With the graduation of eight starters from last year's boys soccer team, 2007 was supposed to be a rebuilding year. But with the leadership of returning starters Jake Seeley, T.J. Bozada, and Isaac Radnitzer as well as the aid of new contributors, this year's team finds itself one game away from state. The Illineks will play Teutopolis on Monday for a spot in the IHSA state tournament. Chris Yoder gives us the back story of this remarkable season.

[UPDATED with photos] The Gargoyle's resident cooking expert, Jie Han, will publish articles throughout the year about her culinary adventures. Her first installment: cooking the perfect rice porridge. It's not as easy as it sounds — but it's worth the effort.

Junior Malcolm Taylor led the Uni boys to a second-place finish at Saturday morning's Class 1A St. Joseph regional meet — a major improvement over the team's fifth-place performance last season. Individually, only Justin Jones of Oakwood finished ahead of Taylor. The Illineks will compete in the Paxton-Buckley-Loda sectional on Saturday as they try to become the first Uni boys cross country team to qualify for state since 1997.

Senior Michelle Mehnert won first place at Saturday morning's Class 1A St. Joseph regional meet at Kickapoo State Park, but she and her teammates finished second overall to host school St. Joseph-Ogden. Heading into the meet, Uni was ranked No. 7 in Class 1A while SJO was No. 6. Uni will advance to next Saturday's sectional meet at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School.