Sports, March 22nd

High School Track and Field

The Steve Roth Relays commenced yesterday in Washington with most of Southeast Iowa in attendance, here’s some highlights from the meet.

Kaiden Amigon of Columbus took first place in Class C of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.25 seconds. Landon Seibert of Danville grabbed third with a time of 11.89 seconds. 

Landry Haberichter of West Burlington took the gold in Class B of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.04 seconds. 

Staying in Class B, Kyler Crow of Mediapolis took first with a time of 24.10 seconds in the 200 meter dash. 

Ayden Doyle of Danville finished in first place in the 200 meter dash followed by Amigon and Clayton Miller of WACO with the top time being 22.83 seconds. 

Mediapolis finished a few ticks behind the leader in the 4×100 meter relay to grab second place for Class B.

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Lathen Keller of Mediapolis finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the 400 meter dash, while West Burlington’s Caden Schwenker took eighth place. 

For Class C, Sheaden Adams of Winfield-Mt. Union took gold in the 400 meter dash with a time of 55.24 seconds. Kessler Whaley of Danville took second place. 

Sticking with Class C, Kohlby Newsom grabbed another first place finish for Winfield-Mt. Union with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds in the 800 meter run. 

In Class A, Jude Dykstra of Mt. Pleasant raced to a time of 2 minutes and 9 seconds in the 800 meter run, which was good enough for sixth place. 

Mediapolis populated the top spots in the 800 meter run with Logan Rosas capturing first place with a time of 2 minutes and Owen Schmidgall nabbing second place with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds. This helped get them a first place finish in the 4×800 meter relay.

Solomon Zaugg of Mediapolis won the gold in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. In Class C, Carter Fesler of Danville took first place with a time of 4 minutes and 50 seconds. 

In Class B, Adam Sobczak finished in first in the 400 meter hurdles with a sub-minute time (59.79 seconds). Gabriel Hemsworth of Winfield-Mt. Union took first place in Class C with a time of 1 minute. 

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Nathan Schmidgall finished in first and second place, respectively, in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet and 6.5 inches being the best jump. 

In Class C, Amigon finished with a jump of 19 feet and 2 inches, which clinched first place. 

Avin Truong of Mt. Pleasant leapt to a second place finish in the Class A long jump with a distance of 20 feet and 6 inches. 

Mason Watkins of West Burlington grabbed second place in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and 10 inches. 

Jake Edwards of Winfield-Mt. Union  jumped 5 feet 10 inches in the Class C high jump for a first place finish. Louden Huisenga of WACO took second with a jump of 5 feet and 8 inches. 

Harmon Ensminger of Mt. Pleasant tossed the shot put 44 feet and 1 inch for fifth place in the Class A shot put. 

Lastly, in Class C, Russel Coil of Columbus swept the throwing events with a toss of 141 feet and 1 inch in the discus and 48 feet and 1 inch in the shot put. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete at a meet in West Burlington on March 26th.

The WACO girls’ team will run on March 26th at West Burlington.

The New London and Central Lee boys’ teams will participate in a meet on March 25th at West Burlington.

The Mediapolis, Danville, Winfield-Mt. Union, and New London girls’ teams will compete in a relay on March 26th at West Burlington.

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will open the season on March 28th against Fairfield on the road at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams will take on West Liberty on March 25th at home with the girls’ game scheduled first at 5 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ will host Mediapolis on March 26th to start their season at 4:30 pm, while the boys’ will travel to Danville to play at 5 pm on the same day. 

The Danville girls’ team will face off against Assumption on March 25th on the road at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington on March 26th on the road at 5 pm.

College Signing

Another Panther will be donning the red and black next year as Reece Coffman signed his Letter of Intent to golf at Southeastern Community College (SCC) next year. Fellow Panther, Nate Dismang, announced his decision to golf at SCC back in December.

Coffman had the third best 18-hole average last season at a clip of 94.17 with the second-best 18-hole low of 84. The senior talked about how college athletics was always a desire after figuring out he was superb golfer, and he will get his chance at SCC,

“SCC was like my first choice because I wanted to, like, get Community College out of the way because I just want to get used to like the college feel and it’s closer to home so I can get some of my general education stuff out of the way before I move on to a bigger college.”

The Panthers are looking to improve upon their 4th place finish at the Southeast Conference meet from last season, but the senior is putting no added pressure on himself,

“Having fun is a good one, but obviously since next year I got to do really well, this year I’m thinking hopefully I can shoot low and play great golf this year. Have a great mindset going into college.”

Coffman plans on studying to become an Elementary School Teacher.

The Panthers hit the greens on Monday, April 1st, in their first conference meet at the Fairfield Golf and Country Club.

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will host Northeast Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

The SCC softball team will travel to take on Indian Hills Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

College Basketball

The Iowa women’s team will be the #1-seed in the Albany Regional for the National Championship bracket, which means they will host the first two rounds. The Hawkeys will take on Holy Cross tomorrow, March 23rd, at 2 pm.

The Iowa State women’s team will be making their 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament as the Cyclones earned the #7-seed. They will face off against Maryland tonight at 6:30 pm. 

The #2-seed Iowa State men’s team ran away with their first-round contest against #15 South Dakota last night 82-65. Tamin Lipsey finished the contest with 17 points, sevens assists, and two steals. The Cyclones will take on #7 Washington State tomorrow at 5:10 pm. The Cougars defeated Drake yesterday 66-61.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against the #2-seed Utah on Sunday, March 24th, at 8 pm for the second round of the NIT. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is officially underway with over 30 brackets submitted with the top three set to receive prizes.

Standings will be updated at the conclusion of each round.

This Day in Sports History

1969 – 31st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72 for a Bruins’ 3-peat; center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year.

1986 – HBO launches boxing’s heavyweight-title-unification-tournament.

1989 – Pete Rozelle announces his retirement as the NFL commissioner after 29 years.