College update: Former Princeton players still in the game

Six classmates from the 2021 Princeton regional championship volleyball team are playing collegiately this fall.

Sophomores McKenzie Hecht (OH), Maya Gartin (MH/OPP) and Graycee Funderberg (OPP) are teaming up for Sauk Valley. They are joined by freshman Tori Balma (OPP/S) of Putnam County.

The Skyhawks will play at IVCC on Oct. 11.

The IVCC volleyball team is off to a 10-5 start under first-year coach Kaitlyn Edgcomb, a former IVCC player and Putnam County alum. The Eagles won six of their first seven matches and four of their last five.

Two key contributors to the Eagles’ success are sophomore Libby Boyles (OH/DS) and freshman Katie Bates (S) of Princeton.

Another PHS product, Madison Richards, is a sophomore middle blocker for Eureka College. She has contributed 16 kills in the first six matches for the Red Devils (2-4).

Golf

• Three former Bureau Valley golfers are teeing up this fall for Sauk Valley - freshmen Seth Spratt and Parker Stier and sophomore Bryson Smith. They are joined by freshman Brendan Pillion (St. Bede/Ladd).

The Skyhawks were runners-up in their own recent invite, led by Smith’s fourth-place finish. Sauk will compete in their conference meet Oct. 2-3.

• Three more Bureau County golfers are playing for IVCC - freshmen Jake Delaney (St. Bede) and Grant Plym (Hall) and sophomore Jack Bauer (Princeton).

Delaney contributed to the IVCC’s “Purple” team’s invite championship at Kishwaukee with a fifth-place 73. Plym led the “Grey” team with an 81.

• Jaden Eggers of Princeton is a member of the golf team at Adrian (Mich.) College.

• Colton Novotny (Bureau Valley) is playing for Maryville (Tenn.) College. He is a senior marketing major.

• Kelly VanDenBussche, a former BCR Golfer of the Year, is a senior member of the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minn. She was meet medalist Friday with a round of 82 (+11) to claim her first individual win of the season.

VanDenBussche, an accounting major, is a two-time Upper Midwest Athletic Conference First-Team All-Conference selection, receiving the UMAC Individual Team Sportsmanship Award last year.

• Adam Vigars, of Princeton, is a junior member of the Kansas Wesleyan University golf team in Salina, Kan. He is a Network Management and System Administration major.

Cross country

Two former BCR Runners of the Year, Elijah House (Bureau Valley) and Brock Loftus (Ohio), are running for Heartland College in Normal along with Kyler McNinch of Amboy, Loftus’ former high school teammate.

The Hawks recently ran in neighbor Illinois State University’s Redbird Invite. Competing against multiple NCAA Division I and III schools, Loftus placed 58th (26:26.8) in the 8K race as the Hawks’ No. 1 man, House was 95th (28:15.2) and McNinch 96th (28:16.9).

• Lexi Bohms, the two-time BCR Runner of the Year from Princeton High School, is running for Sauk Valley. She’s joined by fellow freshman Jillian Hulsing of Bureau Valley.

• Princeton’s Christian Yepsen was the first recruit for IVCC’s new cross country program. He led the Eagles at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 23 with a time of 34:13.

Yovanna Reyes of Hall is running for the IVCC women.

Soccer

• Maggie Davis, of Princeton, is a sophomore defender for the Brescia University Bearcats (2-5) in Owensboro, Kent. She is majoring in Business Accounting.

Freshman Mariah Hobson, a three-time BCR Soccer Player of the Year, is rehabbing from knee surgery at Monmouth College.

PHS classmate Emma Kruse-Carter is also on rehab from knee surgery at Black Hawk, joined by sophomore Viviana Robledo of Princeton.

Sophomore Amy Munoz of DePue and freshman Anastasia Mallery-Sondgeroth of Princeton/Malden are playing for IVCC.