Sports Briefs: Start of Spring Sports

Jeff Christopherson

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 game, Community became the first team to score a goal against Chatham Glenwood (4-0) this season although the Titans, who won Sectionals last year, won 5-1.

Community improved to 2-1 on the season after a 2-0 victory over U-High (2-1) on March 28 in the first game of the Intercity Tournament. The Lady Iron play Central Catholic (0-1-1) tonight.

Baseball

The Ironmen baseball team began play on Tuesday, March 15, with a 3-1 win at home over the Pekin Dragons.

Through five innings, the Ironmen and Dragons were even with one run a piece, but Kaileb Hackman’s (‘24) two RBI knock in the bottom of the sixth inning put Community on top.

In addition to the game winning hit, Hackman earned the win and the save on the mound, pitching a scoreless final two innings.

After dropping a non-conference test to Morton 9-3 on the road, the Ironmen traveled to Gulf Shores, Alabama for the annual Gulf Shores Classic tournament.

Community went winless against teams from Arkansas and Alabama in Gulf Shores but bounced back with a 16-5 victory over Limestone on March 29.

Girls Track & Field

Community avenged their second place finish in the Big 12 Outdoor Meet last season, edging out Bloomington by 7 points to win the 2022 Big 12 Indoor Meet.

Jazmin West won the 60m dash by .01 seconds and finished third in the 200m.

Jordynn Griffin (’22) and Ali Ince (’24) also finished as event champions, with Griffin winning the 400 meter dash and Ince setting the meet record in the 800m, running a 2.16.91.

The reigning State champions in the 4 x 400m, Ince, Griffin, Abigail Ziemer (’24) and Carina Engst (’22), set a Big 12 Indoor Meet record and won the relay.

Two days after winning Conference, the Lady Iron competed in the Wildcat Invitational. Ince won the 400m and ran with Engst, Anna Dunne (’23) and Queen-Patricia Lubala (’24) to win the 4 x 400m.

The team’s next meet is a relay competition in Pekin on Saturday, April 2.

Boys Track & Field

Members of the boys track team competed in two meets over spring break.

The Ironmen won the Gene Armer Invitational on March 19, scoring 58 points and defeating fifteen other teams.

Evan Lowder (’22) won the 200 meter dash, Alex Sohn (’23) finished first in the shot put, Chris Taylor (’23) topped the competition in the high jump and Charles Cruse (’22) won the pole vault.

Lowder and Taylor also earned second place finishes in the 400m and long jump respectively.

The aforementioned athletes all earned spots in the Illinois Top Times Championship Meet on March 26, the final competition of the indoor season.

Cruse vaulted a personal best of 16’ 1” making him an event champion, and Sohn finished second in the shot put.

The Ironmen compete in Pontiac on Tuesday, April 5.

Softball

The Lady Iron softball team began their season on Wednesday, March 16 in a home contest against Pekin. The Dragons defeated the Lady Iron 10-1.

On March 28, the squad returned to the diamond, facing Sacred Heart Griffin at home. Community fell to the Cyclones 5-3, dropping to 0-2 on the season.

The next day the Lady Iron traveled to East Peoria where they lost 12-2.

Tonight Community plays their third game in as many days and looks to get their first victory, taking on the undefeated Lincoln Railsplitters.

Girls Lacrosse

Note: The Inkspot will refer to the Co-op lacrosse team, featuring players from Normal Community, Normal West and Bloomington, as the Purple IronCats

The girls lacrosse team opened the season by splitting their first two contests. The Purple IronCats dropped their first match 16-12 against Sandburg/Andrew/Stagg (2-0) at home.

They then bounced back with a 12-10 victory over Belleville West (3-1) on the road. Senior Laynee Scheck led the Purple IronCats with 5 goals in the game.

The Purple IronCats travel to Lincolnshire to play the Stevenson Patriots (3-1) tonight.

For up to date Iron athletics scores and results, head to the sports tab and select scores and schedules.

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About the Contributors

Dylan Wehmeyer, Senior Staff Reporter

Dylan Wehmeyer is a senior at Normal Community High School and is involved with Best Buddies and FMP. This is his third year working with the Inkspot; he is a senior staff reporter. A book that moved me is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A slogan I live by is "You never know what someone is going through. Be kind. Always."

Eli Schneider, Senior Staff Reporter

Eli Schneider is a senior at Normal Community High School and in his third year of working with the Inkspot as a Senior Staff Reporter. Eli plays varsity lacrosse for the B-N Lacrosse co-op and enjoys watching baseball, football, and hockey at both the collegiate and professional levels. Eli plans to attend the University of Mississippi in the fall of 2022 and major in Marketing Strategy and minor in Journalism An all-time dream of mine would be to work in marketing/P.R for an MLB or NHL team My favorite places to travel are Oxford, Mississippi, Dallas, Texas, and Denver, Colorado

Jonah Kramer, Sports Editor

Jonah Kramer is a senior at Normal Community High School and participates in Best Buddies, FBLA and cross country. This is his second year working with the Inkspot, where he is a senior staff reporter. A random fact about me is that my front tooth has been broken five different times. My favorite film is Knives Out. What inspires me is Jesus Christ.