High School Girls’ Tennis
In the inaugural season of Iowa girls’ high school fall tennis, Mt. Pleasant hosted Fort Madison last night but fell in a tough match to the Bloodhounds 5-4. The Panthers top four singles competitors won their match in Lila Cook (8-2), Mia Gray (8-6), Katana Phangchanthong (8-5), and Bella Dodds, who came back from a 7 to 3 deficit to win 9-7. The Panthers are back at home on Monday, August 11th, to face off against Burlington Notre Dame.
Fairfield shutout Centerville 9-0 in their season opener. The Trojans will travel to Keokuk on Monday.
High School Baseball
The Iowa Baseball Coaches Association released the 2025 All-State teams for the four classes and five local players found their way onto the list, including a First Team nod.
The Southeast Iowa Super Conference had some terrific outfielders as Class 1A had Burlington Notre Dame’s Landry Haberichter and Memphis Watson of New London find a spot on the Third Team.
Haberichter batted 0.437 for the season and led the team with a 0.584 on-base percentage, accruing 21 RBIs for the year. Watson swatted a slash line of 0.500/0.590/0.671 to go along with his 20 RBIs, six doubles, and four triples. He also broke the single-season school record for stolen bases with 42 bags.
In Class 2A, Mediapolis put two on the All-State team in First Team utility player Lance Ludens and Third Team outfielder Kyler Crow. Ludens was a beast on the mound with 11 wins and a 1.09 ERA in nearly 70 innings of work. He supplemented that with a team-leading 0.526 batting average, while knocking in 25 runs. Crow slugged 0.663 for the season with two home runs, four triples, and seven doubles for 30 RBIs.
Lastly, Fairfield’s Aiden Westercamp took home Third Team outfielder in Class 3A. The Trojan led an SEC conference championship team with 40 RBIs and a 0.955 fielding percentage.
WACO Fall Season Preview
The WACO football team is looking for their fifth straight winning season after making it to the second round of the postseason a year ago. The team is slated to have 24 upperclassmen, yet they will be lacking experience at the skill positions after graduating their starting quarterback, running back, and wide receivers from a year ago. Despite that lack of game experience, head coach Chad Edeker has been enjoying the back to basics mentality,
“It probably actually helps me. My coaches always laugh at me saying that I put too much in, you know, and because we’re so young and because we’re learning this, we’re gonna have to be a lot more, and I don’t wanna say simple, but a lot more basic to start with and get the basics down first. So, it really helps me slow down and just work on the things that we want… You know anybody that’s played me and they scout us, they know we have four or five base plays that we’re going to run the majority of the time and we got to be good at those and we’ll use this time to get good at our base plays.”
The WACO volleyball team will be looking to bounce back from their first losing season since 2017 in a North division that has proven to be competitive and loaded with young talent. The Warriors themselves counted on a lineup of four main sophomore attackers and two-setter system with Morgan Meyer and Kinsey Hildebrand, who are both slated to return for the upcoming season. First year head coach Addison Fort will have a lot of experience returning to the roster.
The boys’ cross country team will be senior led with Jude Dykstra leading the pack after claiming 19th at state last season. The girls’ team will be led by their own Dykstra in Josie. She turned in a season-best time of 20 minutes and 8 seconds. Both Warrior teams will be eyeing to improve their depth heading into the upcoming fall season.
Local Athletic Camps
At Danville High School, the Soukup Basketball camp for all boys and girls entering 3rd through 8th grades starts today and runs through the 10th.
Mt. Pleasant’s high school cross country camp at the Oakland Mills Cabins will get underway on Monday, August 11th.
College Football
Iowa State’s offense is expected to be one of the nation’s best with their top two running backs put on the Doak Walker Award watch list and now Rocco Becht has been placed on the Davey O’Brien Award watch list presented to the nation’s best college quarterback. Becht ranked 11th nationally with 3,505 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns, adding eight rushing touchdowns. The third-year signal caller has produced 18 wins, including five victories where the Cyclones have trailed in the 4th quarter. He is also on the Maxwell Award watch list.
Prospect League
The Cape Catfish captured their second Prospect League Championship in the past six seasons after defeating the Lafayette Aviators last night 6-2. Tank Sims provided a double and led the team with three RBIs.
This Day in Sports History
1950 – Florence Chadwick swims the English Channel in a record time of 13 hours and 23 minutes.
1976 – The Chicago White Sox took the field wearing shorts instead of traditional baseball pants during the first game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals. Despite winning the game 5–2, the shorts were such a disaster the White Sox dressed in pants for the 2nd game, which they lost 7–1.
1992 – The original US ‘Dream Team’ wins the basketball gold at the Barcelona Olympics 117-85 over Croatia; features superstars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing.