Mickow earns second team Big 10 honors
Area college athletes are rounding out their fall sports seasons with a number of accomplishments.
Cross Country
Hunter Mickow (Princeton), running for the University of Illinois, earned second team All-Big Ten honors with a 10th place finish (24:07) at the Big Ten Championships on the campus of Michigan State University on Oct. 28. Mickow was the second U of I finisher to help his team take fourth place, which was their best finish as a team since 1996.
Mount Mercy University’s Liz Mosbach (Hall) won the Midwest Collegiate Conference women’s runner of the week for the fourth time this year after a 37th-place finish at the NAIA Great Lakes Invitational at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Oct. 20. Her time of 19:08 in the 5K race was the fourth best in school history. The freshmen runner then was named to the All-Midwest Collegiate Conference first team this past Saturday. She will run in the NAIA Cross Country National Championships on Nov. 17 in Vancouver, WA.
T.J. Mosbach (Hall), will join his sister at nationals along with two of his teammates. Mosbach finished fourth in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championship men’s race with a time of 26:39 in the 8K race. He was named to the All-MCC first team. It was the sixth time in seven races that Mosbach was the top finisher on the Mount Mercy men.
Daniela Acamovic (Hall) also competed in the women’s race in Grand Rapids, running for the University of St. Francis. She finished 279th, clocking in at 22:33.31.
Illinois State redshirt freshmen Scott Janusick (Hall) placed 45th overall with a time of 26:02 in the men’s race at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on Oct. 27.
Derrick Johnson (Bureau Valley), a freshman at Eastern Illinois University, finished 87th with a time of 26:16 at the Bradley Classic in Peoria on Oct. 12.
On Oct. 26, Iowa Western Community College’s Cody Taylor (Bureau Valley) helped lead his team to a second-place finish at the Region XI Cross Country Championships. Taylor was 33rd overall with a finishing time of 29:30.77.
Volleyball
Leah Shaw (Princeton), a senior at Bowling Green State University, played in all four sets of the Falcons win over Akron on Saturday. Shaw had eight kills and a team high six blocks. The Falcons, now 17-9 overall, have two games left, including a game at Northern Illinois in DeKalb, before the MAC Tournament.
Erin Polte (Hall), a senior at Graceland University, is second on her team with 481 assists. Graceland defeated Culver-Stockton College in the HAAC tournament quarterfinals on Saturday and will play a semifinal game at Evangel University on Wednesday.
Taylor Hewitt (Bureau Valley) has been a contributor as a freshman for Lincoln College, who is 18-13 on the season. Hewitt recently had nine digs and two points in a victory over Millikin University on Oct. 25th. She also had 15 points and five digs in a win over Illinois Valley Community College the previous night.
Kelle Nett (Hall), a freshman at Gustavus Adolphus College, had a solid start to her collegiate career, leading the team in blocks (68) and aces (36), while finishing third on the team in kills (197). Her team ended the season with a record of 10-18.
Although Beloit College had a tough season with a record of 4-23, freshman Bethany Stavrakas (St. Bede) had a good rookie season, finishing second on the team in digs (214) and aces (21) and was third on the team with 101 kills.
Webster University’s Amy Stanke (St. Bede) has recorded three digs in two matches this season for a good Gorlok team that is currently 21-9.
Football
Monmouth College features three area athletes and are 4-5 after a 50-47 loss in Saturday’s shootout at Ripon College. Quarterback Brik Wedekind (Princeton) was 16 of 21 for 250 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 58 yards on the ground and two more touchdowns. Teammate Garrett Youngren (Princeton) hauled in 6 catches for 109 yards in the game. Austin Peterson (Bureau Valley) had one catch for 11 yards. For the season, Peterson has 25 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns. Youngren has 18 catches for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Wedekind had 1,510 yards passing and 12 touchdowns. Monmouth plays Knox College at home this Saturday.
Cody Whightsil (Hall) has played in five games for Aurora University and recorded four tackles on the season, including one for a five-yard loss.
Michael Weidner (Bureau Valley) has 10 total tackles this season at linebacker for North Central College, ranked third in the NCAA Division III North Region rankings. Teammates include his brother, Adam, and St. Bede’s alum Adam Burgess, both freshmen.
