It’s a girl! Vivian the Giraffe welcomed her second baby at 2:38 a.m. Jan. 7,  at the Peoria Zoo. The public will be able to see them in the coming weeks.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Tri-County sports awards winners announced

State champions and history-making individuals, particularly from Tazewell County, dominate the annual Tri-County sports awards, presented by the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.

The organization announced Morton girls basketball coach Bob Becker, East Peoria softball coach Denee Menzione, Washington wrestler Jacob Warner and Morton basketball player Brandi Bisping as its coaches and athletes of the year for 2017.

Also, the late Virgil “Mick” Donahue was named winner of the Neve Harms Award for Meritorious Service to Sports in the Peoria area.

The award winners will be honored at the GPSHOF induction banquet on April 7 at the Peoria Civic Center. Hall of Fame inductees will be announced later this month.

Becker is the Tri-County Male Coach of the Year after the Potters won their third successive Class 3A state championship last March. They became only the fifth girls team in Illinois High School Association history to win three consecutive titles, and the first Downstate “big school” to do it. Morton finished last season with a 34-2 record.

Menzione is the Female Coach of the Year for taking the Raiders softball team to the state finals for the first time in school history. They finished second, outscoring postseason opponents 43-2 and not allowing a run until the title game. East Peoria finished with a 31-5 record.

Warner is the Male Athlete of the Year. Now wrestling at the University of Iowa, Warner finished his IHSA career with a third Class 2A individual state championship, this one at 195 pounds. He was unbeaten in 45 matches and also helped lead the Panthers to the Class 2A state team championship. He was a finalist for national high school wrestler-of-the-year honors and earned USA Wrestling junior national titles in both Greco-Roman and freestyle.

Bisping is the Female Athlete of the Year. A first-team All-State, she averaged 15.3 points and 9 rebounds per game while also providing lockdown defense on the opposition’s top player as Morton won that third state championship. She is currently playing as a freshman for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Donahue, who died in 2011 at the age of 74, is the Neve Harms Award winner, having devoted almost his entire life to sports. But he spent the rest of his life coaching, organizing and officiating youth sports in the area, especially baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball.

Tickets for the awards banquet are $35 if purchased before March 28, and may be ordered by calling (309) 691-3553 or via email at susie1026@comcast.net. For more information, visit the sponsoring organization’s website at gpshof.com.

EUREKA

Public invited to ‘Frozen’ sing-along

Calling all fans of the movie, “Frozen.” Come to the Eureka Public Library, 202 S. Main St., at 10 a.m. Jan. 20, to watch the movie and sing along to all of its popular songs. Participants are invited to come dressed as their favorite “Frozen” characters. Children ages 3 through kindergarten must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call (309) 467-2922.

PEORIA

Zoo is caring for new baby giraffe

It took more than 15 months – about 425 days – but at 2:38 a.m. Jan. 7, Vivian, a giraffe at the Peoria Zoo, gave birth to a girl calf, weighing 122 pounds and standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall.

Zoo officials say mom, Vivian, and baby are doing great, but Vivian needs time to heal and the unnamed baby needs time to grow before they will be ready for visitors. That could take two to four weeks. This was Vivian’s second birth.

An announcement will be made about how the public will be involved in naming the baby, such as through a contest or poll. The community has helped to name other zoo animals.

Until the baby and Vivian are ready for visitors, the Peoria Zoo is sharing pictures and offering a live video feed on its Facebook page, Peoria Zoo, and website at peoriazoo.org. Mom and the rest of her zoo family are “registered” at peoriazoo.org/donate/giving-tree/.

–Tazewell County News Briefs–