High School Football

Winfield-Mt. Union finished up their high school camp last night and for head coach Scott McCarty, it’s all about setting his kids up to succeed during the season,

“Yeah, just since we have to replace so many parts from last year to make sure the kids understand where they’re supposed to be, what they’re supposed to do, and also, they have the mentality that I don’t need you to be that player last year that played that position. I need you to be you and do the best you can at your position. You know, at your ability at that level. You know, we graduated some really nice ballplayers, and it’s unfair to think and have the expectations of the kids this year to be those kids. So just make sure they have the understanding that we want the best version of themselves and that they’re, you know, lining up and trying to do what they’re supposed to do at a high level.”

WACO’s week zero game against Central City has allowed them to hit the practice field this week. Head coach Chad Edeker knows this early part of the season is all about learning the basics,

“We’re just working on fundamentals and getting everything learned, you know, and actually the first week of practice, I think some of our varsity kids get a little anxious because they get less reps than the rest. You know our starting group; we’ve run the same offense for about 3-4 years now. We haven’t made a major change since. Oh, I don’t know when the exact year is, but the varsity starters pretty much know the offense, so they’re not getting a lot of reps, you know, we’ll get a few. And then we got to, you know, get the backups, you know, all the freshmen and sophomores that still know it from JV, but they don’t remember it quite as well and get them up to speed so you know you always got to have a base knowledge set already. So, we’ll work a lot on that and make sure we know all our base stuff.”

Practice will officially start on Monday for teams across the state of Iowa.

High School Volleyball

Mt. Pleasant traveled to Des Moines yesterday for a team camp. The Panthers will officially start practice on Monday.

Burlington Notre Dame traveled to Central College for a team camp and collected a 7-2 record and finished 5th out of 32 teams. 

High School Cross Country

New London will start practicing on Monday, August 12th, at 9 am and runners must have a current physical and signed concussion form.

Junior high runners are encouraged to join the high school practices for extra conditioning as their first practice is scheduled for Friday, August 23rd, at 4 pm.

Fairfield will officially get underway at 7:45 am on Monday at Waterworks.

Mt. Pleasant will start their team camp this Monday and the girls’ head coach Lyle Murray talked about who will be stepping up as captains for the Panthers this season,

“I would say on the girls’ side, Nelle Peterson, she definitely stood out as leader. She’s definitely taken on that role. And on the guy’s side, Locken Henderson has really stepped up and worked with some of the younger kids and yeah, no, they’ve done a great job.”

Iowa Football

The Hawkeyes will be hosting their annual “Kids Day at Kinnick” this morning. The open practice will begin at 11 am with the gates opening at 10 am. Team members will be signing autographs for kids around 10:30 am along the front of the west and south stands. Admission is free for all fans.

Award Watch Lists

The Iowa State offense continues to garner preseason attention with tight end Benjamin Brahmer being named to the John Mackey Award watch list, the award given to the nation’s most outstanding tight end.

Brahmer earned Freshman All-America honors last season after hauling in 28 receptions, an ISU freshman record, for 362 yards and two touchdowns.

The University of Iowa had two Hawkeyes named to preseason award watch lists: Logan Jones for the Rimington Trophy, which is given to the nation’s top center, and Luke Lachey joins the Mackey Award watch list.

Jones is looking to join Tyler Linderbaum as the former Hawkeye nabbed the award in 2021. He’s also on the Outland Trophy watch list.

Lachey is also up for the Comeback Player of the Year award after playing in just three games last year, catching 10 passes for 131 yards. 

This Day in Sports History

1944 – Braves Red Barrett throws only 58 pitches to shut out the Cincinnati Reds 2-0.

1971 – 16 baseball researchers form the Society for American Baseball Research.

1971 – Twins’ Harmon Killebrew becomes the 10th player to amass 500 home runs and adds his 501st.