High School Track and Field

The boys’ track meets scheduled for yesterday at Pekin and West Burlington were canceled due to weather. 

The girls’ meet at West Burlington tonight has been canceled due to weather.

The WACO and New London boys’ teams will travel to Van Buren County for a meet on Thursday, March 28th. 

Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will host their Invitational on Thursday with West Burlington in attendance. 

The Central Lee girls’ team will travel to Fairfield for a meet on April 2nd. 

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will participate in a relay at Mediapolis on April 2nd.  

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will open the season on Thursday, March 28th, against Fairfield on the road at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams both fell to West Liberty last night 4-0. The Wildcats will host Washington tonight with the girls’ team playing at 5 pm and the boys’ to follow.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ versus Mediapolis and the Mt. Pleasant boys’ versus Danville games scheduled for tonight have been canceled. 

The Danville boys’ team demolished Keokuk last night 7-1. 

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington tonight on the road at 5 pm.

The Central Lee boys’ team will host Centerville on April 2nd and the girls’ team will travel to Mid-Prairie on the same day with both games starting at 5 pm.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will host Davis County on Thursday, March 28th, at 4:30 pm and the boys’ team will travel to Davis County on the same day. 

High School Golf

The WACO boys’ and girls’ teams will compete in a meet hosted by New London on April 2nd. 

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams will travel to Columbus to participate in a meet on April 4th. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will travel to Washington Golf and Country Club on April 1st and the boys’ team will participate in a conference match at Fairfield Golf and Country Club on the same day. 

Holy Trinity Catholic

John Goetz, the Crusaders’ Athletic Director, has announced his decision to retire from the position after holding it for 18 years. He’s looking forward to spending more time with his family, while he decides if he wants to continue to teach. This marks the second big departure for Crusader athletics after head girls’ basketball coach Tony Johnson resigned last week. 

Southeastern Community College

In baseball, SCC will travel to face off against Des Moines Area Community College tomorrow, March 27th, in a doubleheader. 

The SCC softball team will host Kirkwood Community College tomorrow. 

College Basketball

Despite scoring a meager six points in the second quarter, the Iowa women’s team punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 with a 64-54 win over West Virginia last night. Caitlin Clark willed 32 points on the scoreboard by going 11 for 12 at the free throw line. The Hawkeyes finished an impressive 25 of 30 from the free throw line. The #5-seed Colorado will be waiting for Iowa on Saturday, March 30th, with tipoff at 2:30 pm. 

The #2-seed Iowa State men’s team will face off against #3 Illinois on Thursday, March 28th, at 9:10 pm. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is officially underway with over 30 brackets submitted with the top three set to receive prizes.

Standings have been updated and you can find them here: KILJ Bracket Challenge Standings

This Day in Sports History

1917 – Stanley Cup Final, Seattle Ice Arena, Seattle, WA: the Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) beat the Montreal Canadiens (NHL), 9-1 for a 3-1 series victory; becoming the first US team to win the Stanley Cup.

1952 – 14th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Kansas beats St. John’s, 80-63; first tournament to have a true “Final Four” format.

1979 – 41st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Michigan State beats Indiana State, 75-64 for their first National Championship; marks the start of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Additionally, it was the highest-rated game in the history of televised college basketball.

March Madness- The KILJ Bracket Challenge sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design had 34 brackets submitted and through two rounds of tournament play, here’s where some facts of the first two rounds and the standings.

The first round was the ultimate exhibition of tournament basketball in March with 13 upsets in 32 games (including #8 versus #9), while last year we saw just seven upsets. The biggest surprise was #14 Oakland outpacing #3 Kentucky 80-76.

In terms of the participants, out of 32 games the average number of correctly picked games was 20.8. The least amount of correctly picked games was 15, while Erica Martin had the most at 26 correct picks as she was also the only one to predict Oakland’s win over Kentucky.

Rick Bunnell and Jeff Broeg were right behind Martin with 25 correct choices in the first round.

Now the second round of March Madness proved that most of the time Cinderella stories usually reside only in storybooks with only two lower seeds advancing in the tournament (#6 Clemson and #5 Gonzaga).

#11 NC State does not count as the Wolfpack took down #14 Oakland, but they are the highest seed remaining in the Sweet 16.

Due to the lack of upsets, everyone performed admirably with 11.2 correct choices out of 16 second round games. Allie Liechty-Hultman had the most impressive second round with 15 correct picks as Kentucky proved again to be the downfall.

Seven people picked 13 correct choices, ten people chose 12 correct picks, and eight people had 11 correct choices.

Impressively, all 34 brackets have at least two of their final four teams in the running with 19 brackets holding on to all four of their final four teams. Unfortunately, four brackets have lost their champion—looking at Kentucky thrice and Drake once.

Overall, this is still anyone’s challenge to win as the top 15 brackets are only separated by ten points. Here is the top 15:

Tied for 1^st place with 100 points: Allie Liechty-Hultman and Corbin Broeker

Tied for 2^nd place with 98 points: Jeff Broeg and Lysha Bunnell

Tied for 3^rd place with 96 points: Ray Stigge (down a final four team) and Eric Martin

Tied for 4^th place with 94 points: Sharon Menke (down two final four teams), Brent Broeker, Cara Bunnell (down a final four team), Ellyanna Bunnell (down a final four team), Brent Rich (lost his champion), Rick Bunnell (down two final four teams), and Karen Drury.

Alan Buckert grabbed 92 points. Jakin Bunnell totaled 90 points but lost their champion.

In case you are wondering, I have 88 points after the first two rounds as I picked Grand Canyon to be my Cinderella story–I will not be visiting anytime soon.

Do not be discouraged as the Sweet 16 offers up the chance at eight points for each correct guess with #6 Clemson and #2 Arizona kicking off the first slate of games on Thursday, March 28^th, at 6:09 pm.