Mt. Pleasant, IA- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has had a busy week with the state bowling qualifier earlier this week, state wrestling at the end of the week, and playoff basketball getting ready to tip-off next Thursday, February 12th; yet, they delivered the postseason matchups yesterday and here’s a look at our local pairings.

Class 1A Region 4

Holy Trinity Catholic will travel to North Cedar. It will be their first-ever matchup. The winner will tangle with Springville on Tuesday, February 17th, on the road.

New London will face off against Lone Tree on the road. The winner will take on the winner between Wapello and Burlington Notre Dame with the Arrows acting as the host.

The Lions have won the last four against New London but the two have not met up since 2021, while Wapello defeated the Nikes 57-38 in mid-January.

All first-round games are scheduled for Thursday at 7 pm.

Class 1A Region 6

Pekin will welcome WACO for their third meet-up of the year. The Panthers swept the Warriors in their two previous showdowns: 53-47 in December and 58-40 at home. The winner will travel to Dunkerton on February 17th.

Winfield-Mt. Union will look to upset the Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) North champion, Highland, for their first round showdown. The Huskies are currently on a six-game winning streak against the Wolves with both wins this season coming by at least 30 points.

The winner will square off against either Keota or Hillcrest Academy.

All first-round games will take place on Thursday at 7 pm

Class 2A Region 8

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference will be meeting up at the bottom of the Region 8 bracket as Van Buren County and Columbus will get a rematch of their SEISC shootout match last night. Van Buren County’s 62-37 victory was the first game between the two decided by double figures since the 2022-23 season. The Warriors will host on Saturday, February 14th, at 7 pm.

The winner will then face off against Regina Catholic on the road.

Danville, who is rocking an 8-game win streak at the time of writing, will host West Burlington on Tuesday, February 17th, at 7 pm. The two split their season series during the year, but the Bears have won six of the last seven. The winner will play the winner between Regina Catholic and Van Buren County/Columbus.

Class 3A Region 5

It is a Southeast Conference clash in Washington as the Demons are set to host Fairfield on Saturday, February 14th, at 7 pm. Washington has won the last eight matchups against the Trojans and hit 22 three-pointers in their two showdowns this season.

The winner will travel to play the winner between Tipton and South Tama County on Wednesday, February 18th, at 7 pm.

Class 3A Region 6

#9 Mediapolis will welcome Central Lee into town for their third throw down of the season on Saturday, February 14th, at 7 pm. The Bulldogs have won the last nine against the Hawks with their closest win of the streak being by 17 points.

Mediapolis has not lost a to a South Division opponent since February 5th, 2024 against Holy Trinity Catholic in a 48-35 final.

The winner will face off against either Davis County or Centerville on Wednesday, February 18th.

More Information

Stay tuned to KILJ for our broadcast schedule as the tournament trail gets started on Thursday, February 12th, at 7 pm. KILJ would like to thank our State Tournament Sponsors for allowing us to cover all of our local teams!

High School Wrestling

Day one of the 2026 Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s state tournament is in the books and five of our 17 local wrestlers sit one match away from a chance at the state championship. Here’s some of the highlights from yesterday’s action.  

In Class 1A, Wapello will have a pair of wrestlers competing in the semifinals, as #2 Kenadee Helscher handled business in both of her matches for the 105-pound weight class, while #1 Clara Ball snuck past #8 Cadence Kinzie of Atlantic in the quarterfinals by a 10-7 decision to advance to the semifinals of the 115-pound weight class.

Helscher will take on #3 Kate Martin of Mt. Vernon and Ball will face off against #4 Hailey Harvey of Riverside today.

Pekin’s #4 Hailey Pedrick displayed her endurance yesterday by securing both of her victories by fall in the third period. She will tackle #1 Tayla Stiefel of East Buchanan in the semifinals today.

 A pair of Southeast Conference wrestlers dominated in their action yesterday. Fairfield’s #2 Samantha Lyons pinned her first opponent in the opening minute of her first round match and she followed that up with another first round pin in the quarterfinals. She will compete against #3 Gracie Pickney of Mt. Vernon in the semifinals today.

In Class 2A, #3 Mara Smith of Fort Madison punched her ticket to the semifinals after a technical fall in the first round and a pin in the quarterfinals. She will take on #2 Makana Miller of Waverly-Shell Rock today.

In the consolation bracket, #6 Brystol Wiley of Van Buren County, #2 Adley Sweeting of Highland, and #7 Amaziah Twillie and #9 Macy Peterson of Burlington will be eyeing a bronze medal.

Stay tuned to KILJ for updates throughout the day and for a full recap of yesterday’s action, follow the links provided.

Class 1A Recap: Class 1A

Class 2A Recap: Class 2A

The Van Buren County boys’ team finished 0-3 at the Davis County quad last night, losing 58-24 to Oskaloosa, 42-36 to Davis County, and 48-24 to Montezuma. Leo Jirak and Carver Goehring went undefeated for the night. 

The Fairfield boys’ team snuck past Washington last night, 41-40. Kohda Higdon, Cael McCabe, Dusty Haynes, Aiden Holthus, Dain Burkhart, and Calvin McClain each picked up victories for the Trojans.

The boys’ district wrestling meets are scheduled for February 14th.

High School Basketball

Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk tonight with the girls’ teams playing at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.

Fairfield will host Burlington tonight with game one at 6 pm.

Southeast Iowa Super Conference Shootout

The girls’ teams seeded #3-#8 had their SEISC shootout games last night, here’s how everything played out. 

Leading off the night, Van Buren County wallopped Columbus, 62-37 in the #4-seed contest. The Wildcats will try to bounce back against Cardinal on Monday, February 9th, at 6 pm.

In a battle of the Falcons, Louisa-Muscatine soared past West Burlington 68-44 for the #3 seed. West Burlington will travel to Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday, February 10th, with tip-off at 6:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:15 pm.

Wapello handled business in the 6th seed showdown as Macey Kuntz’s double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds led the Arrows past Holy Trinity Catholic, 47-25. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will square off against Clark County on Monday at 6 pm.

Wapello ends the regular season with a 12-9 record. 

In the 5th seed contest, Central Lee surged past Pekin, 50-33. The Hawks will travel to Illini West on Monday for their regular season finale at 7:30 pm.

In the 8-seed contest, New London fell to Hillcrest Academy last night, 54-34. The Tigers finished the regular season with an 0-21 record. 

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will host Cedar Valley Christian tonight at 6 pm.

Highland and Mediapolis will face off for the conference title tomorrow, February 7th, at 2:30 pm at Highland, while Danville will compete with Lone Tree to lead off the day at 1 pm.

The boys’ will start play tonight for their SEISC shootout with Central Lee hosting the #3 and #4 seeds, Holy Trinity Catholic will have the #5 and #6 seeds, and Van Buren County will house the #7 and #8 seeds with the south division acting as the home team.

At 6 pm, #4 West Burlington will play #4 WACO at Central Lee, #6 Danville will tip-off against #6 Wapello, and #8 New London will tussle with #8 Lone Tree at Van Buren County.

At 7:30 pm, #3 Central Lee will face off against Pekin, #5 Holy Trinity Catholic will tangle with #5 Columbus, and #7 Van Buren County will take on #7 Highland.

Burlington Notre Dame will hold the #1 and #2 seed games tomorrow with Mediapolis clashing with Winfield-Mt. Union at 6 pm and the conference title going to either the Nikes or Hillcrest Academy at 7:30 pm.

High School Bowling

The girls’ state meet is scheduled for February 10th through the 12th in Waterloo. Keokuk will be competing as a team, while Mt. Pleasant’s Shyann Smith will bowl as an individual along with Keokuk’s Allison Sapp, Jaelynn Ketterer, and Josie Sapp.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team hosted their invite yesterday and finished in 3rd place with 2,467 pins. West Burlington/Notre Dame won the meet with 2,558 pins, 41 more than Central Lee.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the state qualifying meet assignments and Central Lee will host West Burlington, while Fairfield will travel to Monticello in Class 1A.

 In Class 2A, Clinton will play host to Burlington, Keokuk, and Mt. Pleasant.

Both meets are scheduled for Monday, February 16th, at 10 am.

Southeastern Community College

The women’s basketball team will host Kirkwood Community College tomorrow, February 7th, with tip-off at 1 pm.

The men’s basketball team will continue the home stand tomorrow at 3 pm against Triton College. 

The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will travel to North Iowa Area Community College for the District Championships on February 15th. 

College Basketball

The Iowa State women’s team will travel to Utah tomorrow, February 7th, at 6 pm.

The #10 Iowa women’s team made a late run but ultimately fell to Minnesota last night, 91-85. Ava Heiden scored 24 points in the losing effort. The Hawkeyes will host Washington on Wednesday, February 11th, at 6:30 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will head back home to play Northwestern on Sunday, February 8th, at 2 pm.

The #7 Iowa State men’s team will take on Baylor at home at 1 pm tomorrow.

This Day in Sports History

1932 – First Olympic dog sled race at Lake Placid, New York. It is run as a demonstration sport.

1971 – American astronaut Alan Shepard is 1st to hit a golf ball on the moon. 

1990 – Brett Hull becomes the first son of an NHL 50 goal scorer (Bobby Hull) to also score 50 goals.

Coralville, IA- Wrestlers from all over the state made the trip to the Xtreme Arena with one goal in mind, an Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Championship. Day one is officially done after the second session wrapped up their last matches of the day. Here’s how our four local competitors fared.

Class 2A

140-Pound Weight Class

Fort Madison’s #3 Mara Smith is looking to finish on the podium again for her senior campaign and she has positioned herself nicely after the first day of action. The Bloodhound handled business in the first round against #14 Khloee Schmidt of Western Dubuque, taking the match by technical fall.

The quarterfinals proved to be a bit more tedious as #6 Lauryn Metcalf of Ames kept it scoreless after the first period and cut the lead to one after scoring a reversal in the second period. Nevertheless, Smith would score the pin in the same period and punch her ticket to the semifinals.

Smith will face off against #2 Makana Miller of Waverly-Shell Rock tomorrow with the winner advancing to the championship match.

145-Pound Weight Class

#8 Kat DiPrima of Fort Madison took down #9 Kerene Panya of Le Mars in the first round but would drop her next two matches against #1 Lizzy Wolf of Benton Community in the quarterfinals and #10 Callum Wu of Iowa City Liberty to end her day.

DiPrima finished her season with a 34-7 record.

155-Pound Weight Class

Burlington’s #7 Amaziah Twillie had an amazing run in her freshman season, clinching 6^th place last year. This year, she’s still in the hunt for 3^rd place. The sophomore started the day with a major decision victory over #10 Halle Mosaquites of Hinton-SBL.

She’d run into a wall in the quarterfinals, falling to #2 Regan Jensen of Algona. Here journey in the consolation bracket saw Twillie pin #8 Morgan Bills of Dubuque Hempstead to move on to the third round of the consolation bracket.

Twillie sits two matches away from the 3^rd place bout as she will wrestle #5 Peyten Van Dyke of Iowa City Liberty to start her day tomorrow.

170-Pound Weight Class

#9 Macy Peterson of Burlington is looking at a similar story to her teammate. The Grayhound scored a narrow 6-2 decision victory over #8 Aurora Lloyd of Linn-Mar to set up a matchup against #1 Amalia Djoumessi of Waverly-Shell Rock, who took down Peterson in the first period of the quarterfinals.

In her third match of the day, Peterson outlasted #7 Precious Kredit of Sioux Center, securing a second period pin. Peterson will continue her journey through the consolation bracket against #5 Addison Bowman of Prairie tomorrow.

More Information

Class 2A will be back in action tomorrow at 1 pm. Stay tuned to KILJ for more updates throughout the day, as we would like to thank our sponsors for allowing us to cover all state tournament competition.

Coralville, IA- Wrestlers from all over the state made the trip to the Xtreme Arena with one goal in mind, an Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Championship. Southeast Iowa sent 13 local representatives for Class 1A from the area and four of them still have a chance to walk away with the gold. Here’s a look at the results from the first session.

Class 1A

100-Pound Weight Class

Van Buren County’s #6 Brystol Wiley started off the day with a collection of points as she defeated #11 Josie McGraw of Alburentt by technical fall, catapulting her into the quarterfinals against #3 Abigail Peterson of Denver.

Unfortunately, Peterson got the better of Wiley, scoring a takedown in the first period to send Wiley to the consolation bracket. Waiting for Wiley in the second round was #13 Goldie Davis of South Central Calhoun.

Wiley took the early 3 to 1 lead after the first period, but Davis pounced in the second period to take a commanding 10 to 5 lead. Still, the Warrior fought back to earn four points in the start of the period but needed a late takedown to claim a narrow 12-11 decision victory.

Wiley will face off against #2 Molly Knechne of Central Lyon-George Little Rock tomorrow, February 6th, in the third round of the consolation bracket.

105-Pound Weight Class

#2 Kenadee Helscher of Wapello has collected just about every accolade one can throughout her high school career. She is a two-time conference champion, three-time state qualifier, and has collected over 100 wins for her career. Yet, the gold medal still alludes her.

After falling one match short of an undefeated season last year, she is looking to end this year with a flawless record and enact some revenge in the process. She started that process with a win by technical fall over #15 Kayda Freeman of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

She wasted little time in the quarterfinals, pinning #10 Brielle Starkweather of North Fayette Valley in the first round to advance to the semifinals. She will face off against #3 Kate Martin of Mount Vernon tomorrow. On the top half of the bracket, #1 Ainsley Hemann of Osage, last year’s champion and Helscher’s lone loss, and #4 Sophia Calpito will face off.

#12 Armoney Adams of Van Buren County was unable to knock off #5 Sophia Hazen of ATU and lost to #13 Finley Rushton of West Branch in the first round of the consolation bracket by major decision to end her tournament run with a 27-6 record.

110-Pound Weight Class

Pekin’s #6 Lexa Nelson was on the wrong side of two upsets as she lost to #11 Kierstan McRoberts of Osage by major decision in the first round before losing to #14 Bradi Houston of Davis County by fall in the consolation bracket. She finished the season with a 34-6 record.

115-Pound Weight Class

Moving up a weight class is never easy but when no one returns from the top eight of last year’s state tournament it certainly gives you a leg up. #1 Clara Ball of Wapello, who finished 6^th last year in the 110-pound weight class, started her day with a victory by technical fall of #16 Khloe Neal of BCLUW-SH.

Her quarterfinal match was not as easy as Ball entered the third round with a narrow 5 to 3 lead over #8 Cadence Kinzie of Atlantic after scoring a reversal late in the second period. She would eliminate Kinzie with a third-period takedown to punch her ticket to the semifinals on a 10-7 decision.

She will wrestle #4 Hailey Harvey of Riverside tomorrow.

120-Pound Weight Class

#11 Lila Miller of Pekin was pinned in both of her matches today, ending her season with a 32-13 record.

Highland’s #2 Adley Sweeting earned a late first-period pin of #15 Gracyn Stone of Logan-Magnolia-Woodbine to find a spot in the quarterfinals. However, she would trip up against #10 Kiley Collins of West Liberty after Collins maneuvered Sweeting into a surprising loss by fall, despite the Huskie leading 7 to 0 in points.

In her third match of the day, Sweeting took on #16 Ivy Christensen of Osage and dominated, securing a pin in 26 seconds. She will take on #6 Makenna Kurth of Waukon in the third round of the consolation bracket tomorrow.

140-Pound Weight Class

#11 Maiya Singbeil of Highland fell to #6 Alexa Heflin of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, sending the Huskie into the consolation bracket. Facing off against #14 Kimora Owens of Williamsburg, Singbeil took down her opponent in the first 30 seconds of the match.

Her tournament run would come to an end against #5 Macie Little of North Mahaska, falling in the first period. Singbeil ended her season with a 24-9 record.

145-Pound Weight Class

Pekin’s #4 Hailey Pedrick had to battle against #13 Cara Schuette of Kuemper Catholic, but the Panther broke through in the third period, pinning her opponent. In the quarterfinals, Pedrick wrestled #5 Paytn Haack of Emmetsburg and escaped with a victory by fall early in the third period.

Pedrick will take on #1 Tayla Stiefel of East Buchanan in the semifinals tomorrow.

170-Pound Weight Class

#2 Samantha Lyons of Fairfield is looking to end her senior campaign with a title as she enters the tournament with a 28-1 record. Lyons made quick work of her first-round opponent, #15 Harper Manwarren of GTRA, pinning her in the first 47 seconds of the period.

The victory pitted Lyons against #7 Afton Dean of Lamoni, who stood no chance against the Trojan as the senior pinned her in the first period to advance to the semifinals. She will wrestle #3 Gracie Pickney of Mt. Vernon with the winner advancing to the championship match tomorrow.

190-Pound Weight Class

#12 Chloe Sexton of Pekin lost her first-round match in heartbreaking fashion, losing by ultimate tiebreaker to #5 Maren Subbert of Hampton-Dumont-CAL. She bounced back to defeat #13 Claire Schumacher of Western Iowa by fall in the first period to advance in the consolation bracket.

Her tournament run would end at the hands of #3 Emma Dejong of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley with a loss by fall. Sexton finished the season with a 22-11 record.

235-Pound Weight Class

We had our first local showdown after #15 Reese Connolly of Wapello and Fairfield’s #7 Kendra Allison lost their first-round matches. In the consolation bracket, Allison got revenge for her loss at the Regional Championship with a one-sided victory by fall over the Arrow.

Connolly finished her freshman season with a 15-21 record.

Unfortunately, that momentum would not carry Allsion into the next round as she was pinned by #1 Kaylee Dejong of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley. Allison finished her senior season with a 23-8 record.

More Information

Class 1A will be back in action tomorrow at 9 am. Stay tuned to KILJ for more updates throughout the day, as we would like to thank our sponsors for allowing us to cover all state tournament competition.