Iowa Wesleyan Men’s Basketball: Tigers Claw Their Way into the Top 25

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, January 12th, 2023 at 2:00 pm CDT

Iowa Wesleyan- It took a 15-game winning streak, but the men’s basketball team has finally cracked the NAIA Top 25 at the #25 spot. One of the marquee wins for the Tigers this season came against William Penn University in a fierce home matchup that ended 85-81. Hakeem Odunsi and Carver Locke led the Tigers in points that game with 16 apiece. The Statesmen were ranked 13th at the time and since that game they fell down the rankings to 17th but have since regained their 13th ranking in the latest poll.

In Jordan Ashton’s first year at the helm of the program, the Tigers have been able to dominate the competition winning by double digits in 11 of their 17 games. Additionally, during this winning streak the Tigers have beaten the competition by an average of nearly 20 points.

A big reason for the team’s success is their depth, always allowing fresh players to come into the game and play aggressively. Moreover, the leadership of graduate student, Allante Pickens, has allowed for this team to flourish as he is 2nd on the team in points with 211 and freshman phenom, Henry Shannon, has provided the height and athleticism down low that has allowed him to lead the Tigers in points with 216 and blocks with 26.

The Tigers will be back in action tomorrow, January 13th, at 7 pm to face off against Baptist Bible College.

Softball Standout: Jocelyn Fulton Signing with Hawkeye Community College

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, January 12th, 2023 at 12:10 pm CDT

(Photo Courtesy: Chad Edeker // WACO Athletic Director)

(Pictured: Front: – William Cornelious, Jocelyn, Amber Cornelious, Willow Cornelious)

(Back – Mark and Karen Fulton, Clair Brock, Cheryl Brock, Brett Fulton)

WACO/Columbus Softball- Jocelyn Fulton will officially be continuing her softball career at the collegiate level after signing with Hawkeye Community College. She has been a four-year starter for the WACO/Columbus softball team going back to her first year in 8th grade.

Fulton is a career 0.361 hitter and responsible for 49 runs. She has also belted 12 home runs and brought home 31 runs. Fulton is efficient on the base path having stole 27 bases on 33 attempts in her four years. Last year was her best season; Fulton batted 0.500, sending 8 balls over the fence, knocking in 16 runs, scoring 28 times herself, and stealing 13 bags on 14 attempts.

Jocelyn Fulton will be studying Dental Hygiene in the fall and finishing up her senior season in the summer.

Sports, January 12th

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, January 12th, 2023 at 6:22 am CDT

High School Basketball

WACO will be traveling to play Hillcrest Academy tonight, January 12th, with the girls playing first at 6 pm. Ellah Kissell is one of the top scorers in Class 1A with 239 points on the season. The boys’ team is still undefeated at 11-0 entering this matchup.

The Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves will be traveling to play Pekin tomorrow, January 13th, with the girls playing at 6 pm. The girls’ team is currently 14-0 on the season, while the boys tout a 10-2 record.

Danville will be hosting Mediapolis tomorrow with the boys playing at 7:30 pm and the girls playing at 6 pm. The girls’ team comes into the game at 5-7 and the boy’s team is 9-3.

Holy Trinity Catholic will travel to play West Burlington tomorrow night with the girls scheduled to start at 6 pm and the boys to follow. The girl’s game will feature a ranked Falcons team, while the boy’s game will have an undefeated Falcons team take on the Crusaders.

The Central Lee Hawks will host New London tomorrow with the girls scheduled to play at 6 pm. This will be their second time playing one another this year with the Hawks winning the girl’s game and the Tigers winning the boy’s game.

Mt. Pleasant will be facing off against conference rival Fairfield, tomorrow with the girls on the road and the boys at home, both teams playing at 7:30 pm. KILJ will be covering the girls game with pregame scheduled to start at 7:15 pm.

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will compete against Washington tonight, January 12th, on the road.

The Regional Qualifier for girls wrestling will start on January 27th and run through the 28th with the State Tournament to take place on February 2nd and 3rd.

New London will be celebrating their senior night tonight. Dominic Lopez and Trent Wilkerson will be honored as they have put together outstanding careers at New London with Lopez turning in two 3rd place finishes at state.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield next Thursday, January 19th.

WACO Signing

Jocelyn Fulton will continue to play softball at the collegiate level after signing with Hawkeye Community College. She has been a four-year starter for the Columbus-WACO softball team and will be studying Dental Hygiene.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The men’s and women’s basketball teams will travel to play Baptist Bible College tomorrow with the women playing at 5:30 pm and the men at 7 pm.

The men’s wrestling team will look to bounce back as they wrestle Saturday, January 14th, at the Cliff Keen-Mike Duroe Invitational at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

The women’s wrestling team will have another ranked match ahead of them as they travel to face off against Augsburg University on Sunday, January 15th.

The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.

Dr. Sofia Adams joined us on Tiger Nation this morning where we discussed her new position of Head Coach of Iowa Wesleyan Women’s Soccer team. Coach Adams revealed how much she cares about her players when talking about her favorite part of coaching:

“I would say coaching, seeing someone who wasn’t able to do something then be able to do it to me is more rewarding than any soccer goal that I have ever scored. So, I think I almost find more reward as being a coach and seeing them be able to tap into their potential.”

This Day in Sports History

1958 – The NCAA adds 2-point conversions to football scoring.

1966 – Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach records his 1,000th NBA career victory (regular season and playoffs), 114-102 over the Los Angeles Lakers in Boston.

1992 – Highest scoring NCAA basketball game; Troy State Trojans defeat DeVry Hoyas 258-149 in Troy, Alabama.

Henry County Supervisors Meeting Agenda

By Theresa Rose · Thursday, January 12th, 2023 at 6:09 am CDT

AGENDA

 January 12, 2023

Approve Agenda

Approve Minutes

9:00 Caleb Waters, Conservation Monthly Update

9:30 Alicia Yocum Fair & 4-H Budget Request

10:00 Kellie Sloan, Treasurer Budget Request

Other County Business as time allows

Supervisors Sub-Committee Updates

MP School District Financial Report

By Theresa Rose · Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 at 9:55 am CDT

The Mount Pleasant School Board will be expected to approve the FY22 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report at the February board meeting.  Monday night at the January meeting Director of Finance Ed Chabal went over the highlights of the report. The unassigned fund balances all increased except for the activity fund.  That balance saw an $8,588 drop. The general fund went up $975,971 due to the infusion of covid funds from the federal government putting the fund at $4,139,328.  The food service fund also saw an increase of $263,418 due in large part to federal funds used to make lunch free for all students, again because of covid. Total district revenues were $29,943,876, an increase of $1,665,967. Total expenditures were $29,752,173, increasing by $3,203,791 from FY21.

Not included in the Comprehensive Report but also discussed at the meeting was the taxable valuations to be used for FY24.  The valuations increased about $8.2 million to $648,574,431, an increase of 1.32 % from the previous year.

Discussion Continues Regarding Future of Mount Pleasant School District Facilities

By Theresa Rose · Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 at 9:36 am CDT

The Mount Pleasant School District Board of Directors continues to assess the district’s facilities and plan for the future.  The Mapleleaf Athletic complex field house needs renovations and now the Athletic Booster Club is preparing to kick-off a fundraising campaign to raise funds for a project to improve the building.  Activities Director Scot Lamm told the school board site committee the maximum estimate cost for the proposed renovations is $250,000.  He said he has been discussing this with the Booster Club and proposes the following improvements….additional toilets, new lighting and flooring, a new entrance/exit door and new lockers.  The site committee supports the project. The committee also agreed that costs related to maintenance like lighting and plumbing should be District costs.

Another building that has come under scrutiny is the bus garage.  It is no long big enough.  At one point the discussion revolved around possibly building a new garage at the High School site on Grand Avenue. However, cost may be prohibitive.  Apparently, there is in opportunity to rent a larger space.  Supt. John Henriksen will get rental costs for the Board’s site committee to consider. The committee also suggesteed that the lot north of the existing bus garage could be purchased and a new garage built on that site.  Henriksen will also be following up with the City regarding that idea.

Fairfield Schools dismiss early

By Theresa Rose · Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 at 9:07 am CDT

Fairfield Community School District will dismiss school at 10:00 this morning, January 11. Pence Elementary is without electricity due to a problem with an Alliant transformer. Alliant will work on the system today, and school will resume tomorrow. All schools in the district will be dismissed in the district. After-school activities are as scheduled at the high school. Middle School activities and practices are canceled. There will be no after-school program at Washington, Pence, or Homework club at the middle school. Pence Elementary does not have phone service.

Sports, January 11th

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, January 11th, 2023 at 6:05 am CDT

High School Basketball

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls team held Louisa-Muscatine to just four points in the first half as the Wolves sprinted to a 59-14 victory. Keely Malone had a double-double with 15 points coming from four threes and grabbing 14 rebounds, she also added 6 steals to the stat sheet. The Wolves will be traveling to play Pekin this Friday, January 13th, with the girls playing at 6 pm.

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team avenged their loss from last night by defeating Danville 52-35. The Crusaders pulled away in the third quarter by outscoring the Bears 18-4. The Danville boys’ team split the night by defeating the Crusaders 48-39. The Bears got out to a hot start by going on a 16-4 run in the first quarter. Danville will be hosting Mediapolis this Friday with the boys playing at 7:30 pm and the girls playing at 6 pm.

Holy Trinity Catholic will travel to play West Burlington Friday night with the girls scheduled to start at 6 pm and the boys to follow.

The Central Lee girls’ basketball team fell to Mediapolis 62-45 last night. Payton Bush led the Bulldogs in points with 28, including seven three pointers. Haley Steffener hosted a block party tallying seven on the night. The Hawks will host New London on Friday with the girls scheduled to play at 6 pm.

WACO will be traveling to play Hillcrest Academy tomorrow, January 12th, with the girls playing first at 6 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will be facing off against conference rival Fairfield, this Friday with the girls on the road and the boys at home, both teams playing at 7:30 pm.

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant girls team competed at the Pella Tournament with six wrestlers finishing in the top three of their weight class. Ella McNamee continued her dominant season by going 3-0 on the night and winning by fall to earn first place. Alexis Wagner lost by fall in the second round, but finished 2-1 on the night resulting in a 2nd place finish. Natalie Parrott also captured 2nd place going 1-1 on the night. Jayden Housh claimed second place after going 1-1 on the night. Zenlynn Lee was the last Panther to finish in 2nd place also going 1-1 on the night; lastly, Natalie Albright finished in third place ending the impressive night for the Panthers.

Burlington Notre Dame had Nevah Howard finish in first place after winning both of her matches last night. Ella Spiker claimed 2nd place in her weight class and Macey Johnson finished in 3rd place to end the night.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will compete against Washington tomorrow, January 12th, on the road.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield next Thursday, January 19th.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The men’s and women’s basketball teams will travel to play Baptist Bible College January 13th with the women playing at 5:30 pm and the men at 7 pm.

Both wrestling teams competed at Central Methodist University last night with the men having not wrestled since December 3rd, they came out a little sluggish with the Tigers getting shutout 49-0. The men’s team will have to bounce back quickly as they wrestle Saturday, January 14th, at the Cliff Keen-Mike Duroe Invitational at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

In a top 15 matchup, the women’s team came up just short, falling to #11 Central Methodist University 21-19. Faith Cole won by fall. JoAnna Vanderwood and Aduago Nwachukwu helped out the Tigers by winning by tech fall. Lastly, Isabelle Hawley and Faith Cole both won their matches by decision to give the Tigers a 19-8 lead. However, the Eagles soared back to take the match. The women will have another ranked match ahead of them as they travel to face off against Augsburg University on Sunday, January 15th.

The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.

This Day in Sports History

1953 – J. Edgar Hoover declined a 6 figure offer to become president of the International Boxing Club.

1960 – LaMar Clark sets a pro boxing record of 44 consecutive knockouts.

2001 – New York Knicks hold an opponent under 100 points for an NBA-record 29th straight game in a 76-75 loss to the Houston Rockets; streak snaps 46-year-old NBA record of 28 straight games set by the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1954-55.