Iowa
Caitlin Clark Talks Returning to Iowa City, New WNBA Season
Caitlin Clark Talks Returning to Iowa City, New WNBA Season
On Sunday (3 PM CT, ESPN), Caitlin Clark will do something very familiar: put on a jersey, lace up her shoes, and dribble a basketball all over the parquet floor on Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of cheering fans.
The only differences? She’ll be in an Indiana Fever jersey instead of the black-and-gold Iowa uniform she made internationally famous during her four seasons at Iowa — and she’ll be passing to a different set of teammates than the likes of Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall, and Hannah Stuelke.
Clark spoke about her return to Iowa City this week. She is, understandably, very excited about the opportunity to return to a place where she had so much success and created so many positive connections and good memories.
“I’m really excited, it should be fun,” Clark said. “I can’t believe it’s already here. I honestly haven’t been back to Iowa City a ton since I left a year ago now. Only been back a couple times — once for a football game, once for the jersey retirement.”
“So it’ll be fun to get back there, see some of my former teammates, [and] my friends that are there. A lot of my family will be coming — I know they’re excited,” Clark added.
As she noted, Clark was back in CHA just a few months ago, albeit not as a player, but as an alumnus being honored for her legendary playing career with the retirement of her jersey.
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She did have one word of warning for everyone planning to attend the Sunday afternoon (3 PM CT) game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena: CHA might turn into a bit of a hothouse.
“I warned everybody, there’s not air conditioning in Carver-Hawkeye. They don’t usually play basketball games in May,” she said with a laugh.
“Hopefully it stays a little cool in there. I don’t know what the humidity is looking like. We’ll see how it goes — it might be a little toasty. People at graduation when it’s in Carver get a little hot,” she said.
As Clark pointed out, Carver-Hawkeye Arena doesn’t have air conditioning — which usually isn’t a concern since it’s primarily used for activities between November and March. It does see regular use in May as a venue for graduation ceremonies, though; as someone who went through a graduation ceremony in CHA many (many) years ago, I can confirm that it can get rather warm in there in May. The current Sunday forecast is projecting a high of 71 degrees and minimal humidity.
Clark, entering her second year with the Fever, is the betting favorite to win the WNBA MVP award. Clark is a +195 favorite to win the MVP per BetMGM, ahead of the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson (+210) and the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier (+325). ESPN BET has Clark’s odds to win the MVP at +200, followed by Wilson at +235 and Collier at +400.
For her part, Clark is looking forward to things slowing down in Year 2 in the WNBA and being settled after the whirlwind experience that was her opening season in Indiana.
“I think there was just a lot coming at me last year at this time,” Clark noted. “I’m trying to move to a new a city, I’m living in a hotel, I’m trying to figure out my teammates, trying to figure out new coaches, how this league works. I played the last game of the college season, I played the first preseason game of the WNBA season, and then I played 11 games in 20 days.”
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“It was a lot to take in, it came at me fast. But I’m also really grateful for that experience, too, I think it taught me a lot about basketball, taught me a lot about myself, and how to be resilient and to come in and to work and to always get better,” she added. “I think for myself, just having a year under my belt [and] knowing what to expect [is big].”
“As long as we win, I’m going to be happy. [I] just [want to] be the best leader I can be, knowing that I have a year under my belt, I know what to expect. I’m the point guard, so people are going to be expecting a lot from me. I need to be there for my teammates, be an extension of [new head coach Stephanie White] on the court and just be a great leader and have a lot of fun doing it.”
The Fever made several moves in the offseason, including hiring Stephanie White, the former Connecticut Sun head coach who was an assistant coach on the 2012 Indiana Fever team that won a WNBA title. On the player front, the Fever added two-time WNBA All-Star and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard and six-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA champion DeWanna Bonner via free agency and traded for Sophie Cunningham and Jaleyn Brown.
Clark likes what she’s seen from the new-look roster through the first few practices of the new season.
“Just through these first few days of practice, everybody’s been really great and it’s been so much fun,” she said. “You can tell everyone’s just been very selfless and excited to be here and excited to put things together to be a really successful team.”
Asked what success would look like this year, Clark was succinct:
“A championship.”
As she prepares for her second year in the WNBA, Clark expressed much more comfort now, having been through the whirlwind a year ago.
“I feel like I’m in a much better spot of understanding how the league works, what to expect, what the coaches and your teammates are going to expect of you,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot of time to rest and get better at things I want to get better at. All that being said, we have three more preseason games to practice and really get ready for our opener on May 17.”
On Sunday, thousands of fans who cheered on Clark for four years in Iowa City will get to celebrate her one more time — and see just how much she’s improved as she gets ready to contend in her second year in the professional ranks.
The Indiana Fever are scheduled to have their preseason opener against the Washington Mystics on Saturday, May 3 (12 PM CT, NBA TV). The Fever have their second preseason game against the Brazilian National Team in Iowa City on Sunday, May 4 (3 PM CT, ESPN).
With June rapidly finishing up, that means the Iowa high school softball season is preparing to enter the stretch run of the year.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Softball Tournament will begin Monday, July 20, in Fort Dodge at Rogers Park, bringing together many of the top teams and players in the state. High School On SI Iowa currently provides a Top 25 state softball power rankings, so now, we need to see who the top players are.
Below are the nominees for the High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player of the Year in each classification. Stats listed with the player are from Bound and based on those numbers imputed as of June 26, 2026 at noon CT.
Feel free to vote as many times as you like, with voting set to close on Friday, July 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CT.
High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player Of The Year Nominees
Rachel Eglseder, Edgewood-Colesburg, Senior
Eglseder owns a 16-5 record, striking out 225 batters with a 1.66 earned run average while adding 11 extra-base hits and 40 RBI at the plate.
Rylee Mudderman, Kee, Junior
Mudderman continues to be a difficult out, batting .488 this season with two homers, 11 doubles and four triples. She has driven in 38 and scored 35 times, stealing 10 bases.
Faith Shirbroun, St. Edmond, Senior
Speaking of tough outs, Shirbroun owns a batting average of .606 this season, recording seven homers, 17 doubles and five triples. She has driven in 36 and scored 37 times, stealing 22 bases while setting several school records for hitting.
Sydney Lovrien, Clarksville, Senior
The ace for the defending state champions, Lovrien is 13-5 with 100 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched. She also has 23 hits and 21 RBI at the plate.
Sam Kruckenberg, Mason City Newman Catholic, Senior
A veteran now, Kruckenberg owns an 18-4 record with 227 strikeouts and a 1.23 earned run average. She is batting .440 with five homers, 11 doubles and 23 RBI at the plate.
About Our Midseason Player of the Year Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The Iowa chapter of the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) officially opened a new facility on its 80-acre demonstration farm in Marshall County Thursday.
Iowa LICA President Scott Bohle said having classroom and meeting space will make it easier to educate the next generation of professional contractors, along with government employees, lawmakers and students, to help conserve soil and water in the state.
Bohle said the building “gives people a place to gather, collaborate and continue the important work that defines our association.”
Just outside the new space are wetlands, terraces, sediment control basins, bioreactors and other features, which members have built since LICA purchased the farm near Melbourne in 2000.
“We call it the one-stop shop, where you can see anything being put to practice by our landowners,” said Kelby Kiefer, executive director of Iowa LICA.
Together, these “edge-of-field” practices remove 50% of phosphates and almost 100% of the nitrates from the runoff of a 1,000-plus acre watershed, according to the association.
Adding more wetlands, saturated buffers and bioreactors across the state are a key part of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy. It aims to cut nitrogen and phosphorus losses from farm fields by 41% and 29%, respectively.
The strategy is part of a broader effort to reduce nutrient pollution in the state’s waterways and the Gulf of Mexico by 45% compared to the 1980-96 baseline period. It does not include a target date.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the state has accelerated edge-of-field practices in recent years, in part through the Batch and Build model. The approach bundles projects in a targeted watershed to reduce costs and save time for farmers and contractors.
Nearly 150 nitrate reducing wetlands and around 500 saturated buffers, bioreactors and multi-purpose oxbows had been built in the state as of 2024. Thousands more will be needed to meet the state’s nutrient reduction targets.
“[Clean water is] something we need to be focused on, and we can be proud of the work that’s happened, but we know that we need to do more,” Naig said. “Buildings like this help.”
Naig said scaling up conservation infrastructure across the state will require more skilled contractors. He described them as the “critical link” between concepts and “getting things on the ground.”
“It’s from that point where you say, ‘We have a design that’s ready to go, a willing landowner,’ but somebody needs to make it happen,” Naig said. “The land improvement contractor sits in that very important spot.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Mark Roering returned to Iowa City Regina 30 years after serving as an assistant coach, and in just two seasons, he has transformed the Regals into one of Class 2A’s most dangerous teams.
“I was a senior in college. I just had finished playing baseball myself and was doing high school in the summers. Had one of those magical seasons here losing in the state finals,” Roering said. “I was just ready for something new.”
Prior to being hired at Iowa City Regina in 2024, Roering coached nine seasons at Dowling Catholic, where he helped the Maroons reach the state tournament six times. Regina was below .500 in three of the four seasons before his arrival. His first season at the helm, Regina went 22-6.
“I think the biggest difference is practice. Everybody is so much more locked in. Really that just comes from him. He gets on us everyday, he has to make the drive and hour and a half every day so we want to give that back to him for all the time and effort he’s put into us,” junior Trey Streb said.
Streb also described Roering as a very emotional coach who cares deeply about the team and winning.
The Regals’ bats have become a significant threat. Regina ranks fifth in the state and second in Class 2A with a .379 batting average and has the fourth fewest strikeouts among state teams.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and it’s been super competitive and it’s nice to be with people who want to win and will do whatever it takes to win,” senior Emmett Burke said.
The team already sits at 20 wins with eight regular season games remaining.
Roering said the transformation comes when players start believing they can win in any situation.
“Winning is contagious just like losing is contagious,” Roering said. “Kids they start believing and it gets really dangerous you know that they can win no matter what situation they’re in.”
The turnaround has positioned the Regals to make a postseason run. With only one senior on the roster, the team could remain a threat next season.
“No matter what, we’re going to fight and we’re not going to roll over. We’re going to do what we need to do to win,” Burke said.
“We’re big competitors. We don’t accept defeat and I think that’s one of my favorite parts about this team,” Streb added.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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