Author: Nathan Bloechl

Girls Wrestling: Blint 7th, McNamee DNP at Girls State Tournament:

Abby Blint and Ella McNamee made history again for Mount Pleasant, competing in this weekend’s Iowa Girls High School Wrestling championships.

Blint placed 7th in the 115-pound bracket while McNamee showed out well despite not placing.

Blint won her consolation 7th place match by fall over Mount Vernon’s Maddie Plotz to get onto the podium. She started her weekend with a pair of fall wins before running into trouble in the championship quarterfinals.

Blint dropped a SV-1 decision 7-5 to North Cedar’s Adison Musser, knocking the Panther senior to the consolation bracket.

Ella McNamee won her first match of the tournament by fall in 3:46 before being defeated via fall in the second round.

In the consolations McNamee picked up a duo of wins — one by major decision — before falling in the consolation quarters by 7-4 decision to to Ava McNeal of Lewis Central.

Girls Wrestling: IGHSAU Sanctions Girls Wrestling:

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Board of Directors have voted unanimously to sanction girls wrestling as the organization’s 11^th sport.

The vote was made at the IGHSAU’s January 12^th board of directors meeting and was announced prior to the start of the championship round of the Girls State Wrestling Tournament Saturday in Coralville.

The first IGHSAU-sanctioned season will take place during the 2022-23 school year.

To date, 58 schools have committed to sponsoring girls wrestling programs in Iowa.

The latest data from Trackwrestling.com shows 1,018 girls participating in high school wrestling, represented by over 185 Iowa schools.

Prep Wrestling: Weekend Roundup

Mount Pleasant 6th in Williamsburg 

The Mount Pleasant wrestling team placed sixth in the six-team Raider Invite in Williamsburg on Saturday.

Carson Coleman finished second individually at 126 to lead Mount Pleasant.

He was beaten in the finals by Zach Westercamp of Fairfield.

Gannon McNamee and Bowen Davis were third place finishers for the Panthers, as well.

Western Dubuque won the team title.

New London Goes 4-1 at Steinkamp Duals

Dominic Lopez went 5-0 with three falls and technical fall as the New London wrestling team went 4-1 at the Steinkamp Duals in Winthrop on Saturday.

The Tigers earned wins over East Buchanan, Edgewood-Colesburg, Jesup and Sumner-Fredericksburg while falling to Waterloo West on criteria.

Gage Burden was undefeated in five duals with two falls.

Josh Glendening and Trent Wilkerson also had unblemished weekends for New London.

Notre Dame Rolls in Alburnett

Notre Dame had seven individual champions as the third-ranked Nikes cruised to the team title in Alburnett.

Carter West, Blaine Frazier, Tate O’Shea, Isaiah Fenton, Sam West, C.J. Walrath and Kayden Dietzenbach all were crowned victors.

Alburnett was the team runner-up while Dike-New Hartford placed third.

WACO Third at L-M Invite

WACO placed third and Mediapolis 7th at this weekend’s Louisa-Muscatine Invite.

Jonah Clark won the 220-pound title to led WACO’s attack. He pinned Burlington’s Julian Perez-Hall to win it all.

Kris Boone was second at 170-pounds for the Warriors as well.

Mediapolis’ Quinten Aney was, no surprise, an individual champion at 138 pounds.

Aney earned a fall, tech fall and a major decision in his finale.

It was his 150th career victory.

Prep Basketball: Panthers Sweep Central Lee Saturday

Mount Pleasant 49, Central Lee 35

Dewon Trent scored 15 points as Mount Pleasant took care of Central Lee 49-35 Saturday at Panther Gymnasium.

Aaiden Ashton added 13 points while Dylon Hagans poured in a season-high eight.

The win moved the Panthers to 5-9 on the year.

They’ll get a date with Keokuk on Friday night.

Mount Pleasant 50, Central Lee 36 (Girls) 

Andrea Lopreato had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Mount Pleasant to a 50-36 win over Central Lee Saturday.

Kenna Lamm chipped in with 11 for the Panthers. Jadan Brumbaugh had six, as well.

The Panthers evened their ledger at 8-8.

They’ll now be off until Friday when they battle Keokuk.

Other Saturday finals:

• Burlington 63, No. 7 Clear-Creek Amana 40
• Danville 64, West Central 34
• WACO 67, New London 48
• E-B-F 76, Mediapolis 45
• No. 1 Fort Madison 71, West Hancock 52

 

 

Prep Wrestling: Mount Pleasant Falls to Fairfield, WACO Sweeps; Other Prep Results

Fairfield 54, Mount Pleasant 21 

Mount Pleasant won three matches by forfeit, but only picked up one true win in yesterday’s Southeast Conference dual against Fairfield.

The Panthers lost 54-21.

Frank Tousignant was the lone victor for Mount Pleasant, winning 4-3 over Fairfield’s Cesar Smithburg.

Ella McNamee, Abby Blint and Gannon McNamee were the three winners via forfeit for the Panthers.

WACO Wins Two at New London

WACO had five double winners leading to dual wins over Highland and New London yesterday.

Louden Huisenga, a freshman for the Warriors, earned a fall and a forfeit at 145 to lead the way.

Jonah Clark, a top-ranked 220-pounder, won two matches by forfeit.

It’s been an odd year for New London, who individually have had a lot of success, but have not been able to come together in duals.

Still, the Tigers had five wrestlers go 2-0: Gavin Menke-Bailey, Josh Glendening, the Lopez brothers and 195-pounder Trent Wilkerson.

Columbus Sweeps Home Dual

Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union beat Van Buren County and Mediapolis en route to a perfect night at their home triangular.

Ty Scorpil went 2-0 with a fall and a forfeit to his name to pace the Wildcats.

Top-ranked 145-pounder Quinten Aney led Mediapolis with a 2-0 mark with a fall and a forfeit as well.

Mediapolis and Van Buren County tied at 36.

Notre Dame Steamrolls to Two Easy Wins

Class 2A’s third-ranked Notre Dame routed Cardinal 57-12 then blanked Pekin 72-0 picking up two easy wins yesterday at their home triangular.

The Nikes earned seven falls against Cardinal then rolled that momentum into the monster win over Pekin.

Notre Dame is now 17-0 on the year and 7-0 in Super Conference action.

They’ll wrestle at the prestigious Alburnett Tournament this weekend.

Prep Bowling: Panther Boys Rally for Win

The Mount Pleasant boys’ bowling team rallied for a 62 pin win over Fairfield yesterday at Iris Lanes.

Jonathan Fortin engineered the comeback with a series 382.

The win moved Mount Pleasant to 4-3.

In the girls duel, the Panthers easily handled Fairfield, rolling to a near 600 pin win.

Addie McGehearty turned in a series 351 while Bethany Drury aided the attack with a series 332.

They’re now 6-1.

Prep Basketball: Mount Pleasant Hosts No. 4 Washington

The Mount Pleasant boys’ basketball team will get a huge test tonight when they welcome in the No. 4 ranked Washington Demons in a Southeast Conference clash.

The Demons, 12-1 on the year, have already earned wins over No. 5 Pella and No. 3 Ballard.

Their lone loss is to No. 1 Fort Madison.

Washington returns their usual cast of characters, who have haunted southeast Iowa over the last two years.

Ethan Patterson leads the team with 18.2 points per game while backcourt mate Kasen Bailey pours in 17 points per game.

Do-it-all lunch-pail forward Lucas Kroll adds 11 points and eight boards per game.

Mount Pleasant is still searching for some consistency on both ends. After winning two straight over Albia and Fairfield, the Panthers were tripped up by Oskaloosa on Tuesday.

Dewon Trent leads the team with 16 points and eight rebounds per game while Payton Hagans and Owen Vansickel have both settled in at about 10 points per game.

The Demons protected their home floor with the first matchup between the two schools in a 70-41 win.

Tonight’s game will begin at 7:30 p.m. and you can listen on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.

Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call.

Curt Watson’s group will be at Washington.

They’re coming off a Monday win over Holy Trinity and will tip at 7:30 p.m. as well.

Other area matchups tonight:

• West Burlington at Holy Trinity
• Highland at Wapello
• Cardinal at WACO
• Louisa-Muscatine at Pekin
• Danville at Notre Dame
• Van Buren County at New London
• Lone Tree at Mediapolis
• Hillcrest Academy at Columbus

Women’s College Basketball: Clark Makes History

Caitlin Clark scored 35 points and added 13 rebounds and 11 assists making history in Iowa’s 105-49 win over Minnesota yesterday.

Clark is the only Big Ten women’s basketball player to record a triple-double in back-to-back games and four triple-doubles in a single season.

Her feat is so rare, there’s only been six players to record back-to-back 30-point triple-doubles in the NBA, WNBA & Division I men’s & women’s college basketball, since 2000, joining a list that includes the late Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The No. 25 Hawkeyes improved to 11-4 with the win.

They’ll get a road date at Penn State next Tuesday.