High School Volleyball
Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant, and Washington made the trip to Grinnell and the Demons led the way for our local teams, collecting a 2-3 record followed by Mt. Pleasant at 1-4 and Fairfield going winless.
Washington swept Fairfield (21-19, 21-18), while the Panthers pushed the Demons to the limit but came up just short in three sets (22-20, 18-21, 15-13). Washington lost to Iowa City High (8-21, 12-21) and Solon (15-21, 15-21) in straight sets and to Xavier in three sets (6-21, 21-9, 13-15).
Mt. Pleasant’s perseverance resulted in a three-set victory over Fairfield by scores of 24-22, 15-21, and 15-12. The Panthers also pushed Decorah to three sets but finished short of the win (21-16, 18-21, 11-15) before being swept by South Tama County and Xavier.
Fairfield was swept by the rest of their competition in Grinnell, Ballard, and Xavier. Natalie Steele led the Trojans with 20 kills, while Bella Buckley tabbed 47 assists and eight aces over the five matches.
Washington will take on Mid-Prairie tonight at 7 pm on the road.
Mt. Pleasant will host Washington tomorrow, September 1st, at 7:15 pm.
Fairfield will travel to Fort Madison tomorrow at 7:15 pm.
Central Lee held their invitational over the weekend and Burlington was able to outlast West Burlington in the championship game by scores of 25-11, 22-25, and 15-10. The Falcons managed to sweep Mid-Prairie and Van Buren County in pool play before losing to Durant in three sets.
Burlington Notre Dame went 2-1 in pool play with straight set victories over Central Lee and Keokuk, resulting in a semifinal bout with the Falcons. West Burlington would dominate the contest, winning in sweeping fashion (25-15, 25-10). The Falcons were helped by Emersyn Hopkins’ 100 assists and Kaylee Webb’s 61 kills.
Central Lee finished the weekend with a 1-2 record, defeating Keokuk in straight sets (21-15, 21-17). Brylee Cook stuffed the stat sheet with 20 assists, 13 kills, and four aces for the Hawks.
West Burlington will tangle with Fort Madison at 5:30 pm and Holy Trinity Catholic will face off against Burlington at 7:30 pm at the Battle at Bracewell tonight.
Wapello will get back to action when they host the Arrow Tournament tomorrow, September 1st, with Mediapolis, Central Lee, Burlington Notre Dame, and Columbus making the trip.
WACO will travel to Hillcrest Academy on Thursday, September 3rd, at 7 pm.
High School Cross Country
The Washington boys’ teams started the season with a team victory at the Anamosa Meet this past weekend, taking the gold by 12 points. Parker Tschantz grabbed the silver medal with a time of 16 minutes and 43 seconds, while Jack Shepherd finished within the top 10 to help the squad.
The girls’ team also had two runners finish in the top 10, as the Demons collected the bronze medal as a team with 79 points. Emma Horak led the charge with a 4th place time of 20 minutes and 44 seconds, while Emma Keil took 9th place.
Washington will run at the Bob Brown Invitational on Thursday, September 3rd, at 4 pm in Iowa City.
Central Lee competed at the Prairie Invitational over the weekend and the girls’ team snatched 5th place with 132 points, while the boys’ team finished in 7th place with 147 points. Aubree Bunnell led the girls’ team with a 24th place of 22 minutes and 27 seconds with Drake Newton claimed 20th place with a mark of 17 minutes and 12 seconds. The Hawks will fly to Keokuk for a meet on Thursday at 4:30 pm along with Burlington Notre Dame.
Mt. Pleasant, Danville, and Mediapolis will take part in the Williamsburg Invitational tomorrow, September 1st, at 4:30 pm. Panther boys’ head coach Mitch Anderson discussed some names that could make a splash this year for the program,
“[I am] Very excited about Ben Leishman. He had an excellent season as well. He was our number two runner last year, so always great to have your one-two back. And both of those boys are in the top six of the conference as far as from the varsity conference meet returners. He would be the number six, the runner in the conference coming back. So yeah, really looking forward to having a little bit of a one-two punch. And we have a newcomer as well that we’re gonna be adding. We’re gonna be running eighth grader, Logan Fedler, the varsity level, and he has been working out really well for us.”
Wapello, WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, and Columbus will participate at the Hillcrest Academy Early Bird meet tomorrow at 5:50 pm.
Van Buren County, Fairfield, and New London will run at the Wildwood Meet on Thursday at 5:20 pm.
High School Football
Mt. Pleasant will compete against Knoxville for their first home game of the season on Friday, September 4th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. Panther head coach John Bowlin talked about what his team will be working on throughout the week,
“We gotta get assignment sound. I mean, we gotta know what we’re doing on the basics. I think we’re still at the basics, so hard for us to put in a lot of other things when we can’t do the basics right every time. We got a couple guys that probably need to learn a little bit more to be able to get on the field, and hopefully that helps our depth. You know, but they gotta know their assignments to get in there. So that’s big, just keying in on the basics we’ve been working on for three weeks already. And I think we’ll be ready for the Panthers, it’ll be a great game. I think they’ll be an improved team this year and should be a tough one again, but hopefully we can keep it going.”
Wapello will look to bounce back on Friday at 7 pm against Highland on the road.
WACO will clash with Winfield-Mt. Union at home on Friday at 7 pm.
West Burlington/Notre Dame will take on Fort Madison at home on Friday at 7 pm.
Danville will head over to Louisa-Muscatine on Friday for a 7 pm kickoff.
Mediapolis will travel to Keokuk on Friday at 7 pm.
Fairfield will hit the road to play Centerville on Friday at 7:30 pm.
Washington will host Independence on Friday at 7:30 pm.
Central Lee will make the trip to Albia on Friday at 7:30 pm.
Van Buren County will face off against Columbus on Friday at 7 pm on the road.
High School Girls’ Tennis
Fairfield and Burlington Notre Dame competed in the inaugural Dan Staggs tournament over the weekend in Ottumwa and the Trojans took home some hardware. Soumya Mallick, who was playing for Natalie Steele, joined Ria Ross to win the No. 2 doubles tournament, while Mareyn Dunkin won both the No. 3 singles title and the No. 3 doubles championship with the help of Kinzely Dunkin.
The Trojans will host Fort Madison tonight at 4:30 pm.
Mt. Pleasant will face off against Burlington tonight on the road at 4 pm.
Burlington Notre Dame will take on Burlington on the road on Thursday, September 3rd, at 4:30 pm.
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team went 1-1 over the weekend to finish with a 1-2 record at the Jimmy John’s Classic. The Blackhawks were swept by Mineral Area College before defeating Spoon River College in four sets behind Callie Whitcomb’s (12 kills) and Daphne Brown’s (11 kills) 23 kills. SCC will stay at home for a matchup against Ellsworth Community College on Wednesday, September 2nd, at 6 pm.
The men’s soccer team handled Lincoln Trail College over the weekend, winning 4-1. Louey Franks netted two goals in the winning effort. The Blackhawks will host St. Louis Community College on Wednesday with the men’s team playing first at 2 pm.
College Football
Iowa kicks off the season against Northern Illinois at home on Saturday, September 5th, at 3:16 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the call.
Iowa State will host Southeast Missouri on Saturday to start their season with gametime at noon. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.
This Day in Sports History
1881 – First US men’s single tennis championships was held at Newport, Rhode Island.
1959 – Sandy Koufax breaks Dizzy Dean’s NL mark of 18 strikeouts in a single game against the San Francisco Giants.
1987 – The Great Potato Incident: Minor league Williamsport Bills catcher Dave Bresnahan attempts to lure an opposing baserunner off third base using a potato carved to look like a baseball; the umpire calls the runner safe, and the catcher is fined $50 and released by the team.