Another trip to match play in the NCAA men’s golf championships ended short of a national title for Illinois.

Coach Mike Small’s Illini — who earned the No. 1 seed by finishing 16 shots clear of the field after 72 holes of stroke play — lost 3-1 to eighth-seeded Georgia Tech in a quarterfinal match Tuesday morning in Carlsbad, Calif.

Max Herendeen, who tied for second Monday in the individual competition, was the only Illinois player to win his match, recording the day’s first point with a 5-and-4 rout of Carson Kim.

But the Yellow Jackets clinched the match with wins by Bartley Forrester over Tyler Goecke (3 and 1), Aidan Tran over Piercen Hunt (3 and 2) and NCAA individual champion Hiroshi Tai over Ryan Voois (3 and 2). That rendered Jackson Buchanan’s match against Georgia Tech’s Kale Fontenot moot.

“For whatever reason we lost our way and started guiding it and started worrying about things,” Small said in a press release. “I think a lot of our guys fell back on some of the tendencies that they were getting better at all spring, and I think under the pressure and tension they reverted back to some of that stuff.

“We were in control of the match halfway through and the back nine is one we took care of all week, so maybe the pressure got to them and maybe they got ahead of themselves and were thinking of the outcome for whatever reason.”

This was Illinois’ ninth time qualifying for match play since the current format was adopted in 2009, and the Illini have made the NCAA championships 17 times and won 13 Big Ten titles in Small’s 25 years in charge. But they still are seeking the program’s first national championship.

Georgia Tech moved on to a semifinal match later Tuesday against No. 5 seed Florida State, a 3-1 winner over fourth-seeded North Carolina.

No. 6 seed Auburn faced No. 7 Ohio State in the other semifinal as all four quarterfinals were won by the lower seed. The Tigers beat third-seeded Virginia 3-1, while the Buckeyes advanced with a 3-1-1 victory over second-seeded Vanderbilt.

The championship match is Wednesday at La Costa (6 p.m. CDT, Golf Channel).

AURORA, IL — The Aurora Farmers Market, said to be the oldest in the state, will reopen June 1 for its 113th season.

New vendors will join dozens of returning farmers and fan favorites from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday at Water Street Square, 65 S. Water St., across from City Hall. The season will run through Oct. 5.

To mark the new season, the city will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday. The inaugural market day will also feature entertainment for children from Miss Jaime from the Farm at 10 a.m., live music from Nick Scarpinato, and a petting zoo courtesy of Phillips Park Zoo, officials said.

Similar to years past, the Aurora Farmers Market is partnering with Link Up Illinois and Ascension Mercy’s Fresh First Program. The partnerships, respectively, double the value of Link/EBT purchases and provide vouchers for children on select days throughout the season.

Illinois hunters took a preliminary statewide record of 17,208 wild turkeys during the 2024 Illinois spring turkey season.

This year’s total surpassed the previous high of 16,569 set in 2006 and is an increase from the 2023 season, in which 16,123 wild turkeys were hunted.

La Salle, Bureau and Livingston counties saw increases from 2023 to 2024. In La Salle County, there were 103 turkeys taken in 2023 and that number increased to 110 in 2024. In Bureau County, one more turkey was taken in 2024 than 2023 as 197 were hunted in 2024. Livingston County saw an increase of 47 turkeys taken in 2024 compared to 32 in 2023.

The amount of turkeys hunted decreased in Marshall-Putnam counties from 125 to 114 from 2023 to 2024.

The top five counties statewide for the 2024 spring turkey harvest were Jo Daviess, 654; Jefferson, 472; Marion, 435; Pope, 397; and Randolph, 395.

The 2024 state total includes the record youth turkey harvest of 2,009 birds, which compares with the 2023 youth harvest of 1,309. The previous youth season record of 1,733 was set in 2020.

This year, hunters purchased 86,083 permits compared to 80,642 last year. Spring turkey hunting was open in 100 of Illinois’ 102 counties. The 2024 regular season dates were April 8 through May 9 in the South Zone and April 15 through May 16 in the North Zone. The 2024 youth spring turkey season was March 30-31 and April 6-7 statewide.