Senior Lily Furrow closed out her high school swimming career with her fourth straight trip to the IHSA state meet, held Nov. 14–15, and posted some of the fastest times she’s ever swum. She took 18th in the 50-yard freestyle and 21st in the 100 free, finishing shy of her goal of making finals.
“I was supposed to be close to making finals, and I should have — I just didn’t. But I was still super happy with how I did,” she said. “I can’t be mad at myself.”
A week-long gap between sectionals and state made maintaining her taper difficult, but Furrow said she was “kind of shocked” at how well she swam.
At the same meet, the Silver Streaks contingent was shut out of qualifying for the finals in its four events.
Senior Hayden Johnson placed 30th in the 100-yard breaststroke, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Macie Nelson, Faith Warren, Lily Furrow and Johnson finished 27th.
“The girls swam well,” coach Ray VanHootegem said. “We had three better swims and a fourth just a little slower. I was very proud of the girls.”
This was the final season for the Galesburg swimming coach. The girls team finished undefeated in dual meets, won the Western Big 6 Conference meet, placed second in the sectionals, and took a team of six Silver Streaks to the IHSA championships.
“We had a great season,” VanHootegem said. “It was a great season for my final one after 33 years.”
Galesburg results
50-yard freestyle
• Lily Furrow — 18th, 23.97
100-yard freestyle
• Lily Furrow — 21st, 52.47
100-yard breaststroke
• Hayden Johnson — 30th, 1:07.37
400-yard freestyle relay
• Galesburg A — 27th, 3:37.44 (Nelson, Warren, Furrow, Johnson)
GHS girls basketball
The 2025 season began with a cold offensive start for the Galesburg girls basketball team, but after heating up, the Silver Streaks ran away with a 66-33 victory over Camp Point Central on Nov. 18 at John Thiel Gymnasium.
The Streaks misfired on several early shots, including layups, but a pressing defense forced multiple turnovers. The offense eventually picked up, and Galesburg ended the first quarter leading 23-6.
There was no looking back after that, as the Streaks increased their lead throughout the game and cleared the bench for much of the second half. It was 43-18 at halftime and 60-24 after three quarters.
“We played really hard all night,” head coach Lexi Demott said. “All 15 girls who got into the game played extremely hard. Everybody embraced their role. I think at the beginning, a lot of jitters, a lot of nerves, some easy-missed layups. But they kept playing.”
Demott said she wants the defense to force opponents to play fast. The Streaks did that by pressing and trapping in the backcourt, which led to errant passes and turnovers.
“We did stop pressing there for a little bit, and you could kind of tell we got lax,” she said. “We wanted to understand that even if we’re not pressing, we still need to get up and apply ball pressure in the half court, those types of things.”
Lily Furrow, just back from competing in the IHSA state girls’ swimming finals, admitted she was still getting used to being on the court instead of in the water.
“I’m definitely still trying to get my endurance back because during (swimming preparation) we cut back on endurance and work more speed,” she said. “But it felt nice being back on the court again for the last season.
“For only having two practices, I’m not mad. But I know I can do a lot better as well. As I get more practice underneath me, we’ll be good.”
The 1-0 Silver Streaks will need their endurance later this week when they play three games in two days during their Thanksgiving tournament at Thiel Gym. They play Robinson at 7 p.m. Nov. 21, Metamora at noon Nov. 22 and Springfield at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22.
“That’s something that early on we don’t have to do a lot,” Demott said. “So, we’re going to have to figure out how to take care of our bodies, how we keep things going like that.”
Valentin Kretschmer was voted the Arrowhead Conference’s Most Valuable Player, leading five selections for the Sandburg men’s soccer team on this year’s all-conference squad.
The Chargers, who repeated as Arrowhead champions with a 3-0 league record, made up nearly half of the 11-player all-conference team. Kretschmer was joined on the first team by Luis Garcia and Alberto Fernandez Do Carmo.
Ramon Ponga and Mateo Figueroa were second-team picks for Sandburg. It’s the second straight year Sandburg has produced the conference MVP and five All-Arrowhead selections.
In three conference matches, Kretschmer totaled a team-leading seven points (three goals, one assist). The sophomore striker had six shot attempts, with three on goal. He scored the Chargers’ first two goals in their 3-2 win Oct. 8 against Black Hawk.
Garcia, last year’s conference MVP, earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season. The sophomore striker matched Kretschmer with three goals in conference play. He recorded 11 shot attempts, putting seven on goal. Garcia scored the opening goal in the Chargers’ Oct. 14 win over Illinois Valley and had two goals in their Oct. 17 victory over Kishwaukee to clinch the conference title.
Fernandez Do Carmo had two goals and an assist in conference play. The central midfielder delivered Sandburg’s most dramatic moment of the season, converting a penalty kick in the 90th minute in the win over Black Hawk.
Ponga, a freshman striker, had a goal and two assists in three conference matches. All three points came in the win over Kishwaukee, where he had a goal and an assist.
Figueroa, a freshman striker, played in all three Arrowhead contests. He recorded two assists in the Chargers’ win against Illinois Valley.
Keauntrey Barnes led the Sandburg men’s basketball team in scoring and rebounding, but the Chargers fell to Madison 82-69 on Nov. 15 in Galesburg.
The visiting WolfPack raced to an early 23-7 lead before the Chargers (3-2) strung together 22 straight points to go ahead. Ralph Wires started the run with a layup, and Barnes’ second consecutive putback gave Sandburg a 24-23 lead with 3:10 left in the first half. Two Rylan Carton free throws capped the run, making it 29-23. Matt Bockman closed the half with a 60-foot heave at the buzzer for a 33-28 Sandburg advantage.
Barnes split a pair of free throws for a 38-32 lead with 17:31 to play before Madison flipped the momentum. The WolfPack scored the next 15 points and never trailed again. Sandburg got within 56-51 with 7:52 remaining, but Madison answered with nine straight to push the margin back to double digits.
Barnes finished with 15 points, going 4 of 12 from the field and 6 of 8 at the line. The sophomore also had a team-high seven rebounds (four offensive) and three blocks.
Anna Landis was nearly perfect off the bench, but Madison pulled away from the Sandburg women’s basketball team for an 87-58 win Nov. 14 in Galesburg.
The Chargers (2-2) took a 17-16 lead after Tiera Hall’s pull-up jumper to start the second quarter, but the WolfPack answered by scoring 15 of the next 17 points to regain the lead for good. Serinity Metcalfe hit three 3-pointers during the stretch as Madison built a 42-27 halftime advantage.
Two Hailey Redding free throws with 8:30 left capped a 14-2 Sandburg burst that cut the deficit to 57-47. But Madison responded with a 10-0 run to push the lead back to 20.
Landis finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a 3-for-3 performance from beyond the arc. It was the first double-digit outing for the freshman from Switzerland.
Senior Lance Miller, who earlier this week became the second runner in Knox history to qualify for the NCAA Championships, finished 20th overall in the men’s 8K at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional. Read our full story on his qualifications here.
Senior Lance Miller finished 20th overall in the men’s 8K at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional with a time of 24:56.7, leading the Knox College men’s cross-country team to a 21st-place finish in the 32-team field Nov. 15 at the Max Cross Country Course in Waverly, Iowa.
The Prairie Fire women placed 28th out of 30 in the 6K, with first-year Elsie Conwell leading the squad.
After Miller, sophomore Misha Ratner was next to finish in 28:12.7, good for 139th place. Junior Evan McClusky followed with a time of 28:41.0, while senior Elliott Varnum (29:41.5) and junior Max Lawrence (32:06.4) rounded out the scorers. Sophomore Max Reid was close behind Lawrence in 32:07.5.
Conwell placed 146th with a time of 25:57.9. Junior Cecilia Goodin finished 151st in 26:15.9. Senior Eileen Sheetz closed her cross-country career with a 28:30.8, followed by junior Alenis Rios (30:33.6) and first-year Nikki Walsh (30:37.4).
The Midwest Conference released its women’s soccer all-conference teams Monday, with Knox College midfielder Isabella Shubert selected to the second team.
A senior from La Mesa, California, Shubert anchored the midfield, starting all 17 games and playing all but 66 minutes this season.
She was a key part of a defensive unit that allowed 10 fewer goals than last year and recorded seven shutouts. For her career, Shubert scored two goals and had three assists while starting 61 of 65 games.
The league also announced its major awards, with undefeated conference champion Lake Forest College claiming three of the four: Offensive Player of the Year (senior Izzy DeStefano), Newcomer of the Year (first-year Maddie Vasquez) and Coaching Staff of the Year (head coach T.R. Bell). Defensive Player of the Year was senior defender Avery Parks of Monmouth College.
Shubert is the first Knox women’s soccer player to earn all-conference honors since the 2021 team had five selections.
The Knox College football team struggled against rival Monmouth College in the annual Turkey Bowl, as the host Fighting Scots — receiving votes in the national Division III polls — handed the Prairie Fire a 69-0 loss Nov. 15 at Zorn Memorial Stadium.
Monmouth (9-1, 9-0 Midwest Conference) now awaits its NCAA Division III playoff pairing. Knox finishes its season at 2-7 overall and 2-6 in the league.
Junior running back Izayiah Hawes led Knox offensively, rushing for 60 yards on 14 carries (4.3 average), including a 27-yard run.
Senior quarterback Reese Miller completed 2 of 13 passes for 7 yards but produced the team’s longest play from scrimmage with a 33-yard keeper.
Harris led the Knox defense with nine tackles.
Monmouth has won the past 26 meetings and leads the series 75-52-10. The last Knox win was a 28-20 victory in 1998.
A 50-minute delay caused by a partial power outage wasn’t the only obstacle in the men’s basketball matchup between Knox College and visiting Franklin College. The game needed two overtime periods before Franklin (3-0) outlasted the Prairie Fire (2-1) 93-84.
Josh Stewart (20 points, 10 rebounds) and senior Russell Wright (10 points, 12 rebounds) recorded double-doubles. Sophomore Ryan Erdos finished one point shy of his first double-double with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Ayden Ayer added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including one of Knox’s three 3-pointers.
The Prairie Fire shot 47.9% (34 of 71) from the field but only 30% (6 of 20) in the two overtimes. Both teams shot 56.5% at the free-throw line, with Franklin attempting twice as many (26 of 46).
Knox owned a 52-38 rebounding advantage but committed 26 turnovers that led to 22 Franklin points.
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025
• GHS girls basketball Thanksgiving Tournament vs. Robinson, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025
• GHS girls basketball Thanksgiving Tournament vs. Metamora, noon
• GHS girls basketball Thanksgiving Tournament vs. Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
