Prep Girls Soccer- The rankings feature another shakeup amongst the top teams in this week’s edition of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s soccer rankings.

Des Moines Christian keeps their top spot in Class 1A as they remain undefeated on the year at 9-0. Davenport Assumption descends to 4^th in the rankings after being ranked 2^nd last week as they lost to Central DeWitt 3-2 earlier this week. Nevada moves up to 2^nd and Van Meter moves up from 6^th to 3^rd. Underwood fell three spots to 6^th after losing to Harlan Community 3-2 this past Tuesday. Harlan went from unranked to 14^th after defeating Underwood being 8-2 on the year. Beckman Catholic rounds out the top 15 and Dubuque Wahlert Catholic has been dropped out of the top 15 after starting the year ranked 12^th due to a 1-8 record on the season.

Class 2A still has Dallas Center-Grimes as the number one team followed by North Scott and Waverly-Shell Rock in 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively. North Polk switched sports with Independence after the Comets lost to Pella 2-0, so the Comets fall from 4^th to 6^th. Pella moves up 7^th to 5^th in the rankings as Spencer falls from 5^th to 8^th. Glenwood and Iowa Falls-Alden both tumbled out of the top 15 and they were replaced by Western Dubuque in 14^th and Central DeWitt in 15^th.

Waukee Northwest and Valley remain atop the rankings in Class 3A, but Linn-Mar slid down from their #3 spot to 7^th after losing to Pleasant Valley 1-0. The win for the Spartans catapulted them from 9^th to 6^th in the rankings. Waukee tumbled from 8^th to 10^th in the rankings with a 6-4 record. Bettendorf ascended the rankings from 12^th to 9^th after beating Waukee 2-0. Lastly, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln fell out of the top 15 with Mason City jumping in to take the #14 spot with their only loss on the season coming against a 9^th ranked Denver team in Class 1A 4-3.

High School Track and Field

The boys and girls teams of WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, New London, and Danville will be competing at the Ekstrand Relays tonight.

The Central Lee boys team will compete at the Ekstrand Relays today while the girls team participates in the Arrow Relays tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant girls and boys teams will compete at the Tulip Time Relays today.

Competing at the Drake Relays today will be Isaac Jerrel for Mt. Pleasant in the shot put, Cam Buffington of Winfield-Mt. Union and Thomas Eshman of Central Lee in the long jump, Kade Benjamin in the high jump for New London, and AJ Bonnesen of Danville in the 3200 meter run.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will host Keokuk tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will travel to face off against Keokuk today.

The WACO boys team will look to get back in the win column tomorrow, April 28th, against Columbus at home.

The Central Lee boys team will take on Centerville tonight at home.

The Central Lee girls team will look to get back in the win column today against Centerville at home.

High School Golf

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys team competed at the West Liberty Invitational yesterday and finished in 9th place out of 12 teams. The top golfer for the Wolves was Carter Loyd who shot an 83.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will be competing in the Moravia Invite tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will host their Invitational tomorrow.

The New London boys team will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union tomorrow.

The Central Lee girls and boys teams will take on Danville tonight.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will travel to Fairfield tonight.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will take on Fairfield at home today.

College Signings

Jordan Crooks signed her letter of intention to join the Dance Team at Central College as she will be majoring in Elementary Education. The Dutch has been making history this last year as the Dance Team won the National Championship in Division III Pom and took 4th place in Division III Jazz. Central also won conference titles in the Jazz Division, their second year in a row, and the Pom Division. Crooks linked Central College’s atmosphere for the reason she picked Pella,

“I’m really excited to attend Central because they’re a close-knit community and just the fact that I know that I’m going to know everybody there because the school is so small.”

Emma Nye, the defensive specialist with a knack for serving for New London, will be taking her volleyball talents to John Wood Community College in the fall. In her four years at New London, Nye racked up 1,534 digs defensively and served up 170 aces. In Nye’s four years, the Tigers tallied 105 wins with one trip to the state tournament. Nye joins the Trail Blazers who finished last season with an 11-19 record and a 1-3 conference record.

The main attacker for New London, Natalie Burden, signed her letter of intent to continue playing volleyball at the collegiate level at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. In her four years at New London, Burden totaled 921 kills with 127 aces. On the defensive side of things, she added 55 blocks throughout her high school career. Burden collected 448 kills and 37 aces in her senior season as she led New London to a 28-10 record and an appearance to the Regional Championship. She will be joining a Chargers squad that finished last season with a 25-18 overall record and an undefeated 8-0 record in conference play.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The Tiger softball team won both of their games against Clarke University yesterday. In game one, the Tigers offense scored at least one run an inning after the third inning to win 9-6. Julia Hill smacked a solo home run in the 7th inning and Alexis Davis tallied two RBIs off a triple and single. Aspyn Harrison and Abigail Thompson also tallied two RBIs. In game two, Harrison pitched a quality game allowing only two earned runs and striking out four in 7 innings of work as the Tigers came out on top 8-3. Tegan Burbridge brought home two runs with Krieger, Harrison, and Jevyak each knocking home a run. The Tigers regular season comes to end today in a home doubleheader. KILJ will be on the call for game one at 1 pm with the pregame show at 12:45 pm.

The Tiger baseball team ended their regular season with a thunderous win over Hannibal-Lagrange University 15-5. The big inning for the Tigers was a 9-run 5th inning that saw the Tigers register only one extra base hit: a Derek Marrufo double that scored two runs. Carlos Vicente, Sucre Guzman, Julian Figueroa, Sage Bonner, and Holvin Catala all registered 2 RBIs with Froymer Ortega and Philip Guerrero each tallied one RBI. Jackson Van Roekel picked up the win on the mound. The Tigers earned the 4th seed in the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) tournament and they will be facing off against Georgia Gwinnett College on May 6th.

Tiger pitcher Cauy Massner will be joining us on Tiger Nation this morning at 9 am.

The men and women golf teams’ next competition will be at the CAC tournament on May 1st.

KeRon Blackwell and the men’s 1600 sprint medley team of Jakim Brock, Jabez Rivers, Judah Rivers, and Daron Jackson will compete at the Drake Relays on April 28th.

This Day in Sports History

1953 – Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins term “Pencil neck geek.”

1961 – NFL officially recognizes the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

1983 – Nolan Ryan becomes the strikeout king (3,509), passing Walter Johnson.

Mt. Pleasant- Central College will be adding a new member to their talented Dance Team this fall as Jordan Crooks has signed on to join the Dutch and major in Elementary Education.

The Panthers finished in 8^th place in Class X Pom at the High School State Team Championship and 7^th in Class IV Jazz for the 2022-23 season. Crooks has been in dance since a young age, but she was uncertain what her future path looked like until recently,

“I really didn’t make that decision until, I would say, this year. I have always loved to dance; I’ve danced ever since I was three. So, as I was trying to figure my life out, I figured out I wanted to dance.”

Crooks believes the Panther Dance Team helped her out immensely to make this move to the collegiate level. She linked Central College’s atmosphere for the reason she picked Pella,

“I’m really excited to attend Central because they’re a close-knit community and just the fact that I know that I’m going to know everybody there because the school is so small.”

The Dutch has been making history this last year as the Dance Team won the National Championship in Division III Pom and took 4^th place in Division III Jazz. Central also won conference titles in the Jazz Division, their second year in a row, and the Pom Division.