High School Basketball

The Danville boys’ team fell to Davis County over the weekend 54-44. Leighton Rice led the scoring effort with 13 points. Burlington Notre Dame will take on Danville tomorrow, January 28th, at home with tip-off at 6 pm. 

The Mediapolis boys’ team could not hold off a late surge by Columbus Catholic over the weekend in a 52-45 loss. Mediapolis will compete against Central Lee tomorrow with game time at 6 pm on the road. 

Mt. Pleasant will travel to Mid-Prairie tonight for a doubleheader starting at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.

Fairfield will host Williamsburg tonight at 6 pm. 

WACO will stay at home to play Highland tomorrow with game one at 6 pm. 

The West Burlington boys’ team will tangle with Winfield-Mt. Union tomorrow with tip-off at 7:30 pm.  

Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against New London tomorrow at home for senior night with the girls playing at 6 pm. 

Columbus will travel to Wapello tomorrow with the doubleheader starting at 6 pm.

Van Buren County will face off against Central Lee on Friday, January 31st, with the night starting at 6 pm. 

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield boys’ teams competed at the Raider Invitational in Williamsburg over the weekend and the Southeast Conference was well represented. The Panthers were led by a trio of third-place finishers in Levi Evans, Lane Beckler, and Payton Walker, who also secured the most team points with 16.5.  

For the Trojans, Cael McCabe, Calvin McClain, and Dre Smithburg each finished the invitational undefeated and with the gold in their respective weight classes. Cason Miller and Zandrik Allsion both lost a match by a close decision (Miller lost 5-4 to Jo Hirsch of Western Dubuque and Allison was clipped 7-3 by Will Casey of Western Dubuque) to claim second place in their respective weight classes.  

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will face off against Burlington at home on Thursday, January 30th.

The Fairfield boys’ team will host their invite on Saturday, February 1st. 

The Mediapolis, New London, and Van Buren County boys’ teams traveled to Louisa-Muscatine to participate in a tournament and here’s the top performers from each squad. 

Mediapolis had Kyler Crow win the 175-pound weight class after pinning Van Buren County’s Alex Scott. Parker Lange grabbed the gold with a 2-0 performance in the 215-pound weight class.  

New London’s Gage Burden compiled a 5-0 record in the 138-pound weight class to finish in first place. Gavin Menke Bailey took down Jackson Meek of Van Buren County by major decision to finish with the gold.

Lastly, Van Buren County’s Elijah Westercamp secured first place in the 190-pound weight class with a win by fall. 

The Mediapolis boys’ team will host a quad on Thursday with Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union making the trip. 

The New London and Van Buren County boys’ teams will participate in a quad at Burlington Notre Dame on Thursday. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team hosted a dual over the weekend and tabbed a 3-2 record with wins over North Linn 51-27, North Scott 45-28, and Tipton 39-33, but fell to Southeast Polk 36-27 and West Liberty 45-31. Markel Zapiensz, Itai Zapiensz, Dakota Aney, and Trevor Phillips each finished the weekend without a loss. 

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team competed in the Alburnett Duals over the weekend and handled business with a 3-1 record, shutting out English Valleys 83-0 and taking down Iowa Valley 50-26 and NH/TV 57-22, but losing to the hosts 45-15. Dirk Boyles and Kohen Dietzenbach were the lone wrestlers to finish the duals undefeated. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Wapello, Mediapolis, Van Buren County, and Fairfield girls’ teams participated in the Louisa-Muscatine tournament over the weekend and a trio of local wrestlers finished atop their weight class.

The Wildcats had Aubrey Valencia lead the pack with a fourth place finish. Avery Hollingsworth of Mediapolis took first place in the 100-pound weight class with a 14-10 decision win. The Trojans had Samantha Lyons secure the gold in the 170-pound weight class with four pins. Alyia Abbot claimed second place for the Trojans. Lexie Wiley and Rylee Caviness of Van Buren County each grabbed third place. Lastly, Wapello’s Clara Ball took first place in the 110-pound weight class with a narrow 1-0 decision win in the championship match.

The girls’ regional tournament will commence on Friday, January 31st, at Williamsburg with Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Fairfield, Mediapolis, WACO, Wapello, Van Buren County, and Mt. Pleasant all making the trip. 

The WACO boys’ team will travel to Highland for a double dual on Thursday. 

Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year

 IAwrestle and Iowa Corn in coordination with the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) has released the top 15 wrestlers for the Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year Awards and southeast Iowa has three competitors in the running.

In Class 1A, WACO’s Louden Huisenga is a strong contender for the award at the 190-pound weight class. He has compiled a 25-0 record against fellow 190-pound contenders.

Over in Class 2A, Kaiden Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame is back in the top 15 after being placed on the list last year. The Nike is continuing his reign of terror on the area in the 138-pound weight class with a perfect 27-0 record, so far through his senior campaign.

Fairfield’s Cael McCabe is also up for the award in Class 2A as the junior boasts a 22-2 record in the 113-pound weight class. McCabe has won the Bob Murphy and Bill Van Horn Invitationals this season.

Fans can vote once per list at Facebook.com/IAwrestle for their favorite wrestler in each category until February 9th, when the list will be narrowed down to the top 7. The next round of voting, from February 10th to February 23rd, will determine the top 3 finalists, with the winner announced at the banquet on February 27th at the Fareway Conference Center in Boone, Iowa, on February 27th at 11:30AM.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will take on Louisa-Muscatine at the Rose Bowl today.

Fairfield will celebrate their senior night on January 30th against Keokuk. 

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team dropped a tough one to Moberly Area Community College over the weekend 60-57. The Blackhawks will look to finish the month over 0.500 in a road matchup against Kankakee Community College tomorrow, January 28th, at 7:30 pm.  

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team needed a second-half comeback effort but exited with the victory 76-61 against Arizona State over the weekend. Curtis Jones was unstoppable, dropping a career-high 33 points in the win. The Cyclones will compete against Arizona tonight on the road at 9:30 pm. 

The Iowa men’s team will be tasked with traveling to Ohio State tonight at 7 pm.

The Iowa women’s team will venture back home to face off against Northwestern tomorrow, January 28th, at 7 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team destroyed UCF 90-56 on Saturday. Audi Crooks collected a double-double in the win with 22 points and 11 rebounds. The Cyclones will travel to #10 Kansas State on Thursday, January 30th, at 7:30 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1969 – Chuck Noll is named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the youngest coach in NFL history at the time. 

1989 – Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman becomes the 4th NHL player to record 100 points in 50 games or less with a goal and 2 assists as the Red Wings beat Toronto, 8-1. 

1991 – Super Bowl XXV, Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL: the New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-19; MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB. Scott Norwood’s game-winning kick sails wide right for the Bills.