UIS Athletics: 2020-21 Year-in-Review

UIS Athletics - By The Numbers

Athletic Honors:

5: All-American Awards

9: All-Region Awards

28: All-GLVC Players

3: GLVC Player of the Year Honors

17: GLVC Players of the Week Awards

1: GLVC & Regional Coach of the Year

Academic Honors:

4: Academic All-Americans

8: Academic All-District

165: GLVC Academic All-Conference Student-Athletes

28: Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholars

17: GLVC Council of President's Academic Excellence Honors

14: GLVC Team Academic All-Conference Awards

Women's Tennis Recorded A 3.94 Team GPA For The 2020-21 School Year, Highest Among All Sports In The GLVC

Sport-By-Sport Highlights:

Baseball (37-8)

* GLVC Regular Season Champion and Top-Seed In Midwest Regional Tournament

* Ranked fourth in NCAA Division II in scoring and 13th in ERA

* Zion Pettigrew, Austin Alderman, Mason Coon, Chris Monroe, Chad Saner, Kal Youngquist, Chris Mathieu, and Colton Hale were all-GLVC players

Men's Basketball (8-12)

* Chase Robinson had one of the program's top-10 scoring averages for a season

* Jack Weber Set Program's Single-Season Field-Goal Percentage Record

* Jack Weber Named To GLVC All-Freshmen Team

Women's Basketball (10-11)

* Recorded the program's second-best winning percentage since 1998-99

* Lauren Ladowski made the most free throws in NCAA Division II

* Lauren Ladowski and Malea Jackson were all-GLVC selections

Men's Cross Country (3rd GLVC)

* Had its third straight top-three finish at the GLVC Championships

* Blake Jones won the GLVC Individual Championship and was GLVC Runner of the Year

* Tyler Pasley and Cortland Ross joined Jones on the All-GLVC team

Women's Cross Country (4th GLVC)

* Finished fourth in the GLVC Championships, its highest finish in program history

* Taryn Christy finished third in the conference meet, her third straight top-four finish

* Gloria Esarco and Christy were both named all-conference runners

Men's Golf (8th GLVC)

* Finished the season with its best national ranking in program history

* Sebastian Trujillo won the Dan Salisbury Memorial on the tournament's final hole

* Maxwell Schmidtke was named to the All-GLVC team

Women's Golf (3rd GLVC)

* Won the 2021 Kentucky Wesleyan Panther Invitational

* All-GLVC Golfer Jennifer Queller set a program record with a season average of 78.28

* UIS had a top-three finish at the GLVC Championships for the fifth straight year

UIS Golf Coach Frank Marsaglia retired at the end of the 2020-21 season, ending 13 years in the UIS Athletics Department. For more information about the career of the top coach in UIS's NCAA era, click here

Men's Soccer (4-4-3)

* Advanced to the GLVC Tournament for the fourth straight season 

* Ranked tenth in NCAA Division II with a 0.59 GAA

* Pijus Petkevicius was named to the All-GLVC team

Women's Soccer (2-9-1)

* Had the second-best defense in program history with a 1.13 GAA

* Allowed one or less goal in 10 of its 12 games

* Amanda Finnell recorded the second-best GAA in program history with a 1.05 mark

Softball (19-27)

* UIS advanced to the GLVC Tournament for the fourth straight time 

* The Prairie Stars ranked fourth in NCAA Division II in stolen bases

* Danielle Dennis, Calla Wickenhauser, and Carly Chovanec were first-team all-GLVC

Men's Tennis (11-4)

* Advanced to the GLVC Tournament Semifinals for the first time in program history

* Earned its first NCAA Division II Tournament bid

* Menno Servaes was named to the all-GLVC team

Women's Tennis (10-4)

* Reached the GLVC Tournament for the fourth straight time

* UIS won 78.8% of their contests that were competed on the court in dual meets

* Carol Quevedo, Franca Bucco, and Neha Mokhasi were all-GLVC performers

Men's Indoor Track and Field

* Blake Jones became the first men's qualifier for the indoor national meet

* Jones earned All-American honors with a 12th-place finish in the 5,000m

* Ryan Jones won the 5,000m at the Bob Eubanks Open

Women's Indoor Track and Field

* Gloria Esarco set a NCAA provisional mark in the 5,000m 

* Gloria Esarco won the 800m race at the Indianapolis Classic

* Alexa Thomsen won the 5,000m competition at the Herschel Neil Invitational

Men's Outdoor Track and Field (8th GLVC)

* UIS won three individual championships at the GLVC meet (Blake Jones (2) and Cort Ross) 

* The Prairie Stars set a record for most points scored at the GLVC competition

* Blake Jones scored at the national meet with a third-place finish in the 5,000m

Women's Outdoor Track and Field (11th GLVC)

* Taryn Christy won her second straight 10,000m GLVC Championship

* The Prairie Stars set a record for most points scored at the GLVC competition

* Taryn Christy qualified for the NCAA national meet, and finished 11th in the 10,000m

Volleyball (3-16)

* UIS gave the No. 2 team in NCAA DII a scare at TRAC by going to a fifth set against Lewis 

* Amanda McConnell ranked ninth in the GLVC in digs per set

* Zanea Spencer ranked ninth in the conference in blocks per set

Top 2020-21 UIS Student-Athletes

Taryn Christy

Two-Time All-GLVC Performer
GLVC Champion - Outdoor 10,000m
Third in GLVC Cross Country Championships
NCAA Division II Outdoor Track Second-Team All-American (11th- 10,000m)
Academic All-District Selection

Blake Jones

UIS Male Athlete of the Year
GLVC Cross Country Runner of the Year
Won the GLVC Cross Country Championships
GLVC Outdoor Track Runner of the Year
Won the GLVC 1,500m and 5,000m
NCAA Division II Indoor Track Second-Team All-American (12th- 5,000m)
NCAA Division II Outdoor Track First-Team All-American (3rd- 5,000m) 

Lauren Ladowski

UIS Female Student-Athlete of the Year
Second-Team All-GLVC
Second-Highest Scoring Average in Program History (18.1)
Fourth member of the UIS 1,000 Career Points Club
Led NCAA Division II in Made Free Throws

Zion Pettigrew

GLVC Player of the Year
First-Team All-GLVC
Consensus Midwest Region Player of the Year
First-Team All-American
Second in NCAA Division II in Slugging Percentage

Kal Youngquist

First-Team All-GLVC
Consensus First-Team All-Region
First-Team All-American
Second-Team Academic All-American
36-game hitting streak (13th-longest in NCAA DII History)
Fourth In NCAA Division II In Doubles

2020-21 Highlight Video