Sports, November 3rd

High School Cross Country

The Classes 1A and 4A state meets ran over the weekend and one of our local runners finished in the top 10 in the Class 1A race. 

Starting with the girls’ race, WACO’s Josie Dykstra led the way with a 21st place time of 19 minutes and 54 seconds, while Macie Carter turned in a 59th place performance for the Warriors. 

Iris Garza of Columbus snuck into the top 30 with a 29th place time of 20 minutes and 19 seconds. Danville’s Alaina Gourley clocked a time of 20 minutes and 41 seconds for 44th place. 

As a team, Van Buren County finished in 7th place with 198 points. Kaylee Snowgren led the pack with a 57th place time of 20 minutes and 54 seconds, followed by Rylee Philips, who took 60th place with a time of 20 minutes and 56 seconds. 

On the boys’ side, Lincoln Bainbridge collected a 7th place time of 16 minutes and 36 seconds, which helped Van Buren County take 12th place as a team. Gavin Noll aided the cause with a 59th place finish.

Columbus brought their own team and the Wildcats claimed 6th place behind Ryan Villa’s time of 17 minutes and 34 seconds for 50th place and Cade Storm’s 56th place time of 17 minutes and 40 seconds. The Wildcats compiled 227 points. 

Lastly, Locken Henderson (18:12) of WACO and Isaac Shinn (18:13) of Danville finished in 89th and 90th place, respectively, with the two clocking times a second apart. 

The top finishers for the Classes 2A and 3A meets included Mediapolis’ Simon Wendel’s 7th place time of 16 minutes and 36 seconds for the boys’ Class 2A race. 

Moving over to the girls’ Class 3A race, Avery Fedler of Mt. Pleasant snatched 24th place with a mark of 19 minutes and 22 seconds.

On the boys’ side, Silas Hulett of Mt. Pleasant ran a time of 17 minutes and 3 seconds for 53rd place.

Postseason High School Football

For Class 3A Pod B, Solon will host Winterset on Friday, November 7th, at 7 pm.

For Class 2A Pod C, Mid-Prairie will take on Van Meter on Friday at 7 pm. 

For Eight-Player Pod D, Iowa Valley will face off against Audubon at home on Thursday, November 6th, at 7 pm for their quarterfinal matchup. 

Despite the loss last Friday night, Mt. Pleasant head coach John Bowlin is excited about the direction of the program,

“Just the expectation to be there every year, the expectation to win you know and it doesn’t come easy. I think, you know, so I tell them all the time. There’s nothing in life that’s worth doing that is easy. You know, it takes a lot of work, and it takes a lot of grinding. And you know when it’s over, you get to really feel what you’ve put in and I think that’s what these guys have done and they know how hard they work to put us there and man, just the support of everybody and seeing everybody excited about football and what these guys are doing is a lot of fun to watch. It just makes the fall go and just makes it a lot of fun.”

Postseason High School Volleyball

In Class 5A, #1 Waukee Northwest will start off today with a noon game against #8 Indianola. #2 Ankeny Centennial will face off against #7 Iowa City West and #4 Dowling Catholic will battle with #5 Ankeny. Rounding out the quarterfinals will be #3 Pleasant Valley attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Valley.

For Class 4A, #1 Clear Creek Amana enters as the favorite as they are tasked with playing #8 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. #7 Marion will look to knock off #2 Sioux Center. #4 Dallas Center-Grimes will square off against #5 North Scott and #3 Pella will take on #6 Norwalk to round out the quarterfinals.

Class 3A will begin at 10 am tomorrow, November 4th, with #1 Western Christian taking on #8 Mt. Vernon. #2 Davenport Assumption will compete against #7 Mid-Prairie. #4 Cherokee and #5 Humboldt will tangle, while #3 Red Oak will face off against #6 Kuemper Catholic.

The Class 1A bracket is now set with #1 Saint Ansgar taking on #8 East Mills at 6 pm on Tuesday. #4 Dunkerton, in their first ever state tournament appearance, will square off against #5 BCLUW. #2 Janesville will clash with #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck and #3 North Tama will face off against #6 Sidney to end the night.

Over in Class 2A, #1 Denver enters as the favorite with their first match on Tuesday being against #8 Wapsie Valley. #4 Grundy Center will tangle with #5 Beckman Catholic. #7 Aplington-Parkersburg will look to upset perennial powerhouse #2 Dike-New Hartford, while #3 Hinton will contend against #6 Regina Catholic. 

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team gutted out a five-set victory over Northeast Community College in the Region 11 semifinals over the weekend (25-21, 25-27, 24-26, 25-15, 15-12). Five members of the Blackhawks collected double-digit kills in the comeback victory with Aviana West’s 17 kills leading the effort. SCC will travel to Fort Dodge for the championship match at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 5th, against Iowa Central Community College. 

The men’s soccer team fell to Iowa Lakes Community College in the Region 11 tournament over the weekend, 3-0. The Blackhawks finished the season with a 12-4-3 record. 

The men’s and women’s basketball teams collected 1-1 records to start the season over the weekend.

The women’s team will travel to Carl Sandburg College tomorrow, November 4th, at 5:30 pm.

The men’s team will host the Midwest Classic on Friday, November 7th, with game one at 7 pm.

College Football

For the fourth game in a row, Iowa State was on the wrong end of the final score, losing 24-19 to Arizona State over the weekend. Rocco Becht finished the game with 186 passing yards and two total touchdowns. The Cyclones will make the trip to TCU on Saturday, November 8th, at 2:30 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

Iowa will host #6 Oregon on Saturday at 2:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.

This Day in Sports History

1935 – The Philadelphia Eagles beat Boston, 7-6 at Fenway Park; respective quarterbacks combine to throw an NFL record 11 interceptions.

1996 – San Francisco 49ers receiver Jerry Rice grabs 3 passes for 45 yards and a TD to become the first player in NFL history to reach 1,000 career receptions in 24-17 win over New Orleans Saints; finishes career with 1,549.

2013 – Nick Foles connects with Riley Cooper three times to become the 7th passer in NFL history with 7 touchdown tosses in a game during the Philadelphia Eagles’ 49-20 win over the Raiders at Oakland; Foles completes 22 of 28 for 406 yards.