Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Winners. That’s the best way to describe the Illinois boys roster for the third annual Muddy River Showcase. The 10 players selected to represent the Land of Lincoln helped their teams to a combined .727 winning percentage last winter. One was the leading scorer on a state championship squad. One quarterbacked his football…
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QUINCY — Elliott Hendrian might as well have taken a flashing neon sign screaming “Hit it here” with him to second base. The baseball gods were well aware he was there. Quincy Notre Dame coach Rich Polak made an abrupt switch in the top of the fourth inning Monday, pulling starting second baseman Oliver Triplett…
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QUINCY — Mark Thomas has never concerned himself with which side of the ledger the higher number exists, but he understands the preoccupation with wins and losses. In the postseason, wins are all that matter. Leading up to the postseason, they aren’t always the measure of progress. “Sometimes when you look at a bigger perspective,…
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Quincy native Luke Guthrie took the first step toward returning to major golf competition Monday, winning a local U.S. Open qualifier to advance to the sectional round to be played in June. Guthrie shot a 7-under 65 at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach to earn medalist honors. He earned…
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QUINCY — A pitcher’s duel turned in the favor of the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team when the Raiders were able to manufacture a pair of runs in the fifth inning of Monday’s 3-1 victory over West Hancock in West Central Conference action at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman…
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EAST MOLINE, Ill. — Before leaving Flinn Stadium on Friday night, Quincy High School girls soccer coach Travis Dinkheller told his leg-weary team he needed 80 more quality minutes from them to complete a weekend sweep. “If it takes 100, then we’ll play 100,” Dinkheller said. How prophetic. Saturday’s Western Big 6 Conference championship showdown…
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QUINCY — Austin Simpson knew he couldn’t go home empty-handed or he’d never live it down. His roommates — Dustin DuPont and Adam Lewis — both hit home runs Saturday in helping the Quincy University baseball team build an insurmountable lead in the finale of its Great Lakes Valley Conference series with Illinois-Springfield. So when…
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QUINCY — The Quincy University baseball team had reason to celebrate Saturday afternoon. Not only did the Hawks honor the seniors following the final home game of the regular season, but the 21-7 victory over Illinois-Springfield punctuated a weekend series sweep that earned the Hawks the No. 4 seed for the Great Lakes Valley Conference…
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QUINCY — Just how much the Quincy High School girls soccer players fully embrace the “do hard better” mantra will become obvious by the time their team bus departs East Moline sometime Saturday afternoon. Nothing the Blue Devils have faced this regular season will be as hard as playing two emotionally charged games in the…
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QUINCY — The frustration showed in their eyes, never in their effort. The Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer players refused to give up their pursuit of a game-tying goal over the final 40 minutes of Friday night’s crosstown showdown with Quincy High School even when the equalizer never came. “All the girls worked their butts…
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QUINCY — For the second year in a row, the Quincy High School girls soccer team has swept the city series, winning 2-1 Friday night at Flinn Stadium behind two goals from senior midfielder Bri Lannerd. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent the evening at the venerable facility and put together this photo gallery:
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QUINCY — The situations were strikingly similar, the circumstances decidedly different and the outcomes remarkably the same. Credit Logan Mueller and Roman Harrison for each having a little Harry Houdini in their act. Mueller, a sophomore right-handed reliever, was summoned from the Quincy University baseball team’s bullpen with the bases loaded and one out in…
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QUINCY — The Quincy University baseball team is heading toward the postseason with some steam. The Hawks won three games Friday — the resumption of Thursday’s suspended game and both ends of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader — to secure their spot in the GLVC Tournament. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent time…
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QUINCY — Let’s start with an explanation of an omission. Last week on “The List,” Travis Dinkheller joined me to break down a list of our top 10 Chicago Cubs players. We tried to make it clear we selected players we saw either in person or on television. That meant no Ernie Banks, no Bill…
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QUINCY — They waited as long as they could. Finally, the Quincy University baseball players had to leave QU Stadium before the threatening skies dumped rain and hail and ruined a Thursday afternoon at the ballpark. The Hawks and Illinois-Springfield were tied at 2 when lightning strikes within 7 miles of the stadium forced the…
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WENTZVILLE, Mo. — Quinn Thomas is bookending his high school golf career with trips to the Class 4 state tournament. Could he begin and end with state titles as well? The Hannibal senior qualified for the state tournament by finishing tied for third Thursday at the Class 4 District 2 tournament at the Golf Club…
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QUINCY — The emotion spills out in ways Brock Boynton can’t always contain. Sometimes it’s a bat flip that goes a little too high or a little too far. Other times it’s the barbaric yawp everyone hears as he rounds the bases on a home run trot. And every now and then, it’s the toss…
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NORMAL, Ill. — Four local golfers are headed to the NJCAA Division II national tournament after helping the Danville Area Community College men’s golf team finish third in the two-day Region 24 tournament played at Illinois State University’s Weibring Golf Club. The Jaguars posted a 54-hole score of 906, four shots clear of Heartland Community…
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NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State University junior golfer Alex McCulla will tee it up in the NCAA West Lafayette Regional, hosted by Purdue University on May 13-15 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. The Quincy Notre Dame graduate was one of 10 individuals to receive an at-large regional bid. The West Lafayette Regional features 13…
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QUINCY — Lauren Bogle openly talked about how coaching the John Wood Community College women’s basketball team enabled her to grow both in her ability to draw up Xs and Os and the organization of a program. So what was the most important thing she learned in two seasons at the helm? “Besides everything?” she…
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QUINCY — Abram Wiewel understands the need for a pitch count, but it doesn’t dampen the disappointment of being pulled one out away from a complete game. “I wanted to finish it really bad,” said Wiewel, the Quincy Notre Dame junior right-hander who left Tuesday’s game against the Quincy High School baseball team with a…
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QUINCY — It all comes down to the rubber match. The Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame baseball teams split their first two meetings this season, with the Raiders evening the series with a 5-1 victory Tuesday night at the QHS field. The third meeting comes next Monday at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield.…
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Walk it off, walk it off: Allison's two-run single finishes off Galesburg as QHS wins third straight
QUINCY — Aurora Allison didn’t realize what she had done. Her single to center field with one out in the sixth inning drove in a pair of runs as the Quincy High School softball team walked off with a 14-4 victory Monday over Galesburg in Western Big 6 Conference play. Allison, the senior first baseman,…
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QUINCY — On a night when the Quincy High School softball team celebrated its three seniors, one of them provided the exclamation point on a 14-4 victory over Galesburg in Western Big 6 Conference action at the QHS field. Aurora Allison’s one-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday drove in two runs,…
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QUINCY — The work isn’t done because the pads came off. Come August, Quincy University football coach Jason Killday and his staff will see if the players embraced that message. The Hawks wrapped up spring practice Saturday at QU Stadium with an energetic, determined effort that highlighted many of the positives gleaned from five weeks…
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CHARLESTON, Ill. — Lucas Loos has made moving back to the infield look seamless, even if it was at a position he hadn’t played in college. A month ago, during a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series against Tennessee-Martin, the Eastern Illinois University senior slugger was penciled in to start at shortstop. He has been the…
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LEBANON, Ill. — The Quincy University baseball team is doing what a team in contention for a Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament berth should be doing. The Hawks are pummeling the bottom feeders. After scoring 36 runs in a four-game sweep of Southwest Baptist last weekend, Quincy opened a four-game GLVC series with McKendree on…
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QUINCY — Kelly McClure capped off a decorated women’s lacrosse career with a major conference award. The Quincy University graduate student was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Year after helping the Hawks advance to the four-team conference tournament for the first time in program history. McClure finished second in GLVC-only games…
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State Farm Center will continue to host boys basketball state tourney, format still under discussion
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The site won’t change. Will the format? Thursday, the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors announced a five-year contract extension to keep the boys basketball state tournament at State Farm Center on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana. The contract runs through the 2028-29 season. The success of the tournament…
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Schuck on a Truck: QU safety Joseph Webb discusses spring practice, carrying momentum into offseason
QUINCY — The end of the spring is near for the Quincy University football program, which means the Hawks are a step closer to the debut of Jason Killday as their head coach. QU will open its season August 29 at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. As far the progress made during the 15-practice session…
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