Ironmen baseball team extended their win streak to 13 games.  Closing out the season with a 9-3 Big 12 record, sitting at third in the conference, the...

Boys Tennis The Community boys tennis team is 5-0 to begin the season with team wins over Big-12 rivals Bloomington, Peoria Notre Dame and Normal West by a combined score of 24-3.  On Saturday, April 23, the Ironmen continued their domination, swinging their way to a first place finish at the JD...

Girls Track Ali Ince’s time of 2:05.42 in the 800 meter race at the Arcadia Invitational in California broke the all-time record for the event at the prestigious national meet. Ince joins elite company as an Arcadia Invitational record holder. Two time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin and...

  It was 2000 -- Witzig’s second game in his sophomore season as head varsity coach. His team just suffered a 47-33 season-opening loss to another crosstown rival, Normal West. The season seemed to be repeating a rather forgettable 4-22 campaign the year prior. A season in which the Ironmen...

Softball The Lady Iron (1-3) won their first game on Friday, April 1, defeating the Chatham Glenwood Titans (3-2) 6-5. Community jumped out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the first inning and adding two in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. Emma Conover (’23), Leigha Luering (’22) and Kara...

Girls Soccer The Lady Iron opened their season with a 4-0 victory over Metamora (1-2-1), with freshmen Sarah Thompson (’25) and Rayna Powers (’25) scoring goals in their high school debuts. Teagan Fahy (’24) and Reese Anderson (’24) also sent the ball to the back of the net. In their second...

Girls Track & Field Members of the Lady Iron track and field team kicked off the indoor season at the Illinois Meet of Champions in Gately Park, IL on Saturday, March, 5.  Ali Ince (’24) teamed up with two commits from Stanford and one from the University of Arkansas to break a distance medley...

Season Stats: Josh helped his team win Intercity and Conference. He placed 1st in Sectionals in the 500 Yard Freestyle and finished 4th in State in the event. Favorite Subject: Chemistry Favorite Movie: "The Shawshank Redemption" Fun Fact: Josh has no other swimmers in his family. Biggest...

After a 35 point victory over the Pekin Dragons, Community (31-1) faces three-seed and Southwest Suburban Conference Champion Bradley-Bourbonnais (23-7) in the Regional Championship at 7 p.m. tonight. In search of his 10th Regional Championship, Head Coach Dave Witzig said that Bradley-Bourbonnais’...

Boys swimming The Ironmen hosted Sectionals on Saturday, Feb. 19., winning the team title and advancing athletes to State in three events. The Ironmen will send individual competitors in the 200 yard-freestyle and 500-yard freestyle and a 400-yard freestyle relay to the State meet in Westmont on...

Girls Basketball The Lady Iron are 7-0, outscoring their opponents by double digits in six of those games. They opened the season by sweeping the Intercity Tournament, winning the title for the first time since 2017. Community plays host to Rock Island on Tuesday Dec. 7 before their first Big-12 game...

Mr. Jeff Christopherson and Mr. Mike Roller demonstrated Halloween-themed experiments for their chemistry classes on Friday, Oct. 29, scaling the annual event back from previous years. In his 5th-hour Honors Chemistry class, Christopherson exploded jack-o'-lanterns, lit students' hands on fire, and...

The last time Community's Lady Iron met the Edwardsville Tigers in post-season play was Nov. 3, 2016. Five years ago to the day, Community defeated Edwardsville in two sets to win the Sectional Final. Community has not faced the Tigers since. Max Preps ranks the Tigers 10th in the state, taking...

The Theatre program returns to the NCHS stage with "Zap!"'s premiere on Oct. 15. Friday's opening night marks the first in-person production at Community since February 2020's staging of "Clue."  Last November, the Theatre program collaborated with the three area high schools and ISU to produce...

The varsity boys and girls cross country teams finished 2nd in the Randy Sharer Intercity meet Tuesday, Sept. 21, with each race decided by a tiebreaker. Varsity Boys After Community and U-High's first five runners crossed the finish line, the teams were tied for 1st place with 38 points apiece. Jonah...

A TikTok trend popular amongst high school students led to a drastic increase in petty theft and vandalization of school property nationwide. The "#devious lick" trend originated when TikTok user jugg4elias uploaded a video depicting the removal of a box of masks from his backpack, captioned: "A month...

Anthony Hopkins flawlessly executed his portrayal of world-renowned psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s "Silence of the Lambs". For 30 years, Hopkins’ performance has had viewers craving second helpings of the iconic character. It was a performance so mouthwateringly good...

Buzz Lightyear and Woody from "Toy Story", Doc Brown and Marty McFly from the "Back to the Future" franchise, and Marlin and Dory from "Finding Nemo". These on-screen pairs are all classic cinematic duos. Whether providing comedic relief while looking for a lost fish, enjoying adventures in the past,...

As stay-at-home orders were issued across the U.S. last year, animal welfare organizations saw pet adoptions spike during the second half of March. Industry data from PetPoint estimates that the national adoption rate of 58% at the beginning of March 2020 jumped to 85% by the month’s end.  But...

With Illinois reverting to Phase 3 of the ‘Restore Illinois Resurgence Mitigation Plan’ on Friday, Nov. 20 for the unforeseeable future, small businesses face another round of mitigation requirements. The requirements, coming as a new wave of COVID-19 surged statewide, “aims to limit gatherings...