HERRIN - The Herrin High School math team claimed the second-place trophy at the Class 2A state tournament in Champaign-Urbana Saturday, totaling 707 points. Only Mahomet-Seymour scored more (761) points. Six of the Top 10 schools were private schools.
"I couldn't be happier with these kids," said co-coach Jeanie Nagrodski. "After the regional, we were ranked No. 9 in the state. To go from ninth to second tells you a lot about their character. They went to work. They practiced before school, during lunch and after school. There were nights we were here until 9. And many of these kids are athletes, so they would be coming to practice with us after a game on many occasions."
Nagrodski said she thought the Herrin team was "well deserving of the honor" and that it had been eight years since the Tigers had finished as high as second. The one state championship for Herrin occurred in 2003.
One member of that 2003 team, Kyle Harlow, just happens to be the other co-coach of the team. Student teacher Trevor Stanley also lent his assistance.
"We have finished in the top 10 at state all but once over the last 20 years," Nagrodski said.
As a class, HHS seniors placed second overall; the juniors fifth; sophomores sixth; and freshmen fourth. The freshman/sophomore eight-person team (Overturf, Pimkow, Jurich, Smith, McCluskie, Hawk, M. Camarato and Jones) placed eighth.
The junior/senior eight-person team (Weber, Kramer, N. Gusewelle, Cagle, Bang, Pasley, D.J. Dunfee and A. Camarato) placed fifth.
The calculator team (Cornelius, Kuan, Bartelsmeyer, Stallman and J. Dix) finished eighth.
The junior/senior two-person team (N. Gusewelle and DJ Dunfee) finished fourth.
The freshman/sophomore relay teams were exceptional. Team No. 1 (Gabby, Baumgarte, Corbin and Overturf) placed first to claim a championship, while Team No. 2 (Hawk, McCluskie, Jurich and Smith) placed third.
The No. 2 junior/senior relay team (Pasley, S. Dix, Kuan and Kramer) placed second overall and the No. 1 relay team (Robinson, A. Camarato, Cagle and Weber) finished seventh.
The presentation team of Connor and Childers placed 12th. Nate Gusewelle was the No. 2 senior in the state in written competition and Pimkow was the No. 3 sophomore in written competition.
