High School Basketball

Mt. Pleasant hosted Washington last night in a conference showdown and the night was a wash with the girls falling 40-29, while the boys took their game 71-54. In the girls’ game, Mt. Pleasant took a 20 to 19 lead into halftime as their defense held the Demons to only three second quarter points. However, Washington responded to the challenge and outscored the Panthers 15 to 4 in the third quarter. This happened in spite of Mt. Pleasant collecting six more offensive rebounds in the contest. Juliana Burns led the Panthers with 11 points in the effort. 

The boys game featured a similar story with Washington leading 19 to 16 at the end of the first quarter, but then the Panthers and more specifically, Payton Hagans, caught on fire. Hagans finished the night with 31 points, which included seven three-pointers. Christian Stacy had a nice night with 18 points. Nate Stroud added 7 points to the effort and Payson Coleman was the one to dribble out the clock on a night that Mt. Pleasant honored their seniors and head coach Eric Rawson talked about his trio of leaders after the game. The Panthers will host Mediapolis today with the girls playing at 2 pm. 

The Mediapolis girls’ team saw Grace Holsteen drop 21 points, which included five three pointers, as the Bulldogs took down Burlington Notre Dame 64-45. 

Holy Trinity Catholic swept Van Buren County last night with the girls winning 56-25 to extend their win streak to 10 games, while the boys dominated 69-22. Luke Hellige led the effort with 26 points followed by Layne Rung’s 18 points. The Warriors will face off against Clark County today with the girls playing at 2:30 pm at home. 

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team will travel to Danville on Monday, January 29th, at 6 pm. The boys’ team will take on Mediapolis on Monday at home at 7:30 pm. 

The Danville girls’ team extended their win streak to 12 games last night as the Bears defeated Central Lee 70-30. However, the Central Lee boys’ team snuck past Danville 51-50. The Hawks will travel to take on Keokuk today with the girls game starting at 4 pm. 

Danville will compete against West Burlington on Tuesday, January 30th, with the girls scheduled to start the night at 6 pm. 

The WACO girls’ team outscored Hillcrest Academy 17 to 9 in the fourth quarter to come out with the 48-42 win last night. Emma Wagler cashed in for a game high 18 points. The boys’ team rode off the momentum of Colton Leicthy’s 17 points to defeat the Ravens 64-53. The Warriors will face off against Wapello today with game one scheduled for 6 pm on the road. 

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team started the game strong, but the Wolves could not knock off Columbus as the Wildcats won 43-37. The boys’ team clobbered the Wildcats 76-12 as Abram Edwards tallied a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Highland on Tuesday on the road with the girls leading off the night at 6 pm. 

The New London boys’ team fell to West Burlington last night 87-48. The Tigers will host Burlington Notre Dame on Tuesday with game one at 6 pm. 

High School Wrestling

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, WACO, and New London boys’ teams will compete at the conference tournament today at Burlington Notre Dame. 

Mt. Pleasant will compete in a tournament hosted by Fairfield today.

Girls wrestling had their Super Regionals yesterday and here are some of our local wrestlers that punched their ticket to the state tournament. To qualify for the tournament, a wrestler had to finish top four in their respective weight class. 

In Region 5, Hailey Kemper of Fort Madison fell in the first place match to Violet Diaz of Denver to take second place in the 100-pound weight class. Also for the Bloodhounds, Mara Smith claimed second place in the 125-pound weight class. 

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will see two wrestlers get an opportunity at the state tournament as Josie Nelson won her third place match against Emma York of Cedar Rapids Jefferson by fall in the 140-pound weight class and Lecet Quiroz grabbed fourth place in the 155-pound weight class after falling by a 7-6 decision in the third place match. 

In Region 6, Wapello will have two wrestlers at the state tournament as Kenadee Helscher finished in fourth place in the 100-pound weight class and Tatum Wolford enters the tournament with a perfect record as she won her first place match by fall in the 155-pound weight class. 

WACO’s Rylee Rice will head to Coralville after placing fourth in the 110-pound weight class. 

Two Southeast Conference wrestlers managed to make the state tournament in the 145-pound weight class as Shariah Hart of Burlignton took third place and Jalyiah Gardner of Keokuk grabbed fourth place after defeating Addy McGraw of Alburnett by a 7-3 decision. Additionally, Kiara Rodriguez of Burlington finished in second place in the 235-pound weight class. 

Lastly, Samantha Lyons of Fairfield defeated Josie Bishop of Ankeny by a 3-0 decision to take 3rd place in the 170-pound weight class in region 3. 

The state tournament will begin on Thursday, February 1st, with the morning session starting at 10 am. KILJ will bring live results. 

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will travel to take on Keokuk on Tuesday, January 30th. 

College Basketball

The #5 Iowa women’s team will look to get back in the win column today at 1 pm in a home matchup against Nebraska. 

The Iowa State women’s team will look to pull off another upset against #24 West Virginia today at 1 pm on the road. 

The #23 Iowa State men’s team’s will take on #7 Kansas at home today at 12:30 pm. Catch the game on KILJ AM 1130. 

The Iowa men’s team will face off against Michigan today at 4 pm in a road matchup. Catch the game on KILJ 105.5 FM

This Day in Sports History

1969 – Chuck Noll is named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the youngest coach in NFL history at the time. 

1989 – Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman becomes the 4th NHL player to record 100 points in 50 games or less with a goal and 2 assists as the Red Wings beat Toronto, 8-1. 

1991 – Super Bowl XXV, Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL: the New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-19; MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB. Scott Norwood’s game-winning kick sails wide right for the Bills.

IHSAA- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) conducted their Board of Control meeting yesterday and changes have been made to Track and Field, Soccer, and Football.

The IHSAA and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union have added an Ambulatory Division to the Paralympic Class to go along with the Wheelchair Division. The Ambulatory Division will give student-athletes with at least one of eight impairments—limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, visual impairment, and intellectual impairment—an opportunity to compete.

Event points will be added alongside the Wheelchair Division, which was added to the State Track and Field Championships in 1990. Team points will now be distributed from both divisions’ events.

Soccer will now see their state semifinals and championship games played in Des Moines starting this spring. The semifinal games will be played at both Drake Stadium and Mediacom Stadium with Mediacom Stadium hosting the finals.

The Quarterfinals will still be held at the Cownie Soccer Complex. The quarterfinals are scheduled to start on May 29^th with the semifinals running on May 31^st and the finals going on June 1^st.

Football will feature some changes heading into the 2024 season with the first line of order having to do with postseason site assignments. For the Round of 16, hosting priorities will be relegated in this order: district finish, head-to-head results, IHSAA rankings, fewest district losses, and alphabet draw.

That same order will be used for the Quarterfinals sans district finish.

Teams that forfeit a regular-season contest due to a lack of available players will be ruled ineligible for the postseason, which includes week 9 non-district games allowed in Classes 2A, 1A, A, and 8-Player.

Rules regarding preseason have been laxed. Teams are allowed to schedule weight room sessions outside the preseason allotted four-hour practice window. Teams will also be permitted to practice on Saturday or Sunday following the first allowable scrimmage date; additionally, teams can determine how many teams attend a scrimmage with four being the maximum at the same site.

Lastly, state semifinals and finals will now feature seven-person officiating crews instead of the typical five-person crews for all classifications.