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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
The Mahomet-Seymour volleyball team celebrates with the Class 3A championship trophy the Bulldogs won with a 2-1 comeback victory against Limestone in the state title match last November at CEFCU Arena in Normal. M-S finished the 2024 season with a program-record 39 wins, led by Ellie Barker and Lily Bosworth, among others.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Many thanks to Mahomet-Seymour athletic director Matt Hensley, the 17 M-S athletes and four M-S coaches who showed up for our photo shoot this past week to recognize the Bulldogs as The News-Gazette’s high school Program of the Year for the 2024-25 school year.
➜ 2. Today’s edition puts a wrap on the past school year when it comes to high school athletic coverage, and also takes a look at what’s to come in the fall with 2025 football schedules for 35 area teams.
➜ 3. Area high school coaches and athletic directors. Pay attention to your email inboxes in the next week for invitations for our Faces of the Fall event that will be held Sunday, Aug. 10 at The News-Gazette office in Champaign.
Matt Leskis is in his second season as the football coach at Champaign Central.
Numbers game: 0
times Champaign Central football leaves Champaign-Urbana in August or September to play a game. The Maroons have their first three games at Tommy Stewart Field in Champaign, play at Urbana on Sept. 19 and host Peoria Richwoods on Sept. 26. It’s not until an Oct. 3 game at Danville that the Maroons will leave C-U.
Former Illini Terrence Shannon Jr. has had a strong week playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. British Open. It’s Scottie Scheffler’s tournament to lose in Northern Ireland. Former Illini Thomas Detry made the cut — barely — and will play this weekend. Another former Illini, Brian Campbell, missed the cut by two strokes.
➜ 2. Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Houston Rockets. Last chance to see former Illini Terrence Shannon Jr. in Las Vegas when he and the Timberwolves play at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in their final NBA Summer League game. Shannon is averaging 22.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in Vegas.
➜ 3. Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs. Cubs will go for the series win at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday after winning the opener 4-1 on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Unity senior Emma Swisher runs track and plays soccer for the Rockets.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Unity senior Emma Swisher, who plays soccer and runs track with the Rockets:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Oscar Piastri and Illona Maher.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is … “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … people who don’t listen.
