Girls’ Regional Basketball

In Class 1A Region 4, Wapello tried to go on a late run but Lone Tree had too big of a lead to overcome with the Arrows falling last night, 53-45. Macey Kuntz tabbed an 18 point and 10 rebound double-double in the loss. The Arrows collected a 13-10 record for the season. 

In Region 6, Highland was upset by Keota, 49-43. Hailey Brun cashed in for 13 points. The Huskies finished the season with a 20-4 record. 

In Class 2A Region 8, Van Buren County lost to Regina Catholic last night, 73-22. The Warriors finished the season with a 15-8 record. 

Danville’s 16 to 5 to start the game against West Burlington lifted the Bears to a narrow 45-39 victory last night. Alaina Gourley touted 19 points in the victory. The Bears will travel to Regina Catholic on Friday, February 20th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

For Class 3A Region 5, Washington will face off against Tipton tonight at 7 pm on the road.

In Region 6, #8 Mediapolis will tangle with Davis County tonight at home at 7 pm.

For Class 4A Region 4, Mt. Pleasant will be looking to avenge an early season loss when they travel to Oskaloosa tonight. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Burlington will make the trip to North Scott tonight.

In Region 6, Fort Madison will host Keokuk in a Southeast Conference rivalry matchup tonight.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team fell to Pella last night, 73-55. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 10-11 record. 

The Fairfield boys’ team was crushed by Clear Creek Amana last night, 72-36. The Trojans finished the regular season with a 2-18 record. 

High School Wrestling

The 2026 Iowa High School Athletic Association’s State Tournament is scheduled to start tonight and KILJ will be providing updates for all 32 of our local wrestlers. Class 3A’s first round, second round, and second round consolation matches will be the only competition today.

WACO will be sending four wrestlers to the state tournament tomorrow, February 19th, in #2 Ian Maize, #12 Rydge Sterna, #21 Teage Pepper, and #23 Harley Larrimore. Maize, the state-runner up from last year, talked about what he learned on his first trip to Des Moines,

“I learned from the state tournament that anything can happen. Last year, I was the seventh seed. And obviously, I knocked off the two seed in the quarterfinals and knocked off the three seed in the semifinals. So, anything can happen. I just got to have that mindset of going, it doesn’t matter who you are, I’m going to run through you and I’m going to beat you.”

Sterna, who is just a freshman, has slowly been gaining confidence throughout the year,

“The greatest lesson that I’ve learned through this sport is probably to never get down on yourself. Because when you get down on yourself, is when you make mistakes and stuff. And it just goes downhill from there. So mainly just keep your head up and stay confident.”

Pepper, a junior, has dealt with enough adversity this season to be mentally prepared for the upcoming challenge,

“Yeah, so I had a big setback at the beginning of the year. Actually, the first week back, I broke my hand in the wrestling room. And that kind of just fueled me to want to get better and get back at it. And first year back, obviously, there’s a lot of nerves that’s going with that. I haven’t wrestled at a big stage like this since pee wee. Obviously, I’m very excited. But there’s obviously going to be nerves that go with that. I just have to walk those nerves out and show everybody who Teague Pepper is.”

Lastly, Larrimore will be hoping to bring his same mindset that he had at districts to the state tournament,

“It was great. I was very emotional because I know that with that wrestle back, either you win it, or you go home. And I was not going home that day. I was just very emotional and instantly I just was thinking about my parents, my coaches, and just I wanted to make them proud.”

To listen to the full interview, follow this link: WACO State Qualifiers

For a full look at everyone’s first round matchup and seeding, click on this link: Local First Round Matchups 

Boys’ District Basketball

In Class 1A Substate 5 District 9, #4 Burlington Notre Dame will host Danville tomorrow, February 19th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Holy Trinity Catholic will travel to Pekin tomorrow for tip-off at 7 pm.

In Class 2A Substate 5 District 9, West Burlington will fly to Central Lee tomorrow at 7 pm.

In Substate 5 District 10, Mediapolis will search for their first victory over Mid-Prairie since 2011 tomorrow at 7 pm on the road. 

In Class 3A Substate 4, #5 Mt. Pleasant will venture to #4 Davenport Assumption for their first round matchup on Monday, February 23rd, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

Substate 5 houses the rest of our local teams with #8 Fairfield traveling to #1 Pella. #4 Burlington will host #5 Washington, while #3 Keokuk will take on #6 Fort Madison at home for a pair of Southeast Conference clashes. 

High School Bowling

Keokuk’s Chase Hemann will compete in the Class 2A individual state tournament on Wednesday, February 25th.

Southeastern Community College

The women’s basketball team will play Marshalltown Community College tonight at 5:30 pm on the road.

The men’s basketball team will travel to Highland Community College tonight at 7 pm.

College Basketball

The Iowa State women’s team will take on Arizona State at home tonight at 6:30 pm.

The #13 Iowa women’s team will stay on the road to play Purdue tomorrow, February 19th, at 6 pm.

The Iowa men’s team shocked #9 Nebraska last night, defeating the Cornhuskers 57-52. Bennett Stirtz was unstoppable with 25 points in the victory. The Hawkeyes will travel to #24 Wisconsin on Sunday, February 22nd, for their 3rd straight ranked opponent with tip-off at 3 pm.

The #6 Iowa State men’s team will travel to BYU on Saturday, February 21st, at 9:30 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.

This Day in Sports History

1944 – 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs a contract to play baseball with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game; debuts later that year.

1967 – During a softball exhibition game, pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out six consecutive big leaguers: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente, and Maury Wills.

1981 – 20-year-old Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky becomes first player in NHL history to score 5 career hat-tricks before age 21; scores 5 goals and 2 assists in 9-2 Oilers’ home win against St. Louis.

Prep Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the Class 3A and Class 4A Substate brackets as the chase for a title will officially begin on Monday, February 23^rd, for everybody with tip-off at 7 pm. Here’s our local matchups.

Class 3A

Substate 4

#5 Mt. Pleasant’s late surge, which involved winning 9 of their last 13 contests, was not enough to get the Panthers a home matchup for the opening round. Instead, Mt. Pleasant will look to make a 90-minute trip to the Quad Cities to face off against #4 Davenport Assumption. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

The two met back in the 2020 Substate semifinals, where the Knights exited the game with a 64-54 victory after outscoring the Panthers 25-14 in the 4^th quarter. The Knights knocked down 71.4% of their shots that night.

The winner will take on either #1 Solon or #8 South Tama County. #2 Central DeWitt will host #7 West Liberty, and #3 Marion will face off against #6 Western Dubuque at home.

Substate 5

#8 Fairfield will travel to #1 Pella. Two Southeast Conference matchups will ensue in the opening round with #4 Burlington hosting #5 Washington and #6 Fort Madison hitting the road to play #3 Keokuk. Lastly, #2 Center Point-Urbana will tangle with #7 Grinnell.

Des Moines, IA- The 2026 Iowa High School Athletic Association’s (IHSAA) State Wrestling Tournament is slated to start tomorrow, February 18^th, and finish up on championship Saturday, February 21^st. The southeast Iowa region will have plenty to watch out for with 32 local wrestlers making the pilgrimage to the mecca of Iowa high school boys’ wrestling.

Here’s the first-round matchups.

Class 1A

106-Pound Weight Class

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union’s #8 Justin Knipfer receives the bye into the second round. He will wrestler either #9 Wyatt Hieber of MVAOCOU or #24 Aaron Domeyer of Beckman Catholic.

113-Pound Weight Class

#19 Dakota Aney of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will have to pull off the upset, as he starts his day against #14 Eli Rieb of Alta/Aurelia. The winner will take on #3 Brady Burton of Westwood.

WACO’s #2 Ian Maize navigated his way to the championship as the #7-seed last year as a freshman and in an epic, he fell to #1 Kaiden Belinsky of Don Bosco. Those two enter as the top two seeds and receive first-round byes.

Maize will face off against either #15 Jaxon Shew of North Butler-Clarksville or #18 Lincoln Russell of Baxter. The sophomore enters the tournament with only one goal in mind,

“My goal is to be a state champ.”

120-Pound Weight Class

WACO has now produced consecutive freshman to earn a trip to the state tournament, as #12 Rydge Sterna won his district championship. Despite that victory, the Warrior will wrestle an opening match against #21 Quinton Helstand of Woodbine.

The winner will advance to take on #5 Crosby Yoder of Logan-Magnolia.

Entering the state tournament as a freshman may be dauting, but Sterna is taking it in stride,

“My confidence has grown quite a bit because when I wrestle those good guys and I lose to them, it just makes me think, I got to get in practice and practice harder so that I can eventually beat those guys. And when I was a kid wrestling at the youth age and went to state, that was cool. But then I told myself, I need to get better so I can make it to the high school state tournament because that just seems like a lot of fun.”

132-Pound Weight Class

“My main goals are, I want to get my 100 wins” said Bowen Thomson earlier in the season. “I think I’m about 15 away, so I want to get my 100 wins… And obviously I would love to make it to state. I’ve never made state my whole high school career. And that is something that would be the icing on the cake. I’d love to make it. And then once I make it, I’d love to play. So that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

The Wildcat has accomplished both of these goals he set for himself at the start of the year and in his first trip to the state he garnered the #16-seed and will wrestle #17 Johnny Cortez of Coon Rapids-Bayard. The winner will compete against Cooper Hinz of Jesup, a possible rematch for Thomson.

WACO’s #21 Teage Pepper has familiarized himself with adversity at this point as many did not expect the junior to qualify for the state tournament, especially when the season got off to a rocky start,

“Yeah, so I had a big setback at the beginning of the year. I actually, first week back, I broke my hand in the wrestling room. And that kind of just fueled me to want to get better and get back at it. And first year back, obviously, there’s a lot of nerves that’s going with that. I haven’t wrestled at a big stage like this since pee wee. Obviously, I’m very excited. But there’s obviously going to be nerves that go with that. I just have to walk those nerves out and show everybody who Teague Pepper is.”

His first chance to do that will be against #12 Tayler Kibbee of Janesville in round one. The winner will take on #5 Blake Irvine of Don Bosco.

150-Pound Weight Class

In a district championship rematch, #23 Harley Larrimore of WACO will tangle with #10 Wade Sankot of Belle Plaine in the opening round. The winner will face off against #7 Aydan Groom of North Mahaska.

The senior talked about his mindset when he earned his way to Des Moines,

“It was great. I was very emotional because I know that with that wrestle back, either you win it, or you go home. And I was not going home that day. I was just very emotional and instantly I just was thinking about my parents, my coaches, and just I wanted to make them proud.”

157-Pound Weight Class

Wapello’s Cohen Wolford is back at the state tournament, and he grabbed the #6 seed and a first-round bye. Wolford will wrestle either #11 Ty Christensen or #22 Brodie Hoffman.

175-Pound Weight Class

#22 Trevor Phillips of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will take on #11 Landen Schuelle of South Winneshiek in his first-round action. The winner will face off against #6 Cody Hageman of Beckman Catholic.

Class 2A

113-Pound Weight Class

A pair of local wrestlers earned a first-round bye, as #8 Cael McCabe of Fairfield is looking to end his senior season with another medal and #2 Kohen Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame will look to end the season unblemished.

McCabe will face off against either #9 Sebastian Brooks of Winterset or #24 Evan Gleason of Solon. Dietzenbach will compete against either #15 Estuardo Lopez of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows or #18 John Amos of Clear Lake.

120-Pound Weight Class

This weight class is crowded with local talent, including a pair of district champions.

#5 Rowan Berdnt of Burlington Notre Dame earned the first-round bye and will tangle with either #21 Eli Peiffer of Grinnell or #12 Brody Black of Glenwood.

Mt. Pleasant’s #14 Levi Evans is the first Panther to qualify for the state tournament since Carson Coleman did so in the same in the same weight class for the 2020 state tournament. He will take on #19 Noah Garcia of West Liberty in the first round.

Evans talked about the moment he qualified for the state tournament when he claimed the district championship,

“It was awesome. All my coaches and everybody was so happy for me. And there was a bunch of youth wrestlers that even came to watch because they all heard about let it be the first person in six years. And then I won districts, and everybody was in my corner and really happy and excited.”

The winner will face off against #3 Simon Bettis of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

Lastly, #15 James Fuller of Fort Madison returns to the state tournament and will wrestle against #18 Keaton Schroeder to start his journey through the bracket. The winner will face off against #2 Urijah Courter of West Marshall.

126-Pound Weight Class

Burlington Notre Dame’s #5 Ryan Rose earned a bye into the second round. He will wait for either #21 Owen Lewin or #12 Wyatt Wilson.

132-Pound Weight Class

#5 Colt Boyles of Burlington Notre Dame will look to make a run in the state tournament, starting with a first-round bye. He will tangle with either #21 Hunter Waldo Martinez or #12 Brody Strother of Hampton-Dumont-CAL.

138-Pound Weight Class

Washington’s Caleb Greiner earned the #7-seed and a bye. The Demon will face off against either #23 Jonny Hayden of Humboldt or #10 Calden Latch of Roland-Story.

150-Pound Weight Class

#4 Kael Cook of Burlington Notre Dame enters the state tournament as a district champion and with only one loss to his season record. He will compete against either #12 Aiden Frascht of Forest City or #20 Gage Miller of AP-GC.

157-Pound Weight Class

Washington’s #22 Jace Kinzenbaw will have an uphill climb at the state tournament as the underdog will start his day against #11 Cooper Franklin of Alburnett. The winner will advance to meet #6 Colin Sesker of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in the second round.

165-Pound Weight Class

As the only non-district champion to qualify for Burlington Notre Dame, #17 Jared Glendening will be looking to prove some people wrong with a matchup against #16 Ryland Morgan of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in the opening round. The next task would be a match against #1 Boden White of Denver for the winner.

175-Pound Weight Class

Fairfield’s Dain Burkhart will be looking for a deep run in the tournament as the Trojans enters ranked as the #6 seed. He will take on either #11 Easton Beyer or #22 Tatian Freeman of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

In his fourth year at the state tournament, #2 Kyler Crow of Mediapolis is looking to finish off his senior season with the gold and he has a perfect opportunity to accomplish that. His second-round matchup will be between either #15 Marcus Bear of South Tama County or #18 Tysen Stangel of Osage.

190-Pound Weight Class

Two members from the Southeast Conference make an appearance in this bracket. #20 Jarod Anderson of Keokuk will scramble against #13 Logan Gardner of Eddyville-Blaksburg-Fremont. The winner will compete against #4 Brendan Lamfers of Sioux Center.

Washington’s #10 Blaine Rees, a district champion, will tangle with #23 Gabriel Nebergall of West Liberty in the opening round. Waiting for them will be #7 Brian Snyder of Centerville.

215-Pound Weight Class

Ren Watson of Fort Madison found the #19-seed and will face off against #14 Maddon Evans of Hampton-Dumont-CAL. The winner will move on to the second-round and wrestle #3 Gavin Muller of Osage.

Washington’s #22 Brayden Vermillion will look for an upset against #11 Carter Eddy of Independence. The winner will face off against #6 Danny Small of Center Point-Urbana in the second round.

285-Pound Weight Class

Two members of the Southeast Conference qualified for the 285-pound weight class bracket with both having first-round showdowns. #21 Rudy Wolfe of Washington will square off against #12 Gable Eddy of Independence, while #19 Baylor Ferreira of Fort Madison will clash with #14 Gunner Martwick of Creston.

#5 JT Kelso of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows will wait for the winner between Wolfe and Eddy, while #3 Layne Kleppe of North Fayette Valley will take on the winner between Ferreira and Martwick.

Class 3A

132-Pound Weight Class

Burlington will have three wrestlers total in Des Moines with #22 Roy Brown getting the first shot against #11 Isaac McCleish of Mason City. The winner will take on #6 Avery Van Zelderen of Dallas Center-Grimes.

175-Pound Weight Class

Adrian Perez-Hall of Burlington claimed the #17-seed and will compete against #16 Temi Otanlyl of Spencer. The winner will get the dubious distinction of wrestling #1 Jaxon Miller of Carlisle.

190-Pound Weight Class

Despite winning his district championship, Burlington’s Owen Difederico will have to wrestle in the first round as an #11 seed. The Grayhound will clash with #22 Kougar Sargisson on Le Mars. The winner will attempt to knock off #6 Louden Bloxham of Prairie.

More Information

KILJ will be providing updates throughout the four-day tournament, starting tomorrow! KILJ would like to thank all of our tournament sponsors for allowing us to cover the 2026 Boys’ Wrestling State Tournament.

Boys’ District Basketball

The first round of the Class 1A and Class 2A District brackets tipped-off last night and there was one upset amongst our local teams.

#4 Burlington Notre Dame, the top seed of the district, clobbered New London last night, 81-45. The Tigers finished the season with a 7-17 record.

In the #4-#5 seed contest, defense was on full display between Winfield-Mt. Union and Danville and it was the Bears who executed on the road, beating the Wolves 40-34. Isaac Egli led the team with 13 points in the loss. Winfield-Mt. Union ended the season with a 13-8 record.

Burlington Notre Dame will host Danville on Thursday, February 19th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Down in Fort Madison, WACO outhustled Holy Trinity Catholic in the first half of play but the shots just were not falling for the Warriors, while the Crusaders hit five of an eventual ten three-pointers to exit with a 66-50 victory. Kellen Shelman finished the night with 15 points for WACO, as the Warriors collected an 11-11 record for the season.

Holy Trinity Catholic’s Layne Rung scored only eight points, but his spotlight allowed for Jack Ragar to finish the night with a game high 21 points. Crusader head coach John Hellige was pleased to see everyone else stepping up,

“Yeah, they were really keen on [Layne] Rung tonight. I thought he had a good game, even though he didn’t have his normal 20 points. He affected the game in a lot of other ways, and also allowed his teammates to get open. And [Jack]Ragar and the gang, they all stepped up and did a great job, filling that scoring void.”

Holy Trinity Catholic will travel to Pekin on Thursday for tip-off at 7 pm.

Over in Substate 5 District 10, Wapello fell to Hillcrest Academy last night, 58-47. Wapello finished the season with a 5-17 record. 

In Class 2A Substate 5 District 9, West Burlington handled Cardinal last night, 63-43. The Falcons will fly to Central Lee on Thursday at 7 pm.

On the top half of the bracket, Van Buren County lost to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in a narrow 58-56 finish. The Warriors claimed a 6-17 record for the year. 

In Substate 5 District 10, Columbus could not keep up with Durant last night, losing 63-42. The Wildcats turned in a 9-13 record for the season.

Lastly, Mediapolis throttled Louisa-Muscatine to the tune of an 85-57 final. The Bulldogs will search for their first victory over Mid-Prairie since 2011 on Thursday at 7 pm on the road. 

The Class 3A and Class 4A brackets were released yesterday.

In Class 3A Substate 4, #5 Mt. Pleasant will venture to #4 Davenport Assumption for their first round matchup on Monday, February 23rd, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

Substate 5 houses the rest of our local teams with #8 Fairfield traveling to #1 Pella. #4 Burlington will host #5 Washington, while #3 Keokuk will take on #6 Fort Madison at home for a pair of Southeast Conference clashes. 

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Pella tonight at 7 pm.

The Fairfield boys’ team will make the trip to Clear Creek Amana tonight at 7:30 pm.

Girls’ Regional Basketball

In Class 1A Region 4, Wapello will make the trip to Lone Tree tonight at 7 pm.

In Class 2A Region 8, Van Buren County will traverse to Regina Catholic tonight at 7 pm.

Danville will take on West Burlington at home tonight at 7 pm.

For Class 3A Region 5, Washington will face off against Tipton tomorrow, February 18th, at 7 pm on the road.

In Region 6, #8 Mediapolis will tangle with Davis County tomorrow at home at 7 pm.

For Class 4A Region 4, Mt. Pleasant will be looking to avenge an early season loss when they travel to Oskaloosa tomorrow. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Burlington will make the trip to North Scott tomorrow.

In Region 6, Fort Madison will host Keokuk in a Southeast Conference rivalry matchup tomorrow.

High School Bowling

The Iowa High School Athletic Association’s (IHSAA) 2026 state qualifying meets were held yesterday and for Class 1A the top team and four individuals qualified for state, while Class 2A qualified the top eight scores and best two team scores from each district. 

In Central Lee, Louisa-Muscatine claimed the top team spot, while West Burlington and the hosts finished in 4th and 5th place, respectively. The Falcons were led by DJ Davis as he produced 565 total pins, which tied for 10th place, while Central Lee’s Chad Barnhardt bowled for 559 pins. 

Fairfield traveled to Monticello and claimed 4th place with 2,747 pins. The hosts qualified as a team.

 In Class 2A, Clinton played host to Keokuk, Burlington, and Mt. Pleasant and the Chiefs led the charge for our local schools, taking 4th place with 3,022 pins, followed by Mt. Pleasant in 6th place and Burlington in 7th place.

Keokuk’s Chase Hemann was the lone state qualifier from the region, as his score of 659 pins was good enough for 5th place. Mt. Pleasant was led by Talon DeHart’s 552 total pins. Burlington’s Brady Britt finished with 514 total pins.

The Class 2A individual state tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, February 25th.

High School Wrestling

The 2026 Iowa High School Athletic Association’s State Tournament is scheduled to start tomorrow, February 18th, and KILJ will be providing updates for all 32 of our local wrestlers.

For a full breakdown of the district championships, follow this link: 2026 District Results

Southeastern Community College

The women’s basketball team will play Marshalltown Community College tomorrow, February 18th, at 5:30 pm on the road.

The men’s basketball team will travel to Highland Community College tomorrow at 7 pm.

College Basketball

The Iowa State women’s team will take on Arizona State at home tomorrow, February 18th, at 6:30 pm.

The #13 Iowa women’s team took down Nebraska yesterday, 80-67. Ava Heiden went off for a double-double, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The Hawkeyes will stay on the road to play Purdue on Thursday, February 19th, at 6 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will host #9 Nebraska tonight at 8 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the call.

The #6 Iowa State men’s team had some more Hilton Magic up their sleeve as they knocked off #2 Houston last night, 70-67, as they outscored the Cougars 17 to 4 in the final seven minutes of play. Justin Jefferson led the team with 12 points. The Cyclones will travel to BYU on Saturday, February 21st, at 9:30 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.

This Day in Sports History

1974 – 16th Daytona 500: Richard Petty becomes the first driver to win back-to-back titles at Daytona; his 5th Great American race.

1998 – The USA Women’s Ice Hockey Team beats Canada and wins the first Olympic Gold medal.

2012 – Approximately 70 ancient Olympic artifacts are stolen from the Archaeological Museum of Greece.