Sports, Wednesday, September 23rd

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Panthers, Danville-NL, Sweep 40th Annual Home XC Meet:

The Mount Pleasant Panther boys’ and girls’ cross country swept the Large Division titles, while Danville-New London rolled to the Small Division titles at yesterday’s 40th Annual Mount Pleasant Cross Country Meet.

Starting with the boys’, Mount Pleasant’s Ben Carthey placed fifth — running 18:20.56 to pace the Panthers. Luke Ryon, Logan Lee and Nathan McWilliams all went top-10 as well, helping guide Mount Pleasant to the team championship.

Gabe Feldmann, Isaac Rynders and and Gannon McNamee finished 14th, 15th, and 16th respectively, as well for Mitch Anderson’s group.

Mount Pleasant finished two points better than second place Fairfield to hold on for the team title.

Fort Madison finished third.

In Small Class boys’ top-ranked (2A) Danville-New London ran away — literally — from the competition as they rolled to yet another team championship.

The Tigers had the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 10th place finishers overall, led by terrific junior Ty Carr who finished with a time of 16:47.72.

Alexander Julian, Oliver Sowell and Seth Bailey were 2-through-4 for Danville-New London, while Columbus’ Isaac Acosta finished fifth.

Columbus took second in the team standings, while Winfield-Mount Union took third.

On the girls’ side of things, Mount Pleasant’s Abby Blint ran 21:13.28 to take home an individual championship and help guide the Panthers to a team title, last night.

Cristina Carthey finished third (21:52.90) and Belle Meador took fourth (21:57.17) for Lyle Murray’s squad.

Elsie Lange also finished top-5 for the Panthers, running 22.35.99.

The Panthers finished with 37 team points, 18 better than that of second-place Fairfield.

In Small Class girls’, Danville-New London’s Addison Parrot won by nearly two minutes, running an absurd 19:29.68 to help guide the Tigers to the team title.

Carissa Mackey placed third for Danville-New London, running 21:44.18.

The Tigers ended with the 6th, 8th and 15th total finishers as well, which helped cement their 20-point first place finish.

Cardinal took second in the Small Class standings with 62 points.

On the JV front, the Panther boys’ were champions while the girls placed third.

Panthers, Tigers Win in Volleyball Last Night:

The Mount Pleasant Panther volleyball team earned win number eight on their season last night when they swept conference rival Fairfield at Fairfield.

The Panthers picked up 25-18, 25-23 and 25-20 wins to improve to 8-12 overall and 2-1 in conference action, good for 3rd behind Burlington and Fort Madison.

Mount Pleasant will now enjoy a full week off, before traveling to Burlington next Tuesday night.

First serve is set for 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile in New London, it was a happy homecoming volleyball victory as the #3 (1A) New London Tigers cruised past Danville 25-17, 25-9 and 25-12.

Keaura Williams had 12 kills to lead the Tigers, while Paris Wilka finished with 10.

The Tigers improved to 9-3 overall and remained unblemished in Southeast Iowa Super Conference play at 3-0.

Danville dropped to 1-7.

The two teams will see each other on Thursday once again, as New London will host one of six pools in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference Tournament.

Joining New London and Danville at New London will be Pekin.

In 7th grade volleyball against Ottumwa last night, the Panther A team was swept 2-0, the B team won 2-0, the C team cruised 2-0, while the D team split their night, going 1-1.

Mount Pleasant’s Johnson Off to Great Start, Other Football Notes:

Mount Pleasant senior quarterback Jack Johnson has been as advertised and then some this year.

Johnson, who is starting at the position for the first time in his varsity career is currently 6th in all classes and 2nd in 3A in total yards (1,224).

He’s also tied for 6th in 3A in total touchdowns through four weeks with 13.

Johnson came alive in the 4th quarter of the Panthers loss to Washington last Friday, throwing for two touchdowns and 213 yards, something his head coach Shawn Striegel says the senior gunslinger can build on.

The Panthers are back in action this Friday when they take on Keokuk on the road.

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. and air-time on KILJ will be 7:00 p.m. for the Panther Tailgate Show.

Also of note: the Panther JV Football game at Keokuk scheduled for next Monday as been cancelled, per Mount Pleasant AD Scott Lamm.

The game was called because of a lack of participation numbers by Keokuk.