Twenty-five Galesburg athletes earned Western Big 6 all-conference honors across five spring sports.
The Silver Streaks’ baseball team led the way with seven selections. Hayden Ralston, a senior infielder-pitcher, and Caden Riley, a pitcher, earned first-team honors.
Grady Hickey, a senior infielder-outfielder; Alfred Ayala, a senior catcher; and TJ Heatherly, a senior pitcher, earned second-team honors. Nico Ojeda, a senior infielder-pitcher, and Noah Nalley, a senior pitcher-designated hitter, received honorable mention.
In softball, pitcher Taylor Lee received honorable mention honors.
Senior Madalyn Lardi earned second-team honors in girls soccer, and freshman Haleigh Jezek-Irle received honorable mention.
In boys track and field, high jumper Antwon Walker earned first-team all-conference honors. The 4×400-meter relay team of Demetrius Watson, Kevin Phillips, Weston Anderson and Richard Schleich earned second-team honors.
Ella Herchenroder, Lily Furrow, Taylor Herchenroder and Grace Herchenroder earned all-conference honors in the 4×400 relay, while Furrow also earned first-team honors in the triple jump.
Ella Herchenroder, Taylor Herchenroder, Rachelle McCellan and Ava Marty earned second-team all-conference honors in the 4×200 relay.
Galesburg’s relay teams led the way at the IHSA Class 2A Girls State Track and Field Championships, earning three top-seven finishes at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.
The Silver Streaks’ best finish came in the 4×400-meter relay, where Ella Herchenroder, Grace Herchenroder, Taylor Herchenroder and Lily Furrow placed third in 3:57.73. Galesburg advanced to the finals after posting the top preliminary time of 3:58.17.
Galesburg also finished fourth in the 4×200 relay. Ella Herchenroder, Rachelle McCellan, Taylor Herchenroder and Ava Marty ran 1:41.47 in the finals after qualifying fifth in the preliminaries at 1:42.50.
The Silver Streaks added a seventh-place finish in the 4×100 relay, with Ella Herchenroder, McCellan, Taylor Herchenroder and Marty finishing in 49.06 seconds. The same group qualified ninth in the preliminaries with a time of 49.20.
Marty also competed in the 200-meter preliminaries, finishing 28th in 26.05 seconds. Furrow placed 12th in the triple jump at 10.77 meters.
Galesburg qualified eight entries for the IHSA Class 2A boys track and field state meet during the TRB sectional May 21 at CBI Bank & Trust Stadium in Galesburg.
Antwon Walker led the Silver Streaks by winning the high jump with a mark of 1.92 meters to earn a state berth. Galesburg also advanced two relays and five other individual entries.
Richard “Reed” Schleich, Kevin Phillips, Demetrius Watson and Rahkim McCellan placed fourth in the 4×100-meter relay in 42.84 seconds to qualify for state. Schleich, Phillips, Weston Anderton and Watson also advanced in the 4×400 relay, placing fifth in 3:25.07.
Daxton Eastburg placed third in the shot put with a throw of 15.99 meters to qualify, and Cale Johnson took fourth in the discus at 45.75 meters to advance.
Rahkim McCellan placed fourth in the triple jump at 13.21 meters, and Shawn Taylor finished fifth at 13.05 meters as both qualified for state.
Praise Nwagbo was the Silver Streaks’ top finisher in an individual running event, taking fifth in the 200 meters in 22.90 seconds.
Chadrack Bizau placed 13th in the 100 in 11.73 seconds, Corey McGee took 15th in 11.79, and Aaron Johnson finished 13th in the 200 in 23.82 and 13th in the 400 in 54.05. James Bidingua placed 11th in the 400 in 53.63.
Franklin Hilligoss finished 11th in the 800 in 2:06.69, while Xaiden Seaton was 22nd in 2:13.45. Charles Anderton placed 14th in the 1,600 in 5:00.10, and Silas Descalzo was 15th in 5:00.31. In the 3,200, Isaac Becker finished 14th in 11:23.24, and Jalen Abbott was 15th in 11:25.01.
Malakai Gregory placed 10th in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.87 seconds and 22nd in the 300 hurdles in 50.30. Joshua Kruse was 21st in the 300 hurdles in 48.92.
Landon Petty placed 10th in the shot put at 13.72 meters, Weston Anderton was 10th in the discus at 39.13, Prosper Aremu finished 11th in the long jump at 6.22, and McGee was 16th in the long jump at 5.84. Levi Rogers also competed in the high jump.
Galesburg’s boys tennis team picked up one doubles victory May 22 at the IHSA sectional tournament in Geneseo.
The Silver Streaks’ No. 1 doubles team of Mohamed Shehata and Carter Bohm defeated Rock Island Alleman’s Landon Andrews and Cullen Heckenkamp 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round. Shehata and Bohm then lost to Dunlap’s William Song and Noah Lippens 6-0, 6-1. Song and Lippens went on to finish second in doubles.
Mahmoud Shehata and Carson Stecher, Galesburg’s other doubles entry, lost to Peoria Christian’s Eli Sanderson and Noah Sanderson 6-2, 6-0.
In singles, Timothy Tudengjiacuo lost to Geneseo’s Colin Roemer 6-0, 6-0, and Jackson Warren fell to Peoria Notre Dame’s Gus Callaway 6-1, 6-1.
Dunlap swept the sectional championships. Ethan Laclef defeated teammate Dresden Michel 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the singles final, while Ethan Klemens and Harmin Patel beat Song and Lippens 6-1, 7-6 (2) in the doubles final.
The Galesburg baseball team closed its regular season with a pair of wins May 22, beating Pontiac and Bloomington in the Streaks Classic at Galesburg High School.
The Silver Streaks opened the day with a 9-3 win over Pontiac before defeating Bloomington 5-2 in the second game. Galesburg finished the regular season 16-19 and carried a four-game winning streak into postseason play.
Noah Nalley powered Galesburg in the opener, going 3-for-4 with a home run, double, six RBIs and two runs. The Silver Streaks collected 11 hits and scored three runs in the first inning, one in the third and five in the fourth.
Hayden Ralston went 2-for-3 with two runs against Pontiac, while Caden Riley, Bryce Courson and Alfred Ayala each doubled. Nicolas Ojeda drove in a run and earned the win in relief, throwing four scoreless innings with six strikeouts. Henry Ikrami started and allowed three runs over three innings.
In Game 2, Galesburg scored all five runs in the third inning against Bloomington, turning four hits and three Bloomington errors into the decisive rally. Riley doubled and drove in two runs, while Ralston, Easton Pickrel and Ojeda each had an RBI. Pickrel went 2-for-3 with a double.
TJ Heatherly earned the win, allowing two hits over five scoreless innings and striking out eight. Ralston struck out four over 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Galesburg will host an IHSA regional May 27 and 30. The Silver Streaks will play East Peoria at 4:30 p.m. May 27, followed by Washington against Limestone at 7 p.m. The winners will meet for the regional championship at noon May 30.
The Sandburg men’s soccer team has turned to a familiar face for its new head coach.
Rodrigo Zamora, a Chargers alumnus who served as an assistant coach for the past three seasons, has been named the program’s new leader. Zamora takes over for Gerardo Ruvalcaba, who stepped down after three years as head coach.
Zamora assisted during all three seasons of Ruvalcaba’s tenure. During that time, the Chargers compiled a 35-9-8 overall record and went 8-0-1 in the Arrowhead Conference, including back-to-back conference titles in the past two seasons. Sandburg won at least 11 games in each of the past three years.
As a player, Zamora was a goalkeeper for the Chargers during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. A Monmouth-Roseville High School graduate, Zamora started three years in goal for the Titans and served as team captain as a senior. Overall, he has more than 20 years of playing experience.
After graduating from Sandburg in 2016, Zamora transferred to Western Illinois University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and foreign language, along with a minor in accounting.
In addition to his coaching role, Zamora serves as a public safety officer at Sandburg.
