Prep Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released their latest top 10 rankings for the four classes and southeast Iowa is down to only one representative after a bit of friendly fire.

Class 4A

Cedar Falls still sits atop the rankings as the top five remained unchanged. Dowling Catholic was dropped from the rankings after a loss to #8 Waukee 62-57 and unranked Ankeny 63-48.

Prairie rounds out the list as the new team on the block having won their past three matchups, including a 71-70 victory over #1 Cedar Falls last Tuesday.

Class 3A

#1 Clear Lake and #2 Decorah kept the status quo at the top of the rankings, but no one else kept their spot from a week ago. Ranked #3 a week ago, MOC-Floyd Valley fell two spots to #5 after falling to a top ten team in Class 2A Unity Christian 67-59.

Surprisingly, no teams were dropped from the top ten despite the juggling of spots.

Class 2A

Western Christian still rules Class 2A with Kuemper Catholic sitting as their right-hand man. Unity Christian jumped West Lyon to be ranked 3^rd this week and Cascade and Treynor switched spots to be ranked 7^th and 8^th, respectively.

#10 West Burlington hung on to their spot with a 77-63 victory over #9 Burlington Notre Dame last Friday. Mason Watkins ranks second in the state, averaging 30.9 points per game as he also contributes five rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.

Regina Catholic was kicked out of the top 10 after losing 66-56 to Solon, ending their 16-game win streak. Aplington-Parkersburg jumped over the Falcons to claim that #9 slot.

Class 1A

The top five stayed the same with Maquette Catholic, Madrid, and MMCRU making up the top three, respectively. Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s loss to Aplington-Parkersburg 71-56 caused the Rebels to tumble back to #8 in the rankings from #6.

Notre Dame’s loss to the Falcons caused the Nikes to be ousted from the top 10, despite bouncing back to defeat Class 3A Fort Madison 59-54 the next day. North Linn is back in the top 10 after a brief hiatus, following their last three wins all being by at least 25 points.

Prep Wrestling- Two classes, 14 weight classes a piece, and 448 young women, those are the numbers surrounding the third sanctioned year of Iowa Girls’ High School State wrestling scheduled to start this Thursday, February 6^th, with champions decided on Friday, February 7^th.

KILJ will be giving live updates throughout the two-day event for our local wrestlers for which we will have 23 total wrestlers representing the southeast Iowa region. Here’s a look at who they are and how they got here.

Class 2A

The Burlington Grayhounds had a successful Regional at Iowa City High, sending six girls to Des Moines, while Fort Madison pushed along three girls. There will not be any Southeast Conference (SEC) rematches within the tournament as they all represent different weight classes.

Burlington

In the 105-pound weight class, sophomore Grace Navarre (30-15) will represent the Grayhounds after taking the runner-up slot at regionals. Navarre pinned Caroline McCarthy of North Scott in the quarterfinal and Wynter Morgan of Marion in the semifinal, leading to a hard-fought match that saw Jacey Mason of Davenport win by fall.

Navarre snatched the 13^th seed and will take on Joslyn Swanson (30-4) of Hinton in the first round.

Burlington’s next wrestler was another sophomore runner-up in the 135-pound weight class, Mia Oddo (25-21). Oddo snuck past Keira Cewe of Bettendorf with a pin at the 5:24 mark before losing by an 11-8 decision to Sierra Metcalf of North Scott in the championship match.

Oddo was handed the #16 seed, and she will be tasked with face off against the #1 seed Bella Miller (6-0) of Dubuque Hempstead.

Amaziah Twillie (27-10) of Burlington, a freshman, picked up wins by fall over Sofia Boddy of Bettendorf and Tatum Peters of Fort Madison to earn a match for the championship. However, Twillie was bested by Shaona Emmanuel of Iowa City High. This sent Twillie to a winner-takes-all showdown against Kennedi Smith of Davenport, where she won by fall.

#13 Twillie will get a chance to avenge her loss with a rematch against #4 Emmanuel (32-5) to begin her tournament run.

Sophomore Macy Peterson (29-20) of Burlington finished as the runner-up in the 170-pound weight class with a narrow pin over Ellie Cox of Marion providing the no contest needed to advance to the state tournament.

Peterson was given the #15 seed and will face off against #2 Ashley Chasteen (32-4) of Hinton for her first-round matchup.

Burlington had two seniors capture regional championships in Kiara Rodriguez (33-2) in the 190-pound weight class and Alannah Peterson (20-4) in the 235-pound weight class.

Rodriguez pinned both of her opponents, while Peterson won by fall in the championship match against Sage Dzeladini of North Scott after she won a 2-0 decision over Harper Griffin of Marion.

#3 Rodriguez garnered the highest seed for Burlington as she will start her tournament off with a matchup against Aliya Phillips (32-14) of Prairie.

Peterson nabbed the #4 seed and will take on #13 Elizabeth Mills (23-12) of Cedar Falls.

Fort Madison

The win is a bit sweeter against a conference foe and sophomore Briena Fenton (34-14) got to experience just that in the 125-pound weight class with her victory by major decision against Emma Warth of Burlington clinched her spot in the state tournament as a runner-up.

Fenton snatched the #14 seed and will face off against #3 Destiny Brown (41-3) of Ridge View.

Junior, Mara Smith (42-4) punched her third ticket to the state tournament with a near flawless run through regionals. Smith captured two pins within 20 seconds of her quarterfinal and semifinal opponents before defeating Isabella Giza of Bettendorf by a 7-2 decision.

#4 Smith will look to finish on the podium in the 130-pound weight class this season as she will start the tournament against #13 Brooklyn Mitchell (34-10) of South Tama.

Kat DiPrima (40-3) continued her dominant sophomore season in the 140-pound weight class by grabbing a regional championship with three wins by fall. Despite the ease of her finishes, she will have to earn her wins in Des Moines.

#10 DiPrima will compete against #7 Addison Appelhans (36-4) of Anamosa in round one.

Class 1A

There will be four returners to the state tournament from our local teams, including four members of the SEC, which will bring the grand total to 13 wrestlers.

Mt. Pleasant

Zenlynn Lee (23-3) has sent the Panthers back to the state tournament in her junior campaign after losing her sophomore season to injury. Lee started her regional with a win by fall over Alivia Tague of Keokuk and ended her regional with win by fall over Addison Hochstetler of North Tama for the gold.

Lee garnered the #6 seed, and she will take on #11 Adelynn Hudek (36-7) of Manson-NW Webster for her first matchup of the tournament.

Fairfield

Sophomore Samantha Lyons (32-4) is heading back to the state tournament after finishing as the runner-up in the 170-pound weight class in Williamsburg. Lyons defeated Haylie Keasling of Cardinal with ease in her semifinal matchup but could not end Briar Blake of North Tama’s undefeated season in the championship match.

#9 Lyons could get a rematch with Blake in the quarterfinals, yet she will have to defeat #8 Precious Kredit (29-12) of Sioux Center first.

Another Trojans to grab a spot in the state tournament was Kendra Allsion (22-16), a junior in the 235-pound weight class. Allison handled the competition at regionals with her toughest matchup coming in the championship match against Mt. Pleasant’s Olivia Gordy in championship match, which ended by fall.

#10 Allsion will compete against #7 Olivia Seay (20-10) of Wahlert Catholic in the first round.

Keokuk

Jalyiah Gardner (38-3) is also a three-time state tournament qualifier as she won the 140-pound weight class at Williamsburg. Gardner pinned Jessica Clark of Wilton before taking down Hailey Pedrick of Pekin by major decision.

Gardner, a senior, touts the #3 seed as she will take on #14 Kaylie Havig (34-18) of Osage.

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union

Despite entering the tournament with a losing record, Jada Moats (17-18) will be vying for the title in the 190-pound weight class. Moats pinned Sydnee Bliss of Wilton within a minute of her first match before falling in the championship match. It came down to a contest against Joey Tedrow of Cardinal and Moats won by fall to secure the runner-up slot.

The path will not be easy for the sophomore as #15 Moats will face off against #2 Leah Stewart (37-1) of Charles City to begin her tournament.

Wapello

Kenadee Helscher (32-0) is back for the 100-pound weight class after continuing her undefeated junior season. Helscher defeated June Connor of Fairfield and Ryleigh Jones of Williamsburg by fall before dismantling Audrey Cummings of Wilton by a 9-2 decision in the championship bout.

#2 Helscher will begin her quest for the gold against Jersey Hilgenberg (27-15) of Riverside.

One more Arrow will make an appearance at the tournament in the 110-pound weight class, as the freshman Clara Ball (32-11) won her regional. It was an arduous journey to get to the top spot in Williamsburg. Ball snuck past Valentina West of Assumption by a 3-2 decision before upsetting Audra Cross of Wilton by sudden victory in the first-place match.

Ball grabbed the #7 seed and will take on #10 Braelyn Suckow (39-9) of Sumner-Fredericksburg.

Pekin

No one won their regional for the Panthers, but four wrestlers punched their ticket to Des Moines.

Lexa Nelson (28-6) had quite the battle to get to Des Moines in the 105-pound weight class. The junior worked her way through the consolation bracket to earn a chance for the runner-up slot. Nelson would get her opportunity against Alyia Abbot of Fairfield, and she would not disappoint, pinning the Trojan at the 4:28 mark.

#9 Nelson will compete against #8 Audrina Bennett (27-12) of Spirit Lake.

Junior Lila Miller (28-4) won her first two matches by fall in the 135-pound weight class, but had to participate in an extra match after falling to Cecelia Gryp of Williamsburg by a 5-1 decision in the first-place match. Miller would take down Brooklyn Mau of Assumption to claim the final spot.

Miller is the #13 seed and will face off against #4 Amelia Wadsworth (25-6) of Decorah.

Hailey Pedrick (36-3) returns to the state tournament in the 140-pound weight class for her junior season. Pedrick won her two matches by fall before losing to Gardner in the championship match.

#9 Pedrick will wrestle #8 Teagan Carrit (42-4) of Logan-Magnolia-Woodbine in the first round.

Lastly, Rylee Frye (22-21) rumbled through the consolation bracket of the 235-pound weight class with wins over Sophia White of West Liberty by fall, a 5-0 decision win over Brynn Pogmore of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and a win by fall over Mt. Pleasant’s Olivia Gordy to secure second place.

#14 Frye, a freshman, will take on #3 Emma Cook (41-4) of Colfax-Mingo to begin her tournament trail.

Mid-Prairie

The Golden Hawks tout three state tournament qualifiers with sophomore Gabby Gingerich (25-11) earning a spot in the 115-pound weight class. Gingerich collected a couple of victories by fall to secure her place in Des Moines, despite falling to Tess Richards of Solon.

#16 Gingerich will have the dubious distinction of attempting to end #1 Reanah Utterback (51-0) of Sigourney-Keota’s two-year unbeaten streak as she attempts to win the state championship for the second year in a row.

Senior Ashlee Farrier (36-2) is back in Des Moines after finishing as the runner-up at the Solon regional. Farrier defeated Jocelynn Richardson of Durant by fall to secure her spot, while narrowly falling to #2 Jillian Worthen of Union Community by a 1-0 decision.

Farrier will compete as the #9 seed against #8 Cameron Halbur (34-9) of Rock Valley/Boyden-Hull.

Lastly, Layken Lee (23-17) will join a crowded 140-pound weight class with two other local wrestlers vying for the championship. Lee collected five wins through her trip in the consolation bracket with a win by fall over Jordan Voelkel of Benton Community priming her trip to Des Moines.

#15 Lee, a freshman, will have to keep that chip on her shoulder when she wrestles #2 Andelyn Cabalka (49-4) of East Buchanan for her first-round matchup.

Coverage

The first session will begin on Thursday at 10 am with Class 2A. Class 1A will start wrestling at 4:30 pm. The first day will see all first round, quarterfinals, first-round consolation, and second-round consolation matches completed.

Session three will begin at 10 am on Friday with the championship semifinals, third-round consolation, consolation semifinals, and 7^th place matches finished. Lastly, the podium matches through sixth place will start at 6 pm on Friday night.

KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be dropping in throughout the two days with live updates for our local wrestlers and kilj.com will have full-day round ups at the conclusion of the day.

If you would like to watch it, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union will have a live stream on the following link: Watch Girls’ Wrestling

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team held strong for a half of play, but Mediapolis ran away with the 64-48 victory over the weekend behind 39 second half points. Abi Shelangoski led the Panthers with 12 points, while Abby Carthey collected an 11 point/11 rebound double-double. The Bulldogs had Ellah Wagenbach tab 18 points. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team could not parlay Friday’s conference win into consecutive victories as Mediapolis pulled off a 71-50 win. Aiden Humble touted 18 points for the Panthers, while Will Luttenegger tallied 19 points in the win. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will host Fairfield tomorrow, February 4th, at the Mt. Pleasant Central Campus at 7:30 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Keokuk on Friday, February 7th, with tip-off at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call. 

Burlington Notre Dame split their non-conference showdown with Fort Madison over the weekend with the girls’ team falling 44-28 and the boys’ team sneaking away with a 59-54 win. Daisy Hazell scored seven points for the Nikes in the girls’ game, while the boys’ team buried 21 free throws with Shay Stephens leading the scoring with 18 points. Burlington Notre Dame will take on Regina Catholic tomorrow at home with game one at 6 pm. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team lost to Clark County over the weekend 71-64. 

Central Lee was swept by Keokuk over the weekend with the girls losing 69-28 and the boys falling 67-38. 

The New London girls’ team will celebrate senior night tonight against Cardinal at 7:30 pm, while the boys’ team will face off against Twin Cedars tomorrow at 7:30 pm at home for senior night. 

West Burlington will compete tomorrow against Burlington with game time at 6 pm.

Columbus will face off against Pekin tomorrow with the night starting at 6 pm.  

WACO will host Winfield-Mt. Union tomorrow with game one at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will face off against Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow at home with tip-off at 7:30 pm.

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference shootout will tip-off on Thursday, February 6th, for the girls and Friday for the boys. 

High School Wrestling

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference tournament commenced over the weekend and Burlington Notre Dame regained the crown with a dominating 309 points, while Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union finished with 156.5 points for a distant second place.

The Nikes had nine individual conference champions in Kohen Dietzenbach, Rowan Berndt, Colt Boyles, Jared Glendening, CJ Davis, Kaiden Dietzenbach, Kael Cook, Dirk Boyles, and Blake Wilson as they all went 3-0.

The Wildcats were led by the Zapiensz’s as Markel took the crown in the 215-pound weight class and Itai finished with the gold in the 285-pound weight class. Bowen Thomson took home the silver in the 132-pound weight class. 

Mediapolis finished in fourth place overall as Kyler Crow continued his undefeated season in the 175-pound weight class with a win by fall in the championship match. 

WACO’s trio led the charge as Louden Huisenga took the crown in the 190-pound weight class. Gage Samo and Ian Maize grabbed second place in their respective weight classes, as Maize lost on a tiebreaker to Kohen Dietzenbach.

Wapello’s lone conference champion was Cohen Wolford with a 12-7 decision win over Tate Sherwood of Burlington Notre Dame in the 144-pound weight class. Elijah Westercamp took third place for Van Buren County and New London had Gage Burden and Gavin Menke-Bailey claim second place in their respective weight classes. 

The Fairfield boys’ team hosted the Southern Iowa Classic over the weekend and ended with the team high in points with 194, while Mt. Pleasant grabbed 4th place with 151.5 points. 

For the Trojans, six wrestlers captured the gold in their respective weight classes in Cael McCabe, Aiden Westercamp, Zandrik Allison, Cason Miller, Dain Burkhart, and Dre Smithburg. 

The Panthers were led by Ramzy Davis (150-pound weight class) and Payton Walker (190-pound weight class) as both wrestlers collected 4-0 records and first place in their respective weight classes. 

The boys’ district meet is scheduled for Saturday, February 15th, with Van Buren County, WACO, and Wapello traveling to Pleasantville and New London will head to Wilton in Class 1A. For Class 2A, Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and Fairfield will compete in Centerville and Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis will venture to Williamsburg. 

The girls’ state tournament is scheduled to begin on Thursday, February 6th, in Coralville. KILJ will be giving live updates, following our 20 local wrestlers throughout the tournament. 

The matchups for the boys’ regional dual has been set and scheduled for tomorrow, February 4th, at 6 pm with the top eight teams moving on to the State Dual Tournament on Saturday, February 8th, in Coralville. 

In Class 2A at Davenport Assumption, #12 Burlington Notre Dame will face off against #11 Mount Vernon in the semifinals with the winner moving on to face #6 Assumption to see who will advance to state. 

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

Fairfield will host a triangular at home today.

Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk tomorrow, February 4th. 

The girls’ state qualifying meets are scheduled for Monday, February 17th, and Fairfield and West Burlington will compete at Davis County, while Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk. 

The boys’ state qualifying meets will take place on Tuesday, February 18th, and Mt. Pleasant will make the trip to Keokuk to compete. 

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team lost to Triton College over the weekend 71-60. The Blackhawks will travel to Marshalltown Community College on Wednesday, February 5th, with tip-off at 7 pm. 

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team suffered an embarrassing upset over the weekend, losing 80-61 to unranked Kansas State. Tamin Lipsey scored 20 points in the loss. The Cyclones will be tasked with #11 Kansas tonight on the road with game time at 8 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will compete against Purdue tomorrow, February 4th, at home at 6 pm. 

It was a perfect day for the Iowa women’s team, not only did the Hawkeyes celebrate Caitlin Clark by retiring her jersey, they also knocked off #4 USC 76-69. Lucy Olsen led the effort with 28 points. Iowa will travel to Minnesota on Thursday, February 6th, at 7 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team gave #9 TCU all they had over the weekend, but it was not enough in an 82-69 loss at the hands of the Horned Frogs. Addy Brown dropped a career high 31 points with Audi Crooks following behind with 29 points of her own. The Cyclones will take on Cincinnati on Wednesday, February 5th, at 5:30 pm on the road. 

This Day in Sports History

1876 – Albert Spalding invests $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football.

2008 – Super Bowl XLII, University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ: the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, 17-14; MVP: Eli Manning, New York, QB. Thus, ending the Patriots bid for a perfect season.

2013 – Super Bowl XLVII, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, New Orleans, LA: the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31; MVP: Joe Flacco, Baltimore, QB. First Super Bowl loss in 49ers history.