High School Track
The Falcons Relays commenced yesterday and here’s some of the highlights from the meet. West Burlington/Notre Dame and Mt. Pleasant competed in Class A and the Panthers won three events and shared a title with the Falcons. Jack Newman won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 58.47 seconds followed by the Falcons’ Logan Hamma with a time of 59 seconds-flat. That success in the hurdles led to the gold for the Panthers in the 4×110 meter shuttle hurdle relay. Avin Truong leapt 23 feet and 1.25 inches in the long jump for the dominating win. In the high jump, Kaden Schadt and Mason Watkins tied for 1st place with a height of 5 feet and 10 inches.
The 4×200 meter relay squad for the Panthers took 2nd place with a time of 1 minute and 36 seconds as did the 800-medley team with a time of 1 minute and 45 seconds. Silas Hulett grabbed 2nd place in the 3200-meter run. West Burlington/Notre Dame’s 4×100 meter relay team finished in 2nd place with a time of 45.12 seconds.
Over in Class B, New London and Mediapolis constantly finished at the top of the leaderboards with the two teams finishing in 1st and 2nd place in seven events. New London’s London Franklin took home two golds with a time of 11.24 seconds in the 100-meter dash and a 1st place distance of 21 feet and 1.5 inches in the long jump. The Tigers also won the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 44.96 seconds.
Mediapolis handled business with Nathan Schmidgall grabbing 1st place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24 seconds. The Bulldogs outpaced the field with Will Schmidgall winning the 1600-meter with a time of 4 minutes and 50 seconds and Simon Wendel taking the 3200-meter with a time of 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Gannon Gunn won 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Lathan Keller leapt 6 feet-even for the win in the high jump. Mediapolis won the 4×200, 4×400, and 1600-medley relays.
Winfield-Mt. Union was led by Kohlby Newsom in the longer sprints and Cooper Buffington in the throwing events. Newsom took the gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.21 seconds and the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds. Buffington dominated the throwing events with a heave of 47 feet and 4.5 inches in the shot put and a winning throw of 121 feet in the discus. The Wolves took the 800 medley and the 4×110 meter shuttle hurdle relays.
Danville’s lone win of the meet occurred in the 4×800 with a time of 8 minutes and 39 seconds. The Bears finished in 2nd place in four events. Central Lee’s best finisher was Ostyn Moore in the shot put with a throw of 39 feet and 1 inch for 2nd place.
Mt. Pleasant will host a Co-ed meet on Thursday, April 3rd, with Fairfield, Mediapolis, and West Burlington-Notre Dame making the trip.
New London will travel to Danville to compete in a meet on Friday, April 4th.
The Wapello Coed relays are scheduled tonight with Columbus in attendance.
The Danville, Fairfield, Mediapolis, New London, WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Mt. Pleasant girls’ teams will meet up in Burlington for the Falcon Relays tonight.
High School Tennis
Mt. Pleasant will start the season against Davis County on Thursday, April 3rd. The boys’ team will host Davis County, while the girls’ team will hit the road.
Fairfield will face off against Fort Madison on Thursday with the boys’ team at home and the girls on the road.
High School Golf
Van Buren County dueled Central Lee yesterday and the Warriors girls’ team picked up the win 211-257, despite Marie Young shooting a 57 for the Hawks. The boys’ team could not pull off the same feat as Central Lee outshot Van Buren County 163-176 with Caleb Larson and Carter Jones leading the way with a 9-hole score of 39.
The Central Lee, Burlington Notre Dame, and Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ teams will participate in the Keokuk Invite on Thursday, April 3rd.
Van Buren County will compete against Holy Trinity Catholic on Monday, April 7th, on the road.
New London’s quad was canceled tonight due to the weather.
Winfield-Mt. Union will host Highland on Thursday.
Mediapolis will take on Danville at the Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club on Thursday.
Wapello will travel to Louisa-Muscatine on Thursday.
High School Soccer
The Mediapolis boys’ team snuck past Burlington last night 2-1. The Bulldogs will face off against Columbus on Thursday, April 3rd, at 7 pm at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.
The WACO boys’ team kicked off the season with a victory over Sigourney Keota last night 4-1. The Warriors will take on Wapello on the road on Thursday at 5 pm.
The Central Lee girls’ team lost to West Branch last night 7-1. The Hawks will square off against Centerville tonight with the girls’ playing at 5 pm and the boys competing at 7 pm.
The Wapello girls’ team could not keep up with Northeast last night, losing 4-0 and the boys’ team was defeated by Prince of Peace 7-1.
The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team fell to Assumption last night 14-0. The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ will compete against Assumption tonight at 5:30 pm on the road.
Colin Pealer’s two goals were not enough for Danville to overcome Keokuk last night, losing 3-2 to the Chiefs in their season opener.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will square off against Danville at home tonight at 5 pm, while the girls’ team will make the trip to Mediapolis.
Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will tangle with Washington tonight with the road showdown starting at 5 pm with the girls’ team and the boys’ team playing at 6:30 pm.
The Central Lee boys’ team will travel to Fairfield on Thursday at 5 pm.
Southeastern Community College
The softball team will remain at home to face off against Indian Hills Community College tomorrow, April 2nd, for a doubleheader.
The baseball team will host Kirkwood Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader.
College Basketball
Iowa’s Payton Sandfort will compete at the State Farm College Dunk and Three-Point Championships on Thursday, 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
1926 – Montreal Maroons’ Clint Benedict becomes the first NHL goalie to record 3 straight playoff shutouts, in a 3-0 win against the visiting Victoria Cougars in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Championship series.
1930 – Chicago Cubs catcher Leo Hartnett breaks the altitude record for a catch by gloving a baseball dropped from the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, California.
1978 – New York Islanders right wing Mike Bossy becomes the first NHL rookie to score 50 goals in a season after scoring #50 and #51 in the closing moments of a 3-2 win over Washington.
Maynard G. Palmer, 79, of Morning Sun, passed away on Monday, March 17, 2025, at Southeast Iowa Regional Hospice House in West Burlington. Visitation will be held on Friday, April 4, 2025, from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Snyder & Hollenbaugh Funeral & Cremation Services in Morning Sun. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Fulton Cairo Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established at the funeral home in memory of Maynard. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.sandhfuneralservice.com.