JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Four Winter teams will bring their seasons to an end this weekend as the Illinois College swimming & diving teams venture out to Grinnell College for the Midwest Conference Championships from Friday through Sunday, while the men's and women's basketball teams wrap up their seasons at home with Senior Day in Sherman Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The track & field teams are also in action, hosting their final indoor home meet of the year, the Hilltop Classic, on Friday night starting at 5 p.m.
Women's Basketball
Record: 9-14 (5-11 MWC)
This Week's Opponents:
at Knox College (12-11, 9-7 MWC), Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Lawrence University (6-16, 3-13 MWC), Saturday at 1 p.m.
Live Video/Stats (Knox)
Live Video/Stats (Lawrence)
The Illinois College women's basketball team closes out its season with two games this week, looking to complete a season sweep of Knox on Wednesday night and dent the Prairie Fire's postseason hopes. On Saturday, the Lady Blues will have both Senior Day for three graduating members of the team –
Brielle Greenleaf,
Sydney Lett and
McKenzie Skaggs – and will also have its Pink game, with donations collected during the game going to benefit the Mia Ware Foundation here in Jacksonville.
On Wednesday, Illinois College will try to recreate the play that resulted in a 72-62 victory over Knox back on Jan. 31. Beginning with that game, the Prairie Fire have dropped three of four to slide into a tie with St. Norbert College for the final slot in the MWC Tournament. With regular-season champion Ripon College awaiting Knox on Saturday, the Prairie Fire find themselves in must-win mode to hope to have a chance to earn a postseason berth. Greenleaf had a game-high 25 points in the first matchup between the teams, scoring more in the first half (18) than any Knox player did in the entire game. Jarrelyn McCall leads Knox with 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, and she contributed a double-double the first time around with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The 2018-19 season will wrap up with a game against Lawrence, who Illinois College played way back on Nov. 30 in the first MWC contest of the season. That night, LU's Kenya Earl hit 13-of-14 from the free-throw line on her way to a double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds. That was enough to overcome 19 points and eight rebounds from
Grace Yaunches and 11 points and 11 boards from
Carly Cameron in a 70-64 Viking victory. Since then, Lawrence has won only two MWC games – a season sweep of Cornell College that included Saturday's 64-57 overtime win. Despite their record, the Vikings are still a dangerous team as Earl ranks second in the conference in scoring (17.6 per game) and third in rebounding (8.5 per game).
Men's Basketball
Record: 7-16 (5-11 MWC)
This Week's Opponents:
at Knox College (1-22, 0-16 MWC), Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence University (11-12, 8-8 MWC), Saturday at 3 p.m.
Live Video/Stats (Knox)
Live Video/Stats (Lawrence)
A 1-1 record last week meant that the Illinois College men's basketball team has won three of five heading into the final week of the season. The Blueboys will look to finish the year on a high note as they wrap up their road schedule with a trip to Knox on Wednesday night, followed by a Senior Day matchup with Lawrence on Saturday that could potentially hold major MWC Tournament implications for the Vikings. For five members of the IC team –
Chance Lemmon,
Sean McDonald,
Tim Parks,
Mason Speer and
Kane Wildermuth – it will be the last time in a Blueboy uniform on Bill Merris Court.
If Illinois College can repeat the formula from two weeks ago, they should be in good shape against a Knox team that has lost 21 straight games. However, the Prairie Fire will be determined to break what has been a winless MWC season so far. In the Jan. 31 game at Sherman Gymnasium, the Blueboys raced ahead to a 50-23 halftime lead and pulled away to lead by as many as 46 points late in the contest of a 96-60 victory. A total of 14 players scored for IC and three of the four top scorers came off the bench in the win. Knox's top two scorers, Jordan Rayner and Justin Windt, were limited to a combined 13 points in the game, while Deryk Ruple led the Prairie Fire with 14.
The MWC season wraps up the way it began on Saturday as Illinois College hosts Lawrence to end the year. On Nov. 30, a seven-point halftime lead for the Vikings ballooned into an 83-45 victory as LU outscored the Blueboys in the second half, 47-16. Both teams were reliant on the three-ball in the game, but while Lawrence shot a very respectable 13-of-32 from beyond the arc, Illinois College went especially cold in the second half en route to a 7-of-33 performance for the game. Prior to facing IC, the Vikings will have to survive a road game at MWC regular-season champions, St. Norbert. Depending on how results around the rest of the conference pan out, LU might have already been eliminated from postseason contention, but if not, the Vikings will be in must-win mode as they enter the week trailing both Monmouth College and Ripon College by a game with two games to play. Four players average double-figures for Lawrence on the year, paced by Brad Sendell and his 18.7 points per game.
Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving
This Weekend's Meet:
Midwest Conference Championships (Grinnell, Iowa), 10 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. Sunday
Live Video
The Illinois College men's and women's swimming & diving programs cap off their 2018-19 season this weekend with three days at Grinnell's Russell K. Osgood Pool for the MWC Championships. The Blueboys and Lady Blues look to build off of sixth-place finishes at last year's championship meet. Action will get underway with preliminary races at 10 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and a 9 a.m. start to prelims on Sunday.
Not counting relays, Illinois College combined to have seven individuals compete in 14 'A' finals at last year's championships. Four of those individuals are back, with MWC champion
Hannah Marks returning to defend her conference titles in the 100 Breaststroke and 200 Breaststroke while looking to improve on last season's runner-up finish in the 200 IM.
Hannah Baker and
Marcella Jacquemain also each competed in 'A' finals for the Lady Blues last season. For the men,
Marty Ambre made it to three 'A' finals in the 200 Freestyle, 500 Freestyle and 1650 Freestyle.
Adding to this collection of talent is
Davide Sanna, who enters the weekend ranked first in the conference in the 100 and 200 Backstroke, and second in the 200 IM.
Donna Jenkins adds a dimension to the Lady Blues that has been missing as she looks to add in points in the diving competitions that IC has not had in recent years.
Men's and Women's Track & Field
This Weekend's Meet:
Hilltop Classic, Friday at 5 p.m.
The Illinois College track & field teams host their final indoor meet of the season on Friday night with the Hilltop Classic starting at 5 p.m. This meet serves as Senior Night for a combined seven members of the two teams. For the Lady Blues, it will be the last indoor home meet for
MacKenzie Heinz,
Bailey Leitschuh and
Rebecca Lucas. For the Blueboys, the senior class includes
Kyle Adams,
Chris Moore,
Brett Peifer,
Sammy Salinas,
Dillan Sorrells and
Austin Spriggs.
This weekend's meet is the last "regular-season" event of the indoor schedule as next week takes the Blueboys and Lady Blues up to Monmouth College for the MWC Indoor Track & Field Championships. After that, select members of the team will compete at a Last Chance Meet in early March with a chance to qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships which are being held March 8-9 in Boston, Mass.
