Boys tennis

Sterling, Newman earn state qualifiers: At the Class 1A Geneseo Sectional, Newman’s top-seeded Joel Rhodes and Sterling’s third-seeded Aron Rivera both reached the singles semifinals to qualify for state. Rhodes will face Dunlap’s Dresden Michel and Rivera will face Dunlap’s Ethan Laclef on Saturday.

Sterling’s Micah Peterson and Jacob Prevo also advanced to the doubles semifinals to qualify for state. They will face Dunlap’s top-seeded duo of Ethan Klemens and Harmin Patel.

Sterling is tied with Peoria Notre Dame for second with 14 points. Dunlap is in first with 24 points. Newman has six points and Dixon has four.

Dixon’s Jayvian Herwig reached the second round before falling 6-2, 6-2 to Dresden.

Class 1A Rochelle Sectional: David Eckardt and Noah McKinney of the Rochelle co-op battled in the second round before falling 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to fourth-seeded James McConkie and Graham Willret of Sycamore. Rochelle’s Philip Winters qualified for state after reaching the semifinals. The Hubs are tied for first place with Sycamore at 12 points heading into Saturday.

Softball

Milledgeville 10, Eastland 9 (8 inn.): A Loren Meiners RBI single scored Kennedy Livengood to earn a walk-off win for the Class 1A Pearl City Regional title. It is Milledgeville’s first regional title since 2018.

Brinley Hackbarth (three RBIs) and Kendra Kingsby (three hits) both tripled for the Missiles in the win. Kingsby struck out 12 in a complete game. Jade Hammer was 4 for 5 with three doubles and four RBIs for Eastland. She was saddled with the loss after Eastland gave up five unearned runs. Emerson Mlakar had three hits and two RBIs for the Cougars. Eastland tied the game with three runs in the seventh inning.

Stark County 8, Bureau Valley 7: After taking a 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh, the Rebels answered with a two-run walk-off home run for the 1A Annawan-Wethersfield Regional title. Ali Carrington had two triples, a double and two RBIs for BV.

Girls soccer

Byron 1, Dixon 0: The third-seeded Duchesses battled top-seeded regional host Byron but fell just short in the regional final. Dixon closed the season at 13-6-1.

Rockford Christian 2, Oregon 1: The second-seeded Hawks fell just short in the Class 1A Rockford Christian Regional final.

Girls track & field

Class 2A IHSA state meet: Rock Falls’ Kayla Hackbarth threw a season-best 34.1 meters (111-11) to place 13th in the discus during Friday’s prelims.

Rock Falls’ 4x800 relay of Ashley Rodriguez, Brenna Burlack, Miley Bickett and Kat Scott finished in 21st (10:19.33).

Sterling’s Anessa Johnson took 30th in the 100 hurdles (16.29) and 23rd in the 300 hurdles (23rd). Mary Kirchoff had a high jump of 1.50 meters to tie for 14th. Chloe Stumpenhorst had a pole vault of 2.75 meters to tie for 28th.

Additional results from local qualifiers were not yet available on Athletic.net Friday night.

Baseball

Dixon 6, Yorkville Christian 4: The Dukes scored twice in the sixth inning and Jake Zepezauer finished the home win on the mound. He also had three hits for Dixon. Daniel Fordham had two RBIs.

Lena-Winslow 20, Polo 5 (4 inn.): Aiden Messer led Polo with two hits and two RBIs.

Kewanee 11, Bureau Valley 8: The Storm fought back but fell short after trailing 10-0 in the first inning. BV gave up six unearned runs in the setback.

Forreston 11, AFC 0 (5 inn.): Carson Akins and Brady Gill each had two RBIs for the Cardinals in the home win.