Prep Girls’ Golf- The 2024 girls’ state golf meet is underway and southeast Iowa currently has two golfers within the top ten of their respective classes with one of them sitting atop the standings.

Girls’ Class 1A

New London brought the whole team to compete and after a day of golf, the Tigers currently sit in 6^th place with a team score of 380. Nevertheless, Taylor Phillips, who finished with the silver last season, leads the field with a round-one score of 73 (+2). A three-stroke lead over Mount Ayr’s Jaylee Shaffer.

Sophie Malott finished the day in 22^nd place, shooting a 91 (+20), while Emma Busby carded a 105 (+34) to earn 56^th place. Sydney Kracht’s score of 111 (+40) is the last score to contribute to New London’s team standings.

Easton Valley holds a shallow lead over Highland by a mere four strokes (363 to 367). BCLUW is in third place with a team score of 87-over par.

Girls’ Class 2A

Olivia Hines of Mediapolis has made it a habit of attending the state meet with bronze and silver medals in her back pocket; she will be battling for second place tomorrow. The senior shot an 80 (+8) to end day one in 6^th place.

Chole Bolte of Sumner-Fredericksburg is performing admirably to defend her state title, carding a 67 (-5). She has a ten-stroke lead heading into the finals tomorrow, as 2^nd place through 19^th place are also separated by ten strokes to further represent her domination.

Bolte’s lead has helped Sumner-Fredericksburg lead the way on the team front with a score of 337 followed by Roland-Story’s score of 341 and Oelwein’s 352. Mid-Prairie is back in 5^th place with a team score of 365 as they are led by Gabi Robertson’s 84 (+12), which is 13^th overall.

Girls’ Class 3A Par 72

Individual standings: Eden Lohrbach (69), Meghan DeLong (73), Ava Kalb and Meera Julka (76)

Team Standings: Gilbert (309), Dubuque Wahlert Catholic (325), Xavier (349)

Girls’ Class 4A Par 71

Individual standings: Morgan Rupp and Isabella Pettersen (70), Saleah Vivanh Vong (71), Izzy Steele and Natalie Henson (73)

Team Standings: Pleasant Valley (315), Waukee Northwest and Cedar Rapids Washington (317), Cedar Falls (324)

KILJ will continue its coverage of the girls’ state tournament tomorrow.

Prep Boys’ Tennis- The boys’ Classes 1A and 2A singles and doubles state tournament has concluded and Rumin Luo of Fairfield finished in 6^th place for the Class 1A singles tournament. Here’s how his tournament run proceeded.

His first-round matchup was against district 7-runner up, Christian Jensen of Lewis Central. Luo won without much of an issue, taking both sets 6-3. This set up a quarterfinal matchup against Pella’s Jack Briggs.

Briggs proved to be too much as Luo was defeated 6-2 in set one and 6-1 in set two, sending him to the second round of the consolation bracket.

His final match of day one was a chance at revenge against Pella’s Ben Van Gorp. Luo dominated the match, winning set one 6-2 and shutting out Van Gorp in set two. This propelled Luo to his day two matchup in the consolation semifinals.

Waiting for him was Mason Reicks of Kuemper Catholic, who lost his first match against Decorah’s Caden Branum before two consecutive victories to meet up with Lou. However, his run ended there as Luo won both sets 6-3.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s Tyler Grote was all that stood between the Trojan and 5^th place. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be despite the tough match, Grote won both sets 7-5 and 6-4.

Parker Stroh of Columbus Catholic finished in 7^th place. Tanner Laube of Grundy Center took 3^rd place. The individual state championship was between Briggs and Branum and three sets were needed to decide the gold with Briggs winning 6-4, 1-6, and 6-2.

Class 1A Doubles

State Champion: North Polk’s Ethan Moon and Easton Moon

Runner-Up: Waverly-Shell Rock’s Benny Ramker and Luca Myers

Third Place: Xavier’s Charlie LeGrand and Jacob Schmit

Fourth Place: Pella’s Joshua Roozeboom and Cameron Rowe

Fifth Place: Wahlert Catholic’s Roan Martineau and Charlie Curtiss

Class 2A Singles

State Champion: Waukee Northwest’s Kaden Taylor

Runner-Up: Waukee’s Quinn Monson

Third Place: Prairie’s Anthony Schulte

Fourth Place: Fort Dodge’s Micah Flaherty

Fifth Place: Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s Parker Holland

Class 2A Doubles

State Champion: Waukee Northwest’s Kellan Croatt and Jake Nelson

Runner-Up: Linn-Mar’s Garrett Bauermeister and Malcolm Rice

Third Place: Iowa City West’s Patrick Selby and Samir Singh

Fourth Place: Waukee Northwest’s Gavin Leuck and Sean Sonoiki

Fifth Place: Pleasant Valley’s Folu Adekunle and Karthik Ganesh

Prep Girls’ Wrestling- Two years after the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) sanctioned girls’ wrestling, the Board of Directors has approved the move to divide the 2024-2025 girls’ wrestling season into two classes.

Class 2A will include the 64 largest wrestling schools, while Class 1A will consist of the remaining schools. Wrestlers will still compete at regional meets to qualify for the state meet, which is scheduled for two days, February 6^th and 7^th.

“The rapid rise of participants in girls wrestling has exceeded even our expectations,” said IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich. “Adding a second class is the next building block in our efforts to continue to help the sport grow. The hope is that the addition of a second class will encourage more schools to add girls’ wrestling programs.”

The IGHSAU saw 204 schools sponsor a girls’ wrestling program, while 61 schools co-opted this past season.

High School Soccer

In the boys’ Class 1A Substate 6 postseason bracket, Mediapolis lost to West Branch in decisive fashion 6-0. The Bulldogs ended the season with a 12-4 record and as SEISC champions. 

In the girls’ Class 1A Region 1 bracket, Central Lee was unable to contain Assumption last night, falling 8-0. The Hawks finished the season with a 6-5 record. 

In the girls’ Class 2A Region 8 backet, Burlington Notre Dame was shutout by Iowa City Liberty 3-0 last night. The Nikes ended the season with a 7-9 record. 

In the bottom half of the bracket, Burlington and Fort Madison battled back-and-forth last night and the Grayhound defense prevailed, keeping the Bloodhounds off the board in the second half to win 2-1. Fort Madison finished the season with an 11-4 record. 

Burlington will take on Iowa City Liberty tonight at 5:30 pm on the road for the region 8 championship. 

High School Tennis

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

The boys’ Class 1A state singles tournament got underway yesterday and Fairfield’s Rumin Luo started off his tournament run with a first round victory over Christian Jensen of Lewis Central 6-3 in both sets. Pella’s Jack Briggs defeated Luo in the quarterfinals 6-2 and 6-1, sending Luo to the consolation bracket.

In the second round of the consolation bracket, Luo defeated Pella’s Ben Van Gorp with ease 6-2 in set one and a shutout in set two. Luo will face off against Mason Reicks of Kuemper Catholic today in the consolation semifinals. 

High School Golf. 

The girls’ Class 1A state meet will take place at the American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown today continuing into tomorrow, May 24th, with New London eyeing a team title. 

The Class 2A state meet will take place at Cedar Pointe Golf Course in Boone today with Olivia Hines of Mediapolis competing as an individual and Mid-Prairie participating as a team. 

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant struggled against Clear Creek Amana last night, losing 10-0. Carson Andreasen and Cooper Coleman both singled in the loss. The Panthers will travel to play Muscatine tomorrow, May 24th, at 7 pm.

New London fell to Burlington last night 17-3. Logan Messer led the offense with four RBIs for the Grayhounds, while Noah Krieger picked up the complete game win after tallying eight strikeouts. The Tigers will hit the road to face off against Van Buren County tomorrow at 5:30 pm.  

Mediapolis bested Wilton last night 5-2. Grady Gunn and Jackson Hutcheson led the offense for the Bulldogs with two RBIs apiece. Kyler Crow worked 5.1 innings and tallied 10 strikeouts in the win. Mediapolis will compete against Danville tomorrow on the road at 5:30 pm. 

West Burlington will host Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow at 5:30 pm. 

Central Lee will compete against Louisa-Muscatine tonight at 5:30 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will host Hillcrest Academy tonight at 5:30 pm. 

High School Softball

Central Lee defeated Mt. Pleasant last night 14-4. Elaina Barlow pitched the complete game and registered a game high three RBIs as the freshman slapped a double. The Hawks will host Louisa-Muscatine tonight at 7 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will hit the road to face off against Mid-Prairie tomorrow at 7 pm. 

Van Buren County will travel to take on New London at 7 pm tomorrow.

West Burlington will participate in a tournament on Saturday, May 25th, at Louisa-Muscatine. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will compete against Hillcrest Academy tonight at 7 pm at home. 

Mediapolis will face off against Danville tomorrow at 7 pm on the road. 

Southeast Iowa Playbook

Last night was our season finale of the Southeast Iowa Playbook and Winfield-Mt. Union’s Kohlby Newsom was our special guest. The junior had three top ten finishes in last week’s state track meet. Through the trials of improving, Newsom talked about the biggest lesson he’s learned through athletics,

“You’re not going to get what you want unless you actually go out and look for it. Like, yes, you have the practices that you have to go to, but you also got to focus more outside of just those practices you got to make sure you’re getting the right food in you and you make sure you are doing the right recovery so you can be as good as you were yesterday, the next day.”

The Southeast Iowa Playbook will be back for the 2024-2025 school year. You can listen to last night’s episode following this link: Southeast Iowa Playbook Episodes

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will head to Oklahoma to compete in the 2024 NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series on Saturday, May 25th. The Blackhawks earned the #7-seed and will face off against #10 South Arkansas Community College in the first round at 4 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1873 – First Preakness Stakes: George Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland.

2001 – Marco Siffredi becomes the first person to snowboard down Mount Everest via the Norton Couloir (some share record accreditation with Stefan Gatt).

2021 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Ocean Course Kiawah Island: Phil Mickelson becomes the oldest major winner in history (50); wins his 6th major by 2 strokes over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.