By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Prep Baseball: Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Releases All-State Teams:
The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association has released their 2021 All-State teams, announced yesterday.
In Class 1A, New London had three all-state honorees.
The Tigers were led by outfielder Joshua Catala, who was a second team choice.
Catala hit .462 with three doubles, three triples and two home runs and drove in 26.
He also swiped 24 bags.
Making the third-team were Hecniel Rodriguez and Kooper Schulte.
Rodriguez led New London with seven triples and 37 runs batted in. He also was terrific on the hill going 6-0 in 31 innings with a 1.58 ERA.
Schulte, one of the premier shortstops in the state, hit .360 this season with three homers and 27 runs batted in.
The Iowa Western commit also record five saves in a fireman role in the New London bullpen.
The Tigers finished their season 26-2 after falling to Kee in the first round of the Class 1A State Tournament.
College Football: Iowa State No. 8, Iowa No. 18 in Preseason Coaches Poll:
The Iowa State Cyclone football team is ranked No. 8 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll, announced yesterday.
Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Georgia round out the top-5.
Iowa enters the preseason ranked No. 18, three spots behind fellow Big Ten West rival Wisconsin, who checks in at No. 15.
Also in the Big Ten, Penn State is No. 20.
Michigan, Northwestern, Missouri and West Virginia are all receiving votes.
College Football: UNI’s Mark Farley Talks Program at MVFC Media Days:
Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley has created competition at quarterback by adding a couple of transfers.
Des Moines native Will McElvain — who was coached in his prep days by Fort Madison athletic director Ben Fry — has been the starter the past two seasons, including a COVID shortened spring season in which he completed 51 percent of his passes — he was also electric in his freshman season for the Panthers.
“We have competition in that quarterback room, we’ll be able to battle that position out and we brought in Theo Day from Michigan State and Matt Morrissey from Trinity Valley” Farley said to reporters.
Coming off a 3-4 record in the spring the Panthers are picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason poll.
UNI opens September 4th at Iowa State.
You can listen to that game on FM 98.5 and AM 1130.