Mt. Pleasant, IA – May 20, 2022 – Iowa Wesleyan University has recently announced Cash
Wilcke as the Assistant Men’s and Women’s Wrestling Coach.
Wilcke has spent the past two years as a graduate assistant for the men’s and women’s wrestling
programs at IW. During that time, Wilcke assisted in the recent addition of women’s wrestling
and the return of men’s wrestling to Tiger Athletics. During Iowa Wesleyan’s first season of
women’s wrestling, two Tigers were named All-Americans. This past season, one Tiger, Adaugo
Nwachukwu, earned the title of NAIA National Champion, along with Most Outstanding
Wrestler at the NAIA National Invitational. Both Adaugo and Mia Palumbo, who finished as a
National Runner-Up at the invitational, were named NAIA All-Americans.
Wilcke, who wrestled at the University of Iowa, was a three-time National Qualifier and
three-time Big Ten place winner. He was a member of the Hawkeyes when they won the Big 10
Championship in 2020. He was also a Midlands Champion, two-time U23 All-American, and a
four-time letter winner. As a wrestler at the Odebolt Arthur Battle Creek Ida Grove Community
High School (OABCIG), Wilcke was a four-time State Qualifier, two-time State Champion,
two-time USA Nationals Champion, and a two-time Fargo All-American.
He has also spent time as a camp counselor at the Iowa Wrestling Camp in Iowa City, Iowa.
Wilcke mentored over 100 athletes and taught them wrestling techniques, strategy, and
conditioning. He was also involved in teaching the athletes how to set goals and mental
preparation.
Tiger Athletics: Iowa Wesleyan University strives to provide its student-athletes the opportunity to
be successful in life and sports. Engaged in the NAIA, Tiger athletics is currently a proud member of
the NSAA, CAC, and the Heart.

In Class 3A girls, Jadan Brumbaugh of Mt. Pleasant captured another State Title in the shot put with a toss of 47’ 5 1/2” a Class 3A state meet record.  Jadan can now relax and enjoy the rest of the State Meet after scoring 20 team points for the Mt. Pleasant Panthers after capturing the discuss title to go along with the shot put, MPHS is in 3rd place in the team race with 20 points.

The Mt. Pleasant girls distance medley team finished 23rd in a time of 4:34.24, with Andi Scott, Elsie Lange, Tristan Shull and Abby Blint as the runners.

Will Davidson of the Panther boys competed in the 110 meter high hurdle prelims and just missed making the finals, Will was 9th fastest with a time of 15.44.  He also competed in the long jump going 19’ 5” good for 20th place.

Kenna Lamm ran in the 100 meter hurdle prelims for MPHS and finished 14th in 16.51

The MPHS girls 4×100 relay team ran a time of 51.44 and finished 7th in their heat not making the finals

CLASS 2A RESULTS FROM FRIDAY:

Cole Lipper of Mediapolis finished 8th in the discus throwing 142’ 6”

Tyler Stoltz of Van Buren High School finished 19th in the high jump going 5’ 10”

Anthony Duncan of Van Buren ran the 400 meter hurdles final event and finished 5th in a time of 55.62

Mediapolis boys distance medley relay ran 10th in a time of 3:40.37

Mediapolis girls ran 51.74 in the 4×100 relay prelims and finished 14th

CLASS 1A RESULTS FROM FRIDAY:

Kade Benjamin of  New London leaped 6’ 7” to win the high jump for the Tigers

Carter Allen picked up a 2nd place finish for New London in the discus with a throw of 155’ 6”

Keetyn Townsley Winfield-Mt. ran the 100 meter hurdles in 22.76 finishing 24th

Simeon Reichenbach WACO ran 15.53 in the 110 highs finishing 11tH

New London boys finished 6th in the 4×200 relay running 1:32.42

WACO girls ran the 4×200 relay prelims in 1:53.60 finishing 22nd

New London boys ran 3:37.51 in the distance medley relay and finished 3rd

New London boys ran the fastest preliminary time in the 4×100 relay blazing to a 43.40 time to take to Saturday’s final.

Danville girls ran 4:22.49 in the 4×400 relay prelims and did not make the finals

New London boys ran 3:36.48 in the 4×400 relay prelims and had the 14th fastest time

Heading into the final day of competition Saturday the New London Tigers are in 1st place in the team race with 47 points, Lisbon is in 2nd with 43.  It’s going to be an exciting day at the Blue Oval as the team championships are decided.  Stay tune to KILJ-FM 105.5, kilj.com streaming and our facebook page for all the exciting coverage.

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

KILJ — As has been said before, today is my final day as Sports Director at KILJ.

I am returning to my home state of Wisconsin after a near-decade long sabbatical dating back to my undergrad days at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

I am excited to return to my roots, be closer to friends, family and my loved ones — it just felt like the time was right.

With that being said, I owe KILJ, Mount Pleasant and the rest of Southeast Iowa one huge debt of gratitude.

I am proud to have served this incredible area and community and hope you feel as if my energy was palatable behind the microphone every day.

I’ll miss heading to a packed New London gym to watch Blaise Porter erupt on a nightly basis, I’ll miss watching the matmen of Notre Dame strike fear in their opponents and I’ll miss watching Jadan Brumbaugh eviscerate the record books — so on and so forth.

It was here where I was blessed with watching so many incredible individual and team performances and I’ll never, ever forget those memories and the small impact I had on them.

I owe a thank you to my boss Paul Dennison for taking a chance on me, nearly three years ago. He fostered my on-air development and was the beneficiary of my skills as evidenced by the numerous broadcast awards I have compiled while here.

To Theresa Rose, the best damn news person in the State of Iowa.

Theresa brought an infectious, room-lighting laugh to the office everyday and it was a pleasure to share the air with someone who I truly consider an extension of my family.

Thank you to Derek Zander, Iowa Wesleyan’s athletic director.

Derek and I share an incredible relationship and I am so grateful to have been able to help grow Iowa Wesleyan’s brand and make an impact in any way I could.

That institution deserves it and I’ll always be a lifelong fan of Tiger Athletics.

To Dan McCabe — my “surrogate” father — and the best friend a guy like me could ask for.

Dan took me fishing, cooked me dinners, fed me beers, had me over for Thanksgivings and took me in like his third son.

His kids Matthew and Michael are like my brothers and each of them have been so good to me.

Love you guys.

And finally, to all the people of Southeast Iowa.

All of your kind words over the past few weeks have meant so, so much to me.

You have given me the best and I hope you realize that I have given mine back.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being your Sports Director and morning person and I will always be a champion of KILJ, Mount Pleasant and Southeast Iowa.

For now, the Good Land calls.

Thank you for the memories,

Nathan Bloechl

Des Moines — Jadan Brumbaugh tossed the 15th-farthest throw in state history to capture gold in the Class 3A Girls’ Discus yesterday.

Brumbaugh hit 151 feet, 10 inches to earn yet another throwing title for Mount Pleasant.

The Iowa State recruit hit just 119 feet, 1 inch on her first throw before soaring to new heights.

The win for Brumbaugh also moved the Panthers to a virtual tie for 5th in the team standings with 10 points.

Mount Pleasant will have another chance to score on Saturday in the Class 3A shuttle hurdle relay.

The Panthers group of Kenna Lamm, Allie Westercamp, Abby Blint and Jenna Gilmore combined to run 1:08.59 to qualify for finals with the eighth-fastest time in prelims.

On the boys’ side of things, Mount Pleasant’s Will Davidson is moving to the finals in the 200m dash.

Davidson went 22.78, good enough to qualify with the eighth-fastest time in the field. Davidson will also compete in the long jump and 110m hurdle preliminaries before the weekend closes.

The Panther boys’ 4×800 team of Isaac Rynders, Isaiah Albright, Gabe Feldmann and Jacob Richtman closed their season with a 16th place finish. That quartet closed their 2022 chapter with a season’s best mark of 8:31.18.

In Class 2A, Mediapolis showed why they’re one of the top programs in southeast Iowa. The Bulldogs’ 4×800 team of Levi Arnold, Solomon Zaugg, Logan Rosas and Owen Schmidgall teamed up to run a season’s best 8:14.98 good for third in the 2A field.

It just missed the school record.

Bulldog sprinter Anthony Isley is headed to the Class 2A 200m finals. Isley, a terrific running back for the Mediapolis football team, ran 22.78 — the sixth fastest time in the 2A field.

Mediapolis senior Kadin Salek showed out well in the open 400m, with a 10th place finish after cruising in 51 seconds flat.

In other 2A action, Central Lee’s Thomas Eschman hit a personal record in the long jump, with a good leap of the day of 20 feet, 10.25 inches. Eschman was Central Lee’s lone qualifier.

In Class 1A, New London is right in the thick of the team race following day one.

The Tigers are chasing Lisbon by just one point in the team standings after an outstanding Thursday.

New London earned a runner up in the 4×800 relay while getting third-place finishes from Alexander Julian in the two-mile and Carter Allen in the shot.

The 4×800 team was on fire, specifically. Rylan Martin, Alexander Julian, Seth Bailey and Kade Benjamin broke the school-record by more than seven seconds, officially clocking an 8:11.57.

Julian hit a new personal best 9:43.99 in the two-mile while his cross country teammate and Danville star A.J. Bonnesen placed seventh in 9:56.71.

Allen hit 52 feet, 3.5 inches in the shot to earn the third place mark.

The Tigers will have an additional avenue for points after Josh Catala blazed his way to the finals in the 1A 200m dash, clocking a 23.18 for the sixth-fastest prelim time.

Elsewhere in 1A, Winfield-Mount Union senior Jobey Malone closes her shot put career with a high with a 5th place finish in a loaded field.

Malone hit 37 feet, 10.5 inches for the fifth place mark.

Danville’s Kenna Furnald, back to state for the second straight year, hit 16 feet, 10 inches for a 4th place finish in the 1A girls’ long jump.

Staying in long jump, Iowa football recruit Cam Buffington (Winfield-Mount Union) hit 20 feet, 6.5 inches to place 9th in a very strong 1A field. That mark for the Wolves sophomore was a new personal best.