Wrapping Up Baseball and Softball

As we were going to press, the baseball and softball team were entering regionals. Please refer back to the school website if you would like to see how they did.













By Remington Kempiak

To The Finish Line!

The track season is coming to a close, and the weather has made the season very challenging. Coach Schutt said, “Every time you think you have the practice planned out, the rain sends us indoors to train and you can only do so much indoors.”

Most of the athletes have completed their season early due to scheduling conflicts with other activities in school, but the hopes are high that several athletes can qualify for state this year. Coach Schutt stated that, “if we finish with better performances at the end of the year than we had at the beginning of the year, we will have had a successful season.”
Sophomore Connor Swanson is leading in points for the boys and Freshman Kenna Borton is leading for the girls.

In the records categories, Coach Schutt said that “almost every individual in track this season bettered their own personal records.” Several notable records were achieved by Kenna Borton in the long jump, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Beau Brown improved his own discus record and Neal Knutson broke his the previous 800 and 3200 records.

The girls sectional was on Friday, May 12, at Seneca High School. Freshman Naomi Sweeney place fourth in the long jump and sixth in the shot put. Another freshman, Kenna Borton, placed fifth in the 100 meter hurdles and jumped a personal best of 16’5” in the long jump and made the qualifying distance to go to state. Kenna will be competing May 20 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Best of luck to our Newark participant, and congratulations to all athletes on a great season!

By Kyle Scott

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!

Congratulations to the Newark Lady Norsemen softball team for your 12-1 Regional Championship Victory against Earlville-Leland! The Lady Norsemen will now advance to the Sectional Semifinal game to be held on Wednesday, May 24th, 4:30 p.m. at Somonauk vs. Winner Somonauk Regional. Good luck Lady Norsemen!

Track 2017

Senior Kylie is doing 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, and pole vault. She looks forward to spending another season with Coach Schutt and hopefully going to state for 300-meter hurdles and pole vault.

Junior Kyle, is doing discus and shot-put for track. He is looking forward to getting to the meets and having fun. Kyle says that so far they have a good start to this year.

Freshman McKenzie is doing 100 meters, 200 meters, shot put, and hurdles for track. She looks forward to running with all of her track friends. She enjoyed her first track meet very much, although she learned to dress warmer.

By Jeremy Van Heiden

My Favorite Season? Baseball Season, Of Course

The Newark baseball team went to Jacksonville over Spring Break. They played a total of three games at the tournament, and they won two out of the three. They played West Carroll, Milford, and Payton Prep.

Each year the athletes on the baseball team go above and beyond while they work on the field. They treat the field better than they treat their own yards at home. They bring stuff from home like rakes shovels, gators to haul dirt, etc. They even mow it on their own sometimes. This year has been a little different because of all of the rain we got.

“We finally just recently got a chance to work on it for a little bit and were able to get our first practice of the year on it the first week of April,” said Coach Veliz. The team captains for this year are Seniors Steve McGrath, Zach Perkins, Cameron

By Remington Kempiak

Breaking Things In

The Lady Norsemen softball team started off with four cancelations due to rain, but finally got into gear with a game against Paw Paw, winning 11-0. On April 7, they traveled an hour and a half to Amboy and came out with a loss 3-1.

The next morning, the team competed in a double header on their field, winning both of their games 14-1 and 16-2. Reflecting on the early season, Senior Jasmine Mitchell said, “We have a lot of young talent on the team that is breaking things in and we are starting to get a good feel for team dynamic. We still need to work on consistent batting and keeping the defense tight.”

Junior Riane Tomsa stated, “We have a lot of new freshmen who are all solid players, which just adds to the group of returning players.
We all treat each other as family, and I think the upcoming season is going to be very fun!”

The girls will be playing Somonauk on May 1. Their record right now is 5-1.

By Caeley Larson

Boys Basketball

The team had a fantastic postseason, starting with a big win against Ottawa Marquette in their regional championship, Aurora Christian in the sectional championship (53-47), and Colfax Ridgeview in the super sectional (43-32), sending them to the state finals in Peoria. The team made the trip down to state Thursday, March 9, leaving the school with a rally of people cheering as the bus pulled out of the parking lot led by fire trucks and ambulances.

Players arrived in Peoria and had some time to get the feel of the court with a practice. Later that night, the team had the chance to attend the "Tip-Off" banquet. On Friday, the boys had their first game against Okawville. They finished with a final score of 63-48, placing them in the third place game at 11:15 on Saturday.

After the game, they attended a media interview, then had the rest of the night to themselves for dinner at Pizza Ranch and some fun at "The Experience."

Saturday, the team played in the third and fourth place game against Chicago Hope Academy. They finished in fourth place, the final score 60-46. The boys were each given a medal, and the team was presented a trophy. Dylan Patrick stated, "It felt great playing in front of that big of a crowd."

Coming home on Sunday, the team rode into Newark on fire trucks with a parade of people cheering them on. There was an assembly held at the school in the gym to honor their accomplishments of the season. Many community and family members attended the assembly to congratulate the team on a phenomenal season.

By Caeley Larson

Swingin’ into the Season

The Lady Norsemen are less than a month into their 2017 softball season. Energy is already high as players, coaches, and fans are anticipating a successful season.

Players are excited for the upcoming competitions. Junior Alyssa Schofield, who started at second base last year, can’t wait "to play games in the warm weather."

Head Coach Mike Crackel seems encouraged by the skill and progress his athletes showed in just the first couple weeks of practices.

"The girls are working very well together. We are blending six freshmen with one new sophomore and ten returning players," Coach Crackel said. He believes their greatest challenge will be developing a consistent offense early in the season because of the variety of girls on the team this year.

The Lady Norsemen didn't waste time. After three weeks of practice, they jumped right into competition, with three games and a doubleheader the first week. Their opponents included Marquette Academy, Serena, and Families of Faith Christian Academy.

Looking ahead, the Lady Norsemen hope to clinch the conference title and possibly a regional title in May. The Lady Norsemen have been close to winning their regional the last two years and want to take it this year.

By Emma Nelson