Illini tennis player wins title at Battle of the Bay

SNS – Despite dropping his opening singles match, Illinois junior Kenta Miyoshi bounced back with four consecutive victories over ranked opponents to win the singles consolation bracket at Battle In The Bay in San Francisco a week ago today. The No. 42-ranked player in the ITA singles rankings, Miyoshi recorded straight-set decisions in each of those four wins to finish the weekend with a 4-1 record.

Photo: PhotoNews/Clark Brooks

Illinois tennis player Kenta Miyoshi lines up a backhand shot at the 2023 Illini Open. He is ranked 42 in the ITA heading into his junior season.
Miyoshi teamed up with Illini senior Karlis Ozolins in doubles play, while Ozolins also took part in singles action during the four-day event. Unfortunately, the Illini duo fell in straight sets in their opening singles matches. Miyoshi suffered a two-set defeat to Arizona's Zoran Ludoski, 6-4, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Ozolins battled but came up short 6-4, 6-2, in his match to UC Santa Barbara's Dominique Rolland.

Competing in the consolation singles bracket, Miyoshi picked up his first singles win of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 decision over No. 103 Maxi Homberg of Pepperdine.

A day later, he earned his second-ranked win of the weekend with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Spaniard Pedro Vives. Vives ranked No. 37 and a senior at Texas Christian University, completed high school at Rafa Nadal Academy.

One victory away from the consolation finals, Miyoshi took care of business against Arizona's Casper Christensen in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

After taking the first set 7-5 against Savriyan Danilov, the Illinois junior dominated the second set to win the title with a 6-2 finish over the San Diego State graduate student from Moscow.

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Fighting Illini golfer Jackson Buchanan ranked 6th in PGA Preseason Top-25

CHAMPAIGN - During his junior season, Jackson Buchanan contributed significantly to the University of Illinois golf team's success, helping the team advance to match play at the 2024 NCAA Championship. Now a senior, the rising star on the golf team, who has established himself as a standout athlete and scholar, has earn national recognition from the PGA.

Today, the preseason PGA TOUR University Class released the 2025 rankings, listing Buchanan in the #6 spot. Buchanan, the reigning Big Ten Golfer of the Year, will return for his final collegiate season in 2024-25 in just a few weeks from now. Apart from his college commitments, Buchanan has also left a mark in major golf tournaments, having made notable appearances in the U.S. Open, the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, and the Memorial Health Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour this summer.

Buchanan's ranking in the PGA TOUR University reflects his potential to transition into professional golf, following in the footsteps of previous Illinois standouts who have excelled in collegiate and professional ranks. The #1 player in the final PGA TOUR University Ranking next May will earn PGA TOUR membership, while players #2-5 (fully exempt) and #6-10 (conditional) will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2025. Additionally, players #6-25 will earn fully exempt membership for the North America Swing of PGA TOUR Americas in 2025.

In addition to being named 2024 Big Ten Golfer of the Year, he earned accolades as a third-team GCAA All-American, and an honorable mention All-American by GolfWeek. Buchanan was also unanimously selected to the first team All-Big Ten for the second consecutive year.

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Storm's Macie Russell to further running career at EIU

Salt Fork's Macie Russell run the second lap around Detweiller Park in Peoria during the 2024 IHSA State Cross Country Meet. The senior signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her running career with Eastern Illinois University.

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
CATLIN - Salt Fork senior Macie Russell, a five-sport athlete during her time at Salt Fork High School, inked her commitment to run track at Eastern Illinois University on Sunday. The three-time state qualifier in the 800-meter run chose EIU over Heartland Community College, Indiana State, and Olivet Nazarene.

Macie Russell runs a lap at O'Brien Stadium during the 2023 state track meet. She finished 27th overall as a junior in the Class 1A division.

Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
Russell, who owns five Vermilion County championship titles in track and cross country and six conference titles in the two other sports, looks to qualify a fourth time in her specialty for the IHSA Girls' State Track & Field finals in May.

During her junior year track season, she qualified for state in the 800-meter run and the mile. Russell missed the cut for a spot in the championship race at O'Brien Stadium by a mere two and a half seconds last May, turning in a 2:25.94. She also ran the qualifier for the 1600-meter run, finishing 27th in the prelims at 5:39.82.

At the state cross-country meet last November at Detweiler Park, Russell crossed the finish line 47th out of a field of 247 runners with a time of 18:49.51.

Russell is the daughter of Brian and Becky and has two siblings, Mackenzie and Morgan.

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