Wayland, IA- The boys’ Southeast Iowa Super Conference soccer tournament is in the books and Mediapolis has taken the crown after a strong offensive first half, downing Burlington Notre Dame 4-1. In a similar way to their matchup earlier in the season, the team who struck first won.

Although, the Bulldogs could not stop scoring as the four goals happened within a 14-minute stretch. Junior Alessandro Markomichelakis put up a hat trick for the Bulldogs and Carl Hines tallied the other goal.

Mediapolis’s offense has turned a corner since their 2-1 loss to Burlington Notre Dame back on April 29^th as the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 16 to 3 in their final four contests.

The Nikes were able to find the back of the net late in the second half as senior Connor Bush executed a penalty kick.

Mediapolis will face off against either Columbus or Danville in the Class 1A Substate 6 semifinal on May 20th. Burlington Notre Dame will attempt to get back in the win column tomorrow, May 13^th, at 7:30 pm at home against Wapello in the first round of the Class 2A Substate 5 bracket.

Fairfield, IA- Eight teams entered the Class 1A Substate 5 team tennis tournament and now only two are left to duel on Wednesday, May 15^th, at 3:30 pm. Here’s how we got there.

At the top of the bracket, Xavier entered as the #1-seed having to face off against the #8-seed Keokuk. No upset was to be found as the Saints swept each one of their singles positions and all together dropping just two games. 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.

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.

Waiting for the Panthers in the semifinals was Fairfield, the #2-seed, and it was a tough conference battle with the Trojans able to squeak out a 5-3 victory.

On the singles front, Dane Cook and Zach Johnson both won their sets 2 to 0 but needed tiebreakers to get there. Rumin Luo, Han Wang, Austin Loria, and Rylan Anderson had the Trojans up 4 to 2 with doubles to determine who would advance.

The team of Fulton and Cook defeated Anderson and Niko Emerson 6 to 2 in both sets to cut the lead to one; however, the team of 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 on Wednesday to see who will advance to the state tournament scheduled for May 30^th-31^st in Iowa City for Class 1A.

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.

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 semifinals took place last night and the championship game is set. Mediapolis took down Danville in dominant fashion 6-2. 

Burlington Notre Dame pulled off the upset in penalty kicks last night against Hillcrest Academy, winning 3-2. The Nikes will face off against Mediapolis for the conference championship today. 

The WACO boys’ team will host Central Lee on Monday, May 13th, 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 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 on Monday 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 on Monday.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team fell to Central DeWitt yesterday 5-1 in the first round of the Class 1A region 4 postseason bracket. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 7-4 record, including a 5-3 conference mark.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will take on Albia to begin their team substate bracket journey today at Fairfield. 

High School Golf. 

Wapello will host districts on Monday, May 13th, at Heritage Oaks with Winfield-Mt. Union and New London’s Coen Fitzpatrick traveling to compete. 

The Deerwood Golf Course in New London was the site for the first round of girls’ 5C regional golf and the home team certainly had the advantage, running away with the top spot was New London with a team score of 369, qualifying the Tigers for the regional final.

The Tigers were led by the two best scores on the course, belonging to Taylor Phillips, who carded an 80, and Sophie Malott, who shot an 83. Emma Busby also finished with a 101, which was the fifth best score of the course.

Louisa-Muscatine and Wapello also qualified with team scores of 394 and 467, respectively.

Holy Trinity Catholic finished in fourth as a team, Winfield-Mt. Union grabbed fifth, and WACO took sixth place. Columbus, Danville, and Moravia did not have enough players for a total team score.

Leading the charge for the Crusaders was Emma Mohrfeld with an 18-hole score of 112. Lily Freeman shot a 106 for the Wolves, a top ten score. WACO’s top golfer was Morgan Meyer with a score of 125, while Isabella Mitchell was the leader for Danville with a score of 156.

The Regional 5 Final will take place at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia on Wednesday, May 15th.

Mid-Prairie hosted the Class 2A 5A Regional yesterday and Tipton, Mid-Prairie, and West Liberty all advanced to the region final. Mediapolis finished in fourth with a score of 472 and Van Buren County took fifth place.

Olivia Hines of Mediapolis grabbed the gold individually with a score of 81 to advance to the region final.  

Burlington Notre Dame was led by Emersyn Hopkins’ top ten score of 101 and Van Buren County’s top golfer was Keely Duncan as she carded a 108. Reegyn Scott of Central Lee finished in 17th place with a score of 115.

The West Liberty Country Club will host the Region 5 final on Wednesday.

The Williamsburg district meet will take place on Monday 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 on Monday, May 13th.

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 on Monday at 7:30 pm at home.

Burlington Notre Dame will travel to Cascade for a doubleheader on Monday 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 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

SCC baseball advanced to the Region 11 semifinals yesterday after taking down Iowa Central 9-1 in seven innings. Caleb Klein clubbed a solo home run for the Blackhawks as Cole Smith and Caleb Wulf each notched two RBIs. 

Maddux Frese went 6.2 innings, striking out seven batters for his seventh win of the season. The Blackhawks will face of against Des Moines Area Community College today after they pulled off the upset against #1 Kirkwood. 

This Day in Sports History

1897 – Washington Senator catcher Charlie Farrell throws out eight attempted steals, the most all-time.

1919 – Washington Senators future Baseball Hall of Fame ace Walter Johnson pitches 12 scoreless innings in a famous 0-0 duel with Jack Quinn of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.

1977 – Ted Turner manages an Atlanta Braves game.

Girls’ Prep Golf- The Deerwood Golf Course in New London was the site for the first round of girls’ 5C regional golf and home team certainly had the advantage, running away with the top spot was New London by nearly 30 strokes with a team score of 369, qualifying the Tigers for the regional final.

The Tigers were led by the two best scores on the course belonging to Taylor Phillips, who carded an 80, and Sophie Malott, who shot an 83. Emma Busby also finished with a 101, which was the fifth best score of the course.

Also qualifying as a team was Louisa-Muscatine as they finished in second place with a team score of 394 and Wapello with a third-place finish of 467. The Arrows advanced since New London was the host.

The Falcons boasted the third and fourth best scores of the course of 90 and 92 in Kyley Wagner and Madison Bieri, respectively. Emma Gerhardt of Wapello touted the sixth best score of 104.

Holy Trinity Catholic finished in fourth as a team, Winfield-Mt. Union grabbed fifth, and WACO took sixth place. Columbus, Danville, and Moravia did not have enough players for a total team score.

Leading the charge for the Crusaders was Emma Mohrfeld with an 18-hole score of 112. Teagan Snaadt carded a respectable 115.

Lily Freeman shot a 106 for the Wolves, a top ten score, and Afton Wilkerson finished with a 117.

WACO’s top golfer was Morgan Meyer with a score of 125.

Kinlee Brown shot a 106 for Columbus, while Isabella Mitchell was the leader for Danville with a score of 156.

The Regional 5 Final will take place at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia on Wednesday, May 15^th.