Sports, May 16th

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, May 16th, 2024 at 6:27 am CDT

High School Track and Field

The State Track and Field meet starts today and runs through Saturday, May 18th, in Des Moines. KILJ will bring updates throughout the three day event.

Classes 2A and 3A will start off the day with the girls shuttle hurdle relay preliminary. The girls’ Class 3A discus, one of the first field events, will feature Kya Goodrich and Savannah Slobodnik of Mt. Pleasant along with Brylie Lorence of Fort Madison.

If you would like to watch the meet, the Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) will live stream and broadcast the coed State Track Championship today through Saturday. It will air on the IHSSN Cable Network and be streamed for free at IHSSN.com or the WatchIHSSN app. You can access the stream through the IHSAA or IGHSAU websites.

High School Soccer

In a defensive battle, the Central Lee girls’ team pulled off the upset against Mediapolis last night 1-0. The Bulldogs finished the season with a 9-6 record. The Hawks advance to the Class 1A Region 1 semifinals to take on Assumption, the #1-seed, on Tuesday, May 21st, at 7 pm. 

In other girls’ postseason action, Washington fell to Center Point-Urbana last night 6-1. The Demons finished the season with a 7-9 record. 

In the boys’ Class 1A Substate 6 postseason bracket, Central Lee will have their hands full when they travel to #1 West Branch on Monday, May 20th, at 7 pm. 

In the bottom half of the bracket, Danville will face off against Mediapolis in the semifinal on May 20th at Mediapolis. 

In the boys’ Class 2A Substate 5 bracket, Keokuk will take on Williamsburg on the road on May 20th at 7 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame will compete against Assumption on May 20th at 7 pm on the road. 

The Burlington Notre Dame girls’ team will travel to Mt. Pleasant tomorrow, May 17th, for the Class 2A Region 8 quarterfinal at 5:30 pm.

High School Tennis

Jana Isanta of Mt. Pleasant will participate in the girls’ Class 1A State Singles tournament on May 24th in Iowa City. 

The Fairfield boys’ team fell to Xavier yesterday 5-0 in the Class 1A Substate 5 championship match. Austin Loria and Ethan Cass both won a couple of games in their singles matches. The Trojans end the season with an 11-1 record. 

High School Golf. 

The girls’ Class 1A Region 5 Final took place at Honey Creek Resort in Moravia yesterday and New London continued their annual tradition of qualifying for state with a second place finish behind Highland. 

The Tigers finished with a team score of 363 with Taylor Phillips and Sophie Malott leading the pack with scores of 77 and 79, respectively. Emma Busby carded the 8th best score of the course, shooting a 94. Wapello finished with a team score of 504 with Emma Gerhardt leading the team with a 103, which placed her in 17th. 

 The girls’ Class 1A state meet will take place at the American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown on May 23rd, continuing into May 24th. 

The West Liberty Country Club hosted the girls’ Class 2A Region 5 final yesterday as Madi Davidson’s 89 led Mid-Prairie to a second-place finish and a spot at the state meet. Clinching a spot as an individual was Mediapolis’ Olivia Hines, who has become a regular at the state meet, as she carded an 81, the second best score of the course. 

The Class 2A state meet will take place at Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone on May 23rd. 

Lastly, Solon hosted five Southeast Conference (SEC) teams in the Class 3A Region 4 final yesterday, but kept the glory for themselves as the Spartans claimed second place with a score of 338, 17 strokes behind Xavier.

Keokuk finished in sixth place with a team score of 388 followed by Fort Madison with a team score of 390. Fairfield shot a 413, Washington finished with a 418, and Mt. Pleasant rounded out the field with a 419. 

Keokuk’s Heidi Rose led the SEC, finishing in 18th place with a score of 91. Mt. Pleasant’s Kylie Walderbach carded a 95, which was good enough for 26th place. 

The boys’ state meet is set to begin on May 20th in Ames with Washington competing as a team for Class 3A at Veenker Memorial Golf Course and Winfield-Mt. Union for Class 1A at Ames Golf and Country Club.

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant has now made it back-to-back mercy victories, clobbering West Burlington last night 11-1 after five innings. J.C. Sitar continued his slugging at the plate, adding two doubles and two RBIs to his season total. Payton Hagans also cranked two doubles as Cooper Coleman also slapped a double with each tallying an RBI. Zach Newton pitched a complete game, allowing only two hits and striking out six batters.

Brock Thuleen totaled the only RBI for the Falcons as Levi Fletcher-Bates notched the only extra-base hit. 

The Panthers will travel to Cardinal tonight with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 pm. 

West Burlington will host Keokuk on Monday, May 20th, at 7:30 pm. 

Van Buren County will attempt to get their first win of the season against Keokuk tonight at home at 7:30 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame will travel to Don Bosco on Saturday, May 18th, for an invitational. 

Central Lee will start their season on May 20th on the road against Fort Madison at 7 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will take on New London on May 21st at 5:30 pm.

Mediapolis will square off against Lone Tree on May 21st at 5:30 pm at home. 

High School Softball

Central Lee will travel to Fort Madison on May 20th at 7 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will hit the road to face off against New London at 7 pm on May 21st.

Mt. Pleasant will scrimmage Holy Trinity Catholic today at home at 6:15 pm.

Mediapolis will square off against Lone Tree on May 21st at 7 pm at home.

Van Buren County will travel to take on Fairfield at 7:30 pm on May 20th.

West Burlington will face off against Keokuk at home on May 20th at 7 pm.

WNBA

Caitlin Clark’s debut may not have gotten off to the best start statistically, as the former Hawkeye scored 20 points but coughed the ball up 10 times, but it provided what the league wanted: viewers. In the Indiana Fever’s 92-71 loss to the Connecticut Sun, viewership peaked at 2.3 million viewers according to ESPN, which was the most watched WNBA game since the Los Angeles Sparks faced off against the Houston Comets back in 2001 for a Memorial Day contest on NBC. 

The Fever will look for their first win tonight at home against the New York Liberty at 6 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1957 – NY Yankee players including Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Hank Bauer are involved in a brawl at the Copacabana nightclub while watching Sammy Davis Jr. perform, leads to the Billy Martin trade.

1984 – Harvey Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep the Twins in Minnesota. The Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game.

2019 – Brooks Koepka ties the tournament record and breaks the course record when he shoots a 63 (-7) to lead the PGA Championship by one stroke after the 1st round at Bethpage Black, New York.

Pork Producers Donate Pork to Local Food Pantries in Southeast Iowa

By Allison Jacobs · Thursday, May 16th, 2024 at 6:26 am CDT

Pork producers across Iowa donated more than $43,000 worth of pork to local food pantries over the past few months, in conjunction with the Pork in the Pantry program, organized by the Iowa Pork Producers Association. The Pantry provides funding of up to $1,000 to each county pork producer organization that participates. Counties are responsible for purchasing the pork and donating it, and IPPA reimburses them. This year, 38 county producer organizations participated in Pork in the Pantry. Food pantries are frequently short of meat products, so this is a great way to get nutritious protein into the diets of food-insecure Iowans. In southeast Iowa Henry, Washington, and Jefferson county food pantries all received donations.

Washington Man Charged After Alleged “pedo-baiting” Video

By Allison Jacobs · Thursday, May 16th, 2024 at 6:24 am CDT

A 53-year-old Washington resident was arrested Wednesday, after police said he tried to entice someone he believed to be 13 years old.

A news release from the city’s police department said Reuben Eicher had partially admitted he intended to commit the illegal sex act in an online video; before investigators interviewed him and later executed a search warrant to seize his cellphone. The police department was initially tipped off about the case by a community member on May 4, according to the release.

Court records for Eicher’s case referenced a video, recorded phone calls, text messages and chat logs from dating app Grindr. Documents said Eicher had admitted to using the app, and to being “confronted by an individual concerning the video,” but couldn’t remember all of what happened because he was intoxicated during the confrontation.

Other area law enforcement officials have recently issued warnings against amateur pedophilia investigations, informally known as “pedo-baiting.” The process involves adults setting up social media accounts where they pretend to be under 18, then arranging sexual encounters with other adults, in which they confront the other party about pedophilia.

Generally, the encounter is filmed, sometimes secretly, and usually with the intent to submit the recording as evidence to police. Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said in March that such videos had led to the investigation of at least one man in Fairfield.

Still, Moulding asked community members to avoid such amateur investigations as a rule of thumb, saying the practice was unsafe and sometimes compromised the evidence in the court of law.

Eicher is charged with enticing a minor, a Class D felony, which could result in a sentence of up to five years and fine of up to $7,500. Police said he was being held in the Washington County Jail awaiting an initial appearance in court.

The Washington Police Department said it was assisted in its investigation by the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Washington County Attorney’s Office.

Prep Track and Field: Friday’s State Meet Schedule for Our Local Class 2A and Class 3A Athletes

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at 3:07 pm CDT

Des Moines, IA- The 2024 coed State Track and Field Meet is getting ready to kick off on Thursday, May 16th, and run through Saturday, May 18th. Here’s a breakdown of our local teams and the Class 2A and Class 3A Friday events.

The Friday slate of evens will start off with Class 2A and Class 3A at 9 am with the distance medley and the final scheduled event, the 4×400 meter relay, will begin at 2:10 pm.

Running Events

The girls’ Class 3A distance medley will start around 9 am with Fort Madison and Washington fielding teams. Van Buren County and Mediapolis will both be running the distance medley at 9:40 pm for Class 2A, while Washington will compete for Class 3A.

The Southeast Conference will have two members in the girls’ Class 3A 100-meter hurdles with Leighton Messinger representing Washington and Lilly Bergren of Fairfield. The boys’ Class 3A 110-meter hurdles will feature Mason Claus of Keokuk.

The 4×200 is set to start at 11 am with Mediapolis fielding a girls’ and boys’ team. Van Buren County will run in the boys’ 4×200 meter relay with Keokuk competing in the boys’ Class 3A 4×200.

The 400-meter hurdles will begin at noon with Washington’s Ryen Pepper and Messinger competing against Fairfield’s Bergren. The boys’ Class 2A 400-meter hurdles will feature Logan Hamma of West Burlington and Class 3A will have Claus of Keokuk in his second individual event of the day.

The 4×100 meter hurdle at 12:40 pm will feature a decent amount of Southeast Iowa talent as the girls’ Class 3A will feature Mt. Pleasant and Washington. The boys’ Class 2A will have Mediapolis and West Burlington running, while Fort Madison and Washington will compete in Class 3A.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will be the only squad running the 4×400 meter relay from the area as their race is scheduled to start at 2 pm.

Field Events

The first round of field events, starting at 9 am, will see Ella Ensminger of Mt. Pleasant and Brylie Lorence of Fort Madison competing against one another in the girls’ Class 3A shot put.

Avin Truong will attempt to break 22 feet in the boys’ Class 3A long jump. In the boys’ Class 2A high jump, Van Buren County’s Tyler Stoltz and West Burlington’s Mason Watkins will be participating.

The next and final round of field events will begin at 11:30 am with Greyson Hartman of Washington throwing the shot put for the boys’ Class 3A event. Lastly, Bailey Jalas of Mt. Pleasant and Leighton Salazar of Washington will compete in the girls’ Class 3A long jump.

How to Watch

The Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) will live stream and broadcast the coed State Track Championship Thursday through Saturday. It will air on the IHSSN Cable Network and be streamed for free at IHSSN.com or the WatchIHSSN app. You can access the stream through the IHSAA or IGHSAU websites.

KILJ will also be providing updates throughout the three-day event. A detailed schedule for Saturday will be posted after Friday’s events for our local athletes.

Prep Track and Field: Friday’s State Track Schedule for Our Local Class 1A and Class 4A Athletes

By Slaten Swords · Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at 3:06 pm CDT

Des Moines, IA- The 2024 coed State Track and Field Meet is getting ready to kick off on Thursday, May 16th, and run through Saturday, May 18th. Here’s a breakdown of our local teams and their Friday events for Class 1A and Class 4A.

Class 1A and Class 4A will have a mirrored schedule to the morning and early afternoon schedule with the girls’ Class 1A distance medley starting at 2:40 pm and the last event scheduled to start at 7:40 pm (the 4×400 meter relay preliminary).

Running Events

There will be just one lone team running in the distance medley relay from Southeast Iowa as the Danville girls’ team will field a team for the 2:40 pm slot.

The 100-meter hurdles preliminary, scheduled to run at 4 pm, will see Josie Nelson of Winfield-Mt. Union competing for a chance to run in the finals on Saturday.

The 110-meter hurdles preliminary, set to run at 4:20 pm, will feature Lamar Ceant and Alexander Rees of Columbus for Class 1A and Burlington’s Salomon Cordero will run in the Class 4A race.

Winfield-Mt. Union in Class 1A and Burlington in Class 4A will have a team run in the boys’ and girls’ 4×200 meter relay. The Danville girls’ team will join the Wolves at 4:40 pm to race with the boys’ races scheduled for 5:10 pm.

Gabriel Hemsworth of Winfield-Mt. Union will run at 6 pm for the Class 1A 400-meter hurdles final.

The Class 1A boys’ 4×100 meter relay preliminary will be highly competitive, but first at 6:20 pm the Highland girls’ team will be running. Burlington will have a boys’ and girls’ team participating. Lastly, Winfield-Mt. Union, WACO, Danville, and Columbus will field a team at 6:40 pm.

The 4×400 meter relay preliminary is the last event for Friday night with the Danville girls’ team running at 7 pm and the Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team competing at 7:40 pm.

Field Events

The first round of field events will start at 2 pm with Kylee Hill of Burlington throwing the shot in the girls’ Class 4A shot put—she yields the best mark of the field. The Class 4A boys’ long jump will see Burlington’s Keshawn Wyldon compete with the second-best mark of the heat.

Lastly, Owen Scott of Hillcrest Academy and WACO’s Louden Huisenga will participate in the boys’ Class 1A long jump.

In the late evening field events at 4:30 pm, Russell Coil of Columbus and Chase Waterhouse of WACO will throw the discus in the boys’ Class 1A discus. For the girls’ Class 1A high jump, Quin Smith will be representing Winfield-Mt. Union.

How to Watch

The Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) will live stream and broadcast the coed State Track Championship Thursday through Saturday. It will air on the IHSSN Cable Network and be streamed for free at IHSSN.com or the WatchIHSSN app. You can access the stream through the IHSAA or IGHSAU websites.

KILJ will also be providing updates throughout the three-day event. A detailed schedule for Saturday will be posted after Friday’s events for our local athletes.

Final Plans for the 2024 Memorial Day Observance in Mt. Pleasant

By Yorke Prough · Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at 9:33 am CDT

The Avenue of Flags, Henry County Veterans Memorial Committee has made final plans for the 2024 Memorial Day observance in Mt. Pleasant.

On Thursday, May 23rd, flags will be placed in Forest Home, Old City, and St. Alphonsus Cemeteries under the supervision of Bob Svidal and Robin Daniel. Flags can only be placed if there is a flag holder at the gravesite. It is the responsibility of family members to make sure those flag holders are in place. Flags will be picked up on Tuesday, May 28th, at 4:00pm. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to help place and pick up the flags at cemeteries.

On Saturday, May 25th, at 8:00am, the flags will be raised on the Courthouse lawn. This year the flags will remain flying for 4 days. The courthouse lawn flags will be retired on Tuesday, May 28th, at 4:00pm weather permitting. Anyone is welcome and encouraged to volunteer in the raising and retiring of the Flags at the Courthouse lawn.

On May 27th, the Memorial Day Observance will be held at the Mt. Pleasant High School Gymnasium at 10:30am. The event will begin with the presentation of the colors by members of the VFW, American Legion Posts, and Auxiliaries.

Avenue of Flags Chairman and Honor Guard Commander, Dean King, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.

Pastor Mike Scudder, who is the pastor at the Faith Lutheran Church in Mt. Pleasant and is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, will deliver the Invocation and Benediction.

The MPCHS Band, under the direction of Brad Cook, will be playing patriotic music prior to the beginning of the program and they will also play the National Anthem.

Under the direction of Brooke Smith, a group of Middle School students will be performing a presentation of the Gettysburg Address/Battle Hymn of the Republic.

General Logan’s orders, which were the beginning of the current Memorial Day, will be read.

The featured speaker this year will be Jeff Shipley. Shipley is currently serving in the Iowa House of Representatives representing House District 97, which includes portions of Henry County including Mt. Pleasant.

10 names will be engraved that have been added to the memorial since last Veterans Day, which brings the total to 1525 names. Those names and families that are present will be recognized.

Following the Benediction, the Honor Guard will fire a 3-volley salute followed with taps by members of the MPCHS band.

Those names that have been added to the Memorial are:

Larry P Meagher USMC

Ronald F Shumaker USMC

Donald W Tozer USA

Joseph L Telgren USAF

Joseph E Cottrell USMC

Warren W Vandagriff USN

Wesley D Barton USA

George L Erickson USA

Paul O Erickson USN

G Robert Erickson USN

Robbery Suspects Apprehended in Burlington

By Yorke Prough · Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at 9:05 am CDT

Just before 1:00pm on May 13th, Burlington Police Officers responded to a report of an assault.

Upon their arrival, officers met with a female who stated that she had been assaulted by a male and a female driving a minivan. During the assault property was taken from the victim. The victim was transported by ambulance to Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center and treated for her injuries.

Through the investigation officers identified the suspects as Allan Brown and Ashley Ferguson. Brown and Ferguson along with the minivan were located at a residence in the 800-bloclk of North 4th St. Search warrants were executed on the residence and vehicle. Brown and Ferguson were later placed under arrest. Ashley Denea Ferguson, 30, was charged with Robbery 2nd Degree and Allan Shandell Brown, 53, was charged with Aiding and Abetting Robbery 2nd Degree.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.