Boys Swimming

Josh Fujimoto (’23) finished 4th at the IHSA State swim meet Saturday in the 500-yard freestyle, improving on his prelim finish.

Senior Tyson Tucci placed 5th in the race and finished 11th in the 200-yard Freestyle. 

Tucci and Fujimoto earned 12 and 11 points respectively, the pair’s combined 23 points was good for a 19th place team finish. 

In Friday’s preliminary heats, Tucci reached the wall just before Fujimoto in the 500-yard Freestyle, taking 4th while Fujimoto took 5th. The two swapped places in the finals. 

The weekend was successful for the Ironmen as each of the State competitors improved upon their Sectional times in the meet’s preliminary round. 

Despite not advancing to finals, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Tucci, Fujimoto, Kamden Malinowski (’23) and Kenneth Wills (’24) time of 3:10.98 broke their own school record.

Girls Wrestling

Juniors Shelby Hailey and Pyper Wood both finished in the top 8 of their respective weight classes in the inaugural IHSA State girls wrestling tournament at the Grossinger Motors Arena this past weekend. 

Both Hailey and Wood went 2-2 in the tournament, with their wins all coming by pin. 

Boys Track & Field

The Ironmen boys track and field team opened up their indoor season at the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 26 with three competitors winning their events. 

Alex Sohn broke his own school record and set a Wildcat Invitational record with a 60′ 5” throw in the shot put.

Senior Charles Cruse, who holds the school record for pole vault, vaulted 15′ 6” and took first place. 

Junior Chris Taylor won the high jump event with a 6′ 4.75” leap, 4 inches higher than the height he cleared at State last year. 

The team’s next meet is the Raider invite in Bolingbrook on March 12.

Girls Basketball

Community finished their season with a 27-7 record after losing to Edwardsville 57-45 in the Sectional Championship. 

The path to the Sectional Final consisted of three wins by a combined score of 174-85, including a 66-35 throttling of Joliet West (26-4) in the Sectional Semis. 

While the Lady Iron fell short of State, they put together a historic season nonetheless. Even after losing their top two scorers and rebounders from last season, the team won 27 games for the first time since the 2002-03 season and reached the Sectional Championship for the first time since the 2004-05 season. 

The future remains bright for the program as they lose just two players to graduation, seniors Karleigh Creasey and Paige Walker. It is safe to say that the Lady Iron need another heat check.

Boys Basketball

Click here to read Eli Schneider’s preview of the rematch against Moline and the recap of the Regional Championship. 

After home victories over Pekin and Bradley-Bourbonnais in Regionals, the Ironmen (32-1) travel to Pekin to face the Moline Maroons (28-4) in the Sectional Semis. The winner advances to the Sectional Final on Friday, March 4 in Collinsville and will play the winner of Collinsville (26-5) and Quincy (26-5).