Mohamed Shehata earned Galesburg’s lone win at No. 1 singles May 18 as Macomb defeated the Silver Streaks 8-1 in a boys tennis dual at Galesburg High School.
Shehata, a senior, beat Macomb’s Jayden Glaue 6-2, 6-1 to give Galesburg its point. The Silver Streaks fell to 4-8, while Macomb improved to 9-3.
The dual marked the final regular-season meet for Galesburg, which now turns its attention to the sectional tournament May 22 in Geneseo.
Macomb controlled the rest of singles play. Marc Simmons defeated Carter Bohm 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, and Alex Simmons beat Carson Stecher 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3. Owen Kennedy topped Jackson Warren 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4, Carter Ingledue beat Brady Jackson 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5, and Kai Youshimura defeated Charlie Ament 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6.
Macomb also swept doubles. Marc Simmons and Alex Simmons defeated Shehata and Bohm 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. Kennedy and Glaue beat Mahmoud Shehata and Stecher 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2.
The closest doubles match came at No. 3, where Ingledue and Youshimura held off Warren and Timothy Tudengjiacuo 6-2, 6-4 (13-11).
Galesburg coach Adyson Eastburg said she has been encouraged by the team’s progress, particularly because of its youth and inexperience. She said Bohm, a senior playing in the No. 2 singles spot, is in his first year of tennis.
“To be brand new and be in the No. 2 spot, that’s pretty impressive,” Eastburg said. “That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Eastburg said half of Galesburg’s top six lineup is made up of freshmen, giving the program a chance to build from this season’s experience.
“It’ll be nice to see them grow over the years,” Eastburg said. “Them getting this much experience as a freshman in the top six, it’ll be really beneficial over the next three years that they have here.”
Galesburg also has relied on Shehata and Bohm at No. 1 doubles, where Eastburg said the pair has shown promise entering sectionals.
“The way our No. 1 doubles has been playing, they’ve been placing in a few different invites and meets we’ve been playing,” Eastburg said. “Hopefully, fingers crossed, that goes well this Friday. And maybe we could be there Saturday too.”
Quincy won the eight-team Western Big 6 Conference boys tennis tournament May 15-16, finishing ahead of Sterling and Geneseo.
Quincy finished first with 12 wins, while Sterling was second with six and Geneseo third with five. Moline followed with three, United Township had two, Galesburg and Alleman each had one, and Rock Island had none.
Galesburg’s top finish came in doubles, where Mohamed Shehata and Carter Bohm opened with a three-set win over Geneseo’s Landry Possin and Jordan Ramirez, 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3. Shehata and Bohm then fell to Quincy’s Kael Holzgrafe and Drake Dodd, 6-0, 6-0. Holzgrafe and Dodd went on to win the doubles title.
Galesburg’s Mahmoud Shehata and Carson Stecher lost their opening doubles match to Moline’s Grant Dahlstrom and Jackson Smith, 6-1, 6-2.
In singles, Galesburg’s Jackson Warren lost to Quincy’s Charlie Strong, 6-0, 6-1, while teammate Timothy Tudengjiacuo fell to Geneseo’s Colin Roemer, 6-0, 6-0.
Strong helped lead Quincy’s tournament run, defeating Warren and Moline’s Brady Woodward before losing a three-set match to Sterling’s Xavian Prather. Strong later beat Roemer 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in one of the tournament’s top singles matches.
Sterling’s Aron Rivera had a strong singles tournament, defeating Alleman’s Chase Eygabroad, Strong and Quincy’s Marshall Mayfield. Rivera beat Mayfield 6-0, 6-2.
Quincy also controlled the doubles bracket. Holzgrafe and Dodd beat Moline’s Prateek Dharanikota and Vivek Jayaraman, Galesburg’s Shehata and Bohm, United Township’s Shwe Le and David Cobos, and Quincy teammates Ethan Stark and Surya Reddy in the final, 7-5, 6-4.
Stark and Reddy reached the doubles final with wins over Rock Island’s Alexander Henshaw and Ricardo Avila, Moline’s Dahlstrom and Smith, and Geneseo’s Adam Johnson and Landon French.
Geneseo’s Johnson and French finished with one of the tournament’s closest doubles wins, beating United Township’s Le and Cobos 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
Galesburg showed signs of progress in its regular-season finale, even if the final scores did not go the Silver Streaks’ way.
Pekin swept Galesburg 6-4 and 13-5 in a nonconference softball doubleheader May 16, ending the Silver Streaks’ regular season at 5-25 overall and 1-13 in the Western Big 6 Conference. The five wins marked an improvement from Galesburg’s 0-34 season in 2025. The Streaks will face East Peoria at 4:30 p.m. May 19 in an IHSA regional game in Streator.
Galesburg coach Andrea Sampson said the opener was one of her team’s better defensive efforts, especially with Avayah Bridgewater pitching the first game.
“I didn’t think that was a bad ballgame,” Sampson said. “With having our No. 2 pitcher come in for our first game in there, she did a very good job. I think that’s probably the best I’ve ever seen her pitch.”
Bridgewater went the distance in the opener, allowing six runs, four earned, on seven hits with three walks and one strikeout. Pekin scored one run in the first inning and three in the second before Galesburg rallied with four runs in the third to tie it. The Dragons answered with two runs in the fourth and held on for the 6-4 win.
Sampson said the early defensive miscues hurt, but she liked the way the Streaks competed.
“Our defense did make plays, maybe with the first or second inning as the exception,” Sampson said. “And we had a couple errors that, you know, probably the score wouldn’t be where it was at. But it was a good defensive effort today.”
Hannah Barton led Galesburg in the first game, going 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs. Evelin Guel, Layla Shepler and Tamryn Davis each added a hit. Pekin’s Zoe Lindahl struck out 17 and allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings. Jaeleigh Decker drove in three runs for the Dragons.
Sampson said the next step for Galesburg is finding more consistency at the plate.
“On the flip side, we only had that one inning with four runs, and we’ve got to do more in each inning,” Sampson said. “We’ve talked about that over the last week about how we can’t just have one big inning. I mean, that’s been our story all year long.”
The Streaks did build a lead in the second game. Galesburg scored one run in the first, two in the third and two in the fifth to take a 5-2 advantage. Pekin responded with five runs in the sixth and six in the seventh to pull away.
Guel went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the second game, while freshman Mavery Bland went 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Barton added a hit, an RBI, a run and a stolen base. Bridgewater doubled, and Taylor Lee scored a run and stole two bases. Bland also stole two bases.
Pekin finished the second game with nine hits and drew six walks. Mia Bozarth went 2-for-2 with three runs and three RBIs, Sarah Baughman drove in three runs, and Mallory Roepenack had a double and two RBIs. Roepenack pitched all seven innings, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks.
For Barton and Mary Moore, both seniors, the doubleheader also closed a four-year regular-season run with the program. Both saw the program work through coaching changes before finding more stability this season.
“We’ve had three new coaches, and I think it’s been hard to go with each coach’s different coaching style,” Barton said. “But I think the program is really building from now on with Coach Sampson.”
Moore said this season felt different.
“It was kind of hard when it feels like you’re constantly changing coaches,” Moore said. “And then this year, it feels like it kind of just locked in for the most part.”
Moore said she was proud of the season, especially after last year’s winless finish.
“It’s definitely a good year to go out on,” Moore said. “It’s nice to have a team where we’re all together and we have a coach who fully believes in us.”
Barton said the team’s closeness stood out, regardless of the record.
“Having a coach who believes in us and having a team that really feels like a family, especially this year, win or lose,” Barton said, “it’s just a great team to be on.”
Galesburg girls soccer fell below .500 for the first time this season with an 8-1 loss at Orion-Sherrard, but freshman Haleigh Jezek-Irle set a team scoring record with her 25th goal of the season.
The nonconference loss dropped the Silver Streaks to 10-11-1 and ended their regular season.
The Streaks will face Dunlap at 6:30 p.m. May 19 in the Class 2A regional semifinals in Metamora. The winner will face the Washington-Metamora winner at 6 p.m. May 22. Galesburg is seeded No. 6, and Dunlap is seeded No. 2 in the regional.
Galesburg used an 11-run first inning and a combined shutout from Hayden Ralston and Jack Pickrel to beat Kewanee 11-0 in five innings May 15 in a nonconference baseball game at Kewanee.
The Silver Streaks finished with nine hits and drew seven walks. Henry Ikrami went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, while Drew Hickey was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Grady Hickey added two hits and scored a run, and Noah Nalley went 2-for-3 with a double.
Ralston earned the win, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out seven in four scoreless innings. Pickrel pitched the final inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Galesburg scored all of its runs in the first inning and held Kewanee to four hits. The Streaks also stole two bases, one each by Grady Hickey and Alfred Ayala.
Kewanee committed no errors, while Galesburg had one.
The Streaks finish their regular season by hosting Richwoods for Senior Night at 4:30 p.m. May 20. The Streaks Classic is May 22. Galesburg plays Pontiac at 3:30 p.m., Pontiac plays Bloomington at 5:30 p.m., and Galesburg plays Bloomington at 7:30 p.m.
The Sandburg women’s golf team finished its trip to nationals in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on a high note.
The Chargers, making their second straight appearance at the NJCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship, posted their best score of the week in the May 15 final round and finished 14th as a team at Ol’ Colony Golf Complex.
Sandburg closed with a 377 after posting scores of 380, 384 and 386 in the first three rounds. The Chargers finished at 1,527 for the 72-hole championship.
Jessica Schultz placed 59th overall with a 372 total for the week. The freshman from Fieldcrest High School posted the Chargers’ low score in three of the four rounds, including a closing 92.
Freshman Allie Thome was 70th at 386, freshman Olivia Seei placed 72nd at 390 and freshman Anna Carroll was 74th at 395. Sophomore Abigail Strode finished 75th overall with a 397 total. Strode’s 92 on May 14 was the Chargers’ best score of the third round and tied for the team’s lowest round of the week.
The tournament marked the Chargers’ fourth national appearance in program history. Sandburg previously qualified in 2019, 2023 and 2025. The Chargers earned this year’s berth by taking second place last month at the Central District Championship in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Shelton State shot 1,273 to repeat as national champion, winning by 12 strokes over Murray State of Oklahoma. Shelton State’s Katie Hallmark and Wallace State’s Mallory Brooks went to a playoff after finishing tied at 16 over.
