Burlington, IA- The Mt. Pleasant Panthers move to 3-2 on the season and 1-2 in Southeast Conference play after falling to Burlington 2-0 last night on the road.

In a close match from start to finish, the Grayhounds snuck in two goals before halftime and fended off all Panther attacks for the rest of the game. Burlington improves to 3-2 on the season with all of their wins coming in conference play.

Burlington and Fort Madison sit atop the conference standings with Mt. Pleasant taking the 4th position. The Panthers will host Fairfield on April 17th.

High School Track and Field

Danville won the Winfield girls invite last night with 156 points with Winfield-Mt. Union took 4th place and WACO finished in 6th place. The best finishers for Danville were Alaina Gourley winning the 400 meter dash and the 800 meter run. Alexis Dietsch finished in 1st in the 400 meter hurdles. Kamryn Sherwood won the 3,000 meter run. Kenna Furnald claimed the long jump with a leap of 15 feet and 9 inches. The Bears also won the 4×400 and 4×800 meter relay.

Winfield-Mt. Union won the 4×100 meter shuttle hurdle relay and Keetyn Townsley took the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17 seconds. WACO had two second place finishers in Elyssa Graber in the 1500 meter run and Zoey Dennler in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 14 seconds.

The New London girls team competed at the Horton Relays yesterday and finished in 8th place. The top finisher for the Tigers was Brooklyn Curry in the 400 meter hurdles as she took 4th place with a time of 1 minute and 25 seconds. The Tigers took 2nd place in the 1600 medley relay.

The Denny White relays took place yesterday with Mediapolis taking home the title for Class B and Clear Creek Amana taking it for Class A. For the Mt. Pleasant girls team, Andi Scott won the 100 meter and 200 meter dash. Elise Lange won the 400 meter dash by more than three seconds. The 4×200 meter relay team of Courtney Raub, Tristian Shull, Bailey Jalas, and Scott took 1st place. The team of Olivia McCormick, Alex Scott, Meadow Carter, and Abby Carthey finished in 1st place for the distance medley. Josie Gilmore won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and 1 inch. Lastly, Savannah Slobodnik won the discus with a toss of 108 feet and 2 inches.

For the Mt. Pleasant boys team, Will Davidson won the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.18 seconds. Avin Truong took the long jump with a leap of 20 feet 11 inches. With a toss of 51 feet and 5 inches, Isaac Jerrel won the shot put. The Panthers would finish in 4th place with 113 points.

WACO finished with 82 points on the meet with Clayton Miller getting 10 points for his 1st place finish in the 200 meter dash. Simeon Reichenbach showed off his speed in the 110 meter hurdles winning with a time of 15.69 seconds.

Winfield-Mt. Union grabbed 61 points with Cam Buffington grabbing 1st place in the 100 meter dash and the long jump with a jump of 21 feet and 4 inches. Gabriel Hemsworth finished in 1st place in the 400 meter hurdles.

The top finisher for Danville was AJ Bonnesen in the 3200 meter run with a time of 9 minutes and 44 seconds. For New London, Kade Benjamin grabbed the win in the high jump with a new season best of 6 feet and 7 inches. Central Lee’s best finisher for the girls was Karlie Pohren in the 200 meter dash as she took 3rd place and the best finisher for the boys was Grant Myhre who finished in 3rd place in the 400 meter dash and Thomas Eschman who took 3rd place in the long jump.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant boys team took down a 3-1 Burlington team yesterday in a thrilling 1 to 0 final. After no score in the first half, the Panthers would execute an early corner kick with Kolbein Ostby getting the walk-in goal. Rudy Ruiz Motta and the defense would do the rest, foiling the Grayhounds corner kick opportunities with Motta capturing 8 saves. Coach Russo talked about the defensive effort after the game. The Panthers will travel to take on Fairfield on April 17th.

The WACO boys team fell to Mediapolis last night 1-0. The Warriors will travel to take on Burlington Notre Dame on April 18th.

The Central Lee girls team will look to get back in the win column tonight against West Branch.

The Central Lee boys team notched their first win of the season against Highland last night 4-0. Colton Taft led the Hawks attack with 2 goals on the night. Their next game will be April 18th against Hillcrest Academy.

High School Golf

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys team was defeated by Wapello last night 182-178. Carter Loyd was the top golfer between the two teams as he shot a 39 on the day. Andrew Brown was next for the Wolves with a 45 on the day. The girls team for Wapello did not have enough players, but the top golfer for Winfield-Mt. Union was Anna Anderson with a 54 for the course. Lily Freeman was right behind her as she shot a 55 for the afternoon. The boys team will compete in the Wildcat Invitational on April 18th and the girls team will compete at the Wapello Invite on April 19th.

The New London boys and girls will compete in the English Valleys Invitational today.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team hosted their SEC meet last night and Washington finished with the best score of 145 with Mt. Pleasant coming in 3rd. Nick Matheney shot the best for the Panthers with a 37 followed by Nate Dismang with a 38. Roman Roth for Washington performed the best as he shot a 34 on the day keeping the overall standings the same with Washington in the lead followed by Fairfield, then Mt. Pleasant. Washington will host the next meet on April 17th.

The Central Lee boys team will compete in the Lee County Invite tonight.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls team fell to Burlington last night 8-1. Bethany Drury picked up her second win of the season in singles in a close 8-6 set. Drury and Audrey Richmond were also in a tight doubles match that ended in a 7-3 tiebreaker in favor of the Grayhounds. Coach Peterson talked about how her young team is gaining experience. The Panthers will face off against Burlington Notre Dame on April 17th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team moved to 5-0 on the season after taking down Burlington 8-1 on the road last night. Phoenix Watson and Gavin Ross both had a shutout set. The Panthers will host Maharishi on April 18th.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

Jordan Ashton will be taking over as head men’s basketball coach for William Woods University on April 28th. Ashton led the Tigers to a 27-3 record that included a 20-game winning streak and an 11-0 home record, both school records. The Tigers also climbed as high as #23 in the NAIA rankings, won the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC), and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, all firsts since the 2011 season. Ashton was also named CAC Coach of the Year. He will be taking over an Owls squad that went 15-13 last season.

The Tiger softball team split their doubleheader with Clarke University yesterday. Despite having a 6 to 1 lead in the 7th inning the Tigers would lose 7-6 in game one. Karoline Stratton and Alexis Davis would both double home two runs with Abigail Thompson and Kara Krieger singling home a run in the losing effort. In game two, a Julia Hill 3-run home run would give the Tigers a 7 to 2 lead at the end of the third inning and the Tigers would hold on to win 9-4. Jordan Morthland picked up the win. The Tigers have two games today for a CAC Classic with game one at 1 pm and game two at 5 pm. KILJ will be on the call for the 5 pm game with pregame at 4:45 pm.

The Tiger baseball team will be back in action on April 18th against Culver-Stockton College with game one at 3 pm.

The outdoor track and field teams are competing at the Cornell Invitational on April 15th.

This Day in Sports History

1910 – US President William Howard Taft begins the tradition of throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day of baseball season.

1969 – First regular-season MLB game played outside the United States; Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Parc Jarry, Montreal.

1996 – Detroit Red Wings win a then-NHL record 62 games.

Prep Girls’ Soccer- The third edition of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union soccer rankings has been released and Class 3A has a new #1, #2, and #3 with a big shakeup.

Class 1A had the least amount of movement as no teams were dropped out of the top 15 and the only change in rankings was Denver hoping Treynor to be ranked #14 as they start the season with a 3-0 record. Des Moines Christian has allowed only one goal on the year and have the 5^th best goal scorer in Jenna Roberts (10 goals) and Sami Webster who is 1^st in assists with 10 on the season. Davenport Assumption is 1-2 on the season and ranked 2^nd as their two loses come against Class 3A ranked opponents in Muscatine and Bettendorf. The top goal scorer for Class 1A is Eden More for 8^th ranked Van Meter as she has netted 13 goals.

Dallas Center-Grimes remains atop Class 2A despite a 3-2 record. One of those loses came against Dowling Catholic—a top team in Class 3A—2-0. North Scott is 5-0 on the season and ranked 2^nd with North Polk coming into this week’s ranking 3^rd. Xavier has not won a game yet but fell only one spot from 5^th to 6^th. LeMars dropped out of the top 15 after dropping their last two games to Spirit Lake (3-2) and Sergeant Bluff-Luton (2-0). Marion replaces the Bulldogs for the 15^th ranking as the Wolves have won their two games by an average of almost 10 goals.

The city of Ankeny saw their two teams tumble from the top spots after losses to ranked opponents. Ankeny Centennial faced off against then ranked 7^th Dowling Catholic two days ago and fans were treated to a fierce battle that was decided by penalty kicks, the result was a Maroon 3-2 win. The win catapulted Dowling Catholic to the #2 spot in the rankings with the Jaguars falling from 1^st to 3^rd. Ankeny also had their own overtime contest against Johnston that was decided by penalty kicks. The Hawks suffered the same fate as the Dragons walked away with the 1-0 victory. Johnston moved from 9^th to 7^th and the Ankeny fell from 2^nd to 8^th. Waukee Northwest takes over the top spot with a 5-0 record. Iowa City West fell out of the top 15 from their #14 spot after going 1-2 in their first three games. Dubuque Hempstead rounds out the list after being unranked last week. The Mustangs are 5-0 to start the season and has only allowed one goal on the season.

Iowa Wesleyan- Jordan Ashton was a hot commodity for teams looking to fill a head coaching vacancy. The key word being “was” as William Woods University has announced that Ashton will be taking the helm for the Owls on April 28^th.

Ashton’s first season leading Iowa Wesleyan was one for the history books as he directed the Tigers to a 27-3 overall record. This included a 20-game winning streak that included upsetting a then ranked #13 William Penn team 85-81 at Ruble Arena and an 11-0 home record, both school records. Additionally, the Tigers ranked as high as #23 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), it was their first time being ranked since the 2010-11 season. The Tigers also took down #14 Florida College in the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) championship game, 70-66 and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament as the 7^th seed, both instances were the first time since the 2011 season.

Under his direction, Henry Shannon was named 1^st Team All-Conference, Gacoby Jones and Joey Brown IV were honorable mentions, and Brown was the Champion of Character. Lastly, Ashton earned CAC Coach of the Year honors as he added 15 wins from the previous year’s total.

Ashton will be taking over a team that the Tigers defeated 62-57 last season. The Owls finished last year with a 15-13 record.