High School Track and Field
Van Buren County won the Ruritan Relays with 135 points and WACO grabbed 6th place with 48 points.
Winfield-Mt. Union, Mt. Pleasant, New London, Central Lee, and Danville all competed at the Falcon Relays yesterday and here are the top performers for each team.
Mt. Pleasant had four 1st place finishes at the meet as Will Davidson collected two of those wins with the first coming in the 110 meter hurdles and the second in the long jump. Ben Carthey finished in 1st place in the 3200 meter run and the 4×400 meter relay team of Gabe Feldmann, Jacob Richtman, Isaac Rynders, and Mason Sloat notched the last 1st place win for the Panthers. Avin Troung grabbed 2nd place in the long jump and the 100 meter dash. Carthey took 2nd in the 800 meter run. Lastly, Isaac Jerel took 2nd in both the shot put and discus with a throw of 133 feet 0.5 inches in the disc and a heave of 52 feet 1 inch in the shot.
New London grabbed two 1st place finishes with Kade Benjamin leaping 6 feet 3 inches in the high jump and the 800 meter sprint medley team of Borden Pickle, Brigham Porter, Reean Seberg, and Rylan Martin took it with a time of 1 minute 39 seconds. Cauy Garrett finished in 2nd place for the 3200 meter run.
The boys distance medley Class B team of Abram Edwards, Lane Genkinger, Gabriel Hemsworth, and Kohlby Newsom took 1st place and Gabriel Hemsworth grabbed 1st in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 56.31 seconds for the Wolves. Cam Buffington finished in 2nd place for the 100 meter dash. In Class B, Kai Malone grabbed 2nd place in the discus and Abram Edwards took 2nd in the high jump.
Aiden Doyle finished in 1st place in the 200 meter dash and Jackson Shacklett took 1st in the 3200 meter run for Class B for Danville. Cooper Kleinkopf finished in 2nd place for the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 17.15 seconds and Spencer Nelson took 2nd place in the 400 meter hurdles.
For Central Lee, Thomas Eschman was the lone winner for the Hawks as he took the long jump with a leap of 20 feet 5 inches. Eschman also took 2nd place in the 200 meter dash. Grant Myhre also finished in 2nd place in the 400 meter dash. Lastly, Brody Fuller heaved the shot 38 feet 1 inch to place in 2nd.
In Class A, Washington captured 150 points to win the meet as a team with Mt. Pleasant claiming 3rd place. In Class B, Mediapolis took 1st place with 189 points. Danville claimed 2nd place followed by Central Lee in 3rd, Winfield-Mt. Union in 4th, and New London in 5th.
The girls will be competing at Burlington Notre Dame tonight.
High School Soccer
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ soccer season will begin tonight against Mediapolis on the road.
WACO’s boy soccer team will start their season at home against Fairfield on March 30th.
The Central Lee boys’ soccer team fell to Keokuk last night 2-1. The Hawks will face off against Sigourney on March 30th.
High School Football
The Mt. Pleasant football team filled the head coaching vacancy with a Mt. Pleasant graduate, John Bowlin. Bowlin was at Iowa Valley High School for the past 15 years and he talked about why he made the choice.
“You know, I think family brings me back. You know, my wife is from Cascade and really only one of two places we ever talked about possibly getting back to. So, just the timing we have three kids: 7, 5, and 2. This is kind of a now or never thing for us and obviously the opportunity to coach football at Mt. Pleasant and hopefully my wife and I in the school system can bring something positive to Mt. Pleasant and keep our careers going there.”
As a former offensive lineman, Bowlin will be looking to set up the run game in the upcoming fall football season.
College Signing
Bradie Buffington signed with Cornell College to continue her basketball career at the collegiate level. Buffington led the team averaging 14 points per game as the Wolves made it to the state tournament for the first time since 1998. Buffington knew her team was capable of making it to that level.
“Oh, my goodness, it was awesome. It was an experience that I always knew that we could make it to and have; but, it took a lot of hard work and looking back and seeing my whole team at the signing today was just really heartwarming. All the memories coming back of the great season we had and its just a lot of fun.”
The Rams finished this past season with a 10-14 record.
Amateur Boxing
This weekend, over 60 Iowa amateur boxers will be competing in the first Golden Gloves Tournament since 2019. The event will take place in Iowa City with the first match scheduled for 6 pm.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The Tiger softball team will take on the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis today in a road doubleheader with game one at 1 pm.
The Tiger baseball team will take on William Woods University today for a home doubleheader with game one at 3 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 2:45 pm.
The men and women’s golf team will compete today at the IW Tiger Classic.
The outdoor track and field teams will compete at the Mustang Open on April 1st at 11:30 am.
This Day in Sports History
1933 – First SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Mississippi State, 46-27.
1975 – NHL Washington Capitals win 1st game on road after 37 straight road losses.
1982 – First NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Louisiana Tech beats Cheney, 76-62; Lady Techsters’ forward Janice Lawrence is the tournament MOP.