Drake Relays- The Drake Relays officially get underway tomorrow, but the high school events won’t begin until Thursday with the 3200 and the field events. Here’s a look at some of the local athletes competing in Des Moines this year.

Mt. Pleasant will be competing in the girls 4×100 meter relay. Will Davidson will be competing in three events with the 100 meter dash, the 110 meter hurdles, and the 400 meter hurdles. Davidson has hit the Blue Oval Standards in the 110 meter hurdles with a best time of 14.67 seconds and the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54.67 seconds. The 4×100 relay team will also be competing for the Panthers. Lastly, Isaac Jerrel will toss the shot put on Thursday. Jerrel’s best heave is 52 feet and 1 inch. The Blue Oval Standard is 54 feet.

Winfield-Mt. Union will have two Wolves competing with Gabriel Hemsworth running in the 400 meter hurdles and Cam Buffington leaping into the long jump. Hemsworth’s personal best is 54.40 seconds and Buffington’s best jump is 22 feet and 2.25 inches.

Boden Pickle will be participating in the 100 meter dash and Kade Benjamin will look to fly in the high jump for New London. Both have cleared the Blue Oval Standards this year.

Central Lee and Danville will each have one participant. Thomas Eschman will compete in the long jump for the Hawks. His best leap is 22 feet and 0.75 inches. For the Bears, AJ Bonnesen will show off his endurance in the 3200 meter run. Bonnesen’s best run beats the Blue Oval Standard by almost four seconds.

The field events will start with the discus at 2:30 pm on Thursday. For a full list of the schedule, click on this link: Drake Relays Schedule. For a full list of the competitors, click on this link: Drake Relays Competitors.

State Track and Field- The joint state qualifying sites for track and field were released on April 10^th, but now the assignments have been released.

WACO will be one of ten host sites for the qualifying meet for Class 1A. Danville, New London, and Winfield-Mt. Union will be a part of the 14-team crowd at WACO.

In Class 2A, Tipton will host 12 teams in their qualifying meet. Central Lee and Mediapolis will make the trip and one of the top discus throwers in the state, Spencer Kessel, will be at the meet with Louisa-Muscatine.

Mt. Pleasant will host their qualifying meet with conference foes Fairfield, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and Washington also making the trip. Clear Creek-Amana, Solon, and West Burlington/Notre Dame will round out the meet.

The state qualifying meet is scheduled to run on May 11^th if the weather permits.

High School Track and Field

The Mt. Pleasant girls and boys teams will travel to compete in the Keokuk Relays today.

The Central Lee boys and girls teams will be competing at the Keokuk Relays tonight.

The boys and girls teams of WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to Sigourney to compete in a meet today.

The boys and girls teams of Danville and New London will compete in the Chris Selby Invitational hosted by New London tonight.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant boys team lost to Washington last night 5-1. Jackson Newman scored the lone goal for the Panthers off an assist by Noah Lange. The Panthers will host Keokuk on April 27th.

The Mt. Pleasant girls team had a streak of 7 games in a row going to overtime against Washington snapped last night on senior night as the Panthers won 3-0. The lone senior being honored was Elly Manning and she put two goals in the back of the net. Manning talked about how that felt after the game,

“It’s so nice I mean, obviously, I just wanted us to win. I told them before the game I don’t really care personally I just said for my senior night, let’s not go into overtime, let’s get it done, 80 minutes!”

The Panthers will travel to face off against Keokuk on April 27th and Coach Stribe discussed what he’s hoping to see his from his team down the stretch,

“The last couple of games, the Burlington game the first 40 minutes, Fort Madison I think the first 60 minutes, I thought we played really really good soccer and we just kind of had that mental lapse and that’s all it takes. One minute and it’s over. Just so proud of this group to be able to see them play the full 80 minutes, get the three goals, keep the clean sheet, do all the things we know we can do. It’s definitely going to be a big confidence builder for this group and hopefully we can keep building on this.”

The WACO boys team fell to Central Lee last night 5-1. Dante Merschman had a hat trick for the Hawks. The Warriors will look to get back in the win column on April 28th against Columbus at home. The Hawks will take on Centerville on April 27th at home.

The Central Lee girls team will compete against Fort Madison tonight.

High School Golf

Winfield-Mt. Union faced off against Highland last night and the boys team came out on top 208-196. The top golfer for the Wolves was Carter Loyd with a 42 on the day. The girls team fell 235-218 to Highland with Afton Wilkerson leading the way for the Wolves. The boys team will compete in the West Liberty Invitational tomorrow and the girls team will face off against New London on April 28th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team traveled to Fort Madison yesterday and Washington finished in 1st place as a team with Roman Roth leading the way with a score of 38. Nate Dismang led the way with a 43 and Nick Matheny followed right behind with a 44 as the Panthers finished in 3rd. The Panthers will compete at the Oskaloosa Invite today.

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 on April 27th.

High School Tennis

The Mt. Pleasant girls team lost to Fort Madison yesterday 6-3. Bethany Drury and Audrey Richmond picked up all the wins for the Panthers as they won their singles matches and combined to win their doubles match 8 to 1. The Panthers will travel to Fairfield on April 27th.

The Mt. Pleasant boys team continue to stay undefeated on the year as the Panthers shut down Fort Madison 9-0 yesterday. Tim Cam shutout his opponent in both sets with Phoenix Watson, Elliot Cook, and Jake Ensmiger shutting out their opponent in one set. The Panthers will host Fairfield on April 27th.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The Tiger softball team’s next game will be a doubleheader against Viterbo University today on the road. Alexis Davis was named Continental Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week. Davis went 7 for 8 in their doubleheader against Waldorf, which included a grand slam in the first game as she concluded the weekend with 5 RBIs.

The Tiger baseball team will take on Missouri Baptist University today.

The men’s golf team’s next competition will be at the Continental Athletic Conference championships on May 1st. The women’s team will compete in day two of the Mount Mercy Invitational today.

The outdoor track and field teams will compete at the Drake Relays tomorrow, April 26th.

This Day in Sports History

1950 – Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics).

1981 – Seattle Mariners MLB manager Maury Wills is suspended for 2 games after ordering Kingdome grounds crew to enlarge batter’s boxes by one foot.

1989 – Penguin Mario Lemuix tied NHL playoff record of 4 goals in 1st period.

Iowa Wesleyan- The Tiger softball team has been putting up runs on the board as they have averaged nearly 7 runs per game in their last five contests. A big reason for that has been the bat of Alexis Davis as she has been named Continental Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week. This honor only includes her last two games, but Davis has a 5-game hitting streak going and that deserves attention as well.

Davis earned the honor for her efforts in the Tigers doubleheader against Waldorf University last weekend. Davis went 7 for 8 over the two games, which included a grand slam in the first game as she concluded the weekend with 5 RBIs. The ball has simply looked like a grapefruit for Davis at the plate lately.

She went 11 for 18 at the plate with two home runs and two doubles while knocking in seven runs and scoring three runs herself in the past five games. That is a batting average of 0.611 and a slugging percentage of 1.056 meaning that she is averaging over one base per at bat during this five-game stretch. Simply put, Alexis Davis is a very good hitter.

Davis is currently batting 0.347 on the season with two home runs, seven doubles, two triples, and 17 RBIs this season. The Tigers are undefeated in conference play at 4-0 and 13-22 overall on the season. Their next game is road doubleheader tomorrow, April 25^th, against Viterbo University with game one at 12 pm.