High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team had their season ended by Fort Madison last night despite a late game flurry coming up just short as the Bloodhounds held on 44-38. The Panthers were down 40-29 with less than three minutes to go in the game, then Andrea Lopreato came up with a couple steals and transition points to make the game 40-38 with less than 1 minute and 30 seconds to go; however, Lopreato landed awkwardly and injured her ankle when she was fouled going up for the game-tying layup. Unfortunately, the Bloodhounds took advantage and did just enough to move on through the Class 4A Region 7 bracket. Coach Watson talked about his team’s effort for the season as they finished with an 11-12 record.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will start their postseason action February 20th at home against Fort Madison at 7 pm.

The WACO boys’ team game against New London tonight has been postponed until tomorrow at 7 pm.

The Danville girls’ team will travel to battle with Mediapolis tomorrow, February 17th, at 7 pm.

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team had their game postponed against Burlington Notre Dame until tomorrow. The girls’ team will take on Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow at 6 pm. KILJ will be covering the game with pregame at 5:45 pm. The boys’ will follow after the game.

High School Wrestling

The state tournament will be starting day two of action today with Dom Lopez of New London, Gage Samo of WACO, and Carter West and CJ Walrath of Burlington Notre Dame, along with Russel Coil of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union all still fighting in the championship bracket.

High School Bowling

The state championship will start February 20th and run through the 22nd.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s basketball team’s next game will be February 18th when they square off with Trinity Christian College at 1 pm on the road.

The 23rd-ranked men’s team will enter the Continental Athletic Conference tournament as 2nd overall seed on February 24th with a 24-2 record.

The men’s wrestling team’s next competition for the Tigers will be the 2023 Heart of America Conference Championship on February 18th.

The women’s wrestling team dominated Iowa Central Community College last night 35-10. Alaina Sunlin won via forfeit, Mia Palumbo won by tech fall. Zoi Smith, JoAnna Vanderwood, and Aduago Nwachukwu all won by tech fall. Isabell Hawley and Sydney Manos won by forfeit and America Lopez took the match on a 7-4 decision. The Tigers will start the 2023 Heart of America Conference Championship on February 25th.

The Tigers Indoor Track and Field teams will be competing in the North Star Athletic Association conference meet on February 19th. Head Coach, Hunter Davis, will be joining us on Tiger Nation this morning at 9 am.

The Tiger baseball team will have a doubleheader tomorrow, February 17th, against Mid America Christian with game one at 1 pm.

The Tiger’s softball season will begin on February 18th against Park University at 11 am for the Avila Tournament.

This Day in Sports History

1972 – Wilt Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Lakers becomes first player in NBA history to reach the career 30,000 point mark during a 110-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

1992 – LA Lakers retire Magic Johnson’s #32 uniform.

2005 – 2004-05 NHL season is canceled by Commissioner Gary Bettman; first time a North American professional sports league has called off a season due to labor dispute.

Prep Wrestling- Day one of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is in the books and here is a round-up of all the action that took place for our local wrestlers in the first two rounds of the championship bracket for Class 3A going by weight classes.

In the 106-pound weight class, Braxton Hutchinson of Burlington will be starting day tow in the consolation bracket after defeating Daniel Overall in the first round by fall, but then losing to the #1 seed Carter Pearson by fall in the second round. Hutchinson will take on Brennan Geers to start day two.

Ashton Grace of Ottumwa fell in the first round to Gabe Cauthron of Spencer in the 113-pound weight class. Grace will take on Jensen Dyer of Indianola to start day two.

In the 120-pound weight class, Noah Swigart of Fort Madison fell to Max Bishop of Fort Dodge in the first round. Swigart will take on JJ Maihan of Ankeny in the consolation bracket.

Logan Pennock of Fort Madison had a first round bye in the 126-pound weight class. However, Jashua Anglo of Johsnton would take down Pennock by fall in the second round. Pennock will take on Alex Bumba in the first round of the consolation bracket.

In the 145-pound weight class, Nolan Riddle of Fort Madison defeated Zach Fern of Iowa City, City High by fall in the first round. Dom Rubino of Waukee Northwest would defeat Riddle by a 12-9 decision, so Riddle will wrestle Luke Benson in the consolation bracket to start day two.

In the 152-pound weight class, Aidan Pennock of Fort Madison lost to Hunter Bagby of Urbandale by fall. Pennock will take on Ethan Riesselman of Dallas Center-Grimes in the consolation bracket. The 6^th seed Braylon Griffiths of Ottumwa had a first round bye then defeated Illias Louck of North Scott by an 11-4 decision to stay in the championship bracket.

Teague Smith of Fort Madison lost in a close match to Kaia Fox in a 2-1 decision in the 170-pound weight class. Smith will face off against Jace Fullhart of Spencer in the first round of the consolation bracket.

In the 182-pound weight class, Salomon Cordero of Burlington lost in the first-round match to Xander Kenworthy by fall. Cordero will square off against Cohan Torres of North Polk in the consolation bracket.

Isaac Thacher of Fort Madison came into the 195-pound weight class as the 6^th seed earning himself a bye for the first round. Thacher would then pin Johan Gomez of Marshalltown to move on in the championship bracket.

In the 220-pound weight class, Daniel Sokolik of Fort Madison won the first match by fall over Kam Evans of Muscatine, but fell to Jaxson Hildebrand of Denison-Schleswig in the second round. Sokolik will take on Jacob Mohler of Valley in the consolation bracket.

Stay tuned to KILJ 105.5 FM and kilj.com for more updates throughout the day over the course of the tournament.

Prep Wrestling- Day one of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is in the books and here is a round-up of all the action that took place for our local wrestlers in the first two rounds of the championship bracket for Class 2A going by weight classes.

Carter West of Burlington Notre Dame came into the 106-pound weight class at the #2 seed earning himself a first round bye. In round two, West made quick work of Jesse Jens to wrestle Klayten Perrault of Mount Vernon to start day two.

Kael Cook of Burlington Notre Dame and Cael McCabe of Fairfield both made it to round two of the championship bracket of the 113-pound weight class but fell to their opponent. Cook will wrestle Myles Beck and McCabe will take on Tony Horness of Ballard to start day two.

In the 120-pound weight class, the first upset of the day happened for Burlington Notre Dame when the 5^th seed CJ Davis fell to Christian Ahrens of Creston in the second round by a 9-4 decision. Davis will take on Ben Walsh in the consolation bracket. Aaron Boone of Washington almost pulled off the upset against Carson Less but fell by an 8-7 decision to move to the consolation bracket. Boone will take on Kyler Jessup of Solon to start day two.

In the 126-pound weight class, the #1 seed Kaiden Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame was the second victim to the upset bug as Mason Avila won by a 4-2 decision in the second round. He will take on Elijah Kupka of Benton Community in the consolation bracket.

Caden Greiner of Washington fell in his first-round matchup to Kade Bauer for the 132-pound weight class. Greiner will take on Tucker Vitzhum in the consolation bracket.

Tate O’Shea of Keokuk earned a first round bye for the 138-pound weight class and then defeated Tucker Wheeler by major decision. He will take on the 6^th seed Carson Turnis in the third round of the championship bracket.

In the 145-pound weight class, Dante Zuniga of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Chris Aragon of Creston in the first round of the consolation bracket.

Isaiah Fenton of Burlington Notre Dame will take on Aiden Flora to start day two as he earned a bye in the first round then defeated Owen Klocke of Carroll by tech fall. Klocke took out Triston Miller of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union by an 11-8 decision. Miller will take on Maxwell Mintle of Grinnell in the first round of the consolation bracket of the 152-pound weight class.

In the 160-pound weight class, Chase Greiner of Washington and Cole Storm of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union both lost their first round matchup sending them to the consolation bracket. Storm will wrestle Mack Seeba and Greiner will take on Zach Strubbe to start day two.

Moving to the 182-pound weight class, CJ Walrath of Burlington Notre Dame is looking to end the season undefeated as he defeated Brenden Casey of Atlantic by fall to move to the round of 8 and face off against Jace Mulder to start day two. Walrath is the #1 seed.

In the 195-pound weight class, Curtis Stender of Washington fell to Ethan Wood in the first round and Stender will now take on Jacques Zomermaand of Sioux City in the consolation bracket.

Two local kids faced off against one another in the 220-pound weight class with Kai Malone of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union getting the best of Dre Smithburg of Fairfield to move on to the second round. Malone would then fall to the #1 seed Nick Reinicke to move to the consolation bracket. Malone will take on Kaine Clinkenbeard of Spirit Lake Park and Smithburg will wrestle Drew Jackson to start day two.

In the 285-pound weight class, Brandon Brinkschroeder of Fairfield fell to Paul Ballard in the first round. He will take on Colton Wieland of Carroll in the consolation bracket. Russel Coil of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union entered the tournament as the 18^th seed and has performed two upsets as he defeated Sean May by a 4-3 decision and then took down #2 seed Sam Gravert by a 5-2 decision to move on in the championship bracket.

Stay tuned to KILJ 105.5 FM and kilj.com for more updates throughout the day over the course of the tournament.

Prep Wrestling- Day one of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is in the books and here is a round-up of all the action that took place for our local wrestlers in the first two rounds of the championship bracket for Class 1A going by weight classes.

In the 106-pound weight class, Codder Malcom of Wapello defeated Eli Rieb in the first round by an 8-2 decision. The #3 seed Brock Shaha of Mount Ayr would take down Malcom by fall in the second round sending him to the consolation bracket where he will start day two wrestling Caleb Hoffman of Kuemper Catholic.

Gage Samo of WACO entered the 7^th seed in the 113-pound weight class, which earned himself a first-round bye. In round two, he would defeat Cole Frost of Don Bosco by a 6-2 decision setting himself up for a matchup with Cael Morrow of Akron-Westfield, the #2 seed, to start day two.

In the 126-pound weight class, Gage Burden would lose his first round matchup against TJ Nutt by fall. He will start day two against Payton Harger of Earlham in the consolation bracket.

Zach Harbison of Wapello pulled off the upset in his first round match against Korbyn Maxwell as he defeated Maxwell by major decision in the 138-pound weight class. In the second round, Myles McMahon of Don Bosco would send Harbison to the consolation bracket after pinning him in the match. Harbison will take on Dawson Beyer of Sibley-Ocheyedan to start day two.

In the 152-pound weight class, Kyler Crow of Mediapolis won via a 15-10 decision over Jackson Kounkel in the first round. Kyler Knaack would make quick work of the Bulldog as he beat Crow by fall. Verdy Klocke will be Crow’s next opponent in the consolation bracket.

The 160-pound weight class has two wrestlers to keep an eye on in the 4^th seed Louden Huisenga and the 2^nd seed Dom Lopez as each earned byes in the first round. Huisenga would move on due to disqualification over Ben Hansen, so he will wrestle the 5^th seed Max McGill to start his day. Lopez, who is looking to end the year undefeated, defeated Rory Prazak II by tech fall in the second round, which tied the record for most wins in a high school career in the state of Iowa, with 219. He will battle Andrew Kimball of Don Bosco on his last journey for a high school state championship.

Michael Raines of New London went 1-1 on the day in the 170-pound weight class as he defeated Kaden Stites by fall in round one, but lost to Titus Evans in the second round. He will take on Logan Wearmouth of Martensdale-St. Marys in the consolation bracket.

The 195-pound weight class has three local wrestlers to keep an eye on. Trent Wilkerson of New London went 1-1 on the day as he defeated Zach Teague of West Central Valley by fall but lost to Nathan Beitz of Maquoketa Valley by a 7-0 decision. Wilkerson will face off against Tate Mayer of Saint Ansgar in the first round of the consolation bracket. Drew Diers of WACO lost by fall in his first match of the day to Jack Schwenn of Belle Plaine. Diers will take on Aiden Sullivan in the consolation bracket. Lastly, the #2 seed Josh Glendening of Mediapolis got a bye for the first round, then took down Taite Peach by fall to move on in the championship bracket to wrestle Schwenn.

Spencer Kessel of Louisa-Muscatine got a first round bye as the 4^th seed then defeated Indy Ferguson of Lisbon by a 7-0 decision to wrestle Henry Lund to start day two.

Stay tuned to KILJ 105.5 FM and kilj.com for more updates throughout the day over the course of the tournament.

Mt. Pleasant, IA- Gabe Feldman has decided to take his talents to Central College and run both Cross Country and Track and Field for the Dutch next fall. Feldman will be studying to become a history teacher at the conclusion of his collegiate career.

Feldman was part of the Panther 4×800 team that made it to the state championship last year. Additionally, he was awarded the Panther Award for Cross Country his season in the fall. When he was two-years old he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, a lung disease, and saw running as an opportunity to keep himself healthy,

“My parents always told me the way to keep your lungs healthy is just to run, they’re runners my whole family is full of runners and it was just an easy way to get into it and I said I’m too scared to play football might as well do Cross Country and that’s where it got me.”

Feldman is looking to go back to state with his 4×800 team this spring and the big goal for the season is to make it in the open 800-meter run and to simply have fun.