2023-24 Preps Year in Review: Deserved more pub

They may not have won state championships. Or provided their team’s top performers each and every time out. But these area

athletes certainly stood out and deserved their share of recognition.

Preps coordinator Zach Piatt shines the spotlight on area athletes who should be lauded for their efforts in the 2023-24 school year:

Amelia Birge

Salt ForkBirge was one of the best girls’ golfers in the area, noted by her News-Gazette All-Area First-Team selection, but what didn’t get talked about enough was that she did it while playing from the men’s tees all season. Her nine-hole scoring average of 47 was right up there with the area’s best, but she consistently played a longer course than her competitors. She performed well at sectionals and was one stroke away from qualifying for state as an individual.

Ava Boyer

TuscolaFollowing the graduation of older sister and former News-Gazette Female Athlete of the Year Ella Boyer, this was set to be Ava’s time to shine. She set the pace for a 28-3 Warriors girls’ basketball team at point guard, averaging 8.2 points, 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals per game while Sydney Moss earned the spotlight. Boyer was also Tuscola’s best softball player but only played 17 games due to injury. She still recorded a .556 batting average with four home runs, 16 RBI, 23 runs scored and 16 stolen bases.

Chloe Hoselton

Prairie CentralIt’s not often a state champion will also make this list, but it’s true that Hoselton deserved more publicity. She was the area’s lone girls’ wrestling state champion, winning the 235-pound weight class and finishing the season with a record of 19-3.

Max Kooper

UrbanaKooper was the best boys’ diver in the area, and it wasn’t particularly close. He broke the Tigers’ 20-year-old diving record at the Bloomington Invite with a score of 402.80, and he finished every competition in either first or second place. Kooper was the sectional runner-up, just three points away from becoming the first Urbana diver to qualify for the state meet in 10 years.

Tyson Moore Cerro Gordo/Bement

Moore was the area’s boys’ basketball leading scorer at 22 points per game, but his publicity fell victim to playing for a 13-19 team on the fringe of The News-Gazette’s coverage area. He was a unanimous All-Lincoln Prairie Conference First-Team selection as the top vote-getter and made the News-Gazette All-Area Second Team. Moore is the Broncos’ all-time leading scorer with 1,726 points in just three years.

Leif Olson

Mahomet-SeymourOlson very well may have been the second-best boys’ golfer in the area. The only problem was the clear-cut No. 1 was his teammate, Reis Claybrooke. Olson’s 18-hole scoring average of 75.5 is the sixth-lowest in the last 23 years of the program, and he tied for 43rd in the Class 2A state tournament. Bulldog coach David Sebestik called him “almost irreplaceable” and a “once-in-a-lifetime” player.

Laura Taylor and Olivia Terry Champaign Central

Taylor and Terry were two senior leaders of a dominant Maroons girls’ swimming team. Taylor won all four of her events at both the Big 12 Conference and sectional meets, and Terry was just fractions of a second from joining her as a four-event sectional champion. However, even with how successful their senior year was, junior teammate Babette Bradley’s season was even better, winning her second straight News-Gazette All-Area Girls’ Swimmer of the Year award.

Jacob Tighe Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond

The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Tighe is starting to draw attention from Division I college football programs. He already doesn’t get as much media attention as he deserves being a lineman, but adding to that was a broken foot before the Knights’ final three games of the season. On top of his unanimous All-Lincoln Prairie Conference First-Team football season, he was also the LPC shot put champion, competing at the state level against area throwers like Monticello’s Demarion Forman, Salt Fork’s Maddax Stine and Tuscola’s Sawyer Woodard and Aiden Weaver.

Braxton Waller

St. Joseph-OgdenWaller was the SJ-O football team’s Lineman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, finishing the season with 63 tackles and four sacks. He was also one of the area’s best hitters on the baseball diamond, batting .487 with seven home runs and 64 RBI. He made the News-Gazette All-Area First Team in both sports, but he snapped the ball to All-Area Football Player of the Year Logan Smith and batted behind All-Area Baseball Player of the Year Luke Landrus.

Paislee Welge Mahomet-Seymour

Welge proved just how versatile of a soccer player she is during her sophomore year. As a freshman last year, she led the Bulldogs in scoring with 21 goals. The team needed someone to anchor the defense this season, and she stepped up, leading M-S to a regional title and getting the most votes for her All-Sectional Team while seeing her offensive numbers shrink to just two goals and three assists in her new role.