In another successful week for Uni varsity athletics, both cross country teams finished fourth at the Cumberland Invitational, while the boys soccer team won both of its games, including a 3-1 Senior Night victory over St. Thomas More. The volleyball team continued its recent hot streak, with the Illineks winning both of their matches to boost their record in their previous nine contests to 7-1-1. In the swimming pool, the Anemones finished fourth at the Central Invitational, led by another strong performance from sophomore Milee Nelson.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Despite running without their top two runners, the Illineks turned in another performance worthy of their top 10 state ranking, this time at Saturday's Cumberland Invitational. The boys finished fourth out of 18 teams, a testament to the depth of head coach Doug Mynatt's squad.

Without Nos. 1 and 2 junior Albert Anastasio and senior Nathan Smith, both of whom were taking the SAT, junior Buck Walsh (17:17) had Uni's best time on the three-mile course, placing 12th overall.

The other four scoring Uni runners finished within 30 seconds of each other. Seniors Andrew Weatherhead (17:53) and Langston Allston-Yeagle (18:00) came in 28th and 32nd, respectively. Junior Ziran Shang (18:06) placed 35th, followed by senior Jack Snyder (18:22) in 39th.

If Anastasio and Smith had competed and finished with Uni’s two fastest times, the Illineks would have been assured of second place behind winner St. Joseph-Ogden, which finished with 74 points. As it was, Uni had 141 points, while Monticello (110) and Rochester (112) came in second and third, respectively.

All non-varsity runners competed in the open race. Sophomore Ryosuke Minami (19:28) finished fourth, followed by three other Illineks in the top 20: Sterling Lemme 16th (20:26), Steven Morse 18th (20:44), and Mohammad Jaber 19th (20:46).

The boys have no more regular-season meets. Their next competition will be the IHSA Class A regional at Kickapoo State Park in Oakwood on Oct. 24.

Note: For coverage of how the subfreshman boys fared at Saturday's Illinois Elementary School Association Class A sectional meet, click here.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

The girls squad also competed at Cumberland on Saturday, finishing fourth out of 15 schools. St. Joseph-Ogden won the meet (44 points), followed by Decatur St. Teresa (46) and Monticello (110). Uni had 158 points.

Freshman Sarah Vaughen (20:59) continued her stellar inaugural season, placing 13th overall on the three-mile course. It was her second time under 21 minutes on the season.

Senior Elizabeth Russell (21:28) finished 29 seconds behind Vaughen, her time good for 25th place.

Junior Emma Coverdill (22:23) and sophomore Christina Harden (22:36) finished 45th and 53rd, respectively. Sophomore Tanya Denisova (23:01) rounded out Uni’s scoring, finishing 59th overall.

In the open run, sophomores Shruti Vaidya (24:58) and Marie Lilly (25:09) came in eighth and ninth, respectively. Classmate Sarah Heffley was 32nd (30:19).

The varsity squad is shaping up to be a force in the postseason. Russell and Vaughen give the Illineks an outstanding one-two combination. Coverdill has been a solid No. 3 runner all season, while Harden has come on strong in the No. 4 spot; the split between her and Coverdill has shrunk to just 13 seconds.

With Denisova and senior Brittany Scheid competing for the final scoring spot, look for the Illineks to challenge St. Thomas More on Oct. 24 for the runner-up spot in the Class 1A regional meet at Kickapoo.

Host St. Joseph-Ogden, ranked second in the state, will be the favorite, but after that the field should be wide open.

If the Illineks finish in the top five, they will advance to the Decatur St. Teresa sectional on Oct. 31.

Note: For coverage of how the subfreshman girls fared at Saturday's Illinois Elementary School Association Class A sectional meet, click here.

BOYS SOCCER

Senior forward Eddie Diazmuñoz advances through rainy conditions during Friday's 3-1 victory over St. Thomas More. Gargoyle photos by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Senior Dan Lilly finished the regular season last week as Uni's all-time career scorer, with 69 goals — 27 of them this year. He added four more this week in the regional quarterfinal playoff game against Catlin.

The Illineks ended their regular season last week with two victories, defeating Tolono Unity on the road and celebrating Senior Night by downing St. Thomas More at the U of I Turf Field in Champaign.

On Tuesday against Unity, the Illineks shut out the host Rockets, holding them to just seven shots on goal en route to a 2-0 victory.

Back on Oct. 2, in Uni’s 8-1 win over Normal Calvary Baptist, senior defender Jasper Maniates-Selvin scored his first career varsity goal, on a corner kick, to give the Illineks a 6-0 lead. Against Unity, Maniates-Selvin scored his second career goal, also on a corner kick, giving Uni a 1-0 advantage in the fifth minute. The Illineks managed five shots on goal in the half.

Uni’s second score came early in the second half, when senior Dan Lilly netted his 26th goal of the year on the assist from Maniates-Selvin. It was the 68th career goal for Uni’s all-time leading scorer.

Senior goal keeper Nile Hamer was a perfect eight-for-eight on save attempts. Uni finished with 12 shots on goal in the contest.

Friday was the final regular-season high school game for seniors Lilly, Hamer, Maniates-Selvin, Eddie Diazmuñoz, Ben Lee, Neil Pearson, and Arnav Pamidighantam. A late trio of goals ensured it would end successfully.

St. Thomas More struck first, as Tyler Johnson scored unassisted in the fourth minute. Despite outshooting the Sabers 12-7 in the half, none of Uni’s shots made it through.

The second half, though, was a different story. In the 47th minute, junior Chris Mathy scored on an assist from Diazmuñoz. Two minutes later Lilly scored on another assist from Diazmuñoz — this one coming on a corner kick — giving Uni the lead.

The Illineks got some breathing room when Diazmuñoz tallied his third point of the day, capitalizing on an assist from freshman Tarik Koric and finalizing the 3-1 victory.

Uni dominated offensively, with 22 shots on goal to 10 for St. Thomas More. Hamer made nine saves on the game, and he came out of the regular season sporting a 0.941 goals against average and an .888 save percentage.

The Illineks completed their regular season with a 9-5-4 overall record and a 2-1 East Central Illinois Conference mark. The JV finished their season at 3-7-2 overall.

Uni's next test would come in the IHSA Class 1A postseason this week, when they would face Catlin on Tuesday in a regional quarterfinal match. The Illineks won 7-1 (for details, see the OG Scoreboard, with more coverage to come in next week's roundup). They will face rival Judah Christian in a regional semifinal showdown 2 p.m. Saturday at Danville Schlarman.

GIRLS SWIMMING

The Anemones had one meet last week, competing in the Champaign Central Invitational at the Unit 4 Pool. Uni finished fourth out of the five teams, with 185 points.

Host Central won the meet with 448 points, followed by Mother McAuley (355.50) and O'Fallon (224.50). Paxton-Buckley-Loda was fifth (5).

Sophomore Milee Nelson continued her outstanding season, winning the 100-yard freestyle (57.02), the only event a Uni swimmer would win on the day.

Nelson also finished second in the 200 freestyle (2:01.05). Freshman Bissy Michael (2:21.14) finished fourth in the event.

The Uni 400 freestyle relay placed third overall, at 4:10.97.

The Anemones have five events remaining on the season. The team will honor its seniors on Saturday against Eureka. The meet will begin about 12:40 p.m. at the U of I Activities and Recreation Center, 201 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

The volleyball team continued its recent success with two conference wins last week over Decatur Christian. Those victories raised Uni's record to 14-11-1 overall, 8-1 in the East Central Illinois Conference.

After losing a tough first set against Decatur Christian at Kenney Gym on Tuesday 17-25, the Illineks came back and won the match in three sets. Uni won the second and third sets 25-13 and 25-12, respectively.

Senior Rachel Harmon led the team with 10 kills and two blocks on the night. Senior Michelle Wong had a team-high 19 assists, and she tied fellow senior Chumin Gao for the team high in aces with six. Senior Tuli Bera had seven digs.

The Uni JV also won their match in three sets: 25-17, 17-25, 25-13.

Uni traveled to Decatur on Thursday to take on the Warriors on their home court. The results were similar to Tuesday’s match.

The Illineks lost their first set once again, falling 23-25, but they won the second and third in similarly easy fashion 25-11 and 25-16.

Harmon once again led the team in several categories, with nine kills, two blocks, and seven aces. Her 53 blocks put her one short of Veronica Zych's 2002 Uni season record. Gao led with 16 digs. Wong's 13 assists put her 12 away from Ruthie Welch's record of 323, set in 2006.

The JV also won again, downing the Warriors 25-17, 21-25, 15-12.

Uni would have only one match this week, dropping an ECIC road contest to DeLand-Weldon in two sets Tuesday (for details, see the OG Scoreboard, with more coverage to come in next week's roundup).

The team's next match will be Tuesday at Kenney Gym against conference leader Decatur Lutheran. The regular season will end next Friday with Senior Night against Judah Christian.