High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will host Danville tonight, January 16th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 7:15 pm. The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will play Oskaloosa at home tomorrow, January 17th, at 7:30 pm.
WACO will be hosting a big conference matchup tomorrow against Winfield-Mt. Union with the girls going at 6 pm.
Danville swept HLV over the weekend with the girls winning 61-45 and the boys dominating 84-47 with Caiden Gourley leading the Bears in scoring with 22 points missing only two shots on the night.
The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team defeated Fort Madison 49-36 over the weekend and the Crusaders fell in the boys game 52-51 despite a furious 20-point fourth quarter. The Crusaders will face off against Mediapolis tomorrow with the girls going at 6 pm followed by the boys.
Central Lee will play Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow with the girls going at 6 pm.
New London will host Danville tomorrow here on KILJ with both games being covered with pregame at 5:45 pm.
High School Wrestling
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team competed at the Centerville Big Red Invitational over the weekend winning two matches. Bowen Davis won his match by decision and William Birdsell took his match by fall. Their next match is January 19th against Fairfield.
Two wrestlers for the Mt. Pleasant girls team competed at the Mid-Prairie Invitational over the weekend with Jayden Housch going 2-2 at the meet finishing in 4th place and Zenlynn Lee also went 2-2 ending on a win to capture 5th place.
WACO had their Warrior Invite over the weekend and here are some of the highlights. Codder Malcom of Wapello snatched first place at 106-pounds. Zach Harbison was another winner for Wapello at 138 pounds. Dominic Lopez of New London defeated Louden Huisenga to take the title at 160 pounds. At 195 pounds, Josh Glendening of Mediapolis took the top spot. Lastly, New London took first place at the 220 pound weight class in Trent Wilkerson.
HWP released their rankings for high school wrestling with Don Bosco taking the top spot in Class 1A. Dom Lopez and Louden Huisenga are both ranked at 160 pounds with Lopez at #2 and Huisenga at #8. Josh Glendening of Mediapolis is ranked 2nd at 195 pounds and Trent Wilkerson is ranked 8th at 220 pounds. Burlington Notre Dame is ranked 2nd as a team with 5 wrestlers ranked with Carter West, Isaiah Fenton, and CJ Walrath all being ranked first in their respective weight classes. CJ Davis is ranked 4th at 120 pounds and Kaiden Dietzenbach is ranked 2nd at 126 pounds. Class 3A has Bettendorf taking the top spot. Two members of Fort Madison made the rankings at the #8 spot in Teague Smith at 170 pounds and Issac Thacher at 195 pounds.
High School Bowling
Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield Thursday, January 19th.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The women’s basketball team fell to College of the Ozarks 71-66 as the Bobcats had a strong third quarter outscoring the Tigers 29-15. Isabell West finished with a double-double scoring 19 points and gathering 14 rebounds. They will look to get back in the win column Friday, January 20th, against Haskell Indian Nations at home at 5:30 pm.
The men’s team cruised to an easy win over the College of the Ozarks 70-42 capturing their 17th victory in a row. Joey Brown IV and Victor Munoz tied for team lead in points with 11 followed by Henry Shannon and Gacoby Jones each putting up 10 points. The Tigers will play Haskell Indian Nations at the conclusion of the women’s game on Friday.
The men’s wrestling team will be at home Thursday as they go against Cornell College at 6 pm.
The women’s wrestling team sent six wrestlers to compete at the York University Open for freshmen/sophomores. Sydney Manos won the 191-pound bracket going 4-0 on the weekend, winning by tech fall in the championship match. The Tigers also went against #5 Augsburg University but fell 31-12. JoAnna Vanderwood won her match by decision to pick up the first win of the match for the Tigers. In the highlight match of the day with #1 wrestler in the NAIA went against the #1 wrestler in the NCAA, Adaugo Nwachukwu handled business winning by tech fall over Nina Makem to score the second win for the Tigers. They will be back in action January 18th against Iowa Central Community College at home.
The Tigers captured six events at the Dutch Athletics Classic over the weekend with Shermaine Preston winning the women’s triple jump at 30 feet 2 inches. Bri Hunter won the shot put with a heave of 41 feet 10.5 inches. Faith Younce and Logan Lucas each won the 5,000 meter race for the Tigers. In the sprint, Angel Lottie won the 400 meter dash with a run of 54.07 seconds. Lastly, the 4X400 meter relay team of Angel Lottie, Marlon Brown, Jabez Rivers, and Daron Jackson won the meet with a time of 3 minutes 37 seconds, two seconds faster than second place. Both the men and women placed 3rd in the meet. The Tigers will be back in action January 21st at the Hilltop Invitational.
This Day in Sports History
1966 – Chicago is granted an NBA franchise to be called the Bulls; it becomes the 3rd NBA franchise in the city, after the Chicago Stags (1946–50) and Chicago Packers/Zephyrs (now Washington Wizards).
2019 – Houston guard James Harden becomes first player to score 55+ points in back-to-back NBA games since Wilt Chamberlain (1962); scores 58 in 145-142 OT loss to Brooklyn; 18 straight games with 30+ points.
2020 – Former Sacramento State softball player Alyssa Nakken becomes first woman to hold a coaching position on a MLB staff when named an assistant by the San Francisco Giants.