High School Girls Basketball- It might be a New Year, but we are keeping the same traditions, such as the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union releasing their rankings. For much of the season the top teams have remained comfortably at the top, but for Class 5A there is a new top team. First, we start with Class 1A.

The reason that we start with Class 1A is there was no movement by any team. Staying at the top is last year’s State Champion, Algona Bishop Garrigan, followed by Newell-Fonda and North Linn. Burlington Notre Dame, despite the recent stretch of losses, remains at #10 and Winfield-Mt. Union, who is still touting an undefeated record of 11-0, is slotted in 11^th.

Class 2A followed suit with no movement in the Top 15 with Dike-New Hartford claiming the top spot at 9-0. West Burlington and Mediapolis are still ranked at 12^th and 13^th, respectively.

Class 3A saw three new teams enter the Top 15 in Grinnell at 13^th, Sioux Center in 14^th, and Atlantic in 15^th. That knocks out Roland-Story, Monticello, and Harlan. Estherville Lincoln Central is still undefeated and ranked 1^st followed by Benton Community.

Cedar Rapids Xavier and Dallas Center-Grimes still hold the top two spots for Class 4A, respectively. North Polk and Ballard flipped positions with North Polk now in 3^rd and Ballard in 5^th after the Comets beat the Bombers 53-46 January 3^rd. Gilbert was the only team to be knocked out of the Top 15 with Pella being ranked 15^th with a 7-2 record.

Class 5A had the most movement with the biggest move being a new top team as Johnston now claims the crown followed by Pleasant Valley. Waterloo West fell from 1^st to 3^rd after their matchup with then 15th ranked Linn-Mar went to double overtime as the Lions came out on top 72-68 thanks to Zoe Kennedy’s 28 points; Linn-Mar is now ranked 10^th. Other movements, Ankeny Centennial and Southeast Polk flipped positions with Ankeny Centennial now ranked 5^th and Southeast Polk in 6^th and Waukee Northwest fell from 7^th to 9^th. No teams were dropped from the Top 15 but Iowa City Liberty dropped three spots to be ranked 15^th.

High School Basketball

Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to take on Lone Tree tomorrow, January 6th, with the girls’ team starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow.

The WACO Warriors will travel to play Pekin tomorrow with the girls’ scheduled to start at 6 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will play Fort Madison at home tomorrow. The boys’ team will be on the road to play the Bloodhounds with KILJ on the call with pregame at 7:15 pm. Coach Rawson knows this will be a tough conference matchup.

The New London Tigers will be hosting Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow.

Danville will host West Burlington tomorrow with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow. The girls’ team comes into the game 5-5 on the season while the boys’ team touts a 7-2 record.

The Holy Trinity Catholic Crusaders will face off with Central Lee tomorrow with the girls going at 6:30 pm. For the Crusaders, the girls’ team is 4-4 and the boys’ team is 3-6 heading into the matchup. The Hawks girls’ team is also 4-4 with the boys’ team 2-7 after their last win over Columbus 68-46.

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will be back in action tonight when they travel to face off with Sigourney-Keota. The girls team will compete at the Highland Tournament tomorrow.

High School Bowling

The Mt. Pleasant Panthers girls and boys teams next competition will be tonight against Washington at the Iris Bowling Center.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The men’s basketball team, now 14-1 and rocking a 13-game winning streak, will compete against Crowley’s Ridge College for a CAC Classic tomorrow. Coach Ashton knows that this team still has not hit their peak.

The women’s basketball team will look to get Coach Williamson his 275th career victory at Iowa Wesleyan tomorrow at the Northern New Mexico Classic against Crowley’s Ridge College.

The women’s wrestling team will be back in action tomorrow and Saturday for the NWCA Multi-Division National Duals Championship.

The men’s wrestling team will wrestle at Central Methodist University on January 10th.

The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.

This Day in Sports History

1971 – Globetrotters lose 100-99 to NJ Reds, ending 2,495-game winning streak.

1996 – Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula announces his retirement. He ended his career with 347 wins and coached the only team to have a perfect season in NFL history.

2019 – Golden State and Sacramento combine for 41 3-pointers in Warriors’ 127-123 win; set new NBA record for threes in a game; Stephen Curry hits 10 triples while Buddy Hield leads Kings with 8, Justin Jackson adds 5.

Mt. Pleasant- The Panther football team had four members named to the Football Academic All-State team. To make the team the student-athlete must be a senior starter, have a cumulative GPA of 3.7 or better at the end of their junior year, and the Head Coach must recommend them. From left to right in the picture, Zerek Venghaus, Bowen Davis, Bryce Wilson, and Zach Frazier all earned the honor.

Zerek Venghaus was the leading rusher for the Panthers last season finishing with 340 yards, averaging 4.1 yard per carry. Venghaus also rushed for 5 touchdowns and caught 12 passes for 118 yards. Additionally, he was very active defensively as he finished the season with 33 total tackles.

Bowen Davis rushed for 104 yards last season and caught 9 passes for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns. Nevertheless, most of his work was done on the defensive side, as he led the Panthers in tackles with 52including 3.5 for a loss and he had a fumble recovery.

Bryce Wilson started the season at linebacker and finished the year tied for fifth on the team in total tackles with 28.5 including 4.5 for a loss. Wilson also added a fumble recovery to his stat sheet.

While there are no specific stats kept for offensive linemen, Zac Frazier was the starting center for the Panthers and helped make holes for the running backs to total 703 yards on the season with 10 rushing touchdowns and gave Jacob Ricthman time to throw for 14 touchdowns and 1,749 yards. Defensively, Frazier also had a fumble recovery.