High School Cross Country

The state meets for Classes 2A and 3A are scheduled to start today, while Class 1A will run tomorrow, November 1st, at Fort Dodge. 

Running for Class 3A on the girls’ side will be Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler and Quintrie Lee, Fort Madison’s Avery Rump, and Washington’s Iris Dahl and Emma Horak. On the boys’ side, Fort Madison will have Riley Tripp and Hunter Wiegand, Washington’s Andrew Rees was the only Demon to qualify, while Silas Hulett of Mt. Pleasant led the pack.

Avery Fedler talked about the connection she has with Quintrie Lee, a two-time state qualifier,

“Yeah, it’s awesome having Quintrie and getting to work alongside her and have conversations with her that I don’t get to have with everybody is really special and getting to just encourage one another to do our best every single time and push each other to do better.”

For the Class 2A boys’ race, Mediapolis will be competing as a team, while Cavin Denney of Notre Dame/West Burlington will run as an individual. On the girls’ side, Central Lee’s Aubree Bunnell will be joined by Hannah Ritter of Notre Dame/West Burlington.

Running tomorrow for Class 1A will be the Columbus boys’ team and the Van Buren County boys’ and girls’ teams. Participating as individuals on the boys’ side, will be Locken Henderson of WACO and Isaac Shinn of Danville. On the girls’ side, WACO will have the duo of Josie Dykstra and Macie Carter participating. Additionally, Alaina Gourley was able to qualify for Danville. 

Postseason High School Football

In Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant was placed in Pod C where they will travel to West Delaware for their first playoff game in 15 years tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. Senior linebacker Max Sloat talked about about the importance of this showdown for the program,

“It’s great. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group of guys. It’s amazing for all of us. Not just us seniors, but it’s going to help the future. So, they know what it feels like, what it tastes like to be in the playoffs and what it takes to get there, so it’s going to help the future. It’s also awesome now.”

Solon will get to host Benton tonight at 7 pm.

For Class 2A, Mediapolis will get a rematch against district-foe Mid-Prairie in a road showdown tonight with kickoff at 7 pm.

In Class A, Pekin will take on North Linn at home tonight at 7 pm in a rematch of last year’s first-round postseason matchup.

For Eight-Player, Iowa Valley will be looking to continue their undefeated season when the Tigers face off against Janesville tonight at 7 pm at home.

Southeast Iowa Super Conference Volleyball

The SEISC released the All-Conference teams for the North and South Divisions with Wapello and Holy Trinity Catholic running the table. The North Player of the Year went to Wapello’s libero Mya Wagner as she led Class 1A with 639 digs for the season. Kenna Greiner was named Conference Coach of the Year. 

Joining Wagner on the 1st team from the Arrows was Mila Jordan, Annaka Greiner, and Taeya Wagner.

Winfield-Mt. Union put Quin Smith, Kaelyn Townsley, and Madisen Kellogg on the 2nd Team, while WACO’s Carlee Lunsford was named 2nd Team hitter. 

Columbus had Kennedy Woepking, Daniela Diaz, and Zai Par earn a spot on the 1st team. 

The Co-South Player of the Year went to Adalyn Kruse and Presley Myers for the Crusaders as the pair combined for over 700 kills, 100 blocks, and nearly 90 aces for the season. Melisa Freesmeier was named Conference Coach of the Year. 

Addi Brockway and Emma Elmore earned a spot on the 1st Team along with Van Buren County’s Sophia Jirak and Ashlynn Huff. Central Lee placed Taylor Jones, Kenna Sandoval, and Jayden Mueller on the 1st Team. West Burlington put Baylee Woodsmall, while Mediapolis had Maycie Thornburg get on the 1st Team.

Danville had Alivia Bauer and Graci Huff named to the 2nd Team.

For a full list of the All-Conference nominations, follow this link: All-SEISC 2025

Postseason High School Volleyball

In Class 5A, #1 Waukee Northwest will start off the day on Monday, November 3rd, with a noon game against #8 Indianola. #2 Ankeny Centennial will face off against #7 Iowa City West and #4 Dowling Catholic will battle with #5 Ankeny. Rounding out the quarterfinals will be #3 Pleasant Valley attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Valley.

For Class 4A, #1 Clear Creek Amana enters as the favorite as they are tasked with playing #8 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. #7 Marion will look to knock off #2 Sioux Center. #4 Dallas Center-Grimes will square off against #5 North Scott and #3 Pella will take on #6 Norwalk to round out the quarterfinals.

Class 3A will begin at 10 am on Tuesday, November 4th, with #1 Western Christian taking on #8 Mt. Vernon. #2 Davenport Assumption will compete against #7 Mid-Prairie. #4 Cherokee and #5 Humboldt will tangle, while #3 Red Oak will face off against #6 Kuemper Catholic.

The Class 1A bracket is now set with #1 Saint Ansgar taking on #8 East Mills at 6 pm on Tuesday. #4 Dunkerton, in their first ever state tournament appearance, will square off against #5 BCLUW. #2 Janesville will clash with #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck and #3 North Tama will face off against #6 Sidney to end the night.

Over in Class 2A, #1 Denver enters as the favorite with their first match on Tuesday being against #8 Wapsie Valley. #4 Grundy Center will tangle with #5 Beckman Catholic. #7 Aplington-Parkersburg will look to upset perennial powerhouse #2 Dike-New Hartford, while #3 Hinton will contend against #6 Regina Catholic. 

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team earned the #5-seed for the Region 11 tournament as they travel to play Northeast Community College tomorrow, November 1st, at 1 pm. 

The men’s soccer team will head to Spencer on Sunday, November 2nd, at 2 pm to face off against Iowa Lakes. 

College Football

Iowa State will host Arizona State tomorrow, November 1st, at noon. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

Iowa is on a bye week. 

This Day in Sports History

1950 – The Big Cat, Earl Lloyd, becomes the first African-American to play a game in the NBA, scoring 6 points in his debut for the Washington Capitols.

1994 – Tennis star Venus Williams makes her professional debut as a 14-year-old with a 6-3, 6-4 win over former NCAA champion and world No. 58 Shaun Stafford in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California.

2003 – Bethany Hamilton, aged 13, has her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing in Hawaii. She would return to surfing less than a month later.

Prep Volleyball- For the first time in a long time, there will be no teams from the Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) playing at the state tournament after Holy Trinity Catholic fell in the regional championship; nevertheless, the Crusaders swept up the All-Conference awards for the south division, while Wapello ran the north.

All-SEISC North

Wapello finished atop the north standings, going 8-0 this season. The Arrows are now 24-0 against the North over the last three seasons, yielding another Conference Coach of the Year honor to Kenna Greiner, the third of her career.

Additionally, Mya Wagner, the junior libero for Wapello, took home North Player of the Year and 1^st Team libero, as she recorded 639 digs this season, the most not only for the conference but also for the entire Class 1A. The junior also added 29 aces to her stat pad.

Wapello put Mila Jordan, a sophomore, and Kate Lanz, a senior, on the 1^st Team for hitters and Taeya Wagner, a freshman, and Annaka Greiner, a junior, on the 1^st Team for setters. Jordan led the North in aces and kills, while Lanz finished her career with 130 blocks.

Emmalin Marshall was named 2^nd Team Utility Player for the Arrows.

Columbus put three on the 1^st Team in Kennedy Woepking (hitter), Daniela Diaz (setter), and Zai Par (utility). Woepking finished the season with 172 kills, Diaz led the north division with 448 assists, and Pai tabbed 193 digs. The Wildcats finished in second in the north division.

Jessica Del Rio was named 2^nd Team hitter and Jocelyn Hernandez made the 2^nd Team as a libero.

Over on the 2^nd Team, Winfield-Mt. Union, in a year befuddled by injury put three on the list. Quin Smith, after missing the first several matches, ended up leading the team with 132 kills on a kill efficiency of 0.132, while notching 36 blocks. Kaelyn Townsley also made it as a hitter with 80 kills and 23 blocks.

The finals senior to make the team was Madisen Kellogg as a setter. She finished second in the division with 422 assists to go along with 29 kills and 46 aces. First year head coach Ashlei Venghaus was emotional when talking about how her team pushed through the adversity,

Yeah, I’m super proud of them. They have battled through a lot of just a lot of injuries, not only with Kynlee [Buffington], and then we had Kelley [Milks] go down with a knee injury two weeks ago, but they were battling injuries themself and just battling every week. I’m really proud of them.”

WACO’s Carlee Lunsford made it on as a 2^nd Team hitter with 119 kills to lead the Warriors.

1^st Team Selections

Hitters

Mila Jordan* (Wapello), Niva Helmuth (Hillcrest Academy), Kennedy Woepking (Columbus), Taylor Morrison (Louisa-Muscatine), Kate Lanz (Wapello), Paislee Coleman (Pekin)

Setters

Taeya Wagner* (Wapello), Annaka Greiner (Wapello), Daniela Diaz (Columbus)

Libero

Mya Wagner* (Wapello)

Defensive Specialist

Kaylee Nguyen (Louisa-Muscatine)

Utility Player

Zai Par (Columbus)

2^nd Team Selections

Hitters

Jessica Del Rio (Columbus), Carlee Lunsford (WACO), Quin Smith (W-MU), Kaelyn Townsley (W-MU), Ruth Wittoft (Hillcrest Academy)

Setters

Madisen Kellogg (W-MU)

Claire Withrow (Hillcrest Academy)

Libero

Jocelyn Hernandez (Columbus)

Defensive Specialist

Emersyn Schultz (Highland)

Utility Players

Emmalin Marshall (Wapello)

Honorable Mentions

Columbus: Hailey Wellington and Mady Payne

Highland: Brena Hazelett and Adisyn Prottsman

Hillcrest Academy: Stavia Miller and Brynna Boshart

Lone Tree: Dalanie Graap

Louisa-Muscatine: Ashlynn Watkins-Schoening and Ella Mullikin

Pekin: Reece Brisby and Carlie Gambell

WACO: Morgan Meyer and Taelyn Egli

Wapello: Macey Kuntz and Erica Gillette

Winfield-Mt. Union: Katie Miller and Kellee Milks

All-SEISC South

Holy Trinity Catholic ruled the south this season as the Crusaders downed Burlington Notre Dame in straight sets to win the conference crown for the second consecutive season. Melissa Freesmeier, with 1,137 career wins under her belt, added another Conference Coach of the Year trophy to the mantle.

Also adding extra hardware was junior hitter Adalyn Kruse as she was named Player of the Year, but this season she got to share the limelight with Presley Myers, as the senior earned her first Conference Player of the Year honor. The pair also were named 1^st Team hitters.

The duo combined for over 700 kills, 100 blocks, and nearly 90 aces on the season. Myers will conclude her career at Holy Trinity Catholic with three state tournament appearances, a state runner-up finish, over 1,300 career kills, over 370 blocks, and a career kill efficiency nearly at 0.350. Kruse will be looking for her 1,000^th career kill in her senior campaign.

Myers talked about how important this team has been for her this season,

“This is the best team I’ve ever played on. The girls are just amazing. We’re so, so close, you know, inside and outside of volleyball. That’s really what makes us so good is we’re so close. We trust each other, you know. We know how to communicate because we’re so close with one another. Yeah. It’s gonna be really hard leaving the team behind next year.”

Olivia Bendlage (hitter) and Elizabeth Griffin (setter) for Holy Trinity Catholic were place on the 2^nd Team.

Burlington Notre Dame put two on the 1^st Team as they finished second in the south with a 6-1 mark. Addi Brockway was named 1^st Team hitter and Emma Elmore was a 1^st Team Utility Player. Brockway finished 3^rd in the division with 342 kills, while Elmore finished with 450 digs. Chloe Wenzel was put on as a 2^nd Team hitter.

Sophia Jirak (setter) and Ashlynn Huff (hitter) were named to the 1^st Team for Van Buren County. Huff tabbed 326 kills on a 0.272 kill efficiency, while Jirak collected 707 assists for the season. Marlee Mertens, a senior hitter, and Lexie Wiley, a senior libero, were put on the 2^nd Team.

Central Lee had three players named to the 1^st Team in senior hitter Taylor Jones, senior setter Kenna Sandoval, and senior libero Jayden Mueller. Jones roofed 45 attacks and nabbed 213 kills for the season, while Sandoval passed out 555 assists. Mueller led the south in digs with 566.

West Burlington’s lone 1^st Team nod was Baylee Woodsmall as a setter. The senior led the south with 794 assists and grabbed 30 aces from the service line in her final season as a Falcon. Kyleigh Applegate (hitter) and Lydia Armstrong (libero) were named to the 2^nd Team.

Mediapolis had Maycie Thornburg named to the 1^st Team as a defensive specialist. The Bulldog compiled 440 digs to aid the defense. On the 2^nd Team was Bryn Wright as a setter, Avery Hollingsworth as a defensive specialist, and Josie Hutcheson slotted in as a utility player.

Lastly, Danville earned two on the 2^nd Team. Alivia Bauer was one of two sophomores named as a hitter on the 2^nd Team as she finished with the 8^th most kills in the south with 218 kills, while nabbing 39 blocks and 23 blocks. Graci Huff made it as a defensive specialist with the senior tabbing 292 digs and 22 aces for the season.

1^st Team Selections

Hitters

Presley Myers* (HTC), Adalyn Kruse* (HTC), Addi Brockway* (BND), Ashlynn Huff (VBC), Talor Jones (CL)

Setters

Kenna Sandoval* (CL), Sophia Jirak (VBC), Baylee Woodsmall (WB)

Libero

Jayden Mueller* (CL)

Defensive Specialist

Maycie Thornburg (Mepo)

Utility Player

Emma Elmore (BND)

2^nd Team Selections

Hitters

Alivia Bauer (Danville), Olivia Bendlage (HTC), Chloe Wenzel (BND), Kyleigh Applegate (WB), Marlee Mertens (VBC)

Setters

Elizabeth Griffin (HTC), Bryn Wright (Mepo)

Libero

Lexie Wiley (VBC), Lydia Armstrong (WB)

Defensive Specialist

Avery Hollingsworth (Mepo), Graci Huff (Danville)

Utility Player

Josie Hutcheson (Mepo)

Honorable Mentions

Central Lee: Chloee Haig and Brylee Cook

Danville: Brynley Wenig and Marley Garland

Holy Trinity Catholic: Emma Mohrfeld and Calli Kruse

Mediapolis: Ellah Wagenbach and Clara Box

New London: Maison Nelson and Kylea Schwenker

Burlington Notre Dame: Ainsley Conrad and Logan Skerik

Van Buren County: Daphny Wells and Teagan Sickels

West Burlington: Brenna Shafer and Emersyn Hopkins

Postseason High School Volleyball

#4 Holy Trinity Catholic and #5 Dunkerton engaged in a classic last night for the Class 1A Region 2 championship as the Crusaders participated in their second consecutive five-set thriller, but this time there would be no story book ending as the Raiders pulled off the upset in comeback fashion to win the final set 15-11. Adalyn Kruse led the effort with 19 kills as Presley Myers and Olivia Bendlage each tabbed double-digit kills. The Crusaders finished the season with a 36-7 record. 

The Class 1A bracket is now set with #1 Saint Ansgar taking on #8 East Mills at 6 pm on Tuesday, November 4th. #4 Dunkerton, in their first ever state tournament appearance, will square off against #5 BCLUW. #2 Janesville will clash with #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck and #3 North Tama will face off against #6 Sidney to end the night.

Over in Class 2A, #1 Denver enters as the favorite with their first match on Tuesday being against #8 Wapsie Valley. #4 Grundy Center will tangle with #5 Beckman Catholic. #7 Aplington-Parkersburg will look to upset perennial powerhouse #2 Dike-New Hartford, while #3 Hinton will contend against #6 Regina Catholic. 

In Class 5A, #1 Waukee Northwest will start off the day on Monday, November 3rd, with a noon game against #8 Indianola. #2 Ankeny Centennial will face off against #7 Iowa City West and #4 Dowling Catholic will battle with #5 Ankeny. Rounding out the quarterfinals will be #3 Pleasant Valley attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Valley.

For Class 4A, #1 Clear Creek Amana enters as the favorite as they are tasked with playing #8 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. #7 Marion will look to knock off #2 Sioux Center. #4 Dallas Center-Grimes will square off against #5 North Scott and #3 Pella will take on #6 Norwalk to round out the quarterfinals.

Class 3A will begin at 10 am on Tuesday with #1 Western Christian taking on #8 Mt. Vernon. #2 Davenport Assumption will compete against #7 Mid-Prairie. #4 Cherokee and #5 Humboldt will tangle, while #3 Red Oak will face off against #6 Kuemper Catholic.

Postseason High School Football

In Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant was placed in Pod C where they will travel to West Delaware for their first playoff game in 15 years tomorrow, October 31st, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

Solon will get to host Benton tomorrow at 7 pm.

For Class 2A, Mediapolis will get a rematch against district-foe Mid-Prairie in a road showdown tomorrow with kickoff at 7 pm.

In Class A, Pekin will take on North Linn at home tomorrow at 7 pm in a rematch of last year’s first-round postseason matchup.

For Eight-Player, Iowa Valley will be looking to continue their undefeated season when the Tigers face off against Janesville tomorrow at 7 pm at home.

High School Cross Country

The state meets for Classes 2A and 3A are scheduled for tomorrow, October 31st, while Class 1A will run on Saturday, November 1st, at Fort Dodge. 

Running tomorrow for Class 3A on the girls’ side will be Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler and Quintrie Lee, Fort Madison’s Avery Rump, and Washington’s Iris Dahl and Emma Horak. On the boys’ side, Fort Madison will have Riley Tripp and Hunter Wiegand, Washington’s Andrew Rees was the only Demon to qualify, while Silas Hulett of Mt. Pleasant led the pack.

For the Class 2A boys’ race, Mediapolis will be competing as a team, while Cavin Denney of Notre Dame/West Burlington will run as an individual. On the girls’ side, Central Lee’s Aubree Bunnell will be joined by Hannah Ritter of Notre Dame/West Burlington.

For a full breakdown of who will be running at state, follow the links:

–Classes 1A and 2A

–Class 3A

Southeast Iowa Playbook

Mt. Pleasant was our school of focus for last night’s episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook as the Panthers prepare for an action packed day tomorrow as Silas Hulett prepares to run for the boys’ Class 3A state cross country meet at Fort Dodge and Max Sloat travels with the football team to West Delaware for their first round showdown with the Hawks.

For Hulett, who stumbled upon the world of cross country, he’s looking to pass along to everyone else that hard work can go a long way,

“With enough work and enough dedication, anything is possible, and you just have to be willing to fight through the pain and power [through] and run your race and have a little fun sometimes because you don’t always run your best race. You know, you don’t always do your best all the time. Sometimes you mess up, but maybe that mess up is just to be better the next time, you know.”

The Panther defense has imposed their will for most of the season and for Sloat, the senior linebacker, it’s all about attitude,

“Dominate, we have to go into every game knowing that we’re going to dominate, get the offense back with the football. We know that they’ll take care of business though once we do our job, we know that the offense will do theirs. And then yeah, we just got to go in and dominate. Set the tone on the line of scrimmage and then just win.”

If you missed last night’s episode, then follow this link: Mt. Pleasant Episode

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team ended the regular season with a sweep of Central Community College last night. The Blackhawks earned the #5-seed for the Region 11 tournament as they travel to play Northeast Community College on Saturday, November 1st, at 1 pm. 

The men’s soccer team advanced to the Region 11 championship yesterday after defeating Central Community College 5-4 in penalty kicks. The Blackhawks will head to Spencer on Sunday, November 2nd, at 2 pm to face off against Iowa Lakes. 

College Football

Iowa State will host Arizona State on Saturday, November 1st, at noon. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

Iowa is on a bye week. 

This Day in Sports History

1919 – Baseball league presidents call for the abolishment of the spitball.

1954 – The first use of the 24-second shot clock in pro basketball; the Rochester Royals defeated the Boston Celtics, 98-95.

2016 – The Oakland Raiders break the single game record for most penalties in an NFL game, gaining 23 in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.