Sports, January 31st

High School Basketball

In senior night action, Fairfield was swept by Southeast Conference foe Keokuk last night with the girls’ team losing 68-27 and the boys’ team falling 51-29. The Fairfield boys’ team will face off against Holy Trinity Catholic on Tuesday, February 4th, at home with tip-off at 7:30 pm, while the girls’ team will compete against Mt. Pleasant on the road at 7:30 pm. 

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team picked up their fifth consecutive win last night after defeating Wapello 43-32. The Crusader boys’ team rallied in the middle quarters to down Wapello 73-56 as Luke Hellige tabbed a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Mediapolis will venture to Holy Trinity Catholic tonight with the girls tipping-off at 6:30 pm. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will make a trip to Wapello tonight with the girls playing first at 6 pm. 

Danville will host New London tonight for their senior night with game time at 6 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame will make a trip across town to compete against West Burlington with the doubleheader starting at 6 pm tonight.

Van Buren County will face off against Central Lee tonight with the night starting at 6 pm on the road. 

WACO will hit the road to take on Columbus tonight with the night starting at 6 pm. Isaac Rich, a WACO guard on the boys’ team, knows his team has to pick up the win to stay in the North Division race,

“That’s a really important game for us. We know they can all shoot and you know, give any one of them the ball. They can all shoot and anybody can go off any given night. They have a really good coach. And I think our defense is really going to be the key for that game. We really got to step it up better than last time when we played them. And I think that’s just going to be the key to win the game.”

Mt. Pleasant will continue their road trip tonight against Washington with game one at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm. 

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team claimed the Southeast Conference championship last night in a 49-28 clobbering of Burlington. Levi Evans, Lane Beckler, Payton Walker, and William Birdsell picked up wins by fall, while Kolbein Ostby won by a 15-11 decision over Buxton Carlson and Charlie Bohenkamp claimed a victory by major decision. 

The Mediapolis boys’ team hosted a quad last night but it was Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union that exited the night unscathed, defeating Montezuma 49-27,  Lone Tree 63-12, and the Bulldogs 51-27. Jacob Nelson, Bowen Thomson, Alex Venzor, Riley Kaalberg, Itai Zapiensz, and Justin Knipfer each went undefeated for the Wildcats. 

Mediapolis picked up wins against Montezuma 39-30 and Lone Tree 60-24. Leading the pack was Peyton Johnson, Kyler Crow, and Hayden Timmerman as they each finished 3-0. 

The New London and Van Buren County boys’ teams participated in a quad at Burlington Notre Dame last night and the hosts finished the night with the perfect 3-0 record. Jared Glendening, Tate Sherwood, Kael Cook, Dirk Boyles, Blake Wilson, and Bridge Anderson each won all of their matches. 

New London lost to Van Buren County 38-12 and tied Louisa-Muscatine 30-30. Tucker Syfert picked up a win by fall against Van Buren County’s Parker Boley and Liam Garvery finished 2-0 for the night. Gavin Menke-Baily, Corbin Jacobs-Jewell, and Killian Kelly won by fall against the Falcons.

Van Buren County went 2-1 after defeating Louisa-Muscatine 47-36. Leading the way for the Warriors was Carver Goehring, Kaimrin Ellingson, Jackson Meek, and Alex Scott as they each collected two wins last night. 

The WACO and Wapello boys’ teams traveled to Highland last night for a double dual and the Warriors exited the night 2-1 with a 65-12 win over Pekin and a 42-33 victory over Wapello with Highland scraping by 42-35. Louden Huisenga, Ian Maize, Gage Samo, and Deacon Bird each finished the night undefeated. 

For Wapello, the boys’ team collected a 1-2 record with a 48-30 loss to Highland but a 54-6 drubbing of Pekin. Carter Ball, Cohen Wolford, and Jordan Chamberlin each handled business and won their matches. 

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference tournament will take place tomorrow, February 1st, at Pekin with Burlington Notre Dame, Mediapolis, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, New London, Van Buren County, WACO, and Wapello all in attendance.

The girls’ regional tournament will commence tonight at Williamsburg with Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Fairfield, Mediapolis, WACO, Wapello, Van Buren County, and Mt. Pleasant all making the trip. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will host their invite tomorrow, February with Mt. Pleasant making the trip. 

The matchups for the boys’ regional dual has been set and scheduled for February 4th at 6 pm with the top eight teams moving on to the State Dual Tournament on Saturday, February 8th, in Coralville. 

In Class 2A at Davenport Assumption, #12 Burlington Notre Dame will face off against #11 Mount Vernon in the semifinals with the winner moving on to face #6 Assumption to see who will advance to state. 

Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year

 IAwrestle and Iowa Corn in coordination with the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) has released the top 15 wrestlers for the Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year Awards and southeast Iowa has three competitors in the running.

In Class 1A, WACO’s Louden Huisenga is a strong contender for the award at the 190-pound weight class. He has compiled a 25-0 record against fellow 190-pound contenders.

Over in Class 2A, Kaiden Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame is back in the top 15 after being placed on the list last year. The Nike is continuing his reign of terror on the area in the 138-pound weight class with a perfect 27-0 record, so far through his senior campaign.

Fairfield’s Cael McCabe is also up for the award in Class 2A as the junior boasts a 22-2 record in the 113-pound weight class. McCabe has won the Bob Murphy and Bill Van Horn Invitationals this season.

Fans can vote once per list at Facebook.com/IAwrestle for their favorite wrestler in each category until February 9th, when the list will be narrowed down to the top 7. The next round of voting, from February 10th to February 23rd, will determine the top 3 finalists, with the winner announced at the banquet on February 27th at the Fareway Conference Center in Boone, Iowa, on February 27th at 11:30AM.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant split their contest against Burlington last night with the girls’ team winning 2,267-1,739, while the boys’ team fell 2,847-2,357. The Panther girls were led by Bethany Drury as she totaled 359 pins. Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk on Tuesday, February 4th. 

Fairfield will host a triangular at home on Monday, February 3rd. 

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team will take on Triton College on Saturday, February 1st, at 3 pm on the road. 

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team will face off against Kansas State tomorrow, February 1st, at 1 pm at home. 

The Iowa men’s team will compete against Purdue on Tuesday, February 4th, at home at 6 pm. 

The Iowa women’s team will host USC on Sunday, February 2nd, at 12:30 pm as the Hawkeyes will retire Caitlin Clark’s Jersey. 

The Iowa State women’s team was looking to pull off the upset against #11 Kansas State, but the Wildcats ended that thought with a 87-79 win in overtime. Audi Crooks had a monster game with 28 points and 11 rebounds to secure a double-double. The Cyclones will take on #9 TCU on Sunday at home at 3 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1920 – Quebec Bulldogs center Joe Malone sets an NHL record with 7 goals in a 10-6 win against the Toronto St. Patricks at the Quebec Arena. 

1923 – The Montreal Canadiens beat the Hamilton Tigers 5-4 at the Mount Royal Arena, Montreal; first penalty-free game played in NHL history. 

1991 – Denver Nuggets Michael Adams becomes the shortest NBA player to get a triple-double at 5’10.