High School Wrestling
Day one of the 2026 Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s state tournament is in the books and five of our 17 local wrestlers sit one match away from a chance at the state championship. Here’s some of the highlights from yesterday’s action.
In Class 1A, Wapello will have a pair of wrestlers competing in the semifinals, as #2 Kenadee Helscher handled business in both of her matches for the 105-pound weight class, while #1 Clara Ball snuck past #8 Cadence Kinzie of Atlantic in the quarterfinals by a 10-7 decision to advance to the semifinals of the 115-pound weight class.
Helscher will take on #3 Kate Martin of Mt. Vernon and Ball will face off against #4 Hailey Harvey of Riverside today.
Pekin’s #4 Hailey Pedrick displayed her endurance yesterday by securing both of her victories by fall in the third period. She will tackle #1 Tayla Stiefel of East Buchanan in the semifinals today.
A pair of Southeast Conference wrestlers dominated in their action yesterday. Fairfield’s #2 Samantha Lyons pinned her first opponent in the opening minute of her first round match and she followed that up with another first round pin in the quarterfinals. She will compete against #3 Gracie Pickney of Mt. Vernon in the semifinals today.
In Class 2A, #3 Mara Smith of Fort Madison punched her ticket to the semifinals after a technical fall in the first round and a pin in the quarterfinals. She will take on #2 Makana Miller of Waverly-Shell Rock today.
In the consolation bracket, #6 Brystol Wiley of Van Buren County, #2 Adley Sweeting of Highland, and #7 Amaziah Twillie and #9 Macy Peterson of Burlington will be eyeing a bronze medal.
Stay tuned to KILJ for updates throughout the day and for a full recap of yesterday’s action, follow the links provided.
Class 1A Recap: Class 1A
Class 2A Recap: Class 2A
The Van Buren County boys’ team finished 0-3 at the Davis County quad last night, losing 58-24 to Oskaloosa, 42-36 to Davis County, and 48-24 to Montezuma. Leo Jirak and Carver Goehring went undefeated for the night.
The Fairfield boys’ team snuck past Washington last night, 41-40. Kohda Higdon, Cael McCabe, Dusty Haynes, Aiden Holthus, Dain Burkhart, and Calvin McClain each picked up victories for the Trojans.
The boys’ district wrestling meets are scheduled for February 14th.
High School Basketball
Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk tonight with the girls’ teams playing at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.
Fairfield will host Burlington tonight with game one at 6 pm.
Southeast Iowa Super Conference Shootout
The girls’ teams seeded #3-#8 had their SEISC shootout games last night, here’s how everything played out.
Leading off the night, Van Buren County wallopped Columbus, 62-37 in the #4-seed contest. The Wildcats will try to bounce back against Cardinal on Monday, February 9th, at 6 pm.
In a battle of the Falcons, Louisa-Muscatine soared past West Burlington 68-44 for the #3 seed. West Burlington will travel to Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday, February 10th, with tip-off at 6:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:15 pm.
Wapello handled business in the 6th seed showdown as Macey Kuntz’s double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds led the Arrows past Holy Trinity Catholic, 47-25.
Holy Trinity Catholic will square off against Clark County on Monday at 6 pm.
Wapello ends the regular season with a 12-9 record.
In the 5th seed contest, Central Lee surged past Pekin, 50-33. The Hawks will travel to Illini West on Monday for their regular season finale at 7:30 pm.
In the 8-seed contest, New London fell to Hillcrest Academy last night, 54-34. The Tigers finished the regular season with an 0-21 record.
The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will host Cedar Valley Christian tonight at 6 pm.
Highland and Mediapolis will face off for the conference title tomorrow, February 7th, at 2:30 pm at Highland, while Danville will compete with Lone Tree to lead off the day at 1 pm.
The boys’ will start play tonight for their SEISC shootout with Central Lee hosting the #3 and #4 seeds, Holy Trinity Catholic will have the #5 and #6 seeds, and Van Buren County will house the #7 and #8 seeds with the south division acting as the home team.
At 6 pm, #4 West Burlington will play #4 WACO at Central Lee, #6 Danville will tip-off against #6 Wapello, and #8 New London will tussle with #8 Lone Tree at Van Buren County.
At 7:30 pm, #3 Central Lee will face off against Pekin, #5 Holy Trinity Catholic will tangle with #5 Columbus, and #7 Van Buren County will take on #7 Highland.
Burlington Notre Dame will hold the #1 and #2 seed games tomorrow with Mediapolis clashing with Winfield-Mt. Union at 6 pm and the conference title going to either the Nikes or Hillcrest Academy at 7:30 pm.
High School Bowling
The girls’ state meet is scheduled for February 10th through the 12th in Waterloo. Keokuk will be competing as a team, while Mt. Pleasant’s Shyann Smith will bowl as an individual along with Keokuk’s Allison Sapp, Jaelynn Ketterer, and Josie Sapp.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team hosted their invite yesterday and finished in 3rd place with 2,467 pins. West Burlington/Notre Dame won the meet with 2,558 pins, 41 more than Central Lee.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the state qualifying meet assignments and Central Lee will host West Burlington, while Fairfield will travel to Monticello in Class 1A.
In Class 2A, Clinton will play host to Burlington, Keokuk, and Mt. Pleasant.
Both meets are scheduled for Monday, February 16th, at 10 am.
Southeastern Community College
The women’s basketball team will host Kirkwood Community College tomorrow, February 7th, with tip-off at 1 pm.
The men’s basketball team will continue the home stand tomorrow at 3 pm against Triton College.
The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will travel to North Iowa Area Community College for the District Championships on February 15th.
College Basketball
The Iowa State women’s team will travel to Utah tomorrow, February 7th, at 6 pm.
The #10 Iowa women’s team made a late run but ultimately fell to Minnesota last night, 91-85. Ava Heiden scored 24 points in the losing effort. The Hawkeyes will host Washington on Wednesday, February 11th, at 6:30 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will head back home to play Northwestern on Sunday, February 8th, at 2 pm.
The #7 Iowa State men’s team will take on Baylor at home at 1 pm tomorrow.
This Day in Sports History
1932 – First Olympic dog sled race at Lake Placid, New York. It is run as a demonstration sport.
1971 – American astronaut Alan Shepard is 1st to hit a golf ball on the moon.
1990 – Brett Hull becomes the first son of an NHL 50 goal scorer (Bobby Hull) to also score 50 goals.