How do Uni actors get ready for a big production? It's not all about rehearsing after school. Five members of this year's fall play spent 19 hours at TALENT, a thespian leadership conference at Unity High School. They're hoping the time they spent there will pay off when "The Diary of Anne Frank" debuts Thursday night at 7 in the North Attic Playhouse.

The trial and conviction of Yuri Ermakov, formerly an assistant track and cross country coach at Uni High, had a Uni connection that perhaps many did not know about. Senior editor Shivani Khanna recently spoke with the trial's prosecutor, Troy Lozar, and one of Ermakov's defense attorneys, Elisabeth Pollock, both of whom are Uni alums.

[UPDATED] Junior Malcolm Taylor has become the first Uni boys cross country runner to qualify for the state finals since Drew Hauffe advanced in 2003. Taylor placed 12th at the Class 1A Paxton-Buckley-Loda sectional Saturday morning. The Illineks as a team finished ninth — not high enough to make it to state but a major improvement over last year's 14th-place finish.

[UPDATED] Senior Michelle Mehnert ran her fastest 3-mile race of the year as she led her teammates to a state-qualifying third-place finish at Saturday's Class 1A Paxton-Buckley-Loda sectional. Mehnert herself placed second overall out of 130 runners.