Barbara E. Raymond, 86, of Gig Harbor, Washington and formerly of Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield, died Tuesday, April 14, 2026 at Gig Harbor Court in Gig Harbor.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 North Main Street, Mt. Pleasant. Online condolences may be directed to www.kimzeyfh.com.
Des Moines, IA- Des Moines, Iowa will be the hub for some of the most talented track and field athletes in the world as state champions, national champions, and even Olympians migrate to the Blue Oval for the 116th running of the Drake Relays, starting on Wednesday, April 22nd, and going through Saturday, April 25th.
The high school division is set to start their competition on Thursday, April 23rd, and southeast Iowa will be well represented throughout the multi-day event. Here’s a list of our local athletes that will be making the early trip west.
Boys’ 100-Meter Dash
A trio of local athletes from southeast Iowa who all finished in the top five of their respective class state races last season. Ryan Bair of Keokuk, who grabbed the silver medal last year, comes into this race after just breaking the Denny White Relay meet record in the event.
The man who finished behind him in last year’s race, Landry Haberichter, of West Burlington/Notre Dame will also be soaring into the event. Lastly, London Franklin, who took 5th place at state last year, will also be in the 32-man heat.
The event will go at 9:13 am on Friday, April 24th, for the preliminary.
Girls’ 100-Meter Dash
Despite taking the year off, Burlington’s Mylee Stiefel will be returning to the Blue Oval as one of the fastest runners in southeast Iowa. Nevertheless, Alex Scott of Mt. Pleasant will be looking to give her trouble.
Hillcrest Academy’s Rya Scott will also be running. The first heat will start at 9:03 am on Friday for the preliminary.
Boys’ 400 and 800-Meter Events
The reason we combined these two events is because only one local athlete will be competing and more specifically only Van Buren County’s senior star Lincoln Bainbridge will be running for the Warriors.
Bainbridge will first run at 1:57 pm on Friday in the 800-meter run, then participate in the 400-meter dash with a start time slated for 5:46 pm.
Girls’ 400 and 800-Meter Events
As the only freshman in the 400-meter dash and one of two freshmen in the 800-meter run, Avery Fedler of Mt. Pleasant will also be the lone runner representing southeast Iowa.
The 800-meter run will run at 1:44 pm on Friday with the 400-meter dash going at 5:28 pm that night.
Girls’ 1500-Meter Run
Why not add another event to the freshman’s slate? Fedler will be competing in the 1500-meter run. And to keep the patter, Fedler is one of only three freshmen that will be participating in the event. Fedler will compete at 4:28 pm on Saturday.
Girls’ 3000-Meter Run
Pekin’s Chloe Glosser will run in the long-distance event. The event is scheduled for Thursday at 6:11 pm.
Boys’ 110-Meter Hurdles
Columbus’ Lamar Ceant entered the season with high expectations after nabbing the silver medal in this event at state last year and the surrounding times belonging to seniors. He will get a chance to show his skills as a junior this year with teammate Alex Rees, who also finished in the top 8 at state last year. The Wildcats will go at 8:49 am on Friday for the preliminary with the finals at 10:39 am the same day.
Boys’ 400-Meter Hurdles
Might as well go for the trifecta as Van Buren County’s Bainbridge will be busy throughout the three-day event. Bainbridge will finally be done at 3:09 pm on Saturday.
Boys’ 4×100 Meter Relay
It will be a large field of local teams sending a squad for one of the more electrifying events of the meet.
West Burlington/Notre Dame will be bringing Maddox Diewold, Kellan Porter, Eli Oleson, and Landry Haberichter.
New London’s defending Class 1A state championship quad of Brigham Porter, London Franklin, Cale Westerbeck, and Gavin Strawhacker will look to express their expectations for the season.
Will Luttenegger, Brock Spears, Kyler Crow, and Henry Luttenegger will run for Mediapolis, while Aliyas and Alijah Brock along with Riley Smith and Nolan Glick will compete for Pekin.
Keokuk’s speed will continue to be on display with the team of Kurt Joy, Jackson Bair, Antonio Crockett, and Ryan Bair. Joining the Southeast Conference bid is Fairfield’s Dayson Workman, Voss Richardson, Ethan Bisgard, and Spencer McCready.
Lastly, Djamar Exantus, Alex Rees, Domonic Garcia, and Lamar Ceant will take off for Columbus.
The preliminaries will run at 10:12 am on Saturday. The finals will run after 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Girls’ 4×100 Meter Relay
The Southeast Iowa Super Conference will outrank the Southeast Conference in the 4×100 meter relay with three teams versus the SEC’s two squads. In Danville’s only appearance in Des Moines, the Bears will have Macie Wagner, Violette Sowell, Alivia Bauer, and Alaina Gourley run.
Highland will tout Hailey Brun, Kamryn Fink, Alexa Hahn, and Kinzie Ruess, while Karina Bourha, Adia Scott, Niva Helmuth, and Ryan Scott will compete for Hillcrest Academy.
In a possible show of foreshadowing for the conference title it will be Mt. Pleasant’s crew of Ellie Freeman, Kynlee White, Taylor Williamson, and Delaney Anderson, who just ran to the 10th fastest time in school history in the event, competing against Washington’s Jaslyn Villa, Jaedyn Moore, Leighton Salazer, and Leighton Messinger.
The girls’ teams will run at 9:40 am on Saturday for the preliminary race. The finals will run after 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Boys’ 4×200 Meter Relay
Travarius Smith will tag in for Crockett for Keokuk’s 4×200 meter relay team that just recently broke the meet record at the Denny White Relays. The Chiefs will compete at 1 pm on Friday.
Girls’ 4×200 Meter Relay
Washington will be the only local team sending a team in Jaslyn Villa, Lauren Drahota, Leighton Messinger, and Jaedyn Moore. They will run at 12:47 pm on Friday.
Girls’ Sprint Medley Relay
Mt. Pleasant’s Delaney Anderson, Kynlee White, Alex Scott, and Avery Fedler will be looking to feed off the momentum of their school record run at the Denny White Relays with a time of 1 minute and 47.3 seconds, which beat the Blue Oval mark by nearly a full two seconds.
The Panthers will run at 9:50 am on Friday.
Boys’ Shot Put
The Southeast Conference will be sending two to throw the 12-pound orb in Urijah Brooks from Fort Madison and Washington’s Greyson Hartman. The shot put is scheduled for Friday at 9 am.
Girls’ Shot Put and Discus
Pekin’s Anna Hadley will throw along with Burlington’s Kylee Hill, a pair of state champions. The shot put will compete at 5 pm on Thursday, while discus will throw at 8:30 am on Friday.
Boys’ Discus
Washington’s Hartman, who just broke the Denny White Relay meet record, threw his personal best of 182 feet and 11 inches at the event. That throw would have won the Class 3A championship last year, an event he finished 3rd in. He will throw at 2:30 pm on Thursday.
Boys’ High Jump
Again, the Southeast Conference will have a pair competing in the high jump. Fairfield’s Eli Zillman, who won the state championship two years ago, will leap along with Nolan Guzman of Fort Madison. Tagging along will be Mediapolis’ Lathan Keller. The trio will jump at 4:30 pm on Thursday.
Girls’ High Jump
After breaking the school record, Winfield-Mt. Union’s Quin Smith will be looking to clear that mark of 5 feet and 5 inches. She will leap at 9:30 am on Friday.
Up Next
Stay tuned to KILJ for updates throughout the day and written recaps at the end of the day’s events throughout the multi-day event.
Teacher Appreciation Week is scheduled for May 4 – 8, 2026 in the Mt. Pleasant Community School District and the MP PTA outlined events to celebrate teachers. The PTA is also recognizing National Walk, Bike, and Roll Day on Wednesday, May 13th. Salem Elementary School is planning their May carnival. Details for all of these events are forthcoming and KILJ Radio will keep you updated! On Thursday, April 24 this week, Lincoln Elementary School is hosting bingo on family night from 6pm – 7pm.
A Mt. Pleasant man was arrested in Washington, Iowa, at 7:35pm Friday night. Donald Williams, 27, was stopped with possession of a stolen bike and charged with theft in the 5th degree. Washington Communications reports that officers also found Williams in possession of a controlled substance: marijuana and methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Williams was transported to Washington County jail.
High School Track and Field
Central Lee will head to Burlington for the Grayhound Invite today.
Mt. Pleasant will get another chance to host on Tuesday, April 21st, with Central Lee, Danville, Mediapolis, Washington, and the Central Lee, New London, WACO, Wapello, West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ teams competing.
Fairfield will travel to the Ottumwa Don Newell Classic on Tuesday.
The Drake Relays are set to run from Wednesday, April 22nd, through Saturday, April 25th, with the high school competition starting on Thursday, April 23rd. The final start lists will be released by noon today.
High School Soccer
The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team will head to Assumption for a doubleheader against the hosts and Central DeWitt today.
The Mediapolis boys’ team will compete in the Fort Madison Invite today.
The WACO boys’ team will travel to Sigourney-Keota on Monday, April 20th, at 5 pm.
Mt. Pleasant will face off against Fort Madison on Monday with the boys at home starting at 4:30 pm and the girls on the road at 6:30 pm.
Washington will square off against Fairfield on Monday with the boys’ team on the road and the girls’ team at home with both games starting at 5 pm.
Central Lee will hit the road to play Mediapolis on Tuesday, April 21st, with the girls’ teams leading off the night at 5 pm.
The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Hillcrest Academy on Tuesday at 5 pm.
The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will square off against Highland on Tuesday on the road at 5:30 pm.
The Danville boys’ team will take on Wapello at home on Tuesday at 6 pm.
High School Golf
The Southeast Conference will have their fifth conference meet of the season on Monday, April 20th, with the girls’ teams going to Mt. Pleasant and the boys’ teams heading to Keokuk.
Mediapolis will square off against Holy Trinity Catholic on Monday on the road.
New London will travel to Central Lee on Monday.
Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Louisa-Muscatine on Monday at home.
Burlington Notre Dame will host a triangular on Monday with Danville and Van Buren County making the trip.
WACO will face off against Columbus on the road on Monday.
High School Boys’ Tennis
Mt. Pleasant will face off against Keokuk on Thursday, April 23rd, on the road.
Fairfield will compete in the Pella Dutch Invite today.
Southeastern Community College
The baseball team will host a doubleheader against Des Moines Area Community College today.
The softball team will hit the road to play Iowa Western Community College today.
College Baseball and Softball
The Iowa baseball team had their game against Maryland suspended due to weather holding on to a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Hawkeyes will continue the game at 1 pm today.
The Iowa State softball team fell to BYU last night, 6-5. McKenna Andrews swatted a home run in the loss. The Cyclones will look to win the rubber match today at 1 pm.
The Iowa softball team will host a doubleheader against Indiana today with game one at 1 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1964 – LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax strikes out the side on 9 pitches, for a major league best third time in his career. One of three to have ever pitched an Immaculate Inning three times.
1966 – Bill Russell becomes the first African American coach in NBA history (Boston Celtics).
1987 – Gregory Robertson does a 200-mph free fall to save an unconscious skydiver near Coolidge, Arizona.
