Author: Slaten Swords

High School Track

The Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis girls’ teams competed in the 49th Washington Invitational last night and the Panthers ran away with the team victory, collecting 148 points, while Mediapolis finished in 5th place with 60 points. 

Fort Mt. Pleasant, Kynlee White continued to dominate the 200-meter dash with a 1st place time of 26.34 seconds. In the field events, Ella Ensminger and Ava English finished 1st and 2nd place in the shot put as Ensminger’s throw of 39 feet even was the 5th best in school history. The Panthers picked up victories in the sprint medley, 4×200, 4×100, and 4×400 meter relays. 

Mediapolis collected three silvers with Avery Crear leaping 5 feet in the high jump, Bryn Wright finishing with a time of 2 minutes and 31 seconds in the 800-meter run , and the 4×800 meter relay team clocking a time of 10 minutes and 30 seconds. 

Winfield-Mt. Union hosted their invitational last night with the Keokuk girls’ team winning with 128 points, while the WACO boys’ team outpaced the hosts with 125 points. 

On the girls’ side, Danville finished in 3rd place with 87 points. Delaney Newberry’s time of 27.18 seconds won the 200-meter dash. Alaina Gourley sprinted to the gold in the 400-meter dash with a sub-one minute time.

Winfield-Mt. Union’s Josie Nelson grabbed the win in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.3 seconds, which led to a win in the shuttle hurdle relay. WACO secured a victory in the distance medley relay with a time of 4 minutes and 50 seconds, while Bren Graber took the 400-meter hurdles. 

On the boys’ side, WACO cruised to the team win as Jude Dykstra narrowly defeated Danville’s Jackson Shacklett in the 1600-meter run. Louden Husinega took the high jump with ease, clearing 6 feet and 1 inch. The Warriors won the sprint medley relay.

Winfield-Mt. Union totaled 108 points by the end of the meet. Kohlby Newsom grabbed a win in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.04 seconds. Cruz Hagmeier won the gold in the 110-meter hurdles. Cooper Buffington’s throw of 141 feet and 6.25 inches claimed the discus. The Wolves took the distance medley and shuttle hurdle relays.

New London’s team speed was unmatched, winning the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relays. In the field events, Logan Franklin leapt 18 feet and 11.25 inches to win the long jump and Cael Wilka won the shot put. Danville took home the 4×400 and 4×800 meter relays. 

Winfield-Mt. Union, WACO, Columbus, and Van Buren County will participate in the Sigourney Co-Ed meet on Tuesday, April 29th. 

New London will host the Co-Ed Chris Selby Invitational on Tuesday with Danville, West Burlington/Notre Dame, Mediapolis, and Wapello making the trip.

Mt. Pleasant and Central Lee will compete in the Keokuk Relays on Tuesday.

The 115th Drake Relays continues today with a handful of local athletes competing. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be giving updates throughout the multi-day event. Here’s a look at what happened yesterday.

Burlington’s Kylee Hill missed out on the girls’ discus finals, throwing 124 feet for 11th place. Greyson Hartman of Washington finished with the silver in the boys’ shot put with a heave of 58 feet and 11 inches. Lastly, Fairfield’s Ryan Giberson and Eli Zilman both cleared 6 feet and 4 inches to tie for 4th place. 

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team slammed Keokuk last night, winning 9-0. Max Heater, Dane Cook, and Elijah Rynders did not allow their opponent to win a game in their singles matches. Sawyer Fulton won a tiebreaker over Tyce Hoppe for his singles showdown. Head coach Tyler Rodgers gave props to his team’s development, especially Fulton,

“Well, Sawyer Fulton from last year to this year has taken a giant leap. I think he was our three-man last year. He’s playing #1 and it’s always tough being the #1 man because you get everybody’s best, but he’s handled it really well. Max heater, a freshman, has really stepped up and been impressive and then kind of senior dominated Dan Cook, Lou Shimmelpfennig, Beckham Prough, and Elijah Rynders have all been around for a while and are finally getting their chance to really play and taking advantage of it.”

In a battle of the undefeateds, the Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will square off against Fairfield on the road.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team traveled to Keokuk last night and lost 7-2. Lila Cook and Hannah Villaplaza won their singles matches with the closest game being 6-3. The Panthers will celebrate their senior night on Monday, April 28th, against Fort Madison.

The Fairfield girls’ team remained undefeated on the season, taking down Maharishi last night 8-1. The Trojans will get a rematch with Burlington, their closest win of the season, on Monday in a road showdown.

High School Golf

Winfield-Mt. Union took on Louisa-Muscatine yesterday and swept the competition in thrilling fashion, with the boys’ team winning 158-168 and the girls’ team sneaking out with a 224-227 victory. Konner Kinneberg showed out, hitting one-over par for the course for the boys’ team, while the girls’ team was led by Kellee Milks, who shot at 47. 

New London will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union today on the road. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team finished in 8th place at the Oskaloosa Invite yesterday out of 12 teams with a team score of 416. The SEC girls’ teams will make the trip to Burlington on Monday, April 28th. 

Mediapolis split their matchup against Holy Trinity Catholic yesterday with the girls’ team losing 236-223 and the boys’ team coming out on top 167-193. In the boys’ meet, four Bulldogs tied for the top spot with a 42 in William Worrall, Gannon Gunn, Jonathan Ford, and Max Griffin.

Holy Trinity Catholic will host New London on Monday.

Mediapolis will face off against Burlington Notre Dame on Tuesday, April 29th, on the road. 

The Van Buren County and Burlington Notre Dame boys’ teams participated in the Davis County Invitational yesterday and the Nikes finished in 3rd place with a team score of 338 followed by the Warriors in 4th place with a team score of 352.  

Burlington Notre Dame will travel to compete in a triangular on Monday at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will host an invite today with Mt. Pleasant and Van Buren County making the trip.  

The WACO boys’ team will participate in the Sigourney Invite today. 

Wapello will take on Columbus on Monday at home.

Danville will make the trip to Central Lee on Monday to play at the Green Acres Country Club.

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team fell to Highland last night 6-2. The Mediapolis boys’ team will travel to WACO on Monday, April 28th, at 5 pm.

The Fairfield girls’ team lost 9-1 against Burlington last night as the Trojans managed just two shots on goal. Fairfield will tangle with Mt. Pleasant on Monday with the boys on the road and the girls at home.

Burlington Notre Dame swept Wapello last night with the girls’ team handling the Arrows 5-1, while the boys’ team clobbered Wapello 11-0. Lexi Korschgen tabbed two goals for the Nikes in the girls’ game, while Kallie Kemper netted the lone goal for the Arrows. 

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Central Lee tonight at 5 pm. The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team will compete in the Assumption Invitational tomorrow, April 26th. 

The Wapello boys’ team will compete against Sigourney Keota tonight at 5 pm on the road. 

The Columbus girls’ team shutout Central Lee last night as Iris Garza grabbed a goal and an assist. The Central Lee boys’ team remained undefeated after taking down Columbus last night 3-1. 

The Central Lee girls’ team will face off against Canton at home tonight at 5 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team lost their road showdown against Fort Madison last night 6-0 as Teagan Snaadt collected a hat trick for the Bloodhounds. The Panthers will travel to Washington at 5 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team allowed Fort Madison to score first last night on a penalty kick, but the rest of the match belonged to the Panthers as they held on to the #1 spot in conference after winning 5-1. Dylan White scored two goals in the winning effort. Head coach Rocco Russo was overjoyed after snapping a 10-game losing streak to the Bloodhounds,

“It feels amazing. You know, one of the biggest things we’ve been talking to our guys about is responding to a negative event and I think they showed that they showed their last game against Burlington. They went up 1-0 on us and we responded well, played a nice game after that. And Fort Madison is a great team. They got great coaches over there and the main message we sent out this week was to stick together and fight adversity. And they showed that, I mean they bounced back, we gave up the PK early and we played lights out after that.”

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will participate in a tournament at Muscatine tomorrow with game one at 9 am.

The Mediapolis girls’ team will take on Monmouth-Roseville tonight on the road at 5 pm. 

The Danville boys’ team will travel to Hillcrest Academy tonight at 5 pm.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The baseball team will travel to Southwestern Community College tomorrow, April 26th, for the first two games of a three-game series.

The softball team starts their Region 11 tournament as the #3-seed on Wednesday, April 30th, in a best-of-three series against Iowa Western with the winner advancing to the championship game.

This Day in Sports History

1950 – Chuck Cooper becomes the first African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics).

1974 – The NFL moves the goalposts and adopts a sudden-death playoff.

1978 – Phillie Phanatic makes first appearance.

Prep Girls’ Basketball- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) made the results from their basketball survey sent to coaches and activities directors back in March public and here’s some of the takeaways from the survey.

Declining Participation?

Two questions centered around the issue of declining participation numbers for basketball. One dealt with the statewide cause and the other focused on why numbers may be down at the respondent’s school.

There were nine total choices: basketball is difficult, long season, conflicts with club volleyball, other sports or activities, playing time, time constraints, burn out, girls are weeded out early on, or other, and the respondent was to check all that apply.

Interestingly, around 90% of respondents thought statewide participation was down due to conflicts with club volleyball with basketball being a difficult sport coming in second around 75%. None of the other reasons crossed 50%.

Shifting to locality centered thinking, club volleyball conflicts shrunk to around 60%, while basketball difficulty hovered around 70% overtaking the main reason for respondents when it came to their school.

Family Week?

The most divisive question was if the respondents were in favor of implementing a “family week” from Christmas Eve to January 1^st with 55.79% of respondents saying no to the family week.

HUDL

Most feel comfortable with the HUDL, a video posting/sharing app for games and highlights, process (83.13%). However, individual responses felt that issues arose with the statewide pool of videos, making it difficult to find film on opponents.

Additionally, a common experience of opposing schools or coaches not posting their film persisted amongst the responses. Another common concern was the cost with the HUDL livestream budgets hovering around $12,000.

How to make the Game Better?

There was a litany of responses for what the respondent would add or change to the sport of basketball with some suggesting the removal of conferences and having a district system or more flexibility for schools to schedule teams of equal talent.

Ironically, the most prevalent answer involved removing something from the game. Coaches and ADs thought it would help everyone if the season was shortened with one suggestion saying to start the season after Thanksgiving and a couple taking the total number of games down by at least three or four.

More

If you would like to see the full results from the survey, then follow this link: Survey Results

High School Track

The Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis girls’ teams will travel to Washington to participate in an invitational tonight.

Central Lee, Wapello, Van Buren County, Columbus, and West Burlington/Notre Dame will travel to compete in the Gardner-Wilson Relays at Louisa-Muscatine High School tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield, and Mediapolis boys’ teams will compete in the Ike Ryan Relays at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont High School tonight.

Winfield-Mt. Union will celebrate their senior night today at the Pankoke Relays with Danville, New London, and WACO making the trip.

The Fairfield girls’ team will compete in the Golden Hawk Relays tonight at Mid-Prairie High School.

The 115th Drake Relays will get underway for our local high school athletes today. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be giving updates throughout the multi-day event. For a full list of all of our local athletes competing, follow this link: Drake Relays Roster. 

The field events this afternoon will be our focus for today with Kylee Hill of Burlington throwing the discus and Washington’s Greyson Hartman heaving the shot put. The high jump will feature three members of the Southeast Conference in Fairfield’s Eli Zillman and Ryan Giberson along with Kenden Bowie of Fort Madison. Lastly, Mt. Pleasant’s Avin Truong will be competing in the long jump.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team defeated Fort Madison last night 8-1 to improve to 4-0 on the season. Lou Schimmelpfennig and Elijah Rynders shutout their opponent to win their singles showdown, while Max Heater glided to an 8-2 final against James Janic. The team of Dane Cook and Rynders escaped with a narrow 8-6 win in their doubles match.

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

The Fairfield girls’ team will face off against Maharishi tonight at home, while the boys’ team will attempt to host Mt. Pleasant tomorrow, April 25th.

High School Golf

Wapello hosted their invite yesterday and the Highland girls’ team dominated their way to a nearly 30-stroke lead, while the Hillcrest Academy boys’ team handled business, shooting a 330 for the victory. Emmalin Marshall’s nine-hole score of 92 led the Arrows to a 2nd place team score of 414. Columbus grabbed 3rd place followed by Burlington Notre Dame and Winfield-Mt. Union took 6th place with a team score of 474.

On the boys’ side, the Wolves slotted themselves into 2nd place with a solid team score of 358. In a distant 3rd place was Wapello with a team score of 404 as Barrett Garrison carded an 87. Columbus and Danville, separated by a stroke, finished in 4th and 5th place, respectively. Danville’s Mattix Furnald turned in an 83 for the nine-hole course.

WACO will face off against Columbus today at home. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will hit the road to compete against Louisa-Muscatine tonight. 

Wapello will take on Columbus on Monday, April 28th, at home.

Danville will make the trip to Central Lee on Monday to play at the Green Acres Country Club.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to compete in the Oskaloosa Invite today. 

The Fairfield girls’ team will hit the road to participate in the Golden Hawk Invitational today. 

Mediapolis will host Holy Trinity Catholic today.

The Van Buren County and Burlington Notre Dame boys’ teams will participate in the Davis County Invitational today.

The Fairfield boys’ team will host an invite tomorrow, April 25th, with Mt. Pleasant and Van Buren County making the trip.  

New London will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union tomorrow on the road. 

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will take on Highland on the road tonight at 5 pm.

Burlington Notre Dame will square off against Wapello tonight on the road with girls’ teams playing first at 5 pm with the boys game to follow.

Fairfield will take on Burlington tonight at 5 pm with the girls’ team at home and the boys’ team on the road.

Columbus will host Central Lee at the Muscatine Soccer Complex tonight with the girls’ teams playing at 5 pm and the boys’ teams to follow at 7 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will square off against Fort Madison tonight with the boys at home and the girls on the road. 

The Mediapolis girls’ team will take on Monmouth-Roseville tomorrow, April 25th, on the road at 5 pm. The Mediapolis boys’ team will travel to WACO on Monday, April 28th, at 5 pm.

The Danville boys’ team will travel to Hillcrest Academy tomorrow at 5 pm.

High School Girls’ Wrestling

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) first sanctioned girls’ wrestling for the 2022-23 season, then followed that up with the addition of two classes in last year’s state tournament. As the sport continues to rapidly grow, the IGHSAU approved the implementation of a girls wrestling state dual tournament for the 2026-27 season.

The tentative date for the dual state qualifying meets is January 18th, 2027, with state to follow on January 22nd. The number of classes and the venue will be announced at a later time. The state dual tournament will commence before the individual state qualifying meets, similar to Iowa high school boys’ wrestling.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team ends the regular season with a bitter taste, getting swept by Indian Hills Community College on the road. The ICCAC Player of the Week, Jeliane Stewart, nearly brought the Blackhawks back herself in game one, swatting a three-run shot in the top of the sixth to go down a run; but, the offense could not capitalize on the Freshman’s sixth home run in seven games as they went down 4-3. Game two was a struggle in the circle, allowing double-digit runs for the first time since April 12th in a 13-3 final. 

The baseball team swept Des Moines Area Community College in front of the home crowd yesterday, slugging the Bears 13-3 in game one and sneaking away with game two 13-10. The Blackhawks will travel to Southwestern Community College on Saturday, April 26th, for the first two games of a three-game series.

This Day in Sports History

1956 – AL umpire Frank Umont is the first to wear glasses in a regular season game. 

1963 – Future Basketball Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy plays his last NBA game for Boston as the Celtics beat the LA Lakers, 112-109, in Game 6 for their 5th straight NBA Championship.

1981 – Bill Shoemaker wins his 8,000th race, 2,000 more than any other jockey at the time.

Prep Girls’ Wrestling- High School girls’ wrestling has been growing exponentially across the nation, but especially here in Iowa with the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) first sanctioning it for the 2022-2023 season then expanding it to two classes this past season.

Now, the IGHSAU has approved the implementation of a girls wrestling state dual tournament for the 2026-27 season.

“A state dual meet tournament is something that our wrestling schools have wanted,” said IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich. “The impressive growth of girls wrestling in Iowa along with more schools being able to field a full roster of wrestlers in every weight class shows that girls wrestling is ready for a dual team tournament.”

The tentative date for the dual state qualifying meets is January 18^th, 2027, with state to follow on January 22^nd. The number of classes and the venue will be announced at a later time. The state dual tournament will commence before the individual state qualifying meets, similar to Iowa high school boys’ wrestling.

West Burlington, IA- The Iowa Community College Athletic Association (ICCAC) released their athletes of the week for April 14^th through the 20^th and a trio of Blackhawks made the list, including two softball players.

Softball

Southeastern Community College’s (SCC) freshman catch Jeliane Stewart had a monster week, crushing four home runs in four games, driving in eight runs, while batting 0.700. Stewart added another home run to her total in their win over St. Louis Community College on Monday.

Navy Clark earned her third Player of the Week honor for the season after picking up two wins this past week in 12 innings of work. Clark gave up just one earned run off of six hits, while striking out a total of 18 batters.

Baseball

Michael Farina mashed the ball at the plate over the week to aid SCC’s four wins over ranked opponents. Farina picked up 11 hits over the five games, tallied a home run and a triple, tabbed a home run and seven RBIs, while touching home eight times himself.

Prep Track and Field- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released the co-ed State Qualifying meet assignments for the four classes yesterday and here’s where are local teams will be competing.

Class 1A

WACO will be the host site for 14 teams, including the Warriors, with Danville, Columbus, New London, Wapello, and Winfield-Mt. Union making the trip over to Wayland. Only first place is guaranteed a spot at state with the other eight slots up for grabs amongst the rest of the other host sites.

Van Buren County will hit the road to participate at Wayne in their state qualifying meet.

Class 2A

Mediapolis has had at least a share of the boys’ team state championship for the past two seasons and their journey to add a third title will begin in Monticello.

Central Lee will participate in their meet at PCM.

The top two place finishers from each site will qualify for state with the next eight times or marks from around the state also qualifying for state.

Class 3A

Mount Pleasant will be the place to be with fellow Southeast Conference foes making an appearance in Fairfield, Fort Madison, and Keokuk, while West Burlington/Notre Dame will join the fray.

The top two place finishers from each site will qualify for state with the next eight times or marks from around the state also qualifying for state.

Class 4A

Burlington will travel east to North Scott for their qualifying meet.

The top two place winners in each event, plus the next 12 best performances statewide will qualify for the state meet.

More

The State Qualifying Meet is scheduled to start at 4 pm on May 15^th.

High School Track

Mt. Pleasant celebrated their seniors at the Panther Relays last night and the girls’ team exited with the team crown, collecting 129.5 points, while Mediapolis led the boys’ teams with 118 points.

On the girls’ side, Alex Scott took 1st place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.66 seconds and the 200-meter dash, clocking a time of 26.45 seconds. The Panthers also swiped a victory in the 4×200 meter relay. Some of the top finishes for the seniors included a 3rd mark for Alexis Wagner in the 800-meter run, a 3rd place throw in the shot put for Ava English, and Savannah Slobodnik grabbing 6th place in the shot put and discus. 

Winfield-Mt. Union was led by Josie Nelson, who took home the bronze in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.58 seconds, and Kynlee Buffington as she leapt 16 feet and 10.75 inches to clinch 2nd place in the long jump.

Danville’s Alaina Gourley took 6th place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.16 seconds. Kate Lanz of Wapello took home 4th place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute and 3 seconds to lead the Arrows. 

WACO’s Josie Dykstra finished in 4th place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 12 seconds. Bryn Wright of Mediapolis earned the silver in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5 minutes and 17 seconds. Central Lee’s Aubrey Weber tossed the discus 109 feet and 11 inches to finish in 3rd place. West Burlington/Notre Dame had Kaitlyn Kipp grab 5th place in the 800-meter run. 

On the boys’ side, the Bulldogs won three events to help capture the team win. Will Schmidgall outsprinted the competition in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.29 seconds and outpaced the field in the 1600-meter run with a mark of 4 minutes and 37 seconds. Lane Rigdon took the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes and 12 seconds.

Mt. Pleasant grabbed 4th place with 85 points as Avin Truong took home the win in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet and 9.5 inches. The Panthers finished in 2nd place in four other events. Danville’s Isaac Shinn won the 3200-meter run, clocking a time of 10 minutes and 22 seconds.

The Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis girls’ team will travel to Washington to participate in an invitational tomorrow, April 24th.

Central Lee, Wapello, Van Buren County, Columbus, and West Burlington/Notre Dame will travel to compete in the Gardner-Wilson Relays at Louisa-Muscatine High School tomorrow.

The Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield, and Mediapolis boys’ teams will compete in the Ike Ryan Relays at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont High School tomorrow.

The WACO boys’ team hosted the Warrior Relays and finished atop the Class B team rankings with 157 points, while Van Buren County captured 1st place in the Class A division with 117 points.

Starting with the hosts, Hayden Shelman ran down a 1st place time of 23.73 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Shelman would take home another gold in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet and 11.5 inches. In the 800-meter run, Jude Dykstra took 1st place with a time of 2 minutes and 9 seconds and he followed that up with a victory in the 3200-meter run with a mark of 10 minutes and 32 seconds. Louden Huisenga cleared 5 feet and 8 inches to win the high jump.

Winfield-Mt. Union’s 129.5 points were good enough for 2nd place as a team. Kohlby Newsom displayed his endurance in the 1600-meter run, getting 1st place with a time of 4 minutes and 48 seconds. Cruz Hagmeier hopped his way to a 1st place time of 15.69 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles. The Wolves were able to win the 4×800, sprint medley, and distance medley relays. New London grabbed 1st place in the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relays.

Wapello’s Justyn Faulkner took home the gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.02 seconds. Kolton Small swept the throwing events, winning shot put with a heave of 48 feet and 8 inches and discus with a toss of 138 feet and 7 inches. 

For Class A, Lincoln Bainbridge led Van Buren County with a 1st place time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds in the 800-meter run. Gavin Noll paced his way to the gold in the 1600-meter run with a sub-five minute time. Kayden Simmons grabbed the win in the 110-meter hurdles. Landry Loeffler earned the gold in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11 minutes and 29 seconds, which was 30 seconds faster than second place. The Warriors won the 4×200, 4×400, sprint medley, and distance medley relays.

Landry Haberichter of West Burlington/Notre Dame exhibited his speed, taking the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.18 seconds and the 200-meter dash, registering a time of 22.82 seconds. Logan Hamma gathered 1st place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.97 seconds. Mason Watkins cleared 6 feet and 2 inches to win the high jump. Central Lee’s Kagan Damico was the best finisher for the Hawks with silvers in the high jump and the 400-meter hurdles.

Winfield-Mt. Union will celebrate their senior night tomorrow at the Pankoke Relays with Danville, New London, and WACO making the trip.

Fairfield traveled to Ottumwa to participate in the Don Newell Classic last night and the boys’ team took 2nd place with 129 points and the girls’ team finished in 7th place with 27 points.

The Fairfield girls’ team will compete in the Golden Hawk Relays tomorrow at Mid-Prairie High School.

The 115th Drake Relays will get underway for our local high school athletes tomorrow. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be giving updates throughout the multi-day event. For a full list of all of our local athletes competing, follow this link: Drake Relays Roster

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will host Fort Madison tonight, while the girls’ team will take on Keokuk on the road tomorrow, April 24th.

The Fairfield girls’ team will face off against Maharishi tomorrow at home.

High School Golf

Wapello will host an invite today with Danville, Columbus, and Winfield-Mt. Union competing. 

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team will participate in the Lee County Classic today at Sheaffer Memorial Golf Park along with Central Lee.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to compete in the Oskaloosa Invite tomorrow, April 24th. 

The Fairfield girls’ team will hit the road to participate in the Golden Hawk Invitational tomorrow. 

WACO will face off against Columbus tomorrow at home. 

Mediapolis will host Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow.

The Van Buren County and Burlington Notre Dame boys’ teams will participate in the Davis County Invitational tomorrow.

The Fairfield boys’ team will host an invite on Friday, April 25th, with Mt. Pleasant and Van Buren County making the trip.  

New London will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday on the road. 

High School Soccer

The Mediapolis girls’ team handled Keokuk last night, winning 4-0. The Mediapolis girls’ team will take on Monmouth-Roseville on Friday, April 25th, on the road at 5 pm. The Mediapolis boys’ team will travel to WACO on April 28th at 5 pm.

The Fairfield girls’ team shut out Knoxville last night 3-0. The Trojans will take on Burlington tomorrow, April 24th, at 5 pm with the girls’ team at home and the boys’ team on the road.

Central Lee swept Wapello last night with the girls’ team winning 9-1 and the boys’ team clobbering Wapello 10-0. In the boys’ game, Drake Weber scored a hat trick in the win with Colton Taft and Ayden Kent each adding two goals to the effort. 

Columbus will host Central Lee at the Muscatine Soccer Complex tomorrow with the girls’ teams playing at 5 pm and the boys’ teams to follow at 7 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will square off against Fort Madison tomorrow with the boys at home and the girls on the road. 

The WACO boys’ team will take on Highland on the road tomorrow at 5 pm.

Burlington Notre Dame will square off against Wapello tomorrow on the road with girls’ teams playing first at 5 pm with the boys game to follow.

The Danville boys’ team will travel to Hillcrest Academy on Friday at 5 pm.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team will close out the regular season today in a road doubleheader against Indian Hills Community College.

The baseball team is back at home today in a doubleheader against Des Moines Area Community College with game one at 3 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1869 – First professional baseball exhibition game: Cincinnati Red Stockings 24, Cincinnati Amateurs 15.

1954 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits first of his 755 homers.

1964 – Houston Colt .45s Ken Johnson becomes the first and only major league pitcher to lose a 9 inning no-hitter, Reds win 1-0.

High School Track

Mt. Pleasant will host the Panther relays tonight with Danville, Mediapolis, and the girls’ teams of New London, Central Lee, WACO, Wapello, Winfield-Mt. Union, and West Burlington/Notre Dame making the trip.

The WACO boys’ team will host the Warrior Relays tonight with Central Lee, New London, Wapello, Van Buren County, West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Winfield-Mt. Union participating.

Fairfield will compete in the Don Newell Classic in Ottumwa tonight. 

The 115th Drake Relays will get underway for our local high school athletes on Thursday, April 24th. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be giving updates throughout the multi-day event. For a full list of all of our local athletes competing, follow this link: Drake Relays Roster

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team captured a 5-4 win over Burlington Notre Dame last night in a road matchup. Bethany Drury defeated Micah Svoboda in the #1 singles match, while Lila Cook and Hannah Villaplaza defeated their opponents in their singles showdown. The team of Hali Crane and Zoey Carlsen won their doubles match 8-3 and the team of Cook and Villaplaza combined to win the meet in an 8-6 final. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will play Maharishi at home tonight, while the boys’ team will travel to Fairfield.

The Fairfield girls’ team shut out Fort Madison last night 9-0. The Trojans will face off against Maharishi on Thursday, April 24th, at home.

High School Golf

The boys’ teams of the SEC traveled to Washington yesterday for a conference showdown and the home squad finished in 1st place with a team score of 156 followed by Fort Madison with a 168 and Mt. Pleasant carding a 169 for 3rd place. The Panthers were led by Brody Engle, who carded the fourth best score of the course in a 39, and Merrick Lamm’s 41. Fairfield finished in 4th place with a team score of 189 as Brice Boatright shot a 43. Washington’s Carson Brown had the best round with a 35 (-1). 

The Fairfield boys’ team will host an invite on Friday, February 25th, with Mt. Pleasant and Van Buren County making the trip.  

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to compete in the Oskaloosa Invite on Thursday, April 24th. 

The Fairfield girls’ team will hit the road to participate in the Golden Hawk Invitational on Thursday. 

Mediapolis took on Wapello and WACO yesterday for their triangular and the Wapello girls’ team outpaced the field, shooting a 197, while the Mediapolis boys’ team handled business, carding a 167. Emmalin Marshall led the Arrows with a 9-hole score of 46, while Payton Gerling shot a 57 for the Bulldogs. 

On the boys’ side, the Bulldogs had all six golfers finish in the top six with Max Griffin nabbing a 40 for the 9-hole course. Barrett Garrison took home a 47 for Wapello.

Wapello will host an invite tomorrow, April 23rd, with Danville, Columbus, and Winfield-Mt. Union competing. 

WACO will face off against Columbus on Thursday at home. 

The Columbus boys’ team will participate in the Wildcat Invitational today. 

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team will participate in the Lee County Classic tomorrow at Sheaffer Memorial Golf Park along with Central Lee.

Mediapolis will host Holy Trinity Catholic on Thursday.

New London will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday on the road. 

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team dropped their first game of the season against Burlington last night, losing 4-0. The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team survived being down a man for the entire second half to defeat the Grayhounds 2-1. Akbar Wilson notched both goals for the Panthers. Mt. Pleasant will square off against Fort Madison on Thursday, April 24th, with the boys at home and the girls on the road. 

The Mediapolis boys’ team squashed Highland last night 5-0. The Bulldogs will travel to WACO on April 28th at 5 pm. The Mediapolis girls’ team will take on Keokuk tonight at 5:30 pm at home.

The Fairfield girls’ team fell to Keokuk last night 4-2 as Jalyiah Gardner netted two for the Chiefs. The Fairfield girls’ team will host Knoxville tonight at 5 pm, while the boys’ team will make the trip to Burlington on Thursday at 5 pm.

The WACO boys’ team got back into the win column last night, defeating Columbus 3-2. The Warriors will take on Highland on the road on Thursday at 5 pm.

Columbus will host Central Lee at the Muscatine Soccer Complex on Thursday with the girls’ teams playing at 5 pm and the boys’ teams to follow at 7 pm.

Central Lee will host Wapello tonight with the girls’ teams playing first at 5 pm.

The #4 Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will take on Danville tonight at home at 5 pm, while the girls’ team will face off against Quincy Notre Dame at 7 pm.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team handled business yesterday against St. Louis Community College, sweeping the visitors 5-2 in game one and 3-1 in game two. Jeliane Stewart clobbered her fifth home run in three games, tabbing three RBIs in the first showdown, while Anna Woods was dominant in the circle in game two, striking out nine in a complete game performance. The Blackhawks will close out the regular season tomorrow, April 23rd, in a road doubleheader against Indian Hills Community College.

The baseball team fell to Black Hawk College yesterday 7-0. The Blackhawks are back at home tomorrow in a doubleheader against Des Moines Area Community College with game one at 3 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1876 – Philadelphia native Tim McGinley of the Boston Red Caps scores baseball’s National League’s 1st run, in Philadelphia, as his team wins 6-5. 

1954 – NBA adopts a 24-second shot clock and the 6 team-foul rule. 

1969 – Robin Knox-Johnston ends his 312 days of non-stop sailing to become the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.