Executive Board 2023-2024 Announced!

First, thank you for attending the 2023 Morton Heat Executive Board Election last night. It was great to see so many faces and talk, albeit briefly, with many of you. 

We had many GREAT candidates for the roles next year and are confident the program is in great hands for the following season. We greatly appreciate all running for a board position, and please know if you are not one of the 7 elected, there is plenty of opportunities for you to stay involved with the program. 

Before we announce the 2023-2024 board members, we want to thank you to our long-time board members, Nate Rugaard and Brian Pinter. These two were great assets to the board and will be missed. Also, a huge thank you to Chris Sharp, who is moving on from the board after a nice run, and a TON of work. The program is only as great as those volunteering their time.

Without further ado, your 2023-2024 Morton Heat Executive Board:

President: Justin Bryant

Vice President: Dave Kraft

Secretary: Erin Nowlan

Treasurer: Tiffany Guardino

At Large: Erin Chan

At Large: Matt Polk

At Large: Gavin Pearson

Heat Board Elections/Open Board Positions

Heat families,

As we soon wrap up our 2022-2023 season, it's time to start looking ahead at the 2023-2024 season. With that - is the Heat board elections. This will determine the 7 person executive board for the upcoming season. The election for next year's board will be held on Monday, March 27th, 2023, at 6pm in Morton. The exact location will be announced later on.

A couple reminders: Each child participating in the Heat organization gets ONE parent representation vote for the following season. Of course, if you have multiple kids, you have votes for EACH kid in the program.

The board consists of 7 members, President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The 3 at large members are also very important and vote at all board meetings, and those are voted for as well.

EVERY spot is open EVERY year, and EVERY board spot is voted on. There can be MULTIPLE people running for every position, pending interest from parents/community.

There WILL be a vacant spot for returning President and Treasurer; while other positions are certainly open and available as well, these two will NOT have a returnee running next season.

It is VERY important for the sake of a continued solid community youth sports program that interested people RUN for a position. This program continues to strive, serving over 130 young athletes and charging much less than other youth programs because of STRONG volunteers in the program.

Please reach out if you have any questions. While we have some time before elections, we feel it is VERY important to get the word out ahead of time and hopefully get some eager and willing help to the board for the 2023-2024 season!

6th Grade Morton Heat Boys Tournament Sponsored by Blue Jays Learning Center Schedule

January 14th and 15th is the Morton Heat 6th Grade BOYS Tournament Sponsored by Blue Jays Learning Center. Here is the schedule of games for that tournament as well. Click on the BOYS tournament tab at the bottom:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xR5o59RjPDvhrf6FgVPWUef8DJnvIyLW6W8YnsaKDo8/edit?usp=sharing

2023 Morton Heat 6th Grade Girls Tournament Sponsored by Blue Jays Learning Center Schedule

The following is the schedule for the Morton Heat 6th Grade Girls Tournament Sponsored by Blue Jays Learning Center:

Saturday January 7th, 2023:

Pool Play:

Game 1 - 2:00 pm Kiln: Morton Heat Red vs. Lewistown

Game 2 - 2:00 pm Old Gym: Teutopolis vs. Metamora

Game 3 - 3:15 pm Kiln: Morton Heat White vs. Pekin Bulldogs

Game 4 - 3:15 pm Old Gym: Dunlap v. Washington

Game 5 - 4:30 pm Kiln: Morton Heat Red vs. MSGBA Orange

Game 6 - 4:30 pm Old Gym: CTBA vs. Teutopolis

Game 7 - 5:45 pm: Klin: Morton Heat White vs. Dunlap Eagles

Game 8 - 5:45 pm Old Gym: Lewistown vs. Metamora

Game 9 - 7:00 pm Kiln: MSGBA Orange vs. Washington

Game 10 - 7:00 pm Old Gym: Pekin Bulldogs vs. CTBA

Sunday January 8th, 2023:

Bracket Play:

Game 11 - 12:30 pm: Kiln: 7 seed vs. 10 seed

Game 12 - 12:30 pm: Old Gym: 8 seed vs. 9 seed

Game 13 - 1:45 pm: Kiln: 1 seed vs. Game 12 Winner

Game 14 - 1:45 pm: Old Gym: 2 seed vs. Game 11 Winner

Game 15 - 3:00 pm: Kiln: 3 seed vs. 6 seed

Game 16 - 3:00 pm: Old Gym: 4 seed vs. 5 seed

Game 17 - 4:15 pm: Kiln: Game 13 Winner vs. Game 16 Winner

Game 18 - 4:15 pm: Old Gym: Game 14 Winner vs. Game 15 Winner

Game 19 - 5:30 pm: Kiln: Game 17 Winner vs. Game 18 Winner

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xR5o59RjPDvhrf6FgVPWUef8DJnvIyLW6W8YnsaKDo8/edit?usp=sharing

Opening Weekend Schedule

Our Opening Weekend Schedule, which contains 24 total games, including 19 of them at Morton Junior High.

Saturday November 12th, 2022:

1pm - 5th Grade Girls Red vs. Tri Valley - OLD GYM

1pm - 6th Grade Girls Red vs. Canton - NEW GYM

2pm - 6th Grade Girls White vs. Tri Valley - OLD GYM

2pm - 3rd Grade Boys White vs. IVC - NEW GYM

3pm - 4th Grade Boys Red vs. IVC - OLD GYM

3pm - 3rd Grade Boys Red vs. IVC - NEW GYM

4pm - 4th Grade Boys White vs. IVC - OLD GYM

4pm - 6th Grade Boys Red vs. IVC - NEW GYM

5pm - 4th Grade Girls Red vs. IVC - OLD GYM

5pm - 6th Grade Boys White vs. IVC - NEW GYM

6pm - 5th Grade Boys Red vs. IVC - NEW GYM

6pm - 4th Grade Girls White vs. IVC - OLD GYM

7pm - 5th Grade Boys White vs. IVC - NEW GYM

Sunday November 13th, 2022:

1pm - 3rd Grade Boys White @ Olympia

2pm - 4th Grade Girls Red vs. Washington - NEW GYM

2pm - 3rd Grade Boys Red vs. Washington - OLD GYM

2pm - 4th Grade Boys White @ Olympia

3pm - 5th Grade Boys White @ Olympia

3pm - 5th Grade Girls Red vs. Washington - NEW GYM

3pm - 4th Grade Boys Red vs. Washington - OLD GYM

4pm - 6th Grade Boys Red vs. Lab - NEW GYM

4pm - 5th Grade Boys Red vs. Washington - OLD GYM

4pm - 6th Grade Boys White @ Olympia

5pm - 6th Grade Boys Red vs. Lab 2 - NEW GYM

Saturday Schedule Changes

We had a few schedule changes for this coming weekend.

1. The 4th grade boys RED will now play at 3pm on Saturday, instead of 6pm.

2. The 4th grade girls WHITE will now play at 6pm on Saturday, instead of 3pm.

3. The 5th grade girls RED and 6th grade girls WHITE will now play Tri Valley. IVC had to cancel their two games against these two teams.

Sorry for any issues, and thanks for your flexibility. See you at the gym Saturday!

Morton Heat "White Team" Head Coaches

Morton Heat is pleased to announce the final 6 head coaches for the 2022-2023 season. We had great candidates at all grade levels, and want to thank everyone for their interest. The following coaches were approved for our "white teams" last night:

3rd Grade Boys: Derek McCully

4th Grade Boys: Matt O'Brien

5th Grade Boys: Besarta Basha

6th Grade Boys: Sarah Wignall

3/4th Grade Girls: Megan Lovell

6th Grade Girls: Erin Chan

2022-2023 Morton Heat Rosters Announced

Thank you to everyone that made tryouts a great two days. 167 total kids tried out for our 2022-2023 teams. Unfortunately, we did have some cuts, but strongly encourage you to continue playing basketball, and come back out next year. We do also encourage kids that did not make a team to look into Upwards at Grace Church this winter. More information on that will be available soon.

If your name is on a roster, please be on the look out this week for several emails with steps to get us all set up for the 2022-2023 season. There will be a few of them this week, and each of them will be important information. Thanks!

3rd Grade Boys Red 

Head Coach Chris Whitaker

Crew Bones

Hudson Chan

Job Farrell

Otto Geist

Jon Nave

Jax O’Brian

Mitchell Pearson

Joshua Schuler

Rex Uhlman

Luke Whitaker

3rd Grade Boys White

Head Coach TBA

Jax Bell

Wyatt Bradford

Keegan Juricic

Logan Lang

Dylan McCully

Judah Mischley

Mason Schultz

Wyatt Smith

Winston Westbrook

Rowen Zeller

4th Grade Boys Red

Head Coach Adam Boeker

Jackson Boeker

Locklen Fifer

Ace Monfroe

Briggs Overcash

Levi Parnham

Fletcher Spangler

Finch Stanfield

Mason Stephens

Ben West

Tripp Yordy

4th Grade Boys White

Head Coach TBA

Nathan Boyer

Brady Eiberger

Chase Grieder

Owen Griffin

Josh Hawks

Peter Lyons

John O’Brien

Blake Reising

Luke Sanders

Hudson Shephederson

Levi Van Zant

5th Grade Boys Red

Head Coach Mark Dick

Nixon Albers

Landry Boeker

Zeelan Dick

Ruxin Higgs

Peyt Malson

Cruz Mueller

Jarrett Polk

Benton Reeb

Gavin Selke

Ben Volpert

Hudson Zeller

5th Grade Boys White

Head Coach TBA

Dren Basha

Wesley Couri

Barrett Durflinger

Cru Garcia

Mark Foday

Abe Mischley

Brady Nightengale

Zenek Richrath

Gavin Scheerer

Bryant White

6th Grade Boys Red

Head Coach Dave Kraft

Jaret Jones

Jonah Knuppel

Carter Parrott

Owen Reisberg

Cole Rudd

Breighton Sledge

Cooper Smith

Titus Ultch

Benson Westbrook

Logan Whitaker

6th Grade Boys White

Head Coach TBA

Jack Brubaker

Ruben DiPinto

Luke Hartnett

Charles Hawkins

Jackson Heppe

Rylan Jones

Clayton Leuchtenberg

Andy Ripka

Brock Stalzer

Kamden Wenninger

4th Grade Girls Red

Head Coach Justin Bryant

Ellie Omari

Riley Zilla

Gwendolyn Bryant

Emily Khouri

Lucy Miller

Brylie Buescher

Hayden Joos

Sylvia Riesberg

Aubrey Comer

Kailey Pergler

3/4th Grade Girls White

Head Coach TBA

Taylor Dally

Scarlette Fox

Amelia Johnson

Hollis Lovell

Paisley Lovell

Emmalynn McCord

Eden Melaga

Penny Nowlan

Madelyn Rickgauer

Shaniyah Swan

Charlotte Valerio

Cynthia Vestal

Aryn Williams

Karina Williams

5th Grade Girls Red

Head Coach Tavis Bones

Joey Baer

Isla Bones

Lili Garrison

Neva Khouri

Maci Taylor

Penelope Rapp

Ina Underwood

Alyssa VanMeenen

Brynn Wyss

Molly Yontz

6th Grade Girls Red

Head Coach Tim Gronewold

Olivia Brooks

Brooke Ceresa

Kate Gronewold

Jemma Farrell

Reese Litersky

Hadley Lovell

Emerson Mitchell

Elsie Parnham

Khloe Pergler

Ellie Roth

6th Grade Girls White

Head Coach TBA

Carly Babin

Campbell Berg

Ainsley Bimrose

Brooklyn Chan

Mya Coontz

Evangeline Escobar

Abby Gardner

Sophie Nestrud

Sophia Nowlan

Adalyn Willmert

Register for 2022-2023 Season

Good Morning! Congrats to those that made one of our 13 Morton Heat teams. You should receive an email with a confirmation of the teams. After that - please register your son/daughter on the website and get your registration fee paid for, and we will start building out the website with your team roster and schedules! Here is a link to the registration page: https://www.mortonheat.org/program/travel-basketball/1338

6th Grade Boys and Girls Tournament Registrations

The following are the 6th grade tournament registration links:

Boys:
https://www.mortonheat.org/registration/team/2721/

* Note, if your team is paying by check, please put PAYBYCHECK in discount code, and mail check to Morton Heat, PO Box 933, Morton IL 61550.

Girls:
https://www.mortonheat.org/registration/team/2722/

Note, if your team is paying by check, please put PAYBYCHECK in discount code, and mail check to Morton Heat, PO Box 933, Morton IL 61550.