Girls volleyball
Sterling Invite: At Challand Middle School, Erie-Prophetstown went 5-0 to claim the championship on Saturday.
The Panthers defeated Sterling JV 25-20, 25-18; Dixon 25-15, 25-10; Forreston 25-17, 25-16; Rochelle 25-15, 25-17; and Sterling 25-16, 25-22.
Leaders for Erie-Prophetstown were Claire Reymer with 26 kills and eight blocks; Lauren Abbott with 25 kills and eight blocks; Kennedy Buck with 98 assists, eight blocks and five aces; Jamie Neumiller with 18 digs and nine aces; and Peyton Umstead with 51 digs. Reagan Sibley totaled seven aces, Kallie Wisely recorded 24 kills and Avery Olinger added 20 kills for the Panthers.
[ Photos: Sterling volleyball invitational ]
Newman went 3-1-1 for a fifth-place finish. The Comets split with Pecatonica 25-18, 19-25; beat Bureau Valley 25-19, 25-20; Forreston 25-17, 25-17 and Dixon 26-24, 25-12; and lost to Rochelle 19-25, 22-25.
Leaders for Newman were Jess Johns with 42 kills, five aces and 36 digs; Kennedy Rowzee with 35 kills, seven blocks and two digs; Molly Olson with 85 assists, 22 digs and five kills; Addison Foster with 43 digs, eight assists and five aces; and Sam Ackman with 21 digs and five aces. Ellie Rude totaled nine kills and six digs, and Sophia Ely chipped in eight kills, 10 digs and 5.5 blocks for the Comets.
![Sterling’s Delali Amankwa hammers a shot against Fulton Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023 during the Sterling Volleyball Invitational held at Challand Middle School.](https://www.shawlocal.com/resizer/crwKa1BPUTMoTMYn3DWs9Z6c8So=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/S2RKC3AOVBC77KRTOHKBPEJTIA.jpg)
Fulton went 3-2 in the tournament with wins over Pecatonica (25-11, 25-18), Rochelle (25-22, 27-25) and Rockford Lutheran (25-21, 25-20), and losses to Rochelle (25-5, 19-25, 13-15) and Sterling (25-20, 21-25, 15-17).
Leaders for the Steamers were Brooklyn Brennan with 34 kills, 11 aces, 53 assists and 51 digs; Annaka Hackett with 30 kills and 21 digs; Miraya Pessman with 31 kills, eight aces, 44 assists and 37 digs; Resse Germann with 100 digs, 11 assists and five aces; and Ava Bowen with 15 kills and 11 blocks. Kali Brewer added 28 digs for Fulton.
Girls swimming
United Township Sprint Invite: At East Moline, Sterling won the seven-team event with a 374 score. The shorthanded Morrison co-op finished seventh with 68.
Madison Austin, Payton Purdy, Sammie Knox and Hazel Pham won the 100 medley relay in 58.85 seconds.
Kate Austin, Chloe Clark, Emma VanHorn and Pham won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:50.88.
Madison Austin won the 100 IM (1:04.32) and the 50 backstroke (29.58 seconds), and Purdy won the 100 freestyle (58.87 seconds) and placed second in the 50 backstroke (30.64 seconds).
Pham won the 50 butterfly (29.30 seconds) and took second in the 50 freestyle (26.87 seconds), while Knox won the 250 freestyle (2:45.75).
Kate Austin was an extremely close second in the 150 freestyle (1:35.68), finishing just .02 seconds slower than first-place finisher Corda Adkins-Covert (Macomb). She also finished third in the 50 freestyle (27.19 seconds).
Emily Lofgren added a pair of third-place finishes in the 250 freestyle (3:04.82) and the 50 breaststroke (38.54 seconds) to round out the stellar Sterling effort.
Morrison was led by Paige LaShelle, who clocked a 1:07.40 for fifth in the 100 freestyle and Ally Richards, who clocked a 1:54.45 for sixth in the 150 freestyle. Mara Ary swam a 32.50 seconds for 11th in the 50 freestyle and Keira Ary swam a 42.65 seconds for 11th in the 50 backstroke.
Boys & girls cross country
Peoria Invite: At Detweiller Park, the Sterling boys placed 12th out of 43 Class 1A and 2A teams with a 404 score.
Dale Johnson led the Golden Warrior boys with a fourth-place finish in 14:42.60 in a field of 303 runners. Aalin Schmidt clocked a 16:03.60 for 46th, and Parker Blakeslee (104th, 16:59.90) and Charles Johnson (105th, 17:00.20) each finished near the top one-third of all runners for Sterling.
The Sterling girls finished 12th out of 39 Class 1A and 2A teams with a 373 score.
Rhylee Wade led the Golden Warrior girls with a 38th-place finish in 19:23.60 in a field of 267 runners. Delia Block clocked a 19:47.90 to finish 51st and Jaz’Mya Castaneda ran a 20:02.20 to claim 60th. Connie Ibarra (110th, 21:16.10) and Laney Zuithoff (116th, 21:20.10) also finished in the top half of all runners for Sterling.
Women’s college tennis
Sauk Valley C.C. 6, Oakton 3: At Dixon, the Skyhawks won three contested matches and picked up three forfeit wins to defeat the Eagles.
Madison Hubbs won at No. 3 singles, Joy Zigler won at No. 4 singles, and Hubbs and Zigler won at No. 2 doubles for SVCC’s contested wins.