​Jul. 14—Plenty of Illinois athletes didn’t generate many headlines or social media interaction during the past 12 months, but they still racked up accomplishments in their respective fields (and oftentimes in the classroom, too). Beat writer Scott Richey spotlights 10 Illini who deserved more pub from the 2025-26 school year:Miyoshi got it done on the court and in the classroom. The Illini senior secured his 100th career singles win in the second round of the NCAA tournament and ended the year ranked as the No. 17 singles player in the country. Off the court, the Tokyo native was Illinois’ Big Ten Medal of Honor winner, earned Second Team Academic All-American status and claimed the Midwest Region’s Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSchaefbauer made it a clean sweep for Illinois tennis as the university’s other Big Ten Medal of Honor winner. Schaefbauer progressed from the Illini’s No. 6 singles player after transferring from South Carolina to playing No. 1 singles exclusively her junior and senior year. The political science major was just as proficient in the classroom and earned her third straight CSC Academic All-District and third straight ITA Scholar-Athlete honor this year.Luuk Pelkmans’ standout freshman season did outshine his fellow Dutch multi-event star to some degree. But de Greef did put up a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor championships and followed that up by qualifying for the decathlon in the NCAA outdoor championships. De Greef held the Illinois decathlon record briefly before Pelkmans took it after de Greef scored 8,039 points at the Illini Deca-Jam on April 10-11 at Demirjian Park.Cho’s 4.0 GPA in interdisciplinary health sciences helped her share Illinois’ Outstanding Scholar-Athlete award for the sophomore class with Kylie Eaton (women’s golf) and Ava Moore (softball). Something she accomplished while also leading the Illini women’s gymnastics team. Cho was ranked as high as No. 2 on the uneven bars and No. 3 in the all-around on the national level during the 2026 season.Persson’s value to the Illinois soccer team last fall was evident in the fact she almost never came off the field. The senior defender out of The Woodlands, Texas, played a team-high 1,863 minutes out of the 1,890 possible during the Illini’s 13-6-2 season, playing the full 90 in 17 of 21 matches. Persson’s two goals — one in late August, the other in early October — also made her one of just six Illini total and the only defender to score last fall.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPutty’s fellow freshman Aidan Flinn racked up more postseason awards, but the 6-foot-4 first baseman played as important a role as his starting pitcher teammate. Putty started all 55 games for the Illini and led the team in batting average, hits and RBI, slashing .313/.396/.507 with nine home runs, 52 RBI and 68 hits. He had 18 multi-hit games and drove in multiple runs in 13 games to earn B