By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Prep Track: Panthers Soar to Falcon Relay Win:
For the first real time in 2021, southeast Iowa caught a glimpse at how good Scott Lamm’s Mount Pleasant Panther girls’ track team might be.
Mount Pleasant throttled the field — and host West Burlington/Notre Dame — tallying up 143.5 points en route to a team victory at yesterday’s Falcons Relays at West Burlington High School.
Panther long distance star Abby Blint — a state cross country qualifier — brought home two first place finishes in both the 1500m and 3000m run.
Karsyn and Kenna Lamm went second and third overall in the hurdles, while winning the 4×100 Shuttle Hurdle Relay with a time of 1:11:60.
The Lamm sisters were joined on that relay by Allie Westercamp and Jenna Gilmore.
In field events, throwers Jaden Brumbaugh and Grace Kelley had strong opening season performances.
Brumbaugh threw 41-feet even to capture first place by nearly seven feet, while Kelley took first in the discus, hurling 116-05, beating Maisey Belger of West Burlington by three inches.
Team Scoring (Class A)
- Mount Pleasant – 143.5
- West Burlington/Notre Dame – 121
- Fairfield – 120
- Washington – 75
- Keokuk – 63
- Central Lee 58.5
Pekin won the Class B division, but Danville senior Addison Parrott swept the long distance runs winning the 1500m and 3000m runs — fairly easily.
Danville also won the 4x100m relay, with WACO and Winfield-Mount Union finishing in succession at second and third.
Winfield-Mount Union’s Bradie Buffington took home a first place medal in the Class B shotput, throwing 34-05, nearly a foot and a half better than that of second place Drew Fox of Danville.
Team Scoring (Class B)
- Pekin – 196
- Danville – 162
- WACO – 86
- Mediapolis – 46
- New London – 45
- Winfield-Mount Union 33
Prep Tennis: Panthers Ousted by Maharishi:
Levi Graber and Brian Hyunh each picked up singles victories, but it was Maharishi pulling out a 5-4 win over the Mount Pleasant boys’ tennis team yesterday at Mahrishi High School.
Mount Pleasant’s No. 1 singles player David Nguyen fell to Ramil Patel 6-2, 1-6, (10-1).
Graber picked up his win in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 while Hyunh won 6-4, 7-5.
In doubles, Owen Van Sickel and Linc Henriksen picked up a solid win beating Maharishi’s top singles Player Ramil Patel and Jayanta Wegman by 9-7 score.
In No. 3 doubles, Levi Graber and Brian Hyuhn mollywhopped the Maharishi tandem of Dominic Dufaux and William Nguyen 8-1.
Men’s College Basketball: Iowa’s Nunge to Transfer:
Redshirt sophomore Jack Nunge has notified head coach Fran McCaffery of his intentions to transfer from the University of Iowa and the men’s basketball program, the University has announced.
This year, Nunge suffered a torn meniscus just days after the unexpected death of his father.
It was reported the transfer release with the intention of moving closer to his home state of Indiana.
Nunge was the team’s leading scorer (7.1) and rebounder (5.3) off the bench in 22 games played in 2020-21. He started 19-of-60 games as a Hawkeye, averaging 6.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 blocks, and 0.5 steals.
Women’s College Basketball: Clark Named WBCA Co-Freshman of the Year:
University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has been named the WBCA Co-Freshman of the Year, the University has announced.
Clark shares the honor this year with UCONN’s Paige Bueckers.
In 30 games this season, Clark averaged 26.6 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Clark led Iowa to the Sweet Sixteen, marking the program’s eighth Sweet Sixteen appearance, and its third in its last four NCAA Tournament appearances.
The West Des Moines, Iowa, native broke the Iowa women’s basketball record for points scored in a freshman campaign and currently ranks third all-time at Iowa for points in a single season behind Megan Gustafson’s junior and senior seasons.