High School Volleyball
The final round of the Southeast Conference Tournament commenced last night and Burlington avenged their loss from last year and took down Washington in the opening match of the night to claim the conference crown.
Fairfield finished the tournament with a 4-2 record after defeating Fort Madison in a thrilling three set finish (25-20, 21-25, 15-12) and losing to Washington in straight sets (20-25, 21-25) to finish in 3rd place. Faith Jones nabbed 46 assists, while Leah Helmick smacked 19 kills. Mt. Pleasant finished in 4th place.
Fairfield will celebrate their senior night on Thursday, October 16th, at 7:15 pm against Albia.
Danville will host an Invite on Thursday with Burlington Notre Dame and Mt. Pleasant making the trip.
West Burlington will host Mediapolis for their senior night tonight at 7:30 pm.
WACO will take on Pekin at home tonight for their regular season finale.
Columbus will celebrate their senior night tonight against Hillcrest Academy at 7:30 pm.
Wapello will celebrate the senior night tonight at 7:30 pm against Louisa-Muscatine.
Mediapolis will host a tournament on Thursday at 5 pm with Holy Trinity Catholic participating.
High School Cross Country
The Southeast Iowa Super Conference will meet at Hillcrest Academy tonight.
Mt. Pleasant will host the Southeast Conference meet on Thursday, October 16th.
High School Cross Country Rankings
In the penultimate team and individual rankings for the Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC), the majority of our local runners tumbled in the rankings due to a lack of meets last week.
In Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler won the Mediapolis Invite but fell back a spot in the individual rankings to #7. She won’t be the only member of the Southeast Conference ranked heading into the conference meet with both Fort Madison teams ranked along with #19 Andrew Rees of Washington and #13 Avery Rump of Fort Madison.
In Class 2A, Mediapolis improved their standing with the Bulldogs being logged in at #13 as a team, while Will Schmidgall leapfrogged up to #15. Simon Wendel stayed put at #9.
Lastly, the WACO boys’ team showed out at the Mike Jay Invitational resulting in the Warriors being slotted in at #4 in the Class 1A rankings, while Jude Dykstra’s gold medal finish led to him climbing up the rankings to #6. Staying with the WACO program, Josie Dykstra continues to anchor the girls’ team as she is now ranked #23 after taking 2nd place at the Mike Jay Invitational.
The Columbus boys’ team slid back to #10 and despite not having a meet last week, Van Buren County was left mostly unfazed with the boys’ team placed at #14 and the girls’ team marked one spot back to #8.
High School Football
#8 Mt. Pleasant returns home to square off against #3 Solon at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 17th, with the winner claiming the District Championship. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm.
Mediapolis will host Central Lee on Friday at 7 pm.
WACO will take on #4 Iowa Valley on Friday at 7 pm on the road.
Fairfield will compete against Keokuk at home on Friday at 7:30 pm.
West Burlington/Notre Dame will tangle with #6 Mid-Prairie at 7 pm on Friday.
Second place for Class A District 5 will be up for grabs when Danville travels to Wapello on Friday at 7 pm.
Columbus will host Pekin at 7 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Belle Plaine on Friday at 7 pm.
High School Football Rankings
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released their week 7 rankings for Classes 2A, 1A, A, and Eight-Player and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) for Classes 3A, 4A, and 5A and we are in store for a top ten matchup this Friday night.
In Class 3A, Solon remained at #3 in the rankings behind Clear Lake and West Delaware, respectively, and those two teams will meet for a week nine district showdown. Mt. Pleasant survived an upset alert in Keokuk last Friday and were awarded the #8 slot in the rankings. Panther head coach John Bowlin reflected on the program’s rise,
“I think we’ve talked before about those three years in, and this senior group, you know this junior group as well. Like they’ve put the work in, and I always tell them that it’s not a coincidence when you’re winning games, it’s because you put the work in and you know, we’ve got some great athletes and we got some physical kids on our team. But you know, it’s the work they do that has kind of pushed them here and, you know, great to see our fans out there being loud, I mean just huge support and yeah, nothing better than the fall, you know? And playing football and getting everybody on board and nothing better than Friday nights.”
Washington and Keokuk tumbled back to #25 and #26, respectively, while Fairfield is back at #29 and Fort Madison remained at #34.
Staying on top of the rankings was Class 5A’s Waukee Northwest as the lone undefeated team in the class, Xavier in Class 4A, Class 2A is still touted by Kuemper Catholic, West Lyon in Class 1A, while MMCRU is still atop Class A along with Bishop Garrigan in Eight-Player.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s and women’s soccer teams will host Iowa Central Community College tomorrow, October 15th, with the women playing first.
The volleyball team will take on Iowa Central Community College tomorrow at 7 pm at home.
College Football
Iowa will face off against Penn State on Saturday, October 18th, at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.
Iowa State is on a bye week.
This Day in Sports History
1908 – The MLB World Series: the Chicago Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 at Bennett Park to clinch the 4-1 series win; only 6,210 fans attend as it is the smallest crowd in World Series history.
1908 – Upset over seating arrangements at the MLB World Series, sports reporters form a professional group that will become known as the Baseball Writers Association of America.
1979 – Wayne Gretzky scores his first NHL goal.