Prep Girls’ Soccer- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released their first top 15 rankings of the 2025 girls’ soccer season and last year’s champions are not the favorites heading into the season.

Class 1A

It was a bit of a shock when Nevada, as the #4-seed, shutdown the #2-seed Denver 2-0 in last year’s Class 1A championship. Despite the loss last year, Denver sits atop the preseason rankings with Nevada and Treynor flanking at the #2 and #3 slots, respectively.

Beyond the shakeup, last year’s top teams are scattered amongst the top nine for the preseason spots with the sole exception of Des Moines Christian, who did not qualify for the state tournament a season ago.

Class 2A

Waverly-Shell Rock was ousted from the quarterfinals in last year’s state tournament by North Scott in an upset. The experts expect that to fuel the Go-Hawks this season as they sit atop the mountain with 2024’s champion, Dallas Center-Grimes at #2.

Despite winning just nine games last year, Xavier enters as the #3 team in this preseason breakdown with their sophomore phenoms from a year ago returning. Macie Herting and Reese Komenda combined for 20 goals and 50 points, and they return their goalie Lani Kunz, who tabbed a save percentage of 88.7% for the year.

North Scott is ranked back at #10 and North Polk finds themselves sitting at #6 after a 19-2 season was spoiled in the championship game by the Mustangs.

Class 3A

The wildly competitive Class 3A will again be shaping up to be an entertaining race towards the championship after Bettendorf surprised everyone as the #7-seed and defeated another shocking squad, the #5-seed Valley, 3-1, for the Class 3A championship.

Even with that being said, Ankeny will enter the year as the #1 team followed by Valley and Waukee, respectively, and Bettendorf back at the #4-slot. For a change in the program, #13 Dowling Catholic and #15 Prairie are ranked to start the year despite both teams ending last year three games under 0.500.

The Maroons return a young team from a season ago with all their goal-scorers coming back and both goalies return inside the pipes as their defense ranked 15^th in Class 3A in goals allowed. Prairie is in a similar position with an offense that struggled to produce last year but with both goalies making a return with save percentages at 75% or better.

More

For a full list of the rankings, click on this link: IGHSAU Preseason Soccer Rankings

High School Track

The Falcon Relays ran last night for our local girls’ teams and history was made for the Panthers before the night’s end. Competing in Class A, Mt. Pleasant won seven events. The team of Kiyah Sanders, Alex Scott, Taylor Williamson, and Kynlee White hit the Drake Blue Standard mark in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 50.47 seconds. Izzy Sloat would join Sanders, Scott, and White to set a meet record with a time of 1 minute and 48 seconds in the 4×200. The sprint medley team of Freeman, Sanders, Scott, and White grabbed 1st place as did the team of Jaden Yoder, Williamson, Abbi Shelangoski, and Meadow Carter in the shuttle hurdle relay. The 4×800 meter relay squad of Monroe James, Bella Dodds, Alexis Wagner, and Quintrie Lee took 1st place with a time of 10 minutes and 54 seconds. In the field events, the Panthers dominated the shot put with Ella Ensminger winning the event with a toss of 35 feet and 2 inches followed by Ava English and Savannah Slobodnik in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.

Also in Class A, West Burlington/Notre Dame took the gold in the 1600-medley relay with a time of 4 minutes and 46 seconds. 

Over in Class B, Danville’s Delaney Newberry sprinted to the gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.3 seconds. Alaina Gourley finished in 1st place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute and 1 second. Addison Henklevig was the last 1st place winner of the night for the Bears in the 1500-meter run with a time of 6 minutes and 17 seconds.

Mediapolis dominated the relay events, winning the 4×100, 4×200, 4×400, 4×800, and Sprint Medley relays.

For WACO, Carlee Lunsford took the 800-meter run with a time 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The distance medley won the event. Josie Dykstra grabbed 1st place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 16 seconds. Bren Graber leapt 4 feet and 10 inches in the high jump to win the gold.

Kynlee Buffington led Winfield-Mt. Union with two 1st place finishes, winning the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.88 seconds and the long jump with a leap of 16 feet and 5 inches. Josie Nelson finished in 1st place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.91 seconds.

Lastly, New London’s Irelynn Kelly grabbed 2nd place in the 3000-meter run.

The Wapello Coed relays were canceled last night. 

Mt. Pleasant will host a Co-ed meet tomorrow, April 3rd, with Fairfield, the Mediapolis boys’ team, and West Burlington-Notre Dame making the trip.

The Mediapolis girls’ team will host an invitational tomorrow with Van Buren County, WACO, Central Lee, and Wapello participating. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will host a meet tomorrow with WACO competing.

New London will travel to Danville to compete in a meet on Friday, April 4th. 

Columbus will make the trip to Liberty High School on Saturday, April 5th, for a Co-ed invitational. 

High School Tennis

Mt. Pleasant will start the season against Davis County tomorrow, April 3rd. The boys’ team will host Davis County, while the girls’ team will hit the road.

Fairfield will face off against Fort Madison tomorrow with the boys’ team at home and the girls on the road.

High School Golf

The Central Lee, Burlington Notre Dame, and Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ teams will participate in the Keokuk Invite tomorrow, April 3rd. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will host Highland tomorrow. 

WACO will hit the road tomorrow to take on Lone Tree. 

Mediapolis will take on Danville at the Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club tomorrow.

Wapello will travel to Louisa-Muscatine tomorrow.

New London will square off against Van Buren County on the road tomorrow.

Columbus will tangle with Hillcrest Academy tomorrow at Kalona Golf Course. 

High School Soccer

The Central Lee girls’ team tied Centerville last night 1-1, while the boys’ team shutout Centerville 6-0 as Zach Estrada nabbed two goals and an assist. The Central Lee girls’ team will travel to Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow, April 3rd, at 5 pm.

The Central Lee boys’ team will travel to Fairfield tomorrow at 5 pm.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team fell to Assumption last night 3-0. The Nikes will compete against Hillcrest Academy on Friday, April 4th, at 5 pm on the road. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team rang in the new season with an offensive flurry, routing Danville 10-0 last night. Dylan White, Kohen Cass, and Jonah Zimmer each scored two goals for the Panthers, while Akbar Wilson collected a goal and a couple of assists. Head coach Rocco Russo was proud of his team’s performance, especially with how his team shared the ball,

“It sure is. You know, we’ve practiced for two weeks now and all we’ve been talking about with the boys is making sure that we’re connecting good passes to our feet and making sure we’re playing as a team and not selfish. And I think we saw a lot of that today. There was a lot of good soccer being played by our boys, you know, so it’s a good start.”

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team took on Mediapolis last night and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Katelyn Campbell had the lone goal for the Bulldogs. 

Mt. Pleasant will square off against Clear Creek Amana tomorrow with the girls’ team competing in their home opener and the boys’ team traveling north with gametime at 5 pm.

The Danville boys’ team will take on Mediapolis on April 10th at home with gametime at 5:30 pm.

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union split their matchup against Washington last night with the girls’ team losing 2-0 and the boys’ team sneaking past the Demons 3-2. Mediapolis will face off against Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union tomorrow at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.

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

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team will face off against St. Louis Community College on Sunday, April 6th, on the road in a doubleheader. 

The baseball team had their home doubleheader against Kirkwood Community College changed to tomorrow, April 3rd, with game one at 3 pm.

College Basketball

Iowa’s Payton Sandfort will compete at the State Farm College Dunk and Three-Point Championships tomorrow, April 3rd. Sandfort tallied 1,619 points in his career, the 11th most in program history, and made the second-most three-pointers all-time with 271. He is just the seventh Hawkeye to compete in the event and will look to become the second one to win it after Peter Jok in 2017. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is gearing up for a tight finish with only four teams left in the bracket. It is the first time since 2008 and just the second time ever that the Final Four consists of all #1 seeds. 

You can find the updated standings here: KILJ Bracket Challenge Standings

This Day in Sports History

1931 – 17-year old Jackie Mitchell strikes out New York Yankees stars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition baseball game at Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. 

1984 – 46th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Georgetown beats Houston, 84-75; Hoyas center Patrick Ewing is named tournament MOP; John Thompson became the first African-American head coach to lead his team to any NCAA Division I title.

1996 – Detroit Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder steals his first base in his 1,097th career game, a 10-6 win at the Minnesota Twins. It’s the most games played in Major League Baseball history by a player before their first stolen base.