Drake Lansman

Newman's Landon Near and Dixon's Charlie Connors will wrestle for state titles on Saturday. Sterling's Sarah Doughty is leading at state bowling and Sterling's Jack Saathoff set the single-season rebounding record.

Newman's lone senior Lucy Oetting stepped up with 24 points as the Comets beat Bureau Valley 66-41 to win their first regional title since 2009.

Three area wrestlers advanced to the Class 1A state semifinals as Newman’s Landon Near (113 pounds) and Landon Blanton (132), and Dixon’s Charlie Connors (144) won two straight matches in Champaign.

Marquette avenged a 30-point loss from earlier in the season to beat Dwight 65-56 for the Class 1A Amboy Regional title. It is the Crusaders' first regional title since 2012.

Here are the 18 Sauk Valley area qualifiers for the IHSA individual state wrestling meet. Newman's Landon Near, Dixon's Jack Ragan, Oregon's Nelson Benesh, Dixon's Charlie Connors and West Carroll's Connor Knop are all Top 4 seeds in their brackets.

Top-seeded Eastland girls basketball held on for a 40-39 win over Stockton in the regional semifinals. The Eastland boys beat Rock Falls 46-43, Polo beat Morrison, Oregon beat Forreston, Milledgeville beat Amboy and more in Wednesday's Sauk Valley Roundup.

Bureau Valley's Libby Endress led a balanced effort with 18 points, 11 rebounds and two basket-and-1s late in the Storm's 67-48 win over Polo in the Class 1A Galva Regional semifinals on Tuesday night.

Newman's Gisselle Martin and Elaina Allen hit some big shots as the Comets shook off the rust and pulled away late in a 49-35 win over Stark County in the Class 1A Galva Regional semifinals.

Fulton wrestler Tessa Fosdick is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week, presented by Loescher Heating and Air Conditioning. She was one of the Steamers' first girls wrestling regional champions and won 28 matches this season. Here is a Q&A with the freshman.

Faith Christian went 16-0 in Northern Illinois Christian Conference play and Carson Bivins was named conference player of the year. Both the boys and girls teams had multiple Falcons named all-NICC.

Oregon girls basketball fell to Stillman Valley, but the Hawks finished with their first winning record since 2014. E-P fell to Riverdale and Amboy fell 55-52 to Dwight in Monday's Sauk Valley Roundup.

Fulton fell short against Wethersfield in Monday's regional semifinal, but the Steamers still have plenty to be proud of after earning 20 wins for the first time since 1994. Fulton has been on the rise since its season was canceled just four years ago.

Newman's Blair Grennan, Fulton's Kerby Germann and E-P's Michelle Naftzger won sectional wrestling titles as six area girls advanced to state. Fulton, Polo and E-P girls basketball won, and Sterling's Sarah Doughty qualified for state bowling on Saturday.

Last-second victories. Avenged losses. Blood-round wins, an undefeated champion and tight decisions. Saturday’s 1A Byron Sectional was an exciting one as area wrestlers advanced to state.

Here is a roundup of where area boys and girls wrestlers are heading into Saturday's final day of sectionals.