The projects had differing levels of need – after all, the former home field of the Blueboys had been deemed unplayable, requiring the baseball team to take a hiatus from playing on campus and moving their “home games” out to the edge of town at Lenz Field — but the impetus behind the projects was the same: create a home for two programs that would draw recruits to Illinois College, build a sense of pride and tradition within the programs, and foster a winning atmosphere that would engage the campus and local communities. 

Since that momentous summer, other athletic projects have followed. A throws field was created for the track and field programs. A replacement turf project at Green Athletic Field was completed and a video scoreboard was installed for the football and soccer programs. The floor of Sherman Gymnasium was refinished, updating the colors of Bill Merris Court from the past school color of navy blue to our current shade of True Blue. The Bellatti Fitness and Weight Room, the lights at the Bellatti Tennis Complex and the Bruner Recreation and Fitness Center as a whole, was remodeled to better serve more athletes, students, staff and faculty while graphics boldly highlight the achievements of student-athletes.

In Meghan Roman’s first year as the head softball coach at Illinois College, the team won 20 games despite playing only six home games the entire season. Three years later, with construction completed at Kamp Softball Field, the team made a leap after two straight losing seasons, to win 21 games and qualify for the Midwest Conference Tournament for the first time in a decade, a feat they repeated in 2019. In 2017, the program set a school record for wins in a season while qualifying for a second straight conference tournament. In 2018, another program record of 25 wins was set while the team went to the championship game of the MWC Tournament. The Lady Blues have won better than two-thirds of their home games in that span.

“The number one thing that our renovation has done is increase our ability to recruit and to retain players,” said Coach Roman. “Because our field is nice, our players feel valued and feel as though IC cares about them and what they are doing as student-athletes here. In recruiting, the facility is very helpful from an aesthetic perspective but the biggest selling point is that an investment has been made in our program and in our facilities. That says people believe in what we are trying to achieve.”
 
Kristy Duncan took over a rebuilding project in her first volleyball season. Still, she managed to increase the team’s total wins to eight in 2014. In 2015, the team improved to 13 wins, with 12 coming at Sherman Gymnasium. In 2016, the Lady Blues tallied 15 wins with 13 of those wins coming at home. A young squad in 2017 slipped slightly, but still won 13 matches with nine wins on their home floor. Then came the summer renovation of Sherman. In their first season at their revamped home, the Lady Blues had their best overall record since 1996. IC ended the year at 22-7 overall, but the Lady Blues were nearly untouchable in front of their boisterous home crowds. In nine home matches, not only was the team undefeated, but it wasn’t until the last of those nine matches that an opponent managed to even take a single set off of the Lady Blues. The opponent who managed that feat, Lake Forest College, only delayed the inevitable. Illinois College would go on to win the match in four sets, clinching its first MWC Tournament berth since 2006. 

“Our players really appreciate our home facilities and recognize what we have in the Bruner Center. We consistently hear how nice our facilities are when opposing teams walk into Bruner, especially from those who have not been on campus since the renovations. The refinished court makes Sherman feel like a whole new gym,"  Coach Duncan said.

Scott Smith inherited a solid squad early in his tenure as women’s soccer coach. Behind the goal-scoring of Ashley Sholmire ’18 and the playmaking midfield magic of Bianca Savarese Gardner ’16, the Lady Blues won six matches his first year and eight in his second season. Still, injuries were a constant factor for his teams as well as opponents on the Green Athletic Field turf. It bottomed out in 2017 when a young and rarely-healthy IC squad won three matches all season. In the summer of 2018, the turf was replaced and an outdated scoreboard on the southern edge of the facility was upgraded to a video board. When the Lady Blues returned to England Stadium this past season, the team improved to six wins on the year, with five of them coming at home. 

“The turf renovation this past summer made a huge impact on our ability to play more consistently at home,” said Coach Smith. “The new turf gives a truer bounce and roll of the ball, which eliminates much of the unpredictability of play which can happen on an older turf field and definitely on a grass field. As silly as it may sound, installing new turf gave us a reset mentality at home. There is just something about playing in your home stadium, with your fans in attendance, that gives you an extra edge. What we offer for the overall student-athlete experience is definitely superior to most of our competition.” 

Similar results have become the norm throughout Illinois College athletics. The stories go on and on. Head Coach Chris Sykes of the IC swimming programs has led his teams to some of its best results in school history at the conference meet and first-year swimmer Davide Sanna ’22 nearly became the first swimmer in program history to advance to the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. Under Head Coach Jason Haynes ’09, both the men’s and women’s track & field programs have taken drastic steps forward in the past five seasons, with multiple national qualifiers from both the Blueboys and Lady Blues. Behind the best player in program history, Miguel Vaca ’19, the men’s tennis team has also grown into a program to be reckoned with in the MWC. 

When Mike Snyder took over as the director of athletics in 2014, he saw the growth potential that Illinois College had in the Midwest Conference and beyond. As a member of the board of the Collegiate Events & Facilities Management Association (CEFMA), he worked on the national level to develop the “Gameday the D-III Way” program.

“There are a lot of different opportunities still out there for us,” Snyder said. “The projects we’ve been able to complete have helped create an atmosphere that people want to see in person. There’s an amped-up level of excitement for people to come out and see the games, not just because they have friends or family members on the team, but because they see the success we’re having and they can feel that something special is being built here.”