Iowa Wesleyan- Dr. Sofia Adams will be the 9th head coach of the women’s soccer program. Dr. Adams comes from Mid-Prairie High School, where she was the assistant coach for the boy’s team for the past nine seasons, helping the team earn three substate appearances and a runner-up finish. Adams earned her doctorate in naturopathic medicine and represented Iowa’s Olympic Development Program for eight years. Additionally, she also has experience playing Division I soccer at Western Illinois University. Coach Adams is looking to compete and be in national contention,

“I have always had such respect for Iowa Wesleyan, as I have multiple family members who attended the university over the years.  I am very much looking forward to the upcoming soccer season and continuing the momentum we had last year.”

Coach Adams will be taking over a program that won 8 games last year and finished 5th in conference, their most since the 2011-2012 season. Key returners will be Jacqueline Campos and Baylee Alvarado. Campos finished the year with 3 goals and 1 assist, while Alvarado scored 5 goals and added an assist.

Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association is continuing with their inaugural basketball rankings with their second iteration for the 2022-2023 season. Southeastern Iowa has a couple teams representing in this week’s rankings.

Class 1A has Grand View Christian sitting on top with last year’s state champion, North Linn, ranked 2nd. WACO is continuing their athletic dominance by being ranked 4th with an undefeated record ten games into the season. Marquette Catholic of Bellevue rounds out the top 10.

Class 2A is highlighted by Central Lyon, Aplington-Parkersburg, and Roland-Story ranked in the top three, respectively. West Burlington is inching up the rankings touting an 8-0 record and being ranked 5th. Last year’s state champion Rock Valley is not in the top 10.

Class 3A is also missing last year’s state champion, Dallas Center-Grimes, from the top 10 rankings. Instead, Cedar Rapids Xavier dominates both boys’ and girls’ basketball, being ranked in the top spot here. Bondurant-Farrar and MOC-Floyd Valley round out the top three, respectively. North Polk is ranked 10th.

Lastly, Class 4A is led by Waukee Northwest with a 10-0 record followed by Cedar Rapids Kennedy, also undefeated with an 8-0 record. Waterloo West rounds out the top 10 with Pleasant Valley ranked 9th as one of two teams ranked with 3 losses–the other is Valley in West Des Moines ranked 6th.

Iowa Wesleyan– In Coach Steve Williams’s second run at the helm of Iowa Wesleyan’s Women’s Basketball program, he captured his 275th career victory as head coach of the Tigers. Last Friday, the Tigers handled Crowley’s Ridge College 68-37 thanks to Isabell West’s 18 points and 5 rebounds and Megan Teal’s 14 points from off the bench.

Coach Williamson is an Iowa Wesleyan graduate that stepped right into coaching after graduating in 2000. It took only four years for Williamson to get the head coaching position for the women’s basketball team where he stayed until the 2017-2018 season when he took over at William Penn. During his first run with the Tigers, he went 246-147, won six conference titles, and made the NAIA Tournament five times. Additionally, his teams made the USCAA National Tournament three years, and he was named USCAA National Coach of the Year in 2016. Williamson was also named Conference Coach of the Year three times. He holds the school record for most wins in a season with 27.

After his three-year stint at William Penn where he finished 78-19, brought the Statesmen their first conference regular season crown in 31 years, and won Heart Coach of the year twice, Williamson returned to Iowa Wesleyan and immediately brought the team back to prominence. Under his leadership, the Tigers won the Continental Athletic Conference Championship after going 16-5 during the regular season. They would reach the NAIA tournament and finish the season 19-6. Currently, the Tigers are 11-5 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. Their next game is Friday, January 13th, against Baptist Bible College. Their next home game is January 20th against Haskell Indian Nations University.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will be back in action today, January 9th, against Albia at home. The girls team will be traveling to play Holy Trinity Catholic tonight with KILJ on the call with pregame at 5:45 pm.

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys team defeated Holy Trinity Catholic 71-55 over the weekend as Cam Buffington led the Wolves with a double-double scoring 38 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Wolves will face off against Mediapolis on the road tonight with the girls scheduled to play at 6 pm and the boys to follow. The girls’ game will feature two top 15 teams.

The New London Tigers will face off the Warriors at WACO tonight with the girls’ team scheduled to go at 6 pm.

The Danville boys’ team avenged the loss on Friday by defeating Hillcrest Academy 61-51 with Spencer Nelson scoring 28 points and Caiden Gourley putting up 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Bears will travel to play Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow, January 10th, with the girls’ scheduled to play at 6 pm and the boys to follow.

The Central Lee boys’ team fell to Fort Madison 82-57 over the weekend. The Hawks will travel to play Mediapolis tomorrow with the girls’ scheduled to start at 6 pm.

High School Wrestling

Ramzy Davis and Bowen Davis competed at the Gary Curtis Invitational over the weekend. Ramzy notched 3 team points with a win over Calin Duggan of Muscatine. Bowen had an excellent day finishing in 2nd place losing by decision in the Championship match. Bowen is currently 17-7 on the season. The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will compete against Washington Thursday, January 12th, on the road.

The girls team will be wrestling tomorrow at the Pella Tournament at 5:30 pm.

High School Bowling

The Mt. Pleasant boys team finished 15th out of 16 teams at the Rose Bowl. Alec Payne had the best two game total for the Panthers finishing with 370 pins. The girls’ team finished 9th out of 16 teams. Tori Hixson was a top 10 bowler at the meet in total pins finishing with a two game total of 407. Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield next Thursday, January 19th.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The womens’ basketball team moved to 11-5 on the season after defeating Northern New Mexico College 61-53 after outsourcing the Eagles 25 to 7 in the fourth quarter. Kyla Moore led the team in points with 19 and steals with 7. Isabell West tallied a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Tigers will hit the road to play Baptist Bible College on January 13th at 5:30 pm.

The men’s basketball team keeps on winning, extending the streak to 15 games after crushing Northern New Mexico College 82-51. Four members of the Tigers finished in double digits with Allante Pickens leading the team with 19 points, Victor Munoz scored 14 points, and Joey Brown IV and Henry Shannon each put up 10 points. The Tigers will travel to play Baptist Bible College January 13th at 7 pm.

The women’s wrestling team competed at the NWCA Multi-Division National Duals Championship. On day one, The Tigers fell to #5 Providence 33-14, JoAnna Vanderwood, Adaugo Nwachukwu, and Grace Gray picked up victories. The Tigers also lost to #18 Baker with Zoi Smith, Vanderwood, Adaugo, Isabelle Hawley, and Sidney Manos picking up wins. Day two saw the Tigers split their matches falling to #15 Oklahoma City Stars 28-21 and got the best of Ottawa University 30-14. Adaugo, Smith, and Vanderwood all went 2-0 on the day with Sydney Manos and Destiny Carranza each picking up wins by forfeit. Faith Cole and Isabelle Hawley each won by fall against Ottawa. Both wrestling teams will wrestle at Central Methodist University tomorrow.

The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.

This Day in Sports History

1958 – In college basketball, Oscar Robertson (Cin) scores 56, Seton Hall as a team scores 54.

1972 – Led by future Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee Bucks beat LA Lakers, 120-104, ending LA’s consecutive win streak at 33, the longest winning streak in major league sports history.

1985 – Flames set NHL record 264th regular season game without being shut-out.