The Illineks lost to Urbana 5-0 on Saturday, ending the team's most difficult stretch of games this season. Uni played two Class AA teams (Urbana and Champaign Central) and a Class A team (Warrensburg-Latham) that went to the state tournament last season and entered this year's match against the Illineks sporting a 29-game regular-season undefeated streak. And although Uni went 0-3 against those opponents, coach Philip Anders thinks the tough competition will pay dividends come playoff time.

Senior Frankie McFarland is one of just 1,600 students to be named a semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program, an academic competition run by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. McFarland now has the opportunity to become one of 1,300 finalists.

The Uni girls swim team finished second at a tri-meet held Saturday at Danville High School. Uni defeated Schlarman but fell to the host Lady Vikings. Senior Katie Ryan and sophomore Sian Best each earned second-place finishes in two individual events, and senior Aliisa Rantanen added a second place in another event. The team's next competition will be the Champaign Central Invitational, scheduled to begin 10 a.m. Saturday at the Unit 4 Pool in Champaign.