Mt. Pleasant, IA- While the Midwest takes a plunge into arctic temperatures, it’s important to remember that spring is just around the corner and for some people it cannot come soon enough. Mt. Pleasant’s Savannah Slobodnik signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Mount Mercy University throwing team next season.

She explained what stuck out the most about Mount Mercy,

“I’m really excited. Mount Mercy is a beautiful campus. Their staff—everybody’s—really nice there. I just really am excited to start my school year.”

The senior has enjoyed a successful career in the circle for the Panthers with a specialty in discus. She was the best thrower by her sophomore year with a 111 foot and 2-inch mark for the season, pacing the team by nearly 15 feet.

Her junior season saw both individual and team success resulting in the Panthers taking first place in five meets and second place in two meets, including the Southeast Conference (SEC) meet.

“It takes like just supporting the other teammates,” said Savannah Slobodnik. “It really affects you a lot if you don’t have your other teammates there supporting you, it kind of feels like, you know, you’re not doing the greatest. Yeah, I’ll definitely take teamwork into college.”

A big reason for the team’s success was Slobodnik’s consistent performance.

She finished with the gold and silver in five meets apiece along with the bronze at the SEC meet. One of her second-place finishes punched her ticket to the 2024 state track and field meet, where she threw 106 feet and 10 inches to finish in 18^th place.

She will be looking to best her mark of 118 feet and 7 inches in the upcoming season, a season that will have lofty expectations according to Slobodnik,

“I want to place at state this year. I kind of fell off last year, so I want this year to be big.”

Slobodnik plans on majoring in Elementary Education, so she can go into teaching. A profession she has grown to love,

“I’ve worked at a daycare for about two years now, and that’s just kind of showed me how much I like, you know, working with kids. So that kind of swayed me.”

The 2025 track and field season will start on March 11^th with the Dickinson Relays at UNI and the senior is looking to adhere to along with leave behind one piece of advice for the future generation of throwers,

“I really hope that they don’t get nervous like me. Even if you have a bad meet, everything is fine. It will go away at the next meet. You just have to believe in yourself every practice, every meet.”

The Mustangs finished in fourth place at the Heart of America Outdoor Track and Field for 2024 that saw Bre Nail become the first female since 1981 to win three consecutive Heart of America championships in the same event. The all-American won the shot put on Saturday with a toss of 13.63 meters.

The team also featured Alyssa Striegel, a Mt. Pleasant native, as she recorded the second-best discus throw in school history at 43.38 meters.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team hosted Danville in a non-conference bout last night and despite outscoring the Bears 23 to 10 in the second half the Panthers fell short of the comeback, losing 35-31. Alexa Fuller led the charge in the second half for the Panthers, collecting 11 points for the night, while Alaina Gourley put up 12 points for the Bears.

Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson believes his team has nothing to hang their heads about,

“I thought in the second half we played really, really well. We came out and we just kind of told them that the first half was done and over with and we just had to take one possession at a time to get back in the game and the girls took that to heart. And they went out and played a lot better defense. We got better looks in the second half. Just overall I’m proud of the way the girls came out in the second half.”

Danville has now won three consecutive games decided by two possessions or less, an aspect of the game head coach Matt Morris is hoping to build upon,

“That’s huge down the stretch. You know, overall, we’ve still got a very young varsity experience team. Yeah, you want to definitely win those games. You’ll take the blowout wins if you can get them of course. But yeah, when you look at the overall situation, yeah, anytime we can get in that scoring clock situation, the game is close. You know, whether it’s a quarter or a half, it’s a great opportunity for our kids to learn and grow. And, you know, we, I think, you know that hopefully we learned a couple of things about ourselves in, in the scoring clock situation. When the last couple of minutes and hopefully you know we get that situation again come district time that you know we execute.”

Danville will travel to West Burlington tonight at 6 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will celebrate their senior night on Friday, January 24th, against Fort Madison with game time at 6 pm.

Columbus split their matchup against Van Buren County last night with the girls’ team winning a low scoring affair, 43-35, and the boys’ team falling 72-60. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against Van Buren County tonight on the road with game one at 6 pm. 

Columbus will take on Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday with the doubleheader starting at 6 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame swept Wapello last night with the girls’ team handling the Arrows 48-35 and the boys’ team crushing Wapello 78-43.

Mediapolis will travel to Burlington Notre Dame tonight with tip-off at 6 pm. 

Wapello will square off against Hillcrest Academy tonight in a road matchup with game one at 6 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will face off against Oskaloosa tonight at 7:30 pm. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will take on Pella Christian tonight with game time at 7:30 pm on the road.  

Winfield-Mt. Union will play Highland tonight with the boys’ team following the girls game at 7:30 pm. 

Central Lee will square off against New London at home tonight with game one at 6 pm. 

WACO will hit the road to compete against Lone Tree tonight at 6 pm for the girls game. 

High School Wrestling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield on Thursday, January 23rd.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will host New London and Highland for a triangular on Thursday. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will travel to Pekin on Thursday for a triangular. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will participate in the Louisa-Muscatine Invite on Saturday, January 25th.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Wapello on Thursday to celebrate their Senior Night. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will travel to Louisa-Muscatine on Saturday for an Invite.  

The WACO boys’ team will travel to Highland for a double dual on January 30th.

High School Bowling

Fairfield will compete in a triangular in Keokuk tonight.

Mt. Pleasant will take on Fairfield on Thursday, January 23rd, at home. 

High School Soccer Rule Changes

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released a joint set of rule changes for the upcoming 2025 soccer season.

There will be no overtime permitted for any regular season match at any level with tied regular season matches resulting in a draw. The one exception will be given to regular season tournaments.

Continuous clock will be used for the first half if a team is ahead by 10 goals.

No weather delay for a postseason match will exceed three hours past the original start time.

Lastly, the NFHS rule surrounding players getting yellow cards will now be applied instead of the Iowa adaptation.

NFHS RULE 12-8 PENALTY: A cautioned player shall leave the field and may be replaced. Should a team with a cautioned player elect to play shorthanded, the cautioned player may not re-enter nor be replaced until the next substitution opportunity.

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team will be back at home tomorrow, January 22nd, to face off against Marshalltown Community College at 7 pm.

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team will host UCF tonight at 7 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against Minnesota tonight at 8 pm. 

The Iowa women’s team will take on Washington on the road tomorrow, January 22nd, at 8 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team will compete tomorrow against BYU at home with tip-off at 6:30 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1954 – First time in NBA All-Star history, an overtime period is needed to decide a winner; Boston Celtics’ guard Bob Cousy’s 10-point overtime scoring burst gives the East a 98-93 win; Cousy wins All-Star MVP honors.

1990 – John McEnroe becomes the first player ever to be expelled from the Australian Open.

1994 – The Dallas Mavericks suffer their 19th straight loss at Reunion Arena, 91-87 to the Seattle SuperSonics, extending an unwanted NBA record for the most consecutive home defeats.

Prep Soccer- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) boards had a joint meeting, and the result is some new changes to take effect in the upcoming 2025 regular season and playoffs.

There was a total of four joint approvals that will affect the upcoming play.

1. Overtimes and Draws

There will be no overtime permitted for any regular season match at any level. Tied regular season matches will result in a draw. An exception will be given to regular season tournaments that need a winner to advance; however, the teams will immediately proceed to penalty kicks.

Postseason matches will keep their overtime policy of two sudden victory overtime periods and penalty kicks to determine a winner.

2. Continuous Clock

If a team is ahead by 10 goals in the first half of a match, then there will be a continuous clock until the lead falls under 10 goals or halftime arrives.

If the lead is 10 at halftime, then the game will conclude. If a 10-goal lead is reached at any point in the second half, then the game will conclude at that point.

3. Weather Delay Guidance

No weather delay for a postseason match will exceed three hours past the original start time.

An example would be if a match started at 7 pm, then the teams may not start or restart the game after 10 pm. Teams may mutually agree to end the match if there is a team leading in the second half.

4. Five-Minute Sit Out for a Yellow Card

The NFHS rule surrounding players getting yellow cards will now be applied instead of the Iowa adaptation.

NFHS RULE 12-8 PENALTY: A cautioned player shall leave the field and may be replaced. Should a team with a cautioned player elect to play shorthanded, the cautioned player may not re-enter nor be replaced until the next substitution opportunity.

The IHSAA soccer advisory committee also agreed to permit 17 matches per level for schools and the maximum amount of halves a player or team can play in one day is four.