High School Track and Field
The State Track and Field meet will start on Thursday, May 16th, and run through Saturday, May 18th, in Des Moines. KILJ will bring updates throughout the three day event.
Some headlines to look out for:
The Mediapolis boys’ team will be competing in 12 events as the Bulldogs attempt to defend their state championship from last season.
The SEISC boys’ teams will be busy in Class 1A as Danville will be competing in seven events, Winfield-Mt. Union in six, and WACO in five events.
Danville’s Kenna Furnald will be participating in four events with the long jump yielding a possible state championship.
Lastly, the Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will have 10 members competing, including relay teams in the 800-sprint medley, the 4×200, and the 4×100.
High School Soccer
The boys’ Southeast Iowa Super Conference tournament concluded over the weekend and Mediapolis grabbed their second consecutive title, taking down Burlington Notre Dame 4-1.
Junior Alessandro Markomichelakis put up a hat trick for the Bulldogs and Carl Hines tallied the other goal.
The Nikes were able to find the back of the net late in the second half as senior Connor Bush executed a penalty kick.
The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will attempt to get back in the win column tonight at 7:30 pm at home against Wapello in the first round of the Class 2A Substate 5 bracket.
The WACO boys’ team will host Central Lee tonight at 5 pm for the first round of the Class 1A District 6 postseason bracket, while Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Danville on the road at 5 pm.
The Mediapolis boys’ team will face off against either Columbus or Danville in the Class 1A Substate 6 semifinal on May 20th.
The Mediapolis girls’ team will host Central Lee on Wednesday, May 15th, at 7 pm for the Class 1A Region 1 quarterfinal.
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will face off against Ottumwa tonight at home.
The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team will travel to Mt. Pleasant on Friday, May 17th, for the Class 2A Region 8 quarterfinal at 5:30 pm.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Burlington Notre Dame to take on Keokuk in the first round of the district 5 postseason at 5:30 pm tonight.
High School Tennis
The boys’ Class 1A Substate 5 team tournament saw a couple of Southeast Conference opponents compete and here’s the results.
At the top of the bracket, #1 Xavier swept #8 Keokuk 5-0. The Saints dropped just two games in the five matches. The Chiefs finished 1-11 on the season.
In the lone upset of the bracket, it was the #5-seed Fort Madison who knocked out #4 Oskaloosa 5-1 to advance to the semifinals to face off against the Saints. However, the Bloodhounds were unable to keep rolling, losing 5-0. Aiden Benda and James Janic each won a game in their two sets. The Bloodhounds finished 3-8.
Scrolling to the bottom of the bracket, Mt. Pleasant, the #3-seed, was tasked to take on #6 Albia in the first round. The Panthers dispatched the lower seed 5-0.
Phoenix Watson won both his sets 6-4. Dane Cook and Lou Schimmelpfennig each had a set where they blanked their opponent. Additionally, Gavin Ross and Sawyer Fulton defeated their opponents with ease by scores of 6-1 and 6-2.
The win paired the Panthers against the #2-seed Fairfield and it was the Trojans that pulled off the narrow victory 5-3.
On the singles front, Dane Cook and Zach Johnson both won their sets 2 to 0 but needed tiebreakers to get there. Fairfield would win the four other matches, which pushed the contest to doubles.
The team of Fulton and Cook defeated Rylan Anderson and Niko Emerson 6 to 2 in both sets to cut the lead to one; however, the team of Rumin Luo and Ethan Cass knocked out the Panthers, winning their match 7-6 and 6-2. Mt. Pleasant ended the season with an 8-4 record.
Fairfield will now make the trip up to Xavier High School to compete on Wednesday, May 15th, to see who will advance to the state tournament scheduled for May 30th-31st in Iowa City.
High School Golf.
Wapello will host districts today at Heritage Oaks with Winfield-Mt. Union and New London’s Coen Fitzpatrick traveling to compete.
The girls’ Class 1A Region 5 Final will take place at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia on Wednesday, May 15th, with New London competing as a team.
The West Liberty Country Club will host the girls’ Class 2A Region 5 final on Wednesday with Olivia Hines of Mediapolis competing as an individual.
The Williamsburg district meet will take place today at Stone Creek Golf Course with Washington competing as a team and Mt. Pleasant’s Reece Coffman participating as an individual.
The girls’ teams of Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and Washington will travel to Solon for their regional meet scheduled for Wednesday, May 15th.
High School Baseball
Mt. Pleasant will host Van Buren County to get the season rolling at 7 pm tonight.
Central Lee will start their season on May 20th on the road against Fort Madison at 7 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will take on New London on May 21st at 5:30 pm.
Mediapolis will square off against Cardinal tonight at 7:30 pm at home.
Burlington Notre Dame will travel to Cascade for a doubleheader today with game one at 5:30 pm.
High School Softball
Central Lee will travel to Fort Madison on May 20th at 7 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will hit the road to face off against New London at 7 pm on May 21st.
Mt. Pleasant will scrimmage Holy Trinity Catholic on Thursday, May 16th, at home at 6:15 pm.
Mediapolis will square off against Lone Tree on May 21st at 7 pm at home.
Van Buren County will travel to take on Fairfield at 7:30 pm on May 20th.
West Burlington will face off against Keokuk at home on May 20th at 7 pm.
Southeastern Community College
Despite entering the tournament as the #5-seed, Des Moines Area Community College pulled off the upset and won the NJCAA Region 11 championship yesterday over SCC 19-12.
The Blackhawks had to work their way to the championship game after falling to the Bears on Saturday 9-6. Brandon Vlcko smashed a home run and collected three RBIs in the game.
SCC would earn a second opportunity to take down the Bears after defeating Kirkwood 16-8, scoring at least one run in every inning after going scoreless in the first. Carter Gallagher and Marcus Beatty each hit a home run, but it was Caleb Wulf that cleaned up the bases with five RBIs in the win.
The offense continued their tear into the championship game, scoring six runs to start off the game; nevertheless, Des Moines Area would score three or more runs in five of their eight innings to earn the victory. Vlcko added another home run to his total and Caleb Klein smacked his own home run and tallied four RBIs.
The NJCAA national tournament will begin on May 25th.
This Day in Sports History
1905 – World heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries retires undefeated after 7 title defenses; returns in 1910 to be beaten by Jack Johnson.
1942 – The Helicopter makes its first cross-country flight.
1983 – Reggie Jackson is the first major league baseball player to strike out 2,000 times.
