High School Track and Field

The Eastern Iowa Track Festival will run today at Iowa City West High School with Columbus, Danville, Mediapolis, Van Buren County, Washington along with the WACO, Wapello, and New London boys’ teams and Mt. Pleasant girls’ team competing. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will hold a track meet on Tuesday, April 14th, with Mt. Pleasant, Central Lee, and Van Buren County making the trip. 

High School Soccer

Wapello was swept by Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union last night with the girls’ team losing 3-0 and the boys’ team falling 9-0. Neveiah Garza scored two goals for the Wildcats in the girls’ game. 

Wapello will host West Branch today with game one at 11 am.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will participate in the Hudson Classic today, while the girls’ team will travel to Mediapolis on Tuesday, April 14th, at 5 pm.

The Central Lee boys’ team shutout Sigourney-Keota last night 4-0 with Zach Estrada knocking in two of the goals for the Hawks. The Central Lee girls’ team was on the wrong end of a rout, losing 13-1 to Washington. Charlee Clay had the lone goal for the Hawks.

The Washington boys’ team followed suit with a dominant 11-1 victory over Highland last night.

Washington will get back to conference play on Monday, April 13th, with a showdown against Burlington with the girls’ team at home and boys’ team on the road and both games starting at 5 pm.

Central Lee will play at home on Tuesday with the girls’ team taking on Fort Madison at 5 pm and the boys’ team squaring off against Fairfield at 7 pm.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team squashed WACO last night, 10-0, while the girls’ team tied Monmouth-Roseville, 1-1. The Nike boys’ team will face off against Fort Madison at home on Tuesday at 5 pm.

The Danville boys’ teams will travel to WACO on Tuesday at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis girls’ team will take on West Branch on Monday at 6:30 pm at home, while the boys’ team will host Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union on Tuesday at 7 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will face off against Fairfield on Monday with the boys’ playing at home at 4:30 pm and the girls’ team competing on the road at 5 pm.

High School Golf

The Central Lee and Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ teams participated in the Lee County tournament yesterday and the Hawks handled business, winning by 23 strokes over Fort Madison, while the Crusaders finished in last place with 377 strokes. Central Lee’s Caleb Larson paced the field with an 18-hole score of 75 with Carter Jones and Kaden Swan wrapping up 3rd and 4th place, respectively. 

Brock Scheetz carded a 90 for 11th place to headline Holy Trinity Catholic’s effort with Nathan Box finishing in 15th place with a round of 93. 

Central Lee will host Holy Trinity Catholic on Monday, April 13th.

The Southeast Conference will compete against one another on Monday with the girls’ teams going to Fort Madison and the boys’ teams traveling to Washington. 

Van Buren County will hit the road to face off against New London on Monday.

Columbus will look to bounce back on Monday at home against Winfield-Mt. Union.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will compete in the Golden Hawk Invitational on Tuesday, April 14th. 

High School Boys’ Tennis

Fairfield will travel to Mt. Pleasant on Monday, April 13th. 

College Signing

Mt. Pleasant’s Jaymisen Rich signed his letter of intent to continue his football career at Simpson College next year with a focus on Health and Exercise Science. Rich is now the second lineman from the 2025 Panthers to commit to play football at the collegiate level after helping the program go 7-3 last season, delivering 21 pancakes to help pave the way for the team to rush for 1,603 yards and 24 touchdowns and their first trip to the postseason since 2010. 

There’s a certain disposition needed to be a lineman, one spelled out perfectly by Second Team All-District member,

“You get to hit people. I mean, I like being one because you can, especially being a center, you can kind of run the offense. And I just like it because you’re with the guy crossing you all game. And so, it’s you versus him every play. And then offensive linemen, we’re like our own little team up there of five. And you really come close to those guys with double teams. And, you know, you’re always together. So, working together and seeing, like, long runs and everything, it just really makes it all worth it.”

Southeastern Community College

The baseball team will stay at home to face off against Indian Hills Community College in a doubleheader today.

The softball team will travel for a doubleheader against Illinois Central College on Monday, April 13th.

College Baseball and Softball

The Iowa baseball team fell to #14 USC yesterday, 9-2. Kooper Schulte gathered an RBI off of a sacrifice fly. The Hawkeyes will look to even the series today at 4 pm.

The Iowa State softball team split their doubleheader with #19 Oklahoma State yesterday, losing game one 8-3 and taking game two 12-0. Reagan Bartholomew clouted a double and a solo home run in the victory. The Cyclones will look to win the rubber match tomorrow, April 12th, at noon.

The Iowa softball team got back in the win column in dramatic fashion to start the Dr. Christine Grant Classic, defeating Georgia Tech, 2-1. Serayah Neiss tossed the complete game gem for her 50th career win, striking out five. The Hawkeyes will play a pair today with a rematch against Georgia Tech at 1:30 pm and a matchup against South Dakota State at 4 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania broadcasts the first radio sporting event, a boxing match between lightweights Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.

1966 – 30th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus becomes the first back-to-back Masters champion winning an 18-hole Monday playoff against Tommy Jacobs and Gay Brewer.

1989 – First playoff goal scored by a goalie, Ron Hextall of the visiting Philadelphia Flyers shoots into the Washington Capitals empty net while his team is short handed in a 8-5 win.

Mt. Pleasant, IA- The “Seven Blocks of Granite” was a nickname bestowed upon the Fordham University offensive line during their run through the 1930s made most famous in 1936 due to a group that featured six future NFL players and Vince Lombardi. It might be time to give the 2025 Mt. Pleasant line a nickname after Jaymisen Rich signed his letter of intent to join the Storm at Simpson College.

Rich is now the second lineman to commit to playing football at the next level and it’s hard to argue with the center’s toughness. He and his brother Jeryn were apart of a small group of six that attended 100% of summer workouts, trotted back out to long snap despite aggravating a hamstring injury in their playoff game, and now does CrossFit to train for the upcoming grind that is collegiate athletics.

Rich fully encompassed what head coach John Bowlin expected his team’s identity would be,

“So, just focus on our assignments and just, you know, being a physical team, I think that’s the biggest thing that our guys need to hang their hats on is we need to be the most physical team out there. I feel good about our all-around athleticism, but we may not be the fastest team, but I think I think our eleven guys will work really well together and, you know, just got to go win the line of scrimmage. So, I think that’s our biggest MO is control the line of scrimmage, control the football and play physical. So that’s what we’re going to focus on here going into Week 1 is being that team when you leave the field that somebody says, man, these guys play hard, they play tough and they’re physical.”

For Rich, he feels he found a second home two-hours west of Mt. Pleasant in Indianola,

“I chose Simpson because I felt like it was my best option. Ever since I stepped foot on campus, it just felt like home. And the town feels just like Mount Pleasant. And I just see the environment, the coaches. I felt like I really fit in there. I’ve been down there five or six times now visiting. So, I’ve got to know the team very well and I just felt like it was home.”

The entire Panther football program engaged in a change of culture after Rich’s freshman season. The team started to focus on running the ball again and while the wins did not come until his junior and senior seasons, the foundational blocks were being placed,

“You know, I don’t think I would trade it for anything. Going 0-9 two years in a row, it not only fuels you, but it builds character, obviously. And so, I think the last two seasons, we went 4-5 junior season, and last season we went 7-3. I think it just made everything a lot sweeter. You know, it made it feel like work really paid off.”

There was an added layer of determination after his sophomore season, as he saw his chance of accomplishing a lifelong dream of playing collegiate football laid out before him. It truly echoed a sentiment that Rich and Mt. Pleasant football had seared into their identity,

“Yeah, I kind of knew it was going to come true going into my junior year. I put in some work at camps. But now that it’s over, I mean, it feels amazing, obviously. But it’s just good to really know that all my hard work paid off and everything I wanted to happen happened.”

That hard work resulted in Mt. Pleasant’s first win over Washington since 2008—a moment Rich deemed his favorite from the season, two double-digit comebacks in the second half, their first winning season since 2019, and their first trip to the postseason since 2010.

At the center of it all, Rich dished out 21 pancakes as the Panthers ran for 1,603 yards on 4.1 yards per carry and 24 touchdowns on his way to being named Second Team All-District. There’s a certain disposition needed to be a lineman, one spelled out perfectly by Rich,

“You get to hit people. I mean, I like being one because you can, especially being a center, you can kind of run the offense. And I just like it because you’re with the guy crossing you all game. And so, it’s you versus him every play. And then offensive linemen, we’re like our own little team up there of five. And you really come close to those guys with double teams. And, you know, you’re always together. So, working together and seeing, like, long runs and everything, it just really makes it all worth it.”

Rich plans on studying Health and Exercise Science with the hope to own his own chiropractic office one day. Simpson College will look to build upon their 6-4 campaign from last season when they travel to Augustana to start the season on Saturday, September 5^th, at 6 pm.