High School Track and Field

The 2023 State Track and Field Meet is complete and here are the highlights from our local teams.

For the Mt. Pleasant boys’ team, Will Davidson grabbed 14 of the Panthers’ 19 points with a 2nd place finish in the 110 meter hurdles, tallying a time of 14.33 seconds, and with a time of 54.13 seconds Davidson finished in 3rd place in the 400 meter hurdles.

The Panthers provided a strong field game with an 8th place finish from Isaac Jerrel in the shot put with a heave of 51 feet 3.25 inches, and a 5th place finish in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 7.75 inches from Avin Truong.

AJ Bonnensen of Danville finished with a school record in the 3200 meter run and a state championship with a time of 9 minutes and 10 seconds. He followed that up with a 2nd place finish in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 21 seconds.

For the girls’ team of Danville, Alaina Gourley grabbed an 8th place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.79 seconds.

Winfield-Mt. Union had their own state champion in the long jump as Cam Buffington leaped 21 feet 8 inches to take the win. Gabriel Hemsworth grabbed a point for the Wolves with an 8th place finish in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 55.42 seconds.

The WACO boys’ team was led by Oleh Shtefanchuk’s 3rd place finish in the discus with a throw of 158 feet 2 inches. Simeon Reichenbach took 7th place in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 15.48 seconds. Reichenbach leaped 20 feet 7.75 inches in the long jump to finish in 6th place.

Kade Benjamin of New London defended his championship in the high jump as he cleared 6 feet 7 inches. Rylan Martin finished in 3rd place for the 800 meter run with a time of 1 minute and 57 seconds. The distance medley team of Boden Pickle, London Franklin, Brigham Porter, and Martin took 7th place with a time of 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

Central Lee’s Thomas Eschman leaped 21 feet 10 inches to grab 6th place for the Hawks.

For the Van Buren County boys’ team, Anthony Duncan had an incredible run as he started the meet with a 3rd place finish in the 400 meter dash with the time of 50.04 seconds. Duncan then finished as the state champion in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.97 seconds.

Tyler Stoltz finished in 7th place in the high jump clearing 6 feet 1 inch for the Warriors. Additionally, Wyatt Mertens took 8th place in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 8.5 inches.

Mediapolis had a history making three days of competition. Anthony Isley grabbed two second place finishes, one in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.23 seconds and the other in the 400 meter dash with a time of 49.97 seconds.

Logan Rosas finished as the state champion in the 800 meter run with a time of 1 minute and 56 seconds. Owen Schmidgall took 5th place with a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds. Solomon Zaugg tallied 6 points with a 3rd place finish with a time of 4 minutes and 24 seconds in the 1600 meter run.

Cole Lipper, Jackson Hutcheson, Schmidgall, and Isley finished in 4th place with a time of 1 minute and 34 seconds in the sprint medley. The team of Levi Arnold, Rosas, Schmidgall, and Isley took 3rd place in the 4×400 meter relay. Jeff Campbell, Schmidgall, Zaugg, and Rosas grabbed 4th place in the 4×800 meter relay. Lastly, Lipper, Schmidgall, Arnold, and Rosas finished as state champions in the distance medley, tallying another 10 points.

This culminated in the Bulldogs being named Co-Champions with Williamsburg as they tied with 62 points. This is the first Class 2A tie since 2017 and the 4th overall. This also marks the first team state championship for Mediapolis.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will take on Central DeWitt on the road tomorrow, May 23rd.

The Danville boys’ team will face off against West Liberty in the second round of the postseason tonight.

The Central Lee boys’ team will travel to take on Pella Christian today for the second round of the postseason.

For girls’ soccer, Burlington Notre Dame will take on North Scott and Fort Madison will take on SEC foe Burlington. Both games will be played tomorrow.

High School Golf

The boys’ state tournament will start today with Mason Shelledy of New London playing at Ames Golf and Country Club.

The New London girls’ team and Olivia Hines of Mediapolis will be competing in the state tournament with day one of the two day tournament starting on May 25th.

Deerwood Golf Club will be sponsoring KILJ’s coverage of both state golf events.

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant will travel to take on Clear Creek-Amana on May 24th.

High School Softball

Mt. Pleasant will host Holy Trinity Catholic tonight at 5 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 4:45 pm.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The NAIA National Championship meet will take place on May 24th for outdoor track and field.

This Day in Sports History

1955 – Louis Chiron becomes the oldest driver to compete in Formula 1. He took 6th place in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix at 55 years old.

1985 – Pete Rose’s 2,108th run passes Hank Aaron as NL run scoring leader.

1990 – Andre Dawson receives a record 5 intentional walks in a game.

State Track and Field- Championship Saturday is in the books and here are the results from today’s events.

The team of Ady Lamm, Logan Kelley, Amiya Davis, and Ava Parkins finished in 17^th place with the time of 1 minute and 54.66 seconds in the girls Class 3A sprint medley relay for West Burlington/Notre Dame (WB-ND).

In the boys Class 1A sprint medley relay, Winfield-Mt. Union, Danville, and New London each had a team compete. The Wolves finished in 10^th place with a time of 1 minute and 37.24 seconds with the team of Caleb Giese, Abram Edwards, Cam Buffington, and Gabriel Hemsworth.

Danville’s team of Drake Nicholson, Jaden Bauer, Ayden Doyle, and Ashton McCane took 14^th place with a time of 1 minute and 37.78 seconds.

The Tigers grabbed 16^th place with the team of Boden Pickle, Brigham Porter, London Franklin, and Kade Benjamin as they completed the race in 1 minute and 37.87 seconds.

In the boys Class 2A, Mediapolis started their phenomenal morning with a 4^th place finish in the sprint medley relay as Cole Lipper, Jackson Hutcheson, Noah Schmidgall, and Anthony Isley raced to the time of 1 minute and 34.75 seconds.

The Bulldogs also claimed points and a state champion in the 800 meter run. Logan Rosas finished with the best time for Class 2A with a time of 1 minute and 56 seconds, taking the crown. Schmidgall finished in 5^th place with a time of 1 minute and 58 seconds. These scores added 19 points to the Bulldogs total as they entered championship Saturday in 4^th place.

Alaina Gourley finished in 15^th place with a time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds for Danville in the girls Class 1A 800 meter run.

Kohlby Newsom of Winfield-Mt. Union and Rylan Martin of New London competed in the boys Class 1A 800 meter dash. With a time of 1 minute and 59 seconds, Newsome grabbed 9^th place for the Wolves. Martin claimed a spot on the podium with a 3^rd place time of 1 minute and 57 seconds.

For Washington, Iris Dahl and Logan McDole ran the 800 meter dash for the girls and boys in Class 3A, respectively. Dahl took 7^th place with a time of 2 minutes and 19 seconds. McDole finished in 19^th place with a time of 2 minutes and 1 second.

The Demon’s had Josh Anderson compete in the boy’s wheelchair 100 meter dash. Anderson finished as the runner-up with a time of 19.16 seconds. In the 200 meter dash, Anderson finished in 4^th place with a time of 39.69 seconds. Anderson also raced to a 4^th place finish in the 400 meter with a time of 1 minute and 23 seconds.

The team of Riley Kaalberg, Dante Zuinga, Alexander Rees, and Triston Miller helped Columbus’ chances at a team championship after finishing in 3^rd place in the boys Class 1A shuttle hurdle relay with the time of 1 minute and 1.01 seconds.

Burlington had their boys’ and girls’ teams grab points in the Class 4A 100 meter dash. Mylee Stiefel finished in 5^th place with a time of 12.5 seconds. Lederrias Shealey took 8^th place with a time of 11.36 seconds.

WB-ND presented their speed in the Class 3A boys’ 100 meter dash as Jack Riley raced to a time of 10.77 seconds and a 2^nd place finish. Travain Donaldson tied as the final runner to make the finals for the 100 meter dash and he improved to a 5^th place finish with a time of 10.954 seconds.

Kaden Amigon and Jeff Hoback of Columbus finished in 7^th and 8^th place, respectively, in the boys’ Class 1A 100 meter dash. This finish added 3 points to the Wildcats total.

Columbus grabbed their first state champion of the meet as Triston Miller raced to a first-place finish in the boys’ Class 1A 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.35 seconds. Miller had already taken down the state record in the preliminary with a qualifying time of 14.12 seconds.

Simeon Reichenbach of WACO also raced in the boys’ Class 1A 110 meter hurdles and finished in 7^th place with a time of 15.48 seconds, adding 2 points to the Warriors total of 11.

In the boys’ Class 3A 110 meter hurdles, Will Davidson of Mt. Pleasant finished in 2^nd place in a terrific race as he grabbed 8 point for the Panthers with a time of 14.33 seconds. Davidson earned 14 points for the Panthers as Mt. Pleasant finished with 19 team points.

Amigon competed in the 200 meter dash for Columbus and grabbed 6 points for the Wildcats with a 3^rd place finish with a time of 22.12 seconds.

Isley contributed 8 more points to the Bulldogs after his 2^nd place finish in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.23 seconds.

AJ Bonnesen of Danville added a 2^nd place finish to his state championship after the boys Class 1A 1600 meter run. Bonnesen completed the mile in 4 minutes and 21 seconds. Martin of New London took 15^th place with a time of 4 minutes and 37 seconds.

In Class 2A, Solomon Zaugg of Mediapolis took 3^rd place in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 24 seconds. This added 6 more points to the Bulldogs total.

In the Class 3A 1500 meter run, Avery Rump of Fort Madison took 11^th place with a time of 4 minutes and 56 seconds. Dahl of Washington finished in 18^th place with a time of 5 minutes and 10 seconds.

Burlington’s girls’ Class 4A 4×100 meter relay team of Christella Boyer, Sophie Brown, Kierah Wiseman, and Stiefel claimed 5^th place with a time of 48.87 seconds, the season best time.

In the boys’ Class 1A 4×100 meter relay, Columbus finished with a state record; unfortunately, Lisbon’s state record time was three-tenths of a second faster resulting in the Wildcats claiming 2^nd place with a time of 42.42 seconds. Cashing in on the 8 points was Hoback, Kaalberg, Miller, and Amigon.

WB-ND finished behind Harlan who set the state record in the 4×100 meter relay. The team of Jace Figuereo, Grant Boal, Donaldson, and Riley tallied the time of 42.21 seconds and 8 points for the Falcons.

Lastly, the team of Rosas, Levi Arnold, Schmidgall, and Isley competed in the 4×400 meter relay for Mediapolis. The Bulldogs finished in 3^rd place with the time of 3 minutes and 23 seconds, giving the Bulldogs 6 more team points.

Top Three Teams

Boys Class 1A: Lisbon: 60, Columbus: 52, Lawton-Bronson: 43

Girls Class 1A: Calamus-Wheatland: 38, Nashua-Plainfield: 33, AGWSR: 32

Boys Class 2A: Mediapolis and Williamsburg: 62, Des Moines Christian: 58

Girls Class 2A: Van Meter: 71, Mid-Prairie: 49, Unity Christ: 36

Boys Class 3A: Pella: 73, Epworth: 63, Harlan: 55

Girls Class 3A: Solon: 79, ADM: 62, Pella: 42

Boys Class 4A: Johnston: 84, Ankeny: 80, Iowa City High: 79

Girls Class 4A: Waukee Northwest: 74, Ames: 69, Dowling Catholic: 62

Boys Wheelchair: Bedford: 36, Mid-Prairie: 30, West Lyon: 26

Girls Wheelchair: Dubuque Hempstead: 40, West Liberty: 24, Valley: 12,

Mediapolis and Williamsburg are Co-Champions for Class 2A.

Danville and New London finished tied for 12^th with 18 points in Class 1A for the boys. Winfield-Mt. Union and WACO tied for 25^th with 11 team points.

In Class 3A, Washington finished with 8 team points. In the boys’ wheelchair, the Demons grabbed 24 points for 4^th place.

In the girls’ Class 4A, Burlington finished with 8 team points. The Burlington boys’ team and the Danville girls’ team each finished with 1 point apiece.

High School Track and Field

Day two of the State Track and Field meet is in the books and here are the highlights from yesterday’s events.

New London captured their first points of the meet with a 7th place finish with the time of 3 minutes and 40 seconds in the distance medley. The team of Boden Pickle, London Franklin, Brigham Porter, and Rylan Martin captured two points for the Tigers.

Triston Miller of Columbus took down the boys’ Class 1A 110 meter hurdle state record that has stood since 1997. Miller sprinted to a time of 14.12 seconds making him the favorite for the finals. Simeon Reichenbach of WACO also qualified with the 6th fastest time of the preliminary, 15.11 seconds a personal record. 

Gabriel Hemsworth of Winfield-Mt. Union earned a point for his 8th place finish in the boys 400 meter hurdles with a time of 55.42 seconds. Spencer Nelson of Danville took 19th place with a time of 58.59 seconds.

The girls 4×100 meter team of Kierah Wiseman, Christella Boyer, Sophie Brown, and Mylee Stiefel for Burlington qualified for the finals today with a time of 49.06 seconds, a season best time.

Columbus took home another state record in the boys 4×100 meter relay with the team of Jeff Hoback, Riley Kaalberg, Miller, and Kaden Amingon with a time of 42.69 seconds, which qualified them for today’s final.

Kade Benjamin of New London and Miller of Columbus were in a showdown for the boys Class 1A high jump competition as they both cleared 6 feet 6 inches. Miller failed all of his attempts for 6 feet 7 inches. Benjamin nailed his first jump for 6 feet 7 inches clinching the state title for himself. This makes it back-to-back individual state championships for Benjamin.

In the boys’ Class 1A discus, Oleh Shtefanchuk’s throw of 150 feet 1 inch was enough to get him into the finals. In the finals, he improved his mark to 155 feet on his second throw then added on to his final total as he finished in 3rd place with a throw of 158 feet 2 inches. The Warriors claimed 6 team points from the event.

In the boys’ Class 1A, Mount Ayr has the lead with 30 points. Columbus is in 3rd place with 19 points. New London is tied for 8th with 12 points. Winfield-Mt. Union is tied for 10th place with 11 points and Danville is tied for 12th place with 10 points. WACO is right behind Danville with 9 points.

In the boys’ Class 3A 110 meter hurdles, Will Davidson of Mt. Pleasant raced to the 2nd fastest time in the preliminary and the 10th fastest time all-time with the time of 14.10 seconds. Davidson followed that up with a 3rd place finish in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.13 seconds. 

In the field events for Mt. Pleasant, Avin Truong finished in 5th place in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 7.75 inches and Isaac Jerrel grabbed 8th place in the shot put with a heave of 51 feet 3.25 inches. 

Van Buren County picked up a state champion in Anthony Duncan for the boys Class 2A 400 meter hurdles with the time of 54.97 seconds. Tyler Stoltz finished in 7th place in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 1 inch.  

The 4×200 meter relay team of Travain Donaldson, Grant Boal, Jace Figuereo, and Jack Riley took 4th place with a time of 1 minute and 29 seconds for West Burlington/Notre Dame. 

Mediapolis’ boys’ 4×400 meter relay team of Logan Rosas, Levi Arnold, Owen Schmidgall, and Anthony Isley qualified for the finals with a time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds. 

KILJ will be bringing results throughout the state track meet today.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team had a goal frenzy in front of the home crowd against Maquoketa to start out the playoffs as the Panthers won 10-0. Elly Manning led the team with four goals on the night with three assists. Aurora Hummel netted three goals, Charice Auwerda tallied two goals, and Tori Wilson scored one goal. The Panthers will take on Central DeWitt on the road on May 23rd. 

The Danville boys’ team will face off against West Liberty in the second round of the postseason on May 22nd. 

The Central Lee boys’ team will travel to take on Pella Christian on May 22nd for the second round of the postseason. 

For girls’ soccer, Burlington Notre Dame defeated Clinton 8-0. Fort Madison handled Keokuk last night 6-0. The Nikes will take on North Scott and Fort Madison will take on SEC foe Burlington.

High School Golf

The boys’ state tournament will start on May 22nd with Mason Shelledy of New London playing at Ames Golf and Country Club.

The New London girls’ team and Olivia Hines of Mediapolis will be competing in the state tournament with day one of the two day tournament starting on May 25th.

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant will travel to take on Clear Creek-Amana on May 24th.

High School Softball

Mt. Pleasant will host Holy Trinity Catholic on May 22nd at 5 pm.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The NAIA National Championship meet will take place on May 24th for outdoor track and field. 

This Day in Sports History

1734 – First Jockey Club forms in South Carolina.

1930 – University of California dedicates $1,500 to research on prevention and cure of athlete’s foot.

1946 – Cubs Claude Passeau makes his 1st error since September 21, 1941, ending pitcher’s fielding record of 273 consecutive errorless chances.

State Track and Field- Class 2A and 3A have finished up their day two events and here are the results for our local teams.

Looking at Mt. Pleasant first, Will Davidson finished with the 2^nd fastest time in the preliminary and the 10^th fastest time all time in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.10 seconds. The finals will run tomorrow at 1:15 pm. Davidson also grabbed points for the Panthers in the 400 meter hurdles as he took 3^rd place with a time of 54.13 seconds.

The girls 4×200 meter relay team of Courtney Raub, Bailey Jalas, Kynlee White, and Andi Scott finished with a time of 1 minute and 46 seconds, which placed them in 12^th.

Rellana Van Deuren took 23^rd place with a time of 1 minute and 13 seconds in the girls 400 meter hurdles.

The team of Raub, Jalas, Scott, and Tristian Shull ran in the girls 4×100 meter relay that finished in 21^st place with a time of 51.58 seconds.

The Panthers boys’ 4×400 meter relay team of Jacob Richtman, Gabe Feldmann, Jude Dykstra, and Mason Sloat finished in 23^rd place with a time of 3 minutes and 33 seconds.

In the field events, Avin Truong took home a 5^th place finish in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 7.75 inches and Isaac Jerrel finished in 8^th place in the shot put with a heave of 51 feet 3.25 inches. Ava English heaved the shot 34 feet 11.75 inches, which claimed her 16^th place.

For the Van Buren County boys’ team, Anthony Duncan dethroned last year’s champion in the 400 meter hurdles and claimed an individual state championship in Class 2A for the Warriors with a time of 54.97 seconds. Tyler Stoltz captured points for the Warriors with a 7^th place finish in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 1 inch.

For Class 2A, the Mediapolis 4×200 girls’ team of Bailey Jackson, Kira Messer, Josie Hutcheson, and Haley Steffener finished in 22^nd place with a time of 1 minute and 51 seconds.

For the Mediapolis boys’ 4×400 meter relay team of Logan Rosas, Levi Arnold, Owen Schmidgall, and Anthony Isley, they will be competing in the finals tomorrow after qualifying with 3^rd fastest time in the preliminary with a time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds. Steffener finished in 21^st place in the girls’ high jump with a leap of 4 feet 10 inches.

The 4×200 meter relay team of Travain Donaldson, Grant Boal, Jace Figuereo, and Jack Riley took 4th place with a time of 1 minute and 29 seconds for West Burlington/Notre Dame.

For Washington, the girls 4×400 meter relay team of Grace Voss, Leighton Messinger, Eden Levetzow, and Iris Dahl finished in 17^th place with a time of 4 minutes and 12 seconds. The boys’ 4×400 meter relay team of Logan McDole, Ethan Patterson, Cameron Vongpanya, and Alec Ulin also took 17^th place with a time of 3 minutes and 31 seconds.

In the field, Brayden Hartman finished as the runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 57 feet 8 inches.

Team Point Leaders:

Boys Class 2A: Des Moines Christian: 30, Williamsburg: 28, Shenandoah: 24

Girls Class 2A: Van Meter and Mid-Prairie: 28, Unity Christ: 21, West Lyon and Sheldon: 18

Boys Class 3A: Pella: 44, North Polk and Mt. Vernon and Epworth: 25, Central DeWitt: 22

Girls Class 3A: Solon: 43, ADM: 34, Clear Lake and Hampton-Dumont-CAL: 20

Mediapolis is still in the running for the boys’ Class 2A rankings with 23 points, which ranks the Bulldogs in 4^th place. Van Buren County is in 7^th place with 18.5 points. Central Lee finished with 3 points.

For the boys’ Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant is in 12^th place with 11 points. Washington is in 18^th place with 8 points and West Burlington/Notre Dame is in 23^rd place with 5 points.

Stay tuned to KILJ for more results tomorrow and Saturday.

Prep Girls’ Soccer- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has released the final rankings of the season for Class 2A and 3A. Class 3A returned to form by bringing some chaos before the postseason gets underway.

Waverly-Shell Rock still clings on to the top spot in Class 2A with a 14-1 record. Independence experienced their first loss of the season to Assumption 3-0, which dropped them down one spot to 5^th. North Polk was ranked 6^th last week but after falling 1-0 against previously ranked 9^th now ranked 8^th Bondurant-Farrar, the Comets plummeted to 11^th in the rankings. Norwalk jumped up to 10^th in the rankings after taking down fellow ranked team Lewis Central 5-4. The Titans are now ranked 13^th. Burlington was dropped from the top 15 after losing 1-0 to Davenport Central. Glenwood rounds out the top 15 with a 10-5 record.

Comparing the final rankings to the preseason, 13 teams remain ranked in the top 15. North Polk had the biggest drop in the rankings, falling 8 spots from being ranked 3^rd at the start of the season. ADM moved up the rankings 6 spots from 12^th to 6^th, the biggest climb of all the teams in Class 2A.

In Class 3A, Waukee Northwest holds the top spot, but there’s a new #2 team. Ankeny continues their climb back up the rankings after defeating the previous #2 team Valley 1-0 last week. The Hawks are now ranked 2^nd with the Tigers falling back to 4^th. Dowling Catholic has lost their last three games and fall two spots in the rankings from 5^th to 7^th. Dubuque Hempstead fell out of the top 15 after losing to #6 Linn-Mar 6-0 last week. Prairie enters the top 15 at the #15 slot with a 10-3 record.

12 of the 15 teams listed in the preseason rankings remain on the list. Two schools kept their same rankings: Ankeny in 2^nd and Valley in 4^th. Ankeny Centennial had the largest fall and the most surprising fall after entering the season as the #1 team. The Jaguars enter the postseason ranked 8^th with an 8-6 record. Johnston had the highest climb entering the season ranked 9^th and ending the regular season ranked 3^rd.