College Notebook: Harding grad Ariyah Douglas shooting Prairie Star in Illinois

One former area athlete has found a new home.

After a successful season at Alderson Broaddus in West Virginia, Marion Harding grad Ariyah Douglas followed her former head coach from there to the University of Illinois Springfield, an NCAA Division II school that competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Douglas, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard on the women's basketball team, has made herself at home. She is fourth in the conference in scoring at 16.3 points per game, adding three rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 steals. She's posted double figures in 16 games and went over 20 points in eight. She is shooting 40 percent from the field, 27 percent on 3-pointers and 76 percent on foul shots.

Some of her better efforts include scoring 29 points against Ferris State, going 11-for-11 on free throws against Marysville, hitting six 3-pointers against Missouri S&T and grabbing seven rebounds against Missouri-St. Louis.

The Prairie Stars are 2-20 overall and 2-10 in the GLVC as former Alderson Broaddus coach Summer Quesenberry is in her first year at Illinois Springfield.

Madison Linstedt

The Elgin grad is a senior standout on the women's swimming team at the University of New Hampshire, an NCAA Division I program that competes in the America East Conference.

She recently finished second in the 200-yard butterfly in 2 minutes, 7.96 seconds in a meet at UConn. Her top efforts this season include a 28.86 in the 50 backstroke against Maine, a 2:37.79 in the 200 breaststroke at Rhode Island, a 2:10.41 in the 200 individual medley against Maine, a 1:54.62 in the 200 freestyle at the Bruno Invitational and a 5:01.09 in the 500 free at the Bruno. New Hampshire is 6-2 in dual meets heading into the conference championships.

Hadyn Danals

The River Valley alumnus is coming off his best showing of his college wrestling career at the University of Virginia.

Competing at 184 pounds, the sophomore won the Appalachian State Open with a 4-0 record, scoring two pins, a 15-0 technical fall and an 8-6 victory in the final over North Carolina State's Joey Milano. Danals is 14-5 this season with the two pins (one in 1:10), five tech falls and one major decision.

Also this season, he finished fifth at the Southeast Open, second at the Mountaineer Invitational and went 3-1 at the Mat Town Open. He won one dual match, beating a wrestler from Kent State 9-2.

C.J. Smith

The freshman from Pleasant is a member of the Cleveland State wrestling team. He is 1-2 this season, competing at the Bob Del Rosa Open at Ohio University, scoring a win via pin in 5:40 over a wrestler from Tiffin University.

Caden Morris

A sophomore from Marion Harding, Morris is quickly rising up the charts as a jumper on the men's indoor track and field squad at Ashland University.

He recently won the home Jud Logan Light Giver Open by more than a foot, leaping 23-11.5, which is seventh on AU's all-time list. At the same meet, he was seventh in the triple jump at 43-5.25. Morris was third at the Penn State Nationals Open, going 23-2.5 in the long jump.

In a tri-meet at Hillsdale College, he was second in the long jump at 22-7 and went 44-0.5 in the triple jump. At the Youngstown State Indoor Icebreaker, he was fifth in the long jump at 23-0.75.

Cy Starcher

He is a freshman teammate of Morris at AU. The Elgin sprinter was fifth in the 200 meters in 22.19 at the Jud Logan Light Giver, 12th in the 200 in 22.28 at the YSU Mid-Major Invitational and 19th in the 60 in 7.08 at YSU.

Kaedan Faggs

Competing as a freshman at Baldwin Wallace in men's indoor track and field, the Harding grad tops the team in the 55 meters (6.66), 60 meters (7.06), 200 meters (22.28) and long jump (21-11.75). Faggs was runner-up in the long jump at the Otterbein Invitational with a 21-11.75, second in the 200 in 23.13, third in the 60 in 7.12 and a part of the winning 4x200 team in 1:34.96.

He won the long jump at the Dr. T Challenge in 21-8.25 and was second in the 200 in 22.68 and 4x200 in 1:32.19. At the Mrs. G Invitational, he was second in the long jump at 21-2.5 and 60 in 7.06 and third in the 200 at 22.8.

Grace McCrery

A freshman swimmer at Ripon College in Wisconsin, the Harding grad posted a second place in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:11.89 during a meet with Lawrence. She joined the 200 medley relay to a sixth-place finishing in 2:08.66 at the Wisconsin Private Championships.

Anyone with information on other area college athletes who are competing this winter, please reach out to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: College Notebook: Harding grad Ariyah Douglas starring in Illinois