May 30th, Last Day for Mount Pleasant Schools

By Yorke Prough · Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 7:45 am CDT

At Monday night’s board meeting, the Mount Pleasant Community School Board listened to Superintendent John Henriksen’s proposal of pushing the last day of school a little closer. With the winter weather causing cancellations and delays this year, schools in the district would not end until June 5th. That was until last night. The board voted to approve Henriksen’s request to end classes on Thursday, May 30th.

May 29th will now be a full day of school, instead of half, and May 30th will also be full. Students need to spend at least 1080 hours of instructional learning in the classroom. Mount Pleasant has it built so that the students spend around 30 hours more than that, however, with 5 delays and 5 cancelations, a solution was needed. Mr. Henriksen and the board agreed to use 20 hours of parent-teacher conferences as instructional hours, which is allowed in the Iowa code.

Teachers will still work until June 6th, which has not changed.

Sports, February 13th

By Slaten Swords · Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 6:36 am CDT

Girls’ Regional Basketball

In Class 1A Region 7, Danville will travel to Lone Tree tonight at 7 pm. KILJ AM 1130, 98.5 FM, and kilj.com will be on the call.

In Class 1A Region 8, WACO will travel to Montezuma tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

#15 Holy Trinity Catholic will host English Valleys tonight at 7 pm. 

For Class 2A Region 6, Van Buren County will remain on the road to take on Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont tonight at 7 pm.

Columbus will host West Burlington tonight at 7 pm.

In Class 3A Region 1, Mediapolis will host Tipton tomorrow, February 14th, at 7 pm. 

In Class 4A Region 1, Mt. Pleasant will hit the road to take on Oskaloosa for the second time this season as Oskaloosa won that matchup 55-17. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

The winner of this game will take on #1 Clear Creek-Amana.

On the bottom half of the bracket, it will be a Southeast Conference matchup between Fort Madison and Burlington. The winner will be tasked with a road matchup against Keokuk. 

The first-round for Class 4A is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 7 pm.

Boys’ District Basketball

Starting in Substate 5 District 9, Winfield-Mt. Union powered past New London 70-37, outscoring the Tigers 35 to 19 in the second half. New London ended the season with a 5-17 record. 

Danville was tested by Sigourney at home last night but escaped with a 62-52 victory. The Bears will travel to take on Winfield-Mt. Union on Thursday, February 15th, at 7 pm. KILJ AM 1130, 98.5 FM, and kilj.com will be on the call.

In the bottom half of the bracket, Burlington Notre Dame dominated Wapello to the tune of a 78-49 victory, while WACO defeated Pekin 57-42. Colton Leichty led the way with 26 points for the Warriors followed by Chase Waterhouse’s 16 points. The Nikes will host WACO on Thursday at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

In Substate 5 District 10, Holy Trinity Catholic was unstoppable last night as the Crusaders drubbed Tri-County 103-19. Luke Hellige led the scoring with 33 points as Connor Gehling tallied 19 points and six blocks in the win. The Crusaders will face off against Moravia on Thursday at 7 pm at home. Head Coach John Hellige’s recipe for success is rebounding and no turnovers.

Class 2A, Substate 4 District 7 saw Central Lee take down Louisa-Muscatine last night 72-65. The Hawks will compete against #6 West Burlington on Thursday at 7 pm.

In the bottom half of the bracket, Mediapolis breezed past Van Buren County 75-38. The Bulldogs will travel to West Branch on Thursday at 7 pm.

The brackets for Class 3A and 4A were released yesterday and in Class 3A Substate 5, Mt. Pleasant will hit the road to take on Keokuk, while Washington will face off against Clear Creek-Amana and Fort Madison faces off against Williamsburg. 

In Class 3A Substate 4, Fairfield will take on Marion on the road.

In Class 4A Substate 3, Burlington snatched the sixth seed and will travel to Davenport, West for their first-round matchup. 

The first round for classes 3A and 4A will begin on Monday, February 19th, at 7 pm.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will end the regular season facing off against Pella tonight at 7 pm. 

High School Wrestling

The state tournament will begin tomorrow, February 14th, at 9 am. KILJ will be focusing on 28 wrestlers at the tournament. For a full list of the state qualifiers follow this link: 2024 State Qualifiers

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) announced the 2024 honorees for the IHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame and IHSAA Officials Hall of Fame and there’s a familiar face on the roster of inductees in New London’s longtime head coach Mark Chiri. Across an incredible 37 seasons, Chiri accumulated 468 dual meet wins, 111 state qualifiers, seven top 10 team finishes, four state dual qualifications, and 10 individual champions.

Additionally, Chiri coached Marcel Lopez, who notched four state championships as a Tiger, and Dom Lopez, who is the winningest wrestler in state history with 221 career wins. The honorees will be introduced before the championship matches on Saturday, February 17th.

High School Bowling

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team participated in their state qualifying meet yesterday and three Panthers clinched their spot at the state meet as individuals, while Keokuk and Oskaloosa qualified as a team. 

The Chiefs were led by Jaelynn Ketterer and Sophia Rule as they tallied the top two individual scores of 732 and 631, respectively. Natalie Alberts nabbed the last spot with a score of 554.

Mt. Pleasant had two bowlers finish in the top five as Addie McGehearty totaled 587 pins and Bethany Drury grabbed 581 pins for the fourth and fifth highest scores of the meet. Kya Goodrich was the last Panther to clinch a spot with a score of 555, which ranked 7th amongst the field. The state tournament will begin on February 19th.

The boys’ team will travel to Oskaloosa to compete in their state qualifying meet today. Burlington and Keokuk will also be making the trip.

College Basketball

The #4 Iowa women’s team will host Michigan on Thursday, February 15th, at 7 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team will face off against #7 Kansas State tomorrow, February 14th, at 6:30 pm. 

The #10 Iowa State men’s team will travel to Cincinnati tonight to compete against the Bearcats at 6 pm. 

The Iowa men’s team will take on Maryland tomorrow at 7:30 pm on the road. 

This Day in Sports History

1923 – The first fully all-Black and Black-owned professional basketball team, The Renaissance, was organized. Commonly called The Rens, the team was founded by Robert L. Douglas, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1972.

1932 – A 2-2 final round tie with the US is good enough for Canada to clinch its fourth consecutive Olympic ice hockey gold medal at Lake Placid; Canadian center Walter Monson is tournament top scorer with 11 points.

1971 – US Vice President Spiro Agnew hits two tee shots into a crowd while golfing, injuring two.

New London Opting for New Garbage Collection Providers

By Yorke Prough · Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 5:57 am CDT

Starting July 1st, 2024, the City of New London, Iowa will be switching garbage collection providers from WEMIGA to Waste Management. Along with this change the City will start providing its customers with garbage cans as part of the service. The garbage cans will be delivered the last week in June.

More information will be available as the date approaches.

Driver Avoids Damage to Self, Not to Fence

By Yorke Prough · Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 5:53 am CDT

On February 11th, 2024, at approximately 11:25 AM, Henry County Dispatch received multiple reports of a single vehicle crash in the 3300-grid of New London Road. An investigation into the collision determined a 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer, driven by, Kaity Bench, 36, of New London, was traveling southbound on New London Road, when the vehicle left the roadway. The vehicle travelled approximately 600 feet along the ditch and collided with fencing, before coming to rest. The driver of the vehicle left the scene and was later located at their residence.

No injuries were reported. The damage to the vehicle was estimated to be $15,000. Kaity was cited for Failure to Maintain Control.

Extension of Harvest Proclamation

By Yorke Prough · Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 5:51 am CDT

Governor Kim Reynolds signed an extension of the proclamation relating to the weight limits and transportation of grain, fertilizer, and manure.   

 

The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through February 23, 2024. The proclamation allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage, stover, fertilizer (dry, liquid, and gas), and manure (dry and liquid) to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.  

 

This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (a) and (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.  

New London’s Mark Chiri to be Inducted into the IHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame

By Slaten Swords · Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 10:58 pm CDT

IHSAA- The state wrestling tournament is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, February 14th, with the finals set to conclude on Saturday, February 17th. Nonetheless, before the championship matches the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) will introduce this year’s 2024 honorees for the IHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame and IHSAA Officials Hall of Fame.

The one familiar face of the roster of inductees is New London’s longtime head coach Mark Chiri. Across an incredible 37 seasons, Chiri accumulated 468 dual meet wins, 111 state qualifiers, seven top 10 team finishes, four state dual qualifications, and 10 individual champions.

Additionally, Chiri coached Marcel Lopez, who notched four state championships as a Tiger, and Dom Lopez, who is the winningest wrestler in state history with 221 career wins.

The other nominations include:

Wrestlers: Cory Clark of Southeast Polk, Jake Marlin of Creston/Orient-Macksburg, John Meeks of Des Moines, Roosevelt, and Brandon Sorensen of Denver/Tripoli

Coaches: Jason Christenson of Southeast Polk

Officials: Chris Meinecke

These honorees will escort the Grand March before being announced at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

For a look at the other’s biographies: 2024 Hall of Fame Honorees

Boys’ Prep Basketball: Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk Set for a Rematch

By Slaten Swords · Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 10:43 pm CDT

IHSAA- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) have released the brackets for classes 3A and 4A and here’s our local matchups.

Class 3A Substate 5 is the headquarters for the Southeast Conference with four of the six members being placed within the group of 8. Keokuk grabbed the fourth seed and will be hosting the fifth seed Mt. Pleasant as the Panthers seek revenge after their conference loss to the Chiefs back on February 2nd. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call.

The winner of that game will take on either #1 Solon or #8 Davis County. The Spartans ranked 5th in the latest edition of the IHSAA rankings for Class 3A.

#2 Clear Creek-Amana will host the seventh seed Washington and #6 Fort Madison will travel to take on #3 Williamsburg.

In Substate 4, Fairfield will have the dubious distinction taking on the top team in Marion, who ranked 6th in the IHSAA top 10 for Class 3A.

In Class 4A Substate 3, Burlington snatched the sixth seed and will travel to Davenport, West for their first-round matchup. The winner will face off against #2 Bettendorf.

The first round for classes 3A and 4A will begin on Monday, February 19th, at 7 pm.

Sunday Morning Crash Leaves Driver Hospitalized, Later Released

By Yorke Prough · Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 3:32 pm CDT

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident in Geode State Park on Sunday morning. At approximately 11:34am on February 11th, the Sheriff’s Office received a report and promptly responded. It was determined that a vehicle was traveling north bound on Racine Avenue near Beach Road when the driver, Donald Fields of Brighton, lost control of the vehicle.

The vehicle then went across the center line towards incoming traffic, into the ditch, and struck a tree before coming to rest. No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Donald was examined by the Henry County EMS personnel and transported to the hospital where he was later released. He was charged with driving while license revoked and failure to maintain control of vehicle.