Illinois Marathon photos, samples from first installment

©2012 PhotoNews

April 28, 2012 - Champaign, IL - Kurt VonOhlen, from Aurora, IL, reaches for energy gel while running during the 2012 Illinois Marathon. He finished 26.2 mile course at 4:03:43 to place 581st out of the 1,149 men who ran this year's race. VonOhlen was #805 overall.

©2012 PhotoNews

April 28, 2012 - Champaign, IL - Mike Wendel (right), from Chatham, IL, runs a few paces behind Jordan Trump, from Decatur, IL, during the 2012 Illinois Marathon. He finished the 26.2 mile course at 2:47:53 to place 15th out of the 1,137 men who ran this year's race. Wendel finished 16th overall. Meanwhile Trump finished at 2:50:26 in 20th place and 21st overall.

©2012 PhotoNews

April 28, 2012 - Champaign, IL - Running next to an unidentified runner, Jackie Pirtle-Hall, from St. Charles, MO, blazes the course on her way to the 2012 Illinois Marathon women's title. She finished the 26.2 mile course at 2:43:52 to place first out of the 740 women who ran this year's race. Pirtle-Hall placed #11 overall and in first in her division.

See more Illinois Marathon photos on the PhotoNews website here.

New photo galleries from state wrestling!

A few photos from new galleries posted today on the PhotoNews website from individual state meet Feb 16-17. Click on any photo to see more photos from the highlighted matches below and check out Illinois Champion (see sample pages below, too).




First round wrestling action between Coal City's Cody Minnick and Erie-Prophetstown's Brandon McCullough at the Illinois High School Association's state individual wrestling tournament. Minnick won the Class 1A bout by major decision, 9-1.





Preliminary round wrestling action between Morrison's Mark McDonnell and Vandalia's Seth Purcell at the Illinois High School Association's state individual wrestling tournament. McDonnell, who went on to win the 145-pound title, defeated Purcell by major decision, 12-2.



Wrestling action between Manteno's Christian Franc and Auburn's Dustin Dambacher at the Illinois High School Association's state individual wrestling tournament. Franc won the Class 1A 120-pound bout by decision, 7-6, to advance to day two of competition.




Sample page from Illinois Champion. Click here to preview this special edition from the PhotoNews' coverage to the 2012 state wrestling meet. Illinois Champion contains some of the biggest, best photos from this year's tournament.



Another sample page from Illinois Champion. Click here to preview this 60-page special edition from the 2012 state wrestling meet.




Class 1A preliminary round wrestling action between St. Joseph-Ogden's Austin Hedrick and Stillman Valley's Talon Paul at the Illinois High School Association's state individual wrestling tournament. Paul won the match by major decision, 14-5.




Wrestling action between Peotone's Tyler Nagle and Warsaw's Maverick McCarty at the Illinois High School Association's state individual wrestling tournament. McCarty won by decision, 5-3.

Click on any photo to see more pics from the meet.

New galleries, new publication

Hello PhotoNews fans. We have a quick update to inform you about a couple of new galleries that are up as well as our special edition publication from the PhotoNews coverage of the Argenta Regional meet. Click on any of the photos to visit the meet photo gallery. Want to see our newest 48-page publication dedicated to this meet, click the sample pages at the bottom of this post.

160-lb quarterfinal match action between St. Joseph-Ogden's Austin Upton and Monticello's Charlie Stevenson. Upton took 1:28 to pin Stevenson, a senior member of the Sages' wrestling squad, and later went on to take the division title.







Wrestleback action between St. Joseph-Ogden's Josh Poulter and Auburn's Caleb Putman in the 170-pound bracket. Putman, a freshman, defeated Poulter with a pin at the five minute mark on his way to a fourth place finish at the Argenta Regional Wrestling Meet on Saturday.







St. Joseph-Ogden's Kenny Lindsey, who has over 100 career wins, defeated Oakwood's Hunter Tharp one minute and 13 seconds into their match on his way to a second consecutive regional champion title. Tharp will also advance to the sectional meet after finishing in third place in the 195-pound division.








Monticello's Zach Armstrong and Warrensburg-Latham's Brandon Gibbs roll during action in their 195-pound wrestleback match. Armstrong prevailed to win by pin at 1:35.







This is the cover of Takedown! a PhotoNews special edition dedicated to photo coverage from the Argenta regional wrestling meet on February 4th. The 48 pages publication, available in digital format for the iPad or traditional print format, can be found here: LINK







A sample page from Takedown!








Another sample page from the Takedown! magazine

Legislation sought to change IHSA's 12-day practice rule

Earlier this week, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) came out urging member schools and the communities to oppose Illinois Senate Bill 2550. The bill, which was filed by 53^rd District Senator Shane Cultra (R) on January 11, would allow for a local school board to provide a waiver for a student-athlete to participate in a high school football contest, even if that the student-athlete has failed to meet the IHSA mandated 12 practices prior to the first contest due to involvement in military training. 

“This is very dangerous and counterproductive legislation,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in a released statement. “First and foremost, this is an issue of student health and safety, not an issue of patriotism. We all applaud and support young people who choose to serve our country.”

Former St. Joseph-Ogden football standouts Joe Peters and Tom Rohl both now serving in the United States Army agree with the 12-day rule.

“In BCT (Basic Combat Training), going to the gym wasn't an option for PT. We did military exercises and conditioning,” said PFC Peters, a lineman that helped the Spartans to a 9-0 season and a record-setting Class 3A state title game his senior year. “It’s a different kind of workout than ... 

Read complete article here

Urbana Wrestling Tournament photo gallery online

First of two installment of photos from yesterday's Urbana Wrestling Tournament. You can see, read & share more photos here --> Urbana Tournament Gallery



Click on individual photos to see all the photos from each of the matches show below.







Centennial's Austen Schott (21-1) and Glenbard East's Angelo San Juan (19-3) in their 113-pound championship match at the 2012 Urbana Wrestling Tournament. San Juan handed Schott his first loss of the season with his 5-1 title win Saturday evening.








220-pound consolation bracket wrestling action between St. Thomas More's Luc Bequette and Schlarman's Joe Cahill (16-5). Cahill stuck Bequette at 4:53 on his way to a sixth-place finish this year.







Wrestling action between St. Joseph-Ogden's Rowdy Randall (4-13) and Bloomington's Brandon Farmer (4-2) in the 126-pound third-place match at the 2012 Urbana Wrestling Tournament. Farmer stuck Randall 47 seconds into their bout.







Springfield's Christen Hunt (16-5) tosses Glenbard East's Dayton Olson (12-10) to the mat in their 120-pound championship match at the 2012 Urbana Wrestling Tournament. Hunt won the match and this year's title in a 4-3 decision.








Podium photograph of the top five 182-pound place winners at the 2012 Urbana Wrestling Tournament. The winners were: 1. Archie Williams (Centennial), 2. Matt Chlebek (Glenbard East), 3. Nathan Ames (Schlarman), 4. Landon Dorn (Morton) and 5. Javonte Burnett (Glenbard East).







Here are the top five place winners in the 285-pound weight class at the 2012 Urbana Wrestling Tournament. The winners were: 1. Andrew Marion (Bloomington), 2. Nick Schreifer (Centennial), 3. Brandon Hart (Glenbard East), 4. Grahmn Vose (Springfield) and 5. Jake Crouk (Glenbard East).