High School Track and Field

Central Lee competed in the Grayhound Invite over the weekend and the girls’ and boys’ teams both finished in 4th place with the girls’ team picking up 55 points and the boys’ team collecting 58 points.

The girls’ team had a pair of victories as Allison Gruntmeir glided to the win in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 20 seconds, while the Hawks took the 4×100 meter shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 1 minute and 19 seconds. 

On the boys’ side, Evan Fogarty claimed the 100-meter dash by one-hundred of a second and Brett Cook won the 400-meter dash with a mark of 55.55 seconds. 

Central Lee will hold their Hawk Relays tonight with Van Buren County, New London, and the Danville boys’ team participating.

Mt. Pleasant will get another chance to host tomorrow, April 21st, with Danville, Mediapolis, Washington, and the Central Lee, New London, WACO, Wapello, West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ teams competing. 

Fairfield will travel to the Ottumwa Don Newell Classic tomorrow.

The Drake Relays are set to start on Thursday, April 23rd, for our local high athletes with Eli Zillman of Fairfield competing in the boys’ high jump and Washington’s Greyson Hartman throwing the boys’ discus. For a full look at the slate for our local athletes, follow this link: Start List for 116th Drake Relays

High School Soccer

The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team traveled to Assumption over the weekend and left without scoring a goal, losing to the hosts 7-0 and tying Wahlert Catholic, 0-0. The Nikes will stay on the road to play Quincy Notre Dame tomorrow, April 21st, at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis boys’ team participated in the Fort Madison Invite and lost both of their matchups, falling 3-1 to Davenport West and getting shutout by the Bloodhounds 10-0. 

Central Lee will hit the road to play Mediapolis tomorrow with the girls’ teams leading off the night at 5 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will face off against Fort Madison tonight with the boys at home starting at 4:30 pm and the girls on the road at 6:30 pm.

Washington will square off against Fairfield tonight with the boys’ team on the road and the girls’ team at home with both games starting at 5 pm.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Hillcrest Academy tomorrow at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will square off against Highland tomorrow on the road at 5:30 pm.

The Danville boys’ team will take on Wapello at home tomorrow at 6 pm.

The WACO boys’ team will travel to Hillcrest Academy on Friday, April 24th, at 5 pm.

High School Golf

The Washington boys’ team competed in the Dutch Masters in Pella this past weekend and the team finished in 11th place, while Rajan Roth’s score of 82 was good enough to tie for 9th place. The Demons will get back to conference golf on April 27th in Keokuk. 

The Southeast Conference girls’ teams will have their fifth conference meet of the season today with Mt. Pleasant acting as the hosts.

Mediapolis will square off against Holy Trinity Catholic today on the road. 

New London will travel to Central Lee today. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Louisa-Muscatine today at home.

Burlington Notre Dame will host a triangular today with Danville and Van Buren County making the trip. 

WACO will face off against Columbus on the road today. 

The Fairfield boys’ will hold an invitational on Friday, April 24th, with Mt. Pleasant participating.  

High School Boys’ Tennis

Mt. Pleasant will face off against Keokuk on Thursday, April 23rd, on the road. 

Fairfield will host Fort Madison today. 

Southeastern Community College

The baseball team swept Des Moines Area Community College over the weekend, winning game one 20-2 and taking the doubleheader yesterday, 6-5 and 8-4. The Blackhawks will square off against Kirkwood Community College on Wednesday, April 22nd.

The softball team struggled over the weekend as their 8-game win streak was snapped as they went 1-3, losing both of their games to Iowa Western Community College, 8-2 and 6-4, before splitting their doubleheader to Southwestern Community College yesterday, winning game one 10-0 and losing game two 9-8. The Blackhawks will look to bounce back at home on Saturday, April 25th, in a doubleheader against Marshalltown Community College at 1 pm.

College Baseball and Softball

The Iowa baseball team claimed their series against Maryland, taking the first two games 14-4 and 5-2, before losing the finale, 16-5. Kooper Schulte had an RBI double in game two. The Hawkeyes will stay at home to take on Western Illinois tomorrow, April 21st, at 6 pm.

The Iowa State softball team claimed the rubber match on Saturday against BYU, 9-6. McKenna Andrews swatted a two-run homer in the victory.

The Iowa softball team dropped a contentious series to Indiana over the weekend, sneaking away with the finale 4-2 after losing the first two bouts 2-1 and 9-7. The Hawkeyes will travel to Iowa State tomorrow with first pitch at 4 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1916 – Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6.

1943 – Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi, fractures a leg.

1988 – Baltimore Orioles set the record for the worst start to a season: 0-14 (will go 0-21).

Des Moines, IA- Des Moines, Iowa will be the hub for some of the most talented track and field athletes in the world as state champions, national champions, and even Olympians migrate to the Blue Oval for the 116^th running of the Drake Relays, starting on Wednesday, April 22^nd, and going through Saturday, April 25^th.

The high school division is set to start their competition on Thursday, April 23^rd, and southeast Iowa will be well represented throughout the multi-day event. Here’s a list of our local athletes that will be making the early trip west.

Boys’ 100-Meter Dash

A trio of local athletes from southeast Iowa who all finished in the top five of their respective class state races last season. Ryan Bair of Keokuk, who grabbed the silver medal last year, comes into this race after just breaking the Denny White Relay meet record in the event.

The man who finished behind him in last year’s race, Landry Haberichter, of West Burlington/Notre Dame will also be soaring into the event. Lastly, London Franklin, who took 5^th place at state last year, will also be in the 32-man heat.

The event will go at 9:13 am on Friday, April 24^th, for the preliminary.

Girls’ 100-Meter Dash

Despite taking the year off, Burlington’s Mylee Stiefel will be returning to the Blue Oval as one of the fastest runners in southeast Iowa. Nevertheless, Alex Scott of Mt. Pleasant will be looking to give her trouble.

Hillcrest Academy’s Rya Scott will also be running. The first heat will start at 9:03 am on Friday for the preliminary.

Boys’ 400 and 800-Meter Events

The reason we combined these two events is because only one local athlete will be competing and more specifically only Van Buren County’s senior star Lincoln Bainbridge will be running for the Warriors.

Bainbridge will first run at 1:57 pm on Friday in the 800-meter run, then participate in the 400-meter dash with a start time slated for 5:46 pm.

Girls’ 400 and 800-Meter Events

As the only freshman in the 400-meter dash and one of two freshmen in the 800-meter run, Avery Fedler of Mt. Pleasant will also be the lone runner representing southeast Iowa.

The 800-meter run will run at 1:44 pm on Friday with the 400-meter dash going at 5:28 pm that night.

Girls’ 1500-Meter Run

Why not add another event to the freshman’s slate? Fedler will be competing in the 1500-meter run. And to keep the patter, Fedler is one of only three freshmen that will be participating in the event. Fedler will compete at 4:28 pm on Saturday.

Girls’ 3000-Meter Run

Pekin’s Chloe Glosser will run in the long-distance event. The event is scheduled for Thursday at 6:11 pm.

Boys’ 110-Meter Hurdles

Columbus’ Lamar Ceant entered the season with high expectations after nabbing the silver medal in this event at state last year and the surrounding times belonging to seniors. He will get a chance to show his skills as a junior this year with teammate Alex Rees, who also finished in the top 8 at state last year. The Wildcats will go at 8:49 am on Friday for the preliminary with the finals at 10:39 am the same day.

Boys’ 400-Meter Hurdles

Might as well go for the trifecta as Van Buren County’s Bainbridge will be busy throughout the three-day event. Bainbridge will finally be done at 3:09 pm on Saturday.

Boys’ 4×100 Meter Relay

It will be a large field of local teams sending a squad for one of the more electrifying events of the meet.

West Burlington/Notre Dame will be bringing Maddox Diewold, Kellan Porter, Eli Oleson, and Landry Haberichter.

New London’s defending Class 1A state championship quad of Brigham Porter, London Franklin, Cale Westerbeck, and Gavin Strawhacker will look to express their expectations for the season.

Will Luttenegger, Brock Spears, Kyler Crow, and Henry Luttenegger will run for Mediapolis, while Aliyas and Alijah Brock along with Riley Smith and Nolan Glick will compete for Pekin.

Keokuk’s speed will continue to be on display with the team of Kurt Joy, Jackson Bair, Antonio Crockett, and Ryan Bair. Joining the Southeast Conference bid is Fairfield’s Dayson Workman, Voss Richardson, Ethan Bisgard, and Spencer McCready.

Lastly, Djamar Exantus, Alex Rees, Domonic Garcia, and Lamar Ceant will take off for Columbus.

The preliminaries will run at 10:12 am on Saturday. The finals will run after 2:30 pm on Saturday.

Girls’ 4×100 Meter Relay

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference will outrank the Southeast Conference in the 4×100 meter relay with three teams versus the SEC’s two squads. In Danville’s only appearance in Des Moines, the Bears will have Macie Wagner, Violette Sowell, Alivia Bauer, and Alaina Gourley run.

Highland will tout Hailey Brun, Kamryn Fink, Alexa Hahn, and Kinzie Ruess, while Karina Bourha, Adia Scott, Niva Helmuth, and Ryan Scott will compete for Hillcrest Academy.

In a possible show of foreshadowing for the conference title it will be Mt. Pleasant’s crew of Ellie Freeman, Kynlee White, Taylor Williamson, and Delaney Anderson, who just ran to the 10^th fastest time in school history in the event, competing against Washington’s Jaslyn Villa, Jaedyn Moore, Leighton Salazer, and Leighton Messinger.

The girls’ teams will run at 9:40 am on Saturday for the preliminary race. The finals will run after 2:30 pm on Saturday.

Boys’ 4×200 Meter Relay

Travarius Smith will tag in for Crockett for Keokuk’s 4×200 meter relay team that just recently broke the meet record at the Denny White Relays. The Chiefs will compete at 1 pm on Friday.

Girls’ 4×200 Meter Relay

Washington will be the only local team sending a team in Jaslyn Villa, Lauren Drahota, Leighton Messinger, and Jaedyn Moore. They will run at 12:47 pm on Friday.

Girls’ Sprint Medley Relay

Mt. Pleasant’s Delaney Anderson, Kynlee White, Alex Scott, and Avery Fedler will be looking to feed off the momentum of their school record run at the Denny White Relays with a time of 1 minute and 47.3 seconds, which beat the Blue Oval mark by nearly a full two seconds.

The Panthers will run at 9:50 am on Friday.

Boys’ Shot Put

The Southeast Conference will be sending two to throw the 12-pound orb in Urijah Brooks from Fort Madison and Washington’s Greyson Hartman. The shot put is scheduled for Friday at 9 am.

Girls’ Shot Put and Discus

Pekin’s Anna Hadley will throw along with Burlington’s Kylee Hill, a pair of state champions. The shot put will compete at 5 pm on Thursday, while discus will throw at 8:30 am on Friday.

Boys’ Discus

Washington’s Hartman, who just broke the Denny White Relay meet record, threw his personal best of 182 feet and 11 inches at the event. That throw would have won the Class 3A championship last year, an event he finished 3^rd in. He will throw at 2:30 pm on Thursday.

Boys’ High Jump

Again, the Southeast Conference will have a pair competing in the high jump. Fairfield’s Eli Zillman, who won the state championship two years ago, will leap along with Nolan Guzman of Fort Madison. Tagging along will be Mediapolis’ Lathan Keller. The trio will jump at 4:30 pm on Thursday.

Girls’ High Jump

After breaking the school record, Winfield-Mt. Union’s Quin Smith will be looking to clear that mark of 5 feet and 5 inches. She will leap at 9:30 am on Friday.

Up Next

Stay tuned to KILJ for updates throughout the day and written recaps at the end of the day’s events throughout the multi-day event.