High School Wrestling
The Wapello, WACO, and Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ teams traveled to compete in the Sigourney Keota tournament last night and the Arrows claimed 16th place with 42.5 points, the highest finish of our local teams.
Wapello’s Kenadee Helscher led the way, going undefeated for the night as she defeated Quynn Forster of East Union in the championship match of the 105-pound weight class by technical fall. Jenna Jones claimed 6th place in the 170-pound weight class.
Rozlynn Garza, 130-pound weight class, and Jada Moats, 170-pound weight class, each took 4th place in their respective weight classes for Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union. WACO’s Makayla Morrison and Emory Davis each grabbed a victory.
The Wapello girls’ team will participate in the Bellevue Invitational on Friday, November 21st.
The WACO girls’ team will travel to BGM for a tournament on Saturday, November 22nd.
The Mt. Pleasant, Mediapolis, and Van Buren County girls’ teams will compete at the Burlington Grayhound Invite on Saturday.
The Fairfield and Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ teams will head to Wilton for a tournament on Saturday.
High School Volleyball
The Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA) released the All-District and All-State teams for the 2025 volleyball season and southeast Iowa was well represented.
In Class 3A, Washington’s Leighton Messinger, the two-time Southeast Conference Player of the Year, took home All-District and All-State 3rd Team honors.
Central Lee’s Jayden Mueller claimed a spot on the All-District team after tabbing 566 digs for the season.
In Class 2A, West Burlington had a pair of Falcons make the All-District team in Kyleigh Applegate and Baylee Woodsmall. Applegate was all over the court, accumulating 167 kills, 207 digs, and 26 aces for the season. Woodsmall was a distributor with 794 assists.
Jocelyn Hernandez of Columbus tabbed a team leading 325 digs to go along with 28 aces for the Wildcats. Ashlynn Huff of Van Buren County claimed a spot on the All-District Team behind 326 kills and a kill efficiency of 0.272.
Class 1A was packed with local talent as Burlington Notre Dame and Wapello each put four players on the All-District list, while Holy Trinity Catholic took four spots.
For Burlington Notre Dame, Addi Brockway collected a solid senior season with 342 kills on a kill efficiency of 0.248. Brockway, who also was put on the All-State 3rd Team, finished her career with 704 kills. Ainsley Conrad put together 739 assists and 60 kills in her freshman season. Emma Elmore led the team with 450 digs and finished second on the team in aces with 39.
Lastly, Chloe Wenzel found a spot on the All-District Team for the Nikes. Wenzel put up 262 kills and for the third straight season led the team in blocks with 91.
Wapello’s Annaka Greiner dished out 357 assists and generated 77 kills in the two-setter offense. The junior also added 230 digs and 20 aces. Helping Greiner out was freshman Taeya Wagner, who actually led the team with 411 assists as she tabbed 87 kills and 34 aces for the Arrows.
Mila Jordan put up 308 kills with an efficiency of 0.209. She was nearly unstoppable from the service line with a team leading 72 aces. Mya Wagner, a junior, led the team with 639 digs as the squad’s libero. Wagner found a spot on the All-State 1st Team.
Winfield-Mt. Union’s Quin Smith, despite missing five games, led the team in kills with 132 for the year with a congruent efficiency of 0.132. Smith also blocked 36 attacks and nabbed 42 aces.
To round out the lists, Holy Trinity Catholic’s three main attackers made the All-District Team in Presley Myers, Adalyn Kruse, and Olivia Bendlage.
Myers also made the All-State 1st Team as she concluded her career at Holy Trinity Catholic with three state tournament appearances, a state runner-up finish, over 1,300 career kills, over 370 blocks, and a career kill efficiency nearly at 0.350. She also earned Co-Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) South Division Player of the Year. Kruse, who led the team with nearly 400 kills, grabbed 4th Team All-State.
For the third year in a row, Holy Trinity Catholic’s Melissa Freesmeier was named District Coach of the Year.
High School Basketball
The Columbus girls’ and boys’ teams will scrimmage English Valleys on the road on Friday, November 21st, at 6 pm.
The Fairfield girls’ team will host Chariton on Friday at 7:30 pm.
The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will tip off the season on Friday at home against New London at 6 pm.
The Wapello girls’ team will face off against Washington on Friday at 6 pm for a scrimmage.
The Van Buren County girls’ and boys’ teams will host WACO for a scrimmage on Friday.
The West Burlington boys’ and girls’ teams will take on Fort Madison on Saturday, November 22nd, for a scrimmage.
High School Bowling
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will host an invite tomorrow, November 20th, with Central Lee and West Burlington in attendance.
High School Cross Country
The Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) released their Coach of the Year honors for the 2025 Cross Country season and Steve Riley, the Columbus’ boys’ team’s head coach, earned At-Large Coach of the Year after the Wildcats finished in 6th place as a team at the state meet.
Riley and Scott Dennler for the Columbus boys’ track and field team earned Class 1A At-Large Coach of the Year for the 2025 spring season.
Postseason High School Football
Bishop Garrigan and Woodbine will meet tomorrow, November 20th, at 9:30 am for the Eight-Player state championship.
The Class A championship contest is set for tomorrow at 1 pm between Saint Ansgar and MMCRU.
The Class 1A state title game between West Lyon and Regina Catholic is slated for tomorrow at 4 pm.
Pella and Xavier will meet at 7 pm tomorrow for the Class 4A state title.
The Class 2A championship is set for Friday, November 21st, at 10 am between Van Meter and Kuemper Catholic.
The Class 3A championship will be played on Friday at 1 pm between Nevada and Bishop Heelan.
The Class 5A championship will wrap up action on Friday with kickoff at 7 pm between Dowling Catholic and Iowa City Liberty.
Southeastern Community College
The women’s basketball team will host a tournament starting on Friday, November 21st, at 5 pm against Spoon River College.
The men’s basketball team will travel to Moberly Area Community College on Saturday, November 22nd, at 7 pm.
The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will host Hawkeye Community College tonight at 6 pm.
College Football
Iowa will look to bounce back at home on Saturday, November 22nd, at 2:30 pm against Michigan State. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the call.
Iowa State will host Kansas on Saturday at 11 am. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.
College Basketball
The #19 Iowa women’s team will compete in the WBCA Showcase tomorrow, November 20th, at 8 pm against Baylor.
The Iowa men’s team roared past Southeast Missouri State last night 99-70. Alvaro Folgueiras led the team with 16 points, while Bennett Stirtz dished out nine assists in the victory. The Hawkeyes will host Chicago State tomorrow at 6 pm.
The #12 Iowa State women’s team will face off against Drake on the road tomorrow at 6 pm.
The #16 Iowa State men’s team will play in the Players Era Men’s Championship tournament starting on Monday, November 24th, against #14 St. John’s at 3:30 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1978 – “The Miracle at the Meadowlands,” Eagles Herman Edwards returns a fumble for a touchdown with 31 seconds left to give Philadelphia a 19-17 victory over the rival New York Giants.
1983 – The Edmonton Oilers beat the NJ Devils, 13-4, Wayne Gretzky calls the Devils “a Mickey Mouse organization.”
2019 – LeBron James hits 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as the LA Lakers’ beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-107 to become the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double against all 30 franchises.