Former St. Edward girls golf standout Caiti Childers has taken her links excellence to the next level.

Childers is now a junior on the St. Ambrose University women's golf team and was leading her team in 18-hole average through the first 4 events of the season.

In recent action, Childers finished 11th in a field of 105 players at the Wartburg University invitational at Centennial Oaks in Waverly, Iowa. Childers shot 160 for 36 holes (77 and 83). That effort helped St. Ambrose finish eighth in the 20-team field.

Earlier, Childers shot an 82 to take second out of 45 entrants at the Augustana invitational.

She also shot an 85 and took 24th out of 103 players at the Illinois College invite. Childers also carded an 80 to take second out of 53 players at the Lady Viking Classic.

Through her first 4 events, Childers was averaging 81.4 shots per 18 holes.

Childers is coming off a sophomore season where she was a first-team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference selection. She was also named to the MCC all-tournament team after taking fifth at the 72-hole league tournament.

Childers and her St. Ambrose teammates have qualified for the NAIA national championship in each of her first 2 seasons. The team took 19th at the 2009 NAIA event in Rapid City, S.D., earlier this year.

Lowmiller at Sioux Falls: Former Crystal Lake South football standout Ryan Lowmiller is now a senior running back for the University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) football squad. Lowmiller opened the 2009 season in fine fashion by rushing for 137 yards in the team's 44-3 victory over Nebraska Wesleyan University. Lowmiller scored his lone touchdown on a three-yard run that put Sioux Falls up by a 37-3 count.

Abate at Lewis: Bartlett graduate Fran Abate is a freshman midfielder-forward on the Lewis University women's soccer team. Abate had started all of the team's first 8 matches and had 3 assists, while taking 12 shots (1 on goal). Lewis was 2-4-2 overall through its first 8 matches (1-3-1 in conference action). Abate helped Bartlett to its first-ever regional title as a senior.

Kay at Northern Illinois: Former Bartlett boys golfer Tim Kay is no a senior on the Northern Illinois University men's golf team. Kay is coming off a junior season where he played in 9 tournaments (27 rounds) and averaged 75.7 strokes per 18 holes. His low round was a 73 (on numerous occasions) and his best finish was a tie for seventh at the Davidson tournament (77-73-75; 225).

Passaglia at Northern Illinois: Cary-Grove graduate Kelsey Passaglia is a sophomore forward-midfielder on the Northern Illinois University women's soccer team. Through midweek, Passaglia had started all 8 of the team's games and had logged 8 shots (3 shots on goal). NIU was 4-4 through its first 8 matches.

Garcia at Northwestern: Streamwood product Paulina Garcia is now a senior on the Northwestern University women's cross country team. Garcia recently helped Northwestern win the 2009 Huskies Open hosted by Northern Illinois University. Garcia finished 10th in the 5K race in a time of 19:39.53. Garcia was one of five Northwestern runners to finish in the top 10. Garcia is coming off a junior season where she ran in 6 meets, including a team-best 13th finish at the Illini 5K (19:48).

McLaughlin wins honor: Cary-Grove alum Lauren McLaughlin was named the Summit League co-offensive player of the week earlier this season. McLaughlin, a junior at North Dakota State, hit at a .510 clip and averaged 4.83 kills and 1.33 digs per set in the team's victories over Oral Roberts and Centenary during the award period.

McLaughlin hit .500 with 16 kills against Oral Roberts and hit a career-high .522 with 13 kills against Centenary. McLaughlin had a run of four straight matches where she led the team in kills earlier this season.

Through Wednesday, McLaughlin was averaging 3.27 kills and 1.98 digs per set to go with 3.57 points per set for a Bison team that was 8-2 in its first 10 matches of the season (4-0 in SL action).

Zwingelberg at Miami: Larkin graduate Jodi Zwingelberg is now a senior forward on the Miami (Ohio) women's soccer team. Zwingelberg had started all of the team's first 7 matches and had 3 assists (10 shots, 6 shots on goal). Miami was off to a 4-3 overall start. As a junior, Zwingelberg tied for second on the team with 3 goals and led the team with 4 assists.

Sikora at Olivet Nazarene: Elgin High product Erin Sikora is a senior setter on the Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team. Through the team's first 15 matches, Sikora had played in 53 sets and was averaging 9.94 assists per set, while also averaging 1.11 kills and 2.21 digs per set. In a recent win over Purdue North Central, Sikora had 28 assists in 3 sets and also had 3 kills and 5 digs, while hitting at a .500 clip.

In a 3-0 win over Lindenwood, Sikora had 34 assists, 4 kills and 5 digs, while hitting .571. Sikora had 38 assists in a 3-1 victory over Freed-Hardmen University. She also had 8 kills (0 errors on 12 swings) and 10 digs and hit .667 in the contest. Olivet was 9-6 through its first 15 matches of the season (3-0 in conference play).

Leyden at Benedictine: St. Edward grad Kayla Leyden is now a member of the Benedictine University (Lisle) women's volleyball team. Through midweek, Leyden was leading the team in kills per set (4.86). She had played in 42 sets and had taken a total of 521 swings (next highest on the team was 216). She was also averaging an impressive 4.60 digs per set and 0.71 blocks per set. In a recent 3-1 victory over Wisconsin Lutheran, Leyden had 22 kills and 19 digs. In a 3-0 victory over Lake Forest she put down 20 kills and hit .429 while also contributing 15 digs. In a 3-0 loss to North Central, Leyden had 17 kills and 12 digs and in a 3-2 win over Concordia (Wis.), Leyden had 18 kills and 8 digs. Benedictine was 5-8 overall (2-1 conference) through its first 13 matches.

Off at College wants your help: Send information and/or statistics on Fox Valley-area athletes playing collegiately to Mike Miazga at difibulator@aol.com.