High School Track and Field

Mt. Pleasant will be hosting the state qualifying meet tomorrow, May 11th.

Central Lee will travel to Tipton to compete in their state qualifying meet tomorrow.

WACO will host the Class 1A District 10 state qualifying meet as Danville, New London, and Winfield-Mt. Union will also be competing at the meet tomorrow.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will travel to take on Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow, May 11th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will take on Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow on the road.

The WACO boys team defeated Wapello 2-1 last night in overtime. The Warriors will travel to play Sigourney tomorrow.

The Central Lee boys team will face off against Hillcrest Academy on May 15th for the first round of the Class 1A substate.

The Central Lee girls team will compete in the Class 1A Region 3 contest against Mid-Prairie on May 17th.

High School Golf

The Mt. Pleasant boys team’s next competition will be today for the 3A sectional meet.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete in the SEC conference tournament today.

The boys teams of New London, Winfield-Mt. Union, Danville, and Holy Trinity Catholic will compete in the 1A sectional meet today.

For the girls teams, New London will host the Regional on May 12th with Winfield-Mt. Union also in competition.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will take on Marion in their Substate meet on May 12th.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete at their singles and doubles regional assignments today.

College Signings

McKenzie Vradenburg of WACO will continue running at the collegiate level after signing her letter of intention to attend Truman State University and join the Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field team. Vradenburg will also be majoring in Criminal Justice. She talked about all of the factors that went into her decision,

“I actually like their campus and I like how it wasn’t too far from home. I was looking for something that was far enough where I felt like I can’t just go back every weekend, but also close enough that if I want to come and visit I can. They have an indoor and outdoor track, which I think I’ll be able to use that a lot with my training and everything and I just met the team and I just really bonded with them and I really enjoyed the atmosphere the team was giving me.”

Vradenburg has left her mark in the history book of WACO as she touts a school record in the 200 meter dash with a time of 28.55 seconds, which she set this year beating her previous mark of 29.70 seconds from a year ago. She is a conference champion in several events, and she qualified for state last season as she competed in two events. Vradenburg finished 23rd in the 4×100 meter relay and 22nd in the 4×200 meter relay at the state tournament last season. Vradenburg was beyond happy when talking about taking her next step,

“I’m super excited for college and I feel like it’s just going to be great for me. I’m so excited to go out and meet new people. I love doing new things, and being in a new school, new atmosphere, meeting new friends. I think that’s going to be really great for me.”

The Bulldogs recently competed in their conference meet and brought home Conference Champions and National qualifiers.

Southeast Iowa Playbook

AJ Bonnesen of Danville will be joining us tonight at 6 pm.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The Tigers outdoor track and field teams will compete at the North Star Athletic Association Championships taking place tomorrow, May 11th.

This Day in Sports History

1870 – Jem Mace defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hour and 17 minutes, and neither is struck by a punch.

1970 – Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Bobby Orr scores famous overtime winner as Boston beats St. Louis Blues, 4-3 for 4-0 series sweep; it’s the Bruins first title since 1941.

2018 – Rafael Nadal breaks John McEnroe’s record for successive set wins on a single surface (49 on carpet) with 6-3, 6-4 win over Diego Schwartzman at the Madrid Open (clay).

Iowa- The Hawkeyes and Cyclones will have national eyes on them for some time, but not for the reason the University or the student-athletes would like. 26 athletes for the University of Iowa spanning across five sports and one-full time employee for the athletic department are suspects in a violation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules on sports betting. Iowa State stated that around 15 athletes across three sports are also suspected of engaging in sports betting.

The Department of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) released this statement,

“The DCI is involved in an ongoing investigation concerning sports wagering involving individuals at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. At this time, no criminal charges have been filed and no further information will be released. The DCI will work cooperatively with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission concerning any potential regulatory violations.”

The NCAA is no stranger to controversy when it comes to its rules of its enforcement of the rules. One of the biggest criticisms leveled against the NCAA was written nearly a century ago, but the points still apply. The 1929 Carnegie Report was a scathing report about the professionalism of college athletics and how the move towards commercialism and abandonment of education were causing the derailment of collegiate athletics. Now, it’s important to note that the “evils” plaguing the NCAA had been plaguing collegiate athletics since its inception as sport clubs when rowing teams would go compete for a prize then go and drink.

However, compliance offices have only grown since then to ensure that rules are followed due to the complexity of the NCAA rulebook; yet nothing seems to have changed. The stats from the 2021-22 school year, there were 2,682 level III violation enforcement cases resolved. A compliance office would not be doing its job well if it did not turn in a litany of violations for the year.

The issue that lies with this case is that the NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches, and staff from betting on amateur, collegiate, and professional sports in which the NCAA conducts a championship. Even if the state allows sports gambling, these individuals may not participate. The inclusion of professional sports seems confusing in this matter because now the NCAA states that any of these individuals cannot gamble on an NBA game, even if the state allows. Yet, their fellow students can indulge.

This argument circles back to the same testimonies being made when student-athletes were not allowed to be paid. Now, with the name, image, likeness (NIL) deal in effect compliance offices are floundering. So, the issue remains does the fault lie on the student-athletes violating the rules or is the violation on the NCAA for making convoluted rules that leave players and staff vulnerable to be left in this cycle of violating their tortuous code.

Prep Boys’ Soccer- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the postseason brackets for soccer and here’s the matchups for some of our local schools.

In Class 1A Substate 5, West Liberty earned a bye as the #1 seed along with the #2 seed Mediapolis. Danville and WACO will square off against one another with the winner taking on West Liberty.

Danville won their matchup earlier this season in a 3-2 finale that needed penalty kicks to decide. Colton Leichty had 15 saves for the Warriors with Colin Pealer scoring two goals for the Bears.

Mediapolis will face off against the winner between Columbus and Wapello.

Central Lee is the #4 seed in the Class 1A Substate 6 and they will take on Hillcrest Academy at Central Lee. The winner will have to go against the #1 seed Pella Christian.

Class 2A Substate 5 will see Mt. Pleasant travel to take on Solon with the winner going against the top seed Davenport Assumption. Keokuk will battle against Burlington Notre Dame with the winner taking on Central DeWitt in round two.

The Panthers and Nikes will battle on May 11^th to end the Panthers regular season.

Fort Madison and Burlington will tango in Substate 4 Class 3A with Fairfield crossing paths with Clear Creek-Amana. In Substate 8, Washington will face off against Carlisle.

Round one will get underway on May 15^th for Class 1A and 2A. Class 3A and 4A will have to wait until May 16^th for their first-round matchups. The second round will take place on May 22^nd and the final substate games will be on May 24^th. State soccer will begin on May 30^th and run through June 3^rd.

For a full list of the brackets visit: IHSAA Postseason Brackets