High School Track and Field

Mt. Pleasant hosted their state qualifier last night and for Class 3A the top two place finishers in each event automatically qualify for the state meet with the next eight performances statewide also advancing, here’s the automatic qualifiers from last night. 

On the girls’ side for Mt. Pleasant, Alex Scott grabbed second place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.58 seconds. The 4×200 meter relay team grabbed the gold with a time of 1 minute and 45 seconds. The 4×100 meter relay teams of Mt. Pleasant and Washington qualified with first and second place finishes, respectively. The 800 medley team took first with a time of 1 minute and 52 seconds. Bailey Jalas leapt to a second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet and 6 inches. Josie Gilmore grabbed first in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet and 10 inches. Ella Ensminger qualified in the shot put with a second place heave of 35 feet and 11 inches. Lastly, the Panthers swept the discus with Kya Goodrich winning with a toss of 110 feet and 11 inches, while Savannah Slobodnik took second with a throw of 109 feet and 2 inches. 

On the boys’ side, Avin Truong leapt to a second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet and 7 inches. Fort Madison qualified in six events, while Washington and Keokuk each had four automatic qualifiers. 

The Class 2A qualifying rules mirror Class 3A as Mediapolis, West Burlington, Van Buren County, and Central Lee traveled west to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont for their meet yesterday. 

For the Mediapolis boys’ team, Solomon Zaugg swept the distance events with a first place time of 9 minutes and 58 seconds in the 3200 meter and a first place finish in the 1600 with a time of  4 minutes and 30 seconds. The Bulldogs grabbed first in the 4×800 (Owen and Will Schmidgall, Zaugg, and Logan Rosas), the 4×110 meter shuttle hurdle (Jackson Hutcheson, Kamden Stotlar, Ben Wolter, and Grady Gunn), the distance medley (Aedin Nelson, Noah Schmidgall, Reese Campbell, and Rosas), the 4×200 (Nelson, Henry Luttenegger, Noah Schmidgall, Kyler Crow), and the 4×100 meter relays (Nelson, Luttenegger, Noah Schmidgall, Crow). The 4×400 meter relay team also qualified with a second place time of 3 minutes and 32 seconds. 

Nathan Schmidgall claimed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.7 seconds. Logan Rosas took first in the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute and 59 seconds. Noah Schmidgall won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.96 seconds. Lastly, Henry Luttenegger leapt to a second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 20 feet and 4 inches. 

The Mediapolis girls’ team saw the 4×200 meter relay team of Bailey Jackson, Josie Hutcheson, Kira Messer, and Haley Steffener finish in second place with a time of 1 minute and 49 seconds. 

The West Burlington boys’ team had an automatic qualifier in Landry Haberichter in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.92 seconds. Logan Hamma captured gold in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.64 seconds. Lastly, the 4×100 meter relay team of Maddox Diewold, Eli Oleson, Layton Diewold, and Haberichter took second place with a time of 45.06 seconds.

The Van Buren County boys’ team had the distance medley team of Bryce Moquin, Tyler Stoltz, Kayden Simmons, and Lincoln Bainbridge finish in second place with a time of 3 minutes and 39 seconds. Moquin, Izaak Loeffler, Simmons, and Stoltz also took second place in the 4×200 meter relay. Lastly, Tyler Stoltz won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet and 1 inch.

Central Lee’s Grant Myhre finished in first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.81 seconds.

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.

High School Soccer

The Mediapolis girls’ team dominated Keokuk last night 7-1. The Bulldogs will host Central Lee on Wednesday, May 15th, at 7 pm for the Class 1A Region 1 quarterfinal. 

Hillcrest Academy will face off against Burlington Notre Dame and Danville will take on Mediapolis in the boys’ Southeast Iowa Super Conference semifinals tonight at WACO.

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.

In an early preview of postseason play, the Mt. Pleasant girls’ team defeated Burlington Notre Dame last night 7-5. The Panthers will face off against Ottumwa on Monday at home. 

The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team will hit the road to compete against Davenport Central tonight at 5:30 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team was unable to overcome the Nikes last night in a defensive showdown 1-0. The Panthers 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 will travel to Central DeWitt for team regionals today.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will take on Albia to begin their team substate bracket journey tomorrow, May 11th, 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 girls first round of regionals will take place today with Columbus, Danville, Holy Trinity Catholic, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union traveling to New London at Deerwood Golf Course. Van Buren County, West Burlington/Notre Dame, Central Lee, and Mediapolis will make the trip to Kalona Golf Course hosted by Mid-Prairie. 

The Williamsburg district meet will take place on Monday at Stone Creek Golf Course with Washington competing as a team.

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.

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will face off against Iowa Central today in the second round of the Region 11 tournament. 

This Day in Sports History

1870 – Jem Mace defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hour and 17 minutes and neither is struck by a punch.

2018 – Rafael Nadal breaks John McEnroe’s record for successive set wins on a single surface (49 on carpet) with 6-3, 6-4 win over Diego Schwartzman at the Madrid Open (clay).

2023 – Boston Red Sox reliever Kenley Jansen becomes the seventh MLB pitcher to earn 400 career saves, in a 5-2 victory over the Braves in Atlanta.

Prep Girls’ Soccer- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) have now released all the brackets for each of the classifications. Here’s our local matchups.

Class 2A

Region 8 is as far as we must travel with four Southeast Conference (SEC) teams and one Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) team all competing to be regional champion. The first-round matchups will take place on May 17^th.

On the top half of the bracket, Mt. Pleasant will host Burlington Notre Dame at 5:30 pm. The two are set to compete tonight but as it stands, the Panthers are 6-5 and the Nikes sit at 6-6. Despite the home field advantage, Notre Dame has history on their side, having gone 16-0 since 2011 allowing only nine goals.

The Panthers will depend on Tori Wilson and Charice Auwerda to supply the offense as they have combined for 30 goals. The Nikes have will lean on two seniors, Julianna Hill has totaled 11 assists and 16 goals for the season, and Yazmin Sorenson sports an 84% save percentage on the year.

The winner of the matchup will advance to the semifinals to face off against #8 Iowa City Liberty on May 21^st at 5:30 pm.

The bottom half of the bracket will a trio of SEC teams vying for a spot. Fort Madison (10-2) will compete against Keokuk (1-10) in the opening round at 7 pm. The Chiefs have dropped the last 11 contests against the Bloodhounds and have been outscored 33 to 0 in their last five matchups.

Keokuk’s lone win came against Fairfield, it was also the only game where the Chiefs have scored a goal. With the high volume of shots, Kyla Muston has done a respectable job between the pipes, saving 67.4% shots against her.

Fort Madison was ranked in the IGHSAU’s top 15 for a couple weeks, climbing up to the #13 spot before losing both games to Burlington this season, 1-0 and 2-0. Taylor Johnson has been incredible at the goalie spot, having allowed just four goals on the season. Hadley Wolfe is the goal scorer with 19.

The winner of the will travel to battle it out against Burlington (12-2). The Grayhounds find themselves back in the top 15 at the #15 slot after being a preseason choice, the squad started slow dropping two of their first four games. Since then, Burlington has allowed just four goals.

The seniors have settled the squad with Josephine Blazic scoring 21 goals this season and Jenna Hentzel saving 85.9% of shots coming her way.

The region 8 championship matchup will take place on May 23^rd at 5:30 pm with the highest remaining ranked team retaining home field advantage.

For a full look at the brackets, follow this link: Soccer Brackets

High School Track and Field

Mt. Pleasant will host the state qualifying meet tonight with Washington, Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Fairfield making the trip.

Danville, New London, WACO, Columbus, and Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to Sigourney for their state qualifying meet, while Mediapolis, West Burlington, Van Buren County, and Central Lee will head west to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont for their meet today.

High School Soccer

The Mediapolis girls’ team will face off against Keokuk tonight.

Hillcrest Academy will face off against Burlington Notre Dame and Danville will take on Mediapolis in the boys’ Southeast Iowa Super Conference semifinals tomorrow, May 10th, at WACO.

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.

Mt. Pleasant will take on Burlington Notre Dame tonight with the boys’ team on the road and the girls’ team at home. 

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to Central DeWitt for team regionals tomorrow, May 10th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team traveled to Fairfield for their singles and doubles district meets and here’s how the Panthers performed. For singles, Gavin Ross defeated Gavin Klaus of Davis County in the first round two games to one after winning 6-2 and 6-4 in the final two games, but fell to Bradey Johnson of Xavier in the second round, the eventual third place finisher. Beckham Prough fell in his first round matchup.

The Panthers struggled in the doubles bracket with Phoenix Watson and Lou Schimmelpennig and Sawyer Fulton and Dane Cook falling in their opening round matchups. 

Ruimin Luo of Fairfield took the crown in singles play to advance to state on May 21st in Iowa City.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will take on Albia to begin their team substate bracket journey on Saturday, May 11th, at Fairfield. 

High School Golf. 

The New London boys’ team hosted their sectional meet yesterday and the two teams advancing to districts were English Valleys who finished in first place with a team score of 336 and Winfield-Mt. Union who followed just ten strokes behind at 346. The Wolves saw standout performances from Carter Loyd, Justin Knipfer, and Cody Milks as they each carded an 86 (+14)–the fourth, fifth, and sixth best scores–for the 18-hole course with Konner Kinneberg shooting an 88.

Wapello grabbed third place with a team score of 380 as Zach Harbison punched his ticket to districts with the seventh best score of the course and the top individual score outside of the two advancing teams, tallying a 90. 

New London was led by Coen Fitzpatrick, who carded a 92, as he also advanced to districts as an individual. The Tigers shot a 405 as a team, which placed them in fourth.

Holy Trinity Catholic (426), Danville (428), and WACO (500) rounded out the card. Andy Mehmert led the Crusaders with a 103 for the course. Mattix Furnald carded a 96 for the Bears and WACO’s Malachi Rinner paced the Warriors with a score of 113. 

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 girls first round of regionals will take place tomorrow, May 10th, with Columbus, Danville, Holy Trinity Catholic, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union traveling to New London at Deerwood Golf Course. Van Buren County, West Burlington/Notre Dame, Central Lee, and Mediapolis will make the trip to Kalona Golf Course hosted by Mid-Prairie. 

The SEC boys’ teams met up at Mt. Pleasant for their sectional and Washington took first place with a team score of 302, but the other team to advance was Albia with a score of 319. Roman Roth continued his dominant season, finishing with an 18-hole score of 69 for the Demons.

Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant each shot a 341, earning them fourth and fifth place, respectively. The Panthers were led by seniors Reece Coffman (79) and Nate Dismang (80). Fairfield’s Sam Weaton carded an 82. Burlington Notre Dame finished with a 368, Fort Madison a 369, and Keokuk rounded out the card with a team score of 404.

The district meet will take place on Monday at Stone Creek Golf Course hosted by Williamsburg.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team competed in their conference meet yesterday and the Panthers grabbed fourth place with a team score of 422, while Keokuk clinched the crown with a score of 358. Heidi Rose led the Chiefs with a score of 82. Burlington and Fort Madison took second and third place, respectively, while Fairfield and Washington finished in fifth and sixth, respectively.

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.

Southeast Iowa Playbook

Danville track and field seniors Carter Fesler and Kamryn Sherwood were our special guests for last night’s episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook. For Fesler, accountability is his main lesson for leadership. 

“Yeah, I’d say I use a little bit of a stronger leadership type. We try and hold everybody accountable if everybody’s putting in the right work. Because at the end of the day, the determination, and the hard work that you put into this sport will come right back towards you. So, we try to sing everyone’s praises. When they do good, but when they do bad, we try and let them know and how to fix that and how to push forward.”

Long distance running is just as much mental preparation as it is physical, an aspect of the sport that Sherwood delved into,

“I would definitely say from my personal experience, the mental part is a lot harder for me because. At the end of the day, like when you step up on the track and you’re getting ready to race those long distances, it doesn’t matter. Like the workouts you skip the runs you cut short. It really matters like in your mind, if you believe in yourself and if you tell yourself you can, and if you just know like I’m going to run my race. I think that’s a lot bigger than any run… or any workout cut short.”

If you missed last night’s episode you can follow this link and also see our complete collection of the Southeast Iowa Playbook: Southeast Iowa Playbook

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will face off against the winner of Iowa Central versus NIACC tomorrow, May 10th.

This Day in Sports History

1901 – Cleveland’s Earl Moore no-hits the Chicago White Stockings for 9 innings but loses it and the game in the 10th inning 4-2.

1984 – The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings. The game started on May 8th but action was suspended in the 17th inning at 1 am due to a city curfew.

1987 – Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles became the first player to switch-hit homers in two consecutive games.