Arthur-Lovington seeking coach Longtime Arthur-Lovington football coach Don McCarthy, who has coached the Knights for 15 years, will not be rehired for next season. The decision was made at a school board meeting last week. "I''m still not feeling too good about the situation," said McCarthy, who was asked by Arthur Principal Travis Wilson if he wanted to resign earlier this month upon hearing of the board''s plans. The situation has been confusing and frustrating for McCarthy, who declined to resign. "It totally floored me after the year we had," he said. "He said it was time for a change. I said, ''A change for what?'' " McCarthy, who led Arthur to all three of the program''s playoff appearances, including this past season, had a 55-83 record as head coach and finished 6-4 this year, losing to Cerro Gordo in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs. McCarthy, who coached football for 32 straight years, will continue teaching elementary school in Arthur and coaching junior high track. "I definitely plan on coaching (football) somewhere next fall," McCarthy said. "In what capacity, I don''t know." Tourney seeds Central second The folks who run the Centralia Holiday Tournament have taken note of Champaign Central''s strong start in boys'' basketball this season. Scott Davis'' Maroons are seeded second in the 60th annual event, which is Dec. 26-28. Four of the teams in the 16-school field received seedings, including No. 1 Belleville West; No. 3 Harding Christian of Memphis, Tenn.; and No. 4 Peoria Woodruff. Central will open against Chicago Carver at 9:15 p.m. Dec. 26. Centennial, led by junior guard Trent Meacham and senior guard Dashon Jones, also joined the Centralia tournament after participating last year in the Pekin Insurance Holiday Tournament. Tim Lavin''s Chargers open against O''Fallon at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 26. The second-year Centennial coach is no stranger to the Centralia tournament, having made seven trips while serving on Central''s staff. After inheriting last season''s Chargers schedule, Lavin decided to move to a tournament he''s long admired. "I just always thought the atmosphere was great," he said. "It''s an old-time gym. The fans are knowledgeable and will root for any team if it''s doing well  unless, of course, it''s playing Centralia. The tradition is great." Rantoul will be in action at the Bloomington- Normal State Farm Classic, Urbana will play at the Kankakee Holiday tournament and Mahomet- Seymour will play at the Charleston tournament. No holiday rest for Class A teams Most area schools barely will have time to digest their Christmas turkey before holiday basketball tournaments start up. On the girls'' side, tournaments at Mattoon (Sullivan), Monticello (Bement, Fisher, Argenta-Oreana, St. Joseph-Ogden, Tuscola), Okaw Valley (Cerro Gordo, Arcola, Arthur-Lovington), the Pepsi-Storm Classic at Jamaica High (Armstrong-Potomac, Heritage, Shiloh, Salt Fork, Bismarck-Henning, Prairie Central, Villa Grove, Oakland) and the State Farm Classic (CPCI, Unity) start Dec. 26. Paxton-Buckley-Loda, behind leading scorers Katie Merkle (11 points a game) and Amber Rock (nine), will take its 11-1 record to the Momence tournament, which features Watseka and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley. Nine boys'' tournaments will open play Dec. 26, highlighted by the Sages Classic at Monticello that will feature guards Adam Gaskill and Jeremy Stevens for the hosts, along with Bement, a surprising Fisher team, St. Joseph-Ogden, plus Justin Bozarth and Tuscola. The other tournaments next week featuring Class A teams: Clinton (Arcola, Blue Ridge, Clinton), State Farm Classic (Argenta-Oreana, Unity), Hayden''s Classic (Atwood-Hammond, Bismarck-Henning, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Heritage, Judah Christian, St. Thomas More, Salt Fork, Schlarman, Shiloh, Villa Grove), Prairie Central (LeRoy, Prairie Central), Kansas (Cerro Gordo, Oakland), Williamsville (CPCI), Kankakee (Iroquois West) and Charleston (Sullivan). Alexandrov among best in world While the Centennial boys'' swimming team opened its season Dec. 10 at Peoria Central, senior Mike Alexandrov was an ocean away, matching strokes with some of Europe''s best. A native of Bulgaria, Alexandrov traveled to the European Short Course Championships Dec. 12-15 at Riesa, Germany. He returned ranked 20th in the world this year in the short-course 400-meter individual medley in the open/senior division. Alexandrov clocked 4 minutes, 15.02 seconds in the preliminaries. He followed that sixth-place performance by finishing eighth in the finals in 4:16.13.