Arcola sports in review

By Editor | July 7, 2026 |

Golf, baseball highlight AHS sports year

By Mike Monahan

ARCOLA–The Arcola/ALAH boys golf team continues its winning ways as they won their seventh straight Lincoln Prairie Conference title and the baseball team went 11-11 to highlight the sports year for the Purple Riders.

While other sports were not as successful they were mostly young teams.

Football

Arcola was coached by Sergio Medina and was in a co-op with Cerro Gordo/Bement. The lone win was a 20-6 victory over Tri-County. The Purple Riders also nearly beat Villa Grove, a Class 1A playoff team, losing just 13-6.

Eli Corpus, of Cerro Gordo, was the only player named to the all-Lincoln Prairie Conference, earning second team honors. Corpus led the conference in receiving with 37 receptions for 564 yards and six touchdowns. Brevyn Whisman was second in the conference at quarterback. In eight games he was 88-of-186 with six touchdowns and 982 yards for an average of 122.8 yards per game.

Volleyball

Katy Whisman coached the Arcola Lady Riders to a 4-23 overall record and a 3-7 mark in the LPC, good for sixth place.

After 15 straight losses the Arcola beat Villa Grove in two straight sets and swept Okaw Valley as well as Blue Ridge and Urbana University High.

Ema Simpson earned honorable mention all-conference honors.

Golf

The Arcola/ALAH Knight- Riders, coached by Greg Gisinger, finished 20-4 overall, while the girls were 9-2.

Olivia Gisiinger and Megan Miller advanced to the sectional, while Canton Wesch (who ended up in 16th place in the Class 1A state meet at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington) and Kody Burdick moved into the sectional on the boys side. Wesch finished with rounds of 81 and 73 to finish with a 10-over-par 154.

The boys have won seven straight LPC titles as they had a 327, beating second place Argenta-Oreana by 25 shots. Earning all-conference honors were Wesch (individual medalist with a 74), Binder (83) and Logan Schrock (also an 83). For the girls, who placed second, Gisinger earned all-LPC honors.

Boys’ basketball

Haris Mayhall earned second team all-LPC honors for coach Mitch Pollock’s team that went 11-18 overall and 4-6 in the conference, good for sixth place.

The victories were against Georgetown-Ridge Farm (47-32), Urbana University High (36-26), Salt Fork (32-30), Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg (45-38), Tri-County (44-38), Judah Christian (37-23), Neoga (50-38), Argenta-Oreana (48-45), Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond (49-43), Argenta-Oreana (51-38), and Blue Ridge (48-14),

Arcola averaged 36 points per game, while allowing 42 points per game. They were 6-9 in games decided by 10 points or less.

Girls’ basketball

Greg Gisinger entered his first year as coach of the girls and finished 3-25 overall and 3-7 in the LPC, good for eighth place. Arcola lost its first 22 games with a young team.

Megan Miller earned second team all-conference honors and the Lady Riders went 3-3 to finish the season. Arcola defeated Argenta-Oreana (43-41), Villa Grove (38-12) and Blue Ridge (43-15).

Baseball

Mike Phillips coached the baseball team to an 11-11 overall record and a 7-3 Lincoln Prairie Conference record, good for third place. The victories were over Oakwood (5-4), Marshall (14-7), Okaw Valley (3-2), Heritage (13-7), Salt Fork (13-6), Unity Christian (28-2), Blue Ridge (17-0),Sulivan (8-3), Westville (7-5) and Argenta-Oreana (11-4). The win over Okaw Valley was the only one in the LPC for the Timberwolves, who won the LPC.

Brody Phillips and Whisman made the first team all-conference honors. Arcola had two four-game winning streaks and were 6-9 at one time. The Purple Riders averaged 8 runs a game and allowed five per contest and were 4-8 in games decided by two runs or more.

Softball

KayLee Hohlbauch coached Arcola to a 4-22 overall record, including a 2-6 mark in the conference, good for eighth place. The wins were against Heritage (18-2) after losing the first 12 games of the season; Okaw Valley (13-1); Georgetown-Ridge Farm (6-1) and Urbana (13-9). Earning spots on the first team were Maddie Pilkington and Anahi Cooper.

Boys track

The boys, coached by Tommy Eddleman, finished fourth in the LPC. Brody Phllips won the 100 (11.35) and Remi Roberts-McGeehon was second in the 400. The 4×100 team of Ronnie Vega, Wesch, Roberts-McGeehon and Phillips earned all-LPC honors by placing third. The 4×400 team of Laison Barron, Cesar Rivera, Blake Pilkington and Alex Cortez finished in the top five as did Emmitt Langley was also in the top five in the discus. Roberts-McGeehon won the long jump at 20-8 ½.

In the state meet at Eastern Illinois Universities O’Brien Field Phillips finished 15th in the 100 (11.24, which was his best time) and Roberts-McGeehon was 45th in the long jump.

Girls track

The girls, coached by Hugo Garza, had all four relays finish in the top five in the conference meet and as a team placed ninth. The 4×100 was Gisinger, Scarlett Montano, Anahi Cooper and Ema Simpson, while the 4×200 was Gisinger, Jaiden Miller, Keyla Hernandez and Anahi Cooper. The 4×400 team consisted of Gisinger, Aubriella Montano, Montano and Simpson, while the 4×800 was Hernandez, Jelena Oyervides, Ellis Wilson and Averi Kutz.

Posted in Sports - TCC