Free Press Advocate

When it comes to wrestling, champions are not born, they’re made young

Published by admin on Tue, 03/22/2022 - 5:11pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
With the Coal City Middle School wrestling team winning its second straight state championship, we asked how long will this last?
The answer looks like a long time, and don’t be surprised if Wilmington and Reed-Custer are close behind.
The Warriors won their first title in 2019 beating Taylor Ridge Rockridge before dominating Canton Ingersoll two weeks ago 316.50 to 99.

Wildcats up and running, girls 6th, boys 8th in RC Invite

Published by admin on Tue, 03/15/2022 - 4:16pm

On Saturday, the Wildcats boys and girls track teams participated in the Reed-Custer Indoor Invitational. The girls finished in 6th place and the boys finished in 8th place.
The girls had eight personal records (PR’s) while the boys had seven. Performances by the girls included:
Katelyn McCann - Sr - 60 - 8.20 - PR- 1ST, long jump - 16’10 - PR -1ST
Julia McCully - Jr - 60 - 9.23 - PR - 10th, 200 - 33.02 - 9th
Reese VanDuyne - Fr - long jump - 12’07 - PR - 8th, 200 - 33.82 - PR - 12th
Skylar Ortiz - Fr - 400 - 1:35.00 - PR - 14th

Lady ‘Cats shutout Grant Park in opener

Published by admin on Tue, 03/15/2022 - 4:15pm

Pitts drives in seven to
lead ‘Cats over Dragons
by shawn long
Sports writer
The Wilmington softball team left little doubt they were going to win during their home opener on Monday , shutting out Grant Park 15-0.
The ‘Cats were held scoreless in the first but scored every inning after that to get the win. Wilmington softball coach Jack Skole was happy with his players’ performance and happy that he got everybody in.

Experienced ‘Cats will rely on team chemistry, athleticism

Published by admin on Tue, 03/15/2022 - 4:14pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
A lot of the same personnel are back for the Wilmington softabll team and they’reready to put together another winning season.
Last year, the season was shortened to mostly conference teams and the ‘Cats finished 9-8 overall, 7-7 in the Illinois Central Eight Conference.

Lady ‘Cat kickers aiming for .500 mark or higher

Published by admin on Tue, 03/08/2022 - 5:04pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
The Wilmington soccer team didn’t finish the 2021 season how they wanted to with the talent they had.
The Lady ‘Cats started out well as they captured second place in the PepsiCo Tournament, earning a 3-0 shutout win over a Chicago team Mansueto. They went on to fall in four straight contests after before breaking that run with two straight wins. They were up and down the whole season, and finished 6-12, 5-9. They were sixth in the Illinois Central Eight Conference behind Herscher, Lisle, Peotone and Manteno.

Record-breaking ‘Cats back for more success in 2022 season

Published by admin on Tue, 03/08/2022 - 5:03pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
The Wildcat track team is back after a successful season a year ago. They broke records and had multiple athletes attend, and place in state track.
The ‘Cats were anchored last year by their female athletes who won the first seven track meets before falling to Streator. In the time, they broke three girls school records, three of which were broken by Chloe Proffitt.

Dooley to wrestle in IWCOA state tourney

Published by admin on Tue, 03/08/2022 - 5:02pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
Wilmington wrestler Landon Dooley has qualified for the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association fresh/soph state wrestling finals after placing third in the Coal City Sectional over the weekend.
Dooley (113) started at the bottom of the bracket with a pin over Joliet Central’s Isaiah Kan.
He then ran into the eventual champion from Lockport Liam Zimmerman, who worked a pin on Dooley in 3:30 to move on.

Four state champion Wildcats sign to play football at St. Francis

Published by admin on Tue, 03/01/2022 - 4:52pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
Wilmington state champions Jake Friddle, Karsen Hansen, Ryan Banas and Nick Sanford are in for another four years together as they have signed letters of intent to play football at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.
All four players agree it was a mutual decision to sign. When they heard the other three were signing at the same place, they wanted in.
They all had specific things they liked about the school.
For Hansen, it was the football program.

Warriors, Panthers, ‘Cats to start MS volleyball regionals

Published by admin on Tue, 03/01/2022 - 4:51pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
Middle school volleyball teams are gearing up for regionals which get underway Saturday.
Wilmington and Reed-Custer Middle Schools will compete in the 3A Morris Saratoga Regional while Coal City will compete in the 4A level.
The Wildcats and Comets both start Saturday. The Wildcats will be head-to-head with the fifth seed, Forrest Prairie Central at 9 a.m.
Braidwood (#7) will have a tough match to start against the second-seed, Morris GS at 10 a.m.

Dooley captures F/S regional title, prepares for Coal City Sectional

Published by admin on Tue, 03/01/2022 - 4:50pm

by shawn long
Sports writer
Wilmington wrestler Landon Dooley captured the Joliet West fresh/soph regional title on Sunday.
Dooley was the lone Wildcat competing and made the most of it at 113 pounds.
Dooley came in as an underdog but proved he could wrestle well with a first round pin of Clifton Central’s Blaike Archer (3:50).
Dooley followed that by outlasting Bolingbrook’s top seed Jared Craig with a pin in the third round at the 5:05 mark.