New London- 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. In their state quarterfinal matchup, Nye had 12 digs and 1 ace.

Nye’s senior season was her best defensively with 667 digs and her second best from the serving line with 65 aces. Her junior year was her best year serving the ball with 67 aces. She helped navigate New London to a 28-win season and a trip to the Regional Championship game.

Nye joins the Trail Blazers who finished last season with an 11-19 record and a 1-3 conference record.

New London- 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 has totaled 921 kills with 127 aces. On the defensive side of things, she added 55 blocks throughout her high school career. Burden has helped guide the Tigers to two Regional Championship games and a state tournament appearance.

Burden collected 448 kills and 37 aces in her senior season as 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.

Fort Madison- It was only two weeks ago that the Fort Madison Community School District Board had voted by a slim majority to end their athletic share agreements with Holy Trinity Catholic, Central Lee Community School District, and Burlington School District. Now, a unanimous vote has approved 13 new shared athletic agreements. However, there are changes to the agreement that still needs Holy Trinity Catholic’s approval.

The Crusaders would pay Fort Madison a lump sum of $20,000, compared to the previous $10,000, for the 10 shared programs of girls’ and boys’ track, soccer, wrestling, tennis, girls’ cross country, and baseball. The $20,000 figure was generated by an analysis of the fees that go into keeping the programs running. The generated percentage was 7.6% and $20,000 was considered more representative of that percentage than the previous $10,000.

The deal will have to be renewed annually. If both sides agree to split, then negotiations to come back together can happen at any time in the future. If one school decides to split while the other disagrees with the split, then the school that disengages cannot negotiate to reunite for a minimum of five years.

Holy Trinity Catholic will vote on the payment tomorrow night, April 27^th.

High School Track and Field

The Mt. Pleasant and Central Lee boys and girls teams competed at the Keokuk Coed Meet yesterday and the Panthers boys and girls teams won the meet. For the girls, Alexis Wagner won the 800 meter run with a time of 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Rellana Van Deuren finished 1st in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1 minute and 14 seconds. The 4×400 meter relay team of Kynlee White, Mica Carter, Abby Carthey, and Elsie Lange finished with a time of 4 minutes and 27 seconds to win the event. Olivia McCormick, Tristan Shull, Carter, and Courtney Raub won the 800 sprint medley and McCormick joined Lange, Natalie Freeman, and Jayden Housh to win the distance medley. The 4×100 meter shuttle hurdle team of Allie Westercamp, Meadow Carter, Van Dueren, and White grabbed 1st place. Ava English won the shot put with a heave of 33 feet 10.5 inches. The Panthers finished with 189 points.

Central Lee grabbed 25 points and took 6th place. Kamryn Cox finished in 3rd place in the 400 meter hurdles and Kylie Fortune took 3rd place in the high jump.

The boys team for the Panthers finished with 173 points as Will Davidson won three of his events: the 100 meter dash (11.07 seconds), the 110 meter hurdles (15.10 seconds), and the 400 meter hurdles (55.38 seconds). Ben Carthey finished in 1st place in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 53 seconds and took 1st in the 3200 meter run. The 4×400 meter relay team of Gabe Feldmann, Isaac Rynders, Tyler Johnson, and Mason Sloat won with a time of 3 minutes and 44 seconds. J.C. Sitar, Payson Coleman, Carthey, and Jacob Richtman won the distance medley. Avin Troung is now 9th in school history and 9th in Class 3A after jumping 6 feet 3 inches in the high jump to win the event. Lastly, Isaac Jerrel won the shot put with a toss of 51 feet 10 inches.

Central Lee took 5th place with Thomas Eschman claiming the best finish for the Hawks with a 1st place finish in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 4.5 inches. Additionally, Grant Myhre took 2nd place in the 400 meter dash.

The boys and girls teams of WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, New London, and Danville will be competing at the Ekstrand Relays tomorrow, April 27th.

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

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant boys team will host Keokuk tomorrow, April 27th.

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

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

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

The Central Lee girls team fell to Fort Madison 3-0. The Hawks will look to get back in the win column tomorrow against Centerville at home.

High School Golf

Winfield-Mt. Union will compete in the West Liberty Invitational today and the girls team will face off against New London on April 28th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team competed in the Oskaloosa Invite yesterday and finished in 12th place out of 15 with a score of 357. Nick Matheny was the top golfer for Mt. Pleasant with an 82 on the day followed by Reece Coffman with an 84. The Panthers will be competing in the Moravia Invite tomorrow.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will host their Invitational on April 28th.

The New London boys team will face off against Winfield-Mt. Union on April 28th.

The Central Lee girls and boys teams will take on Danville tomorrow, April 27th.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will travel to Fairfield tomorrow, April 27th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team hosted Keokuk last night and shut out the Chiefs 9-0. Tim Cam shut out his opponent 10-0. Lou Schimmelpfennig, Phoenix Watson, and Elliot Cook allowed their opponent only one set win in their singles matches. Cook and Watson combined to shut out their opponents in their doubles match. The Panthers will take on Fairfield at home tomorrow.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The Tiger softball team dropped both their games to Viterbo University yesterday. In game one, the Tigers fell 6-4 despite the comeback attempt in the late innings. Kara Krieger, Aspyn Harrison, and Kylie Topliff each tallied an RBI. In game two, the V-Hawks poured on 9 runs in the final two innings to win 10-4. Julia Hill clobbered a solo home run with Krieger collecting another RBI, and Ivy Geerdes tallied two RBIs. The Tigers have a road doubleheader today against Clarke University.

The Tiger baseball team lost both games of their doubleheader to Missouri Baptist University yesterday. The Tigers had a 3 to 0 lead after the 2nd inning thanks to a three-run homer by Holvin Catala but the Spartans came back to win 5-3. In game two, the Tigers managed only five hits as they fell 4-1. Their regular season ends today on the road against Hannibal-LaGrange University.

The Tiger baseball team earned the 4th seed in the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) tournament and they will be facing off against Georgia Gwinnett College on May 6th.

The women’s golf team competed at the Mount Mercy Invitational yesterday and finished in 5th place. Aubrey Duncan led the way for the Tigers as she finished 24 over to claim 7th individually. Natalie Ames was the next Tiger in 18th place. The Tigers’ 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

1931 – Lou Gehrig hits a Home Run but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake costs him AL home run crown; he and Babe Ruth tie for the season.

1989 – Mike Tyson gets a speeding ticket for drag racing his Lamborghini in Albany, New York.

2018 – NFL Draft: Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is the first pick by Cleveland Browns; 4 quarterbacks are taken in the top 10 for first time in history.

Iowa Wesleyan- The Tiger baseball team will have an opportunity to win the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) tournament this season as they received the 4^th and final bid. Georgia Gwinnett College grabbed the 1^st seed as the Grizzlies are looking to defend their title and come into the tournament as the #4 team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Fisher College enters as the 2^nd seed and Florida National University is the 3^rd seed.

Iowa Wesleyan will enter the tournament 4-5 in CAC contests this season with two of their wins coming against Fisher College by a combined score of 25 to 14. However, Georgia Gwinnett College has throttled the Tigers twice this season by a combined score of 31 to 4.

Iowa Wesleyan will be leaning on the big bats of Julian Figueroa, David Amaya, and Sage Bonner to come out with the win. Figueroa leads the team in batting average, home runs, and doubles, while Amaya has the team lead in RBIs with 25. Bonner has clobbered three home runs on the year.

The Tigers will face off against the Grizzlies on May 6^th at 1 pm at the Grizzly Baseball Complex in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Fisher and Florida National will play at 5 pm. It will be a double elimination tournament. The last time Iowa Wesleyan won the conference championship was in 2011.