Piatt's OT: From an Indiana native to Illini nation, it's been a pleasure

May 15—Believe it or not, the main photo attached to this column — yeah, the one of me with that big, goofy smile and a beard well past the point of needing a trim — had some extra meaning behind it.

I was sitting courtside at the Unity boys' basketball team's Class 2A state semifinal game against Peoria Manual on March 12 at State Farm Center in Champaign. During a break in the action, I looked at our now-retired Photo Editor, Robin Scholz, and motioned for her to snap a quick one of me. In classic Robin fashion, she rolled her eyes as she pointed her camera at me and took the picture. We shared a laugh and exchanged thumbs-ups from across the court.

She didn't know why that moment was special for me. At that time, nobody did, but I had a feeling that would be the last state finals I'd get to cover for The News-Gazette.

In case you didn't hear me break the news on last Friday's Prep Confidential radio show on WDWS 1400-AM, this was my last week with The News-Gazette. I can honestly say I've enjoyed every bit of working here in Champaign-Urbana, but I'm excited for what comes next.

My next step isn't in journalism, but it is back home in Fort Wayne, Ind. To be completely transparent, being away from home has taken a toll on me the last couple years, and after a while, I knew it was time to go back. I'll get to see friends and family on a much more regular basis, and right now, that's at the top of my list.

But man, I'm sure going to miss the experiences that come with this job. Not to mention everyone pronouncing my last name right on the first try. I'll tell you what, I've gotten spoiled living right next door to Piatt County the last few years.

Before coming to C-U, my first job out of college was writing for The Palladium-Item in Richmond, Ind. I covered high school sports and education happenings for the six schools in Wayne County. Moving across the state border, where we cover nearly 50 high schools throughout east central Illinois, was quite the step up. In my almost two years in Richmond, I covered a baseball team make a run to the state championship game, a gymnastics team compete in the state meet at my alma mater of Ball State and one lone golfer make the state tournament. As far as state-level competition went, that was my entire experience.

At The News-Gazette, I've covered countless teams and individuals on the state's biggest stages, and I haven't taken those opportunities for granted. During the fall sports seasons of 2023, just a few months after I started, the Tuscola boys' and Unity girls' cross-country teams won state titles. Jack Barnhart went undefeated on the wrestling mat the following winter for Centennial, and former Tuscola standout Lia Patterson showed why she's the hurdle queen in the spring.

Then came Mahomet-Seymour volleyball winning a state title in 2024, Madalyn Marx's back-to-back state titles in track and field, Cissna Park volleyball winning a state title, Phoenix Molina's wrestling dominance at Unity and so much more.

September would have marked three years with The News-Gazette for me. I can't thank Jim Rossow, Matt Daniels, Jeff D'Alessio and everyone else on our team enough for giving me the opportunity to further my journalism career here in C-U. I got to try out my radio chops every week with Joey Wright, joke about my Purdue fandom with Scott Richey and share the stressful moments that come with tight deadline writing on a daily basis with Joe Vozzelli. There are plenty of others I want to thank, but there simply isn't enough space. Nor is there time, as I've got to try my best to make this as heartfelt as possible before hitting the road to cover one last baseball game.

More than anything, I want to thank all the athletes, coaches, administrators and parents who let me into your lives to tell your stories. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to know each of you and sharing those stories with our readers. And without you readers, I would have never gotten to experience this great profession.

I honestly don't know what this next job will bring for me. Maybe it's a forever thing. Maybe it's another stepping stone. The one thing I do know is it's been fun, and I thank you all for that.

My last event coverage was Thursday's baseball game between Champaign Central and Monticello at Spalding Park, but I still have a few "one more" things to put together before I get out of here. I have one more batch of Saturday prep highlights to put together, one more Athlete of the Week Q&A to write and one more Athlete of the Week poll to put up.

But before all that, here's one last group of shoutouts to area athletes and coaches.

Shoutouts

Emma Swisher

Unity girls' track and field

Broke the Rockets' 200-meter dash record on April 24 at the Glenwood Invite with a time of 25.52 seconds.

Josh Haley

St. Joseph-Ogden baseball

Won his 500th career game when the Spartans won 8-3 at Milford on May 6.

Madalyn Marx

Mahomet-Seymour

girls' track and field

Set numerous records at the Apollo Conference meet on May 7, winning and breaking meet records in all four of her events while lowering her own program marks in the 400- and 200-meter dashes. She won the 400 in 54.27 seconds, the 200 in 24.48 and the 100 in 12.24. Joining her to win the 1,600-meter relay were Anniston Huff, Evelyn Hillard and Selma Tilton.

Danville boys' sprint medley relay

Allante Anderson, Romell Dunbar, Miles Littlepaige and D'Mario Jackson teamed up to set a new Viking record and Bloomington Raider Relays meet record with a winning time of 1 minute, 33.50 seconds on May 7.

Kali Gilpin

Tuscola girls' track and field

Tied the Warriors' high jump record by clearing 5 feet, 4 inches at the Central Illinois Conference meet on May 7.

Nic DiFilippo

Mahomet-Seymour baseball

Won his 400th game in charge of Mahomet-Seymour after the Bulldogs' 5-3 win against Charleston on May 7.

Danika Eisenmenger

Unity softball

Pitched a five-inning no-hitter with nine strikeouts to lead the Rockets to a 10-0 road victory against Chillicothe IVC and clinch the Illini Prairie Conference regular-season title last Friday for Unity.

Emelyn Roberts

Argenta-Oreana girls' track and field

Broke the Lincoln Prairie Conference meet record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 0.06 seconds last Friday.

Reesey LeBeane

Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin

girls' flag football

Signed her letter of intent to continue her flag football career at Illinois College last Friday.

Morgan Fleming and Molly Scheuer

LeRoy softball

Fleming hit a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Panthers a 1-0 win against Prairie Central last Saturday. Two days later, after singing the National Anthem, Scheuer hit the walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Panthers a 10-0 run-rule win against Rantoul.

Cameron Wagner

St. Joseph-Ogden football

Committed to continue his football career at Oregon on Monday, doing so live on 'The Pat McAfee Show,' on ESPN.

Ajani Davis

Danville boys' basketball

Signed his letter of intent to continue his basketball career at Southwestern Iowa Community College on Monday.

Addy Sherrick

Rantoul softball

Eclipsed 400 career strikeouts with a 13-strikeout performance to lead the Eagles to an 11-1 win against Bloomington on Tuesday.

Champaign Central softball team

With a 1-0 victory at Westville on Tuesday, the Maroons earned their 26th win of the season, a new single-season program record.

Nina Brown and Alicia Thomas

Centennial girls' track and field

Brown broke the Chargers' 100- and 200-meter dash records at the Class 3A O'Fallon Sectional on Wednesday with respective times of 11.66 and 24.21 seconds. At the same meet, Thomas set a new school record in the 300 hurdles in 45.49 seconds.