It is August and school will be starting soon. Even sooner will the beginning of the fall sports season, which, of course, means a busy schedule for student-athletes.
Here is a look at what will be taking place and changes that have been made in the run-up to the beginning of the high school sports season.
Kicking off the preseason
Official preseason practice for all Fall sports begins on Monday, Aug. 12. This is for everything involving the area schools. Although some sports had IHSA-sanctioned contact days during the summer, the season officially starts on Aug. 12 for football, volleyball, golf, swimming and tennis, which are the sports area schools are competing in during the Fall.
Regular season signals beginning of the school year
Although students have been in class leading up to the first game of the interscholastic season, it isn’t until those contests begin that school is considered to have commenced. Teeing off the competitive campaign is golf. The boys and girls teams are allowed to hit the links on Aug. 15.
The start of the regular season for the other sports varies from Aug. 22 for girls’ tennis to football on Aug. 30. Girls’ swimming is allowed to start on Aug. 23 while boys’ and girls’ cross country, as well as volleyball, can start on Aug. 26.
Conference alignment
There are some differences in conference alignment this year, primarily in football. Pontiac and Prairie Central are members of the Illini Prairie Conference for all sports in the Fall. El Paso-Gridley and Lexington will be in the Heart of Illinois in their respective athletics. Flanagan-Cornell is also a member of the Heart of Illinois for volleyball and golf. However, the Falcons play 8-man football and have been placed in the 8-Man West Division by the IHSA. Dwight is a member of the Tri-County Conference for its sports except for football. The gridiron Trojans will compete in the Chicagoland Prairie Conference. Woodland is also in the Tri-County, except for football where it co-ops with Flanagan-Cornell.
Coaches lead their respective programs
Most of the coaches for this year’s Fall teams are the same as last year. There are, however, some new faces leading their programs. Among the new faces at Pontiac is Abby Mays, who will coach the volleyball team. Mays is a PTHS graduate and played for the Amerinds. Other new volleyball coaches in the area are Albana Smith at Flanagan-Cornell and Steven Lopez at Dwight. Wesley Crump is the new boys’ golf coach at El Paso-Gridley.
Returning coaches include, from Pontiac, Zach Gadbury (football), Mike Lucas (cross country), Paul Ritter (boys’ golf), Sydney Mounce (girls’ golf), Nick Vogt (girls’ tennis) and Tara Hansen (girls’ swimming). Back at Prairie Central are Mike Goodwin (football), Scott Willi (boys’ golf), Cindy Ifft (girls’ golf), Robin Behrends (cross country) and Kirsten Smith (volleyball).
Coming back at Dwight are Luke Standiford (football), Joe Bloxam (boys’ golf), Julie Jensen (girls’ golf) and Tim Miller cross country. Todd Reed (football) and Jerry Farris (golf) are back at Flanagan-Cornell. Coaches returning to El Paso-Gridley are Tanner Benedict (football), Jim Bagnell (girls’ golf), Andrea Hardwick (volleyball) and Michael Melick (cross country). At Lexington, Kelli Aho (volleyball) and Jeff Convery (golf) return, as does Matt Barnes, who coaches football for the Ridgeview-Lexington co-op program.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: What to know about Pontiac-area high school sports in 2024 fall
