Vernon Hills' Gallagher hitting her stride at SIU
Southern Illinois University's distance program for it's women's track and field team had an impressive day at the Arkansas State Red Wolves Open.
And contributing to the big effort was former Vernon Hills standout Kelley Gallagher.
The Saluki junior won the 5,000-meter run in 17:07.21, easily surpassing her previous personal best by 25 seconds.
Gallagher was not ranked on the Saluki's all-time 5K list but now sits in seventh place all-time.
The Salukis also swept the 3,000-meter steeplechase and won the women's 1,500-meter at the Red Wolves Open.
Their distance performers swept the Missouri Valley Conference cross country championships this past fall.
Women's gymnastics
University of Wisconsin freshman Alli Tran (Vernon Hills) earned national honors when she competed at the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs national meet in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Tran was the top Wisconsin finisher with a fourth-place finish on uneven bars, fifth-place finish on vault and an eighth-place finish in all-around, earning her a medal and national ranking in each of these events.
Men's golf
Augustana freshman Eric Swanson (Vernon Hills) tied for 18th by shooting a 305 (76-81-73-75) at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship at The Rail Golf Course.
Coach Paul Del Vecchio's Vikings finished two spots higher and cut 100 strokes from last year's conference tournament and they recorded Augustana's highest finish since 2006.
Baseball
Libertyville's Andrew Mack (Grinnell College), Noah Greenberg (Concordia University) and Ian Grant (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) have made their commitments to play college baseball.
Women's tennis
Augustana junior Aileen MacDonald (Mundelein) defeated Clo Thirquoin at No. 3 singles 6-3; 6-1 in a 7-2 loss to Grinnell.
It was the Vikings' final tune-up before the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin's NCAA qualifying tournament next weekend.
MacDonald is now 13-10 on the year.
Augustana will open play in the CCIW's tournament to determine the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a match against Carthage on Friday 2 p.m. in Elmhurst.
Women's lacrosse
Augustana's Emily Handrahan (Lake Zurich) is among league leaders in assists 31.
The Vikings went 3-0 last week with wins over North Central (14-9), Aurora (20-2), and Beloit (21-4) to climb to 15-0 on the year and 9-0 in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference.
They sit atop the MWLC standings and clinched the top seed in the conference tournament with the victory at Aurora.
Softball
Davenport junior KC Dunne (Buffalo Grove) extended her hitting streak to 14 games to earn the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference's softball player of the week award.
Dunne was 8-of-13 after hitting safely in all four games as Davenport went 3-1.
Dunne collected 4 multiple-base hits, including a triple to move her into the school's top spot for all-time triples. Seven of her 8 RBI came in a sweep of Northwestern Ohio (8-0, 8-3) with the final one coming in a split with Cornerstone (1-3, 13-1).
Davenport, ranked 22nd in the latest NAIA poll, is now 29-7 on the season and 14-2 in conference games.
Football
Men's track
Wisconsin-Platteville's Matt Smaga (Fremd) ran third with a time of 31:11.05 in the 10,000-meter run of the Augustana Invitational. Platteville took fourth out of nine teams in the invite.
Smaga is currently ranked 29th in the nation among D-III athletes for the 10,000 meters.
Lacrosse
Augustana's Austin Marrison (Palatine) picked up a game-high six of the Vikings' 38 ground balls in a 19-5 win at Fontbonne. The win improved the Vikings to 9-4 and 6-2 in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference.
Fundraiser
Cary Country Club will host "The Air Conditioning Open" on May 18, a golf outing being run to raise money for the new air conditioning system in Immanuel Lutheran's Gym in Palatine.
The event is being run by Don Ruhter.
If you do not wish to golf but contribute to the "Air Conditioning Fund," feel free to mail a check to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 200 N. Plum Grove Rd., Palatine, Il., 60067. Mark the check "Air Conditioning Fund" and address it to the attention of "Don Ruhter". Details, starting times and rules will be available closer to the event.
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.