Iowa
Iowa High School Looking To Consolidate In More Sports After Canceling Football Season
One Iowa high school athletic department is facing extremely low numbers in multiple sports, prompting school officials to begin searching for programs to share with.
Exira-EHK High School has already cancelled the upcoming 2026 Iowa High School Athletic Association varsity football season, going instead with a junior varsity-only series of games. According to a report by Western Iowa Today, they have also shared softball with Audubon.
The Exira-EHK/Audubon softball team is currently ranked No. 1 in Class 1A of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. A total of 11 of the players on the 23-girl team are from Exira-EHK. They are 15th in the latest High School On SI Iowa Top 25 State Rankings as they prepare for postseason play.
Enrollment For Exira-EHK School District Continues To Drop
Enrollment at the high school level for the Spartans is down by over 20 students, with the expectation for even more of a drop in overall enrollment moving into the 2026-2027 school year.
Tom Petersen, the Exira-EHK athletic director, was part of a community-wide meeting earlier this week alongside Trevor Miller, the school superintendent.
“I’m going to continue to campaign, keep working (to get more kids out),” Petersen said. “It’s just part of being an AD and a coach. I have tried every scenario that I can to try and make it that our kids could go and play varsity (football).
“It’s not the state’s fault, it’s not our fault; it’s the middle of a two-year cycle. I coached here for 20 years in football and it’s crushing (to not have a program).”
Petersen also mentioned during the meeting that he is struggling to fill several coaching vacancies, including the head boys basketball position. He said that they have received zero applications for that coaching vacancy.
Spartans Currently Share Multiple Sports With Audubon
Along with baseball and softball, the Exira-EHK school district also shares girls basketball, boys wrestling, girls wrestling, boys tennis and girls tennis with Audubon. Petersen is proposing to the school board a share agreement for boys basketball, boys track and field, and girls track and field, in addition to the other sports.
Last fall, the Spartans went 4-5 overall, as they won 22 games over a stretch of seasons after going 0-7 in 2020. Exira-EHK was 12-1 in 2013 and had three consecutive years of at least eight wins after that.
The schools are a combination of the towns of Exira, Elk Horn and Kimballton.
Follow
CORALVILLE, Iowa (KCRG) – Coralville Police say a person has drowned at the Coralville Aquatic Center Tuesday afternoon.
The call went out shortly after 4 p.m. to 1513 7th Street for a drowning report.
Officers, lifeguards and paramedics gave lifesaving aid to the person. They were taken to the University of Iowa Health Care, where they were pronounced dead.
The identity of the victim has not been released. The incident is under investigation.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa
Iowa City Man who ran over people in homeless encampment sentenced to nearly two decades in prison
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – An Iowa City man who pleaded guilty to driving into five people at a homeless encampment last August has been sentenced to serve nearly two decades in prison.
On August 15, 2025, Roman Aguilar Ventura drove his vehicle while under the influence through an encampment near Shelter House, an organization that assists homeless people.
Ventura pleaded guilty to several charges in March, including Operating While Under the Influence, two counts of Willful Injury Resulting in Bodily Injury, and three counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon. He also pleaded guilty to Driving While Barred and Driving While License Denied or Revoked.
In addition to his sentence, Ventura will also be subject to a six-year suspension of his drivers license, in addition to substance abuse treatment.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on transition so far to Ames
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on transition so far to Ames and how it compares to the transitional offseason between SDSU and Washington St.
For the second straight year, the Big 12 Conference did not release preseason football rankings for the upcoming season, but that didn’t stop the USA TODAY Sports Network from making its own predicted order of finish for the 2026 season as well as a preseason All-Big 12 team.
Sports writers who cover the Big 12 throughout the network voted on the predicted order of finish for all 16 teams.
Iowa State lost the winningest coach in program history, Matt Campbell, and had a massive roster rebuild after finishing 8-4 last season. With a team loaded with more than 60 newcomers and a coach who is new to the power-conference level in Jimmy Rogers, the Cyclones were tabbed to finish in last place in the USA TODAY Sports’ preseason Big 12 rankings.
Texas Tech, which won its first Big 12 title in school history last season and reached the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, is projected to repeat and finish on top. BYU, which lost to the Red Raiders in the Big 12 championship game last season, is predicted to finish in second place. Utah, Houston and Arizona round out the top five of the USA TODAY Sports Network’s preseason Big 12 prediction.
For the USA TODAY Sports Network preseason All-Big 12 team, the Cyclones didn’t have any players selected, but they did have a few honorable mentions.
Running back Aiden Flora, kicker Kyle Konrardy and defensive end Isaac Terrell were chosen as honorable mentions for the USA TODAY Sports Network preseason All-Big 12 team.
Flora and Konrardy are returning All-Big 12 selections. Flora was an all-conference second-team returner last season, and Konrardy was named All-Big 12 honorable mention.
Terrell is one of the Cyclones’ promising newcomers. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Line Top Performer of the Year and had a team-high seven sacks at Washington State last season.
2026 USA TODAY Sports Network Big 12 football preseason predicted order of finish
- Texas Tech
- BYU
- Utah
- Houston
- Arizona
- TCU
- Kansas State
- Arizona State
- Oklahoma State
- Baylor
- UCF
- Kansas
- Cincinnati
- West Virginia
- Colorado
- Iowa State
2026 USA TODAY Sports Network Preseason All-Big 12 award winners
Offensive Player of the Year: L.J. Martin, RB, BYU
(Also receiving votes: Noah Fifita, QB, Arizona; Drew Mestemaker, QB, Oklahoma State; Amare Thomas, WR, Houston)
Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Roberts, LB, Texas Tech
(Also receiving votes: A.J. Holmes, DL, Texas Tech; Brice Pollock, DB, Texas Tech; Austin Romaine, LB, Texas Tech)
Newcomer of the Year: Drew Mestemaker, QB, Oklahoma State
(Also receiving votes: Caleb Hawkins, RB, Oklahoma State; Cam Cook, RB, West Virginia; Adam Trick, DL, Texas Tech)
2026 USA TODAY Sports Network Preseason All-Big 12 football team
Offense:
- QB: Noah Fifita, Arizona
- RB: L.J. Martin, BYU
- RB: Caleb Hawkins, Oklahoma State
- WR: Amare Thomas, Houston
- WR: Omarion Miller, Arizona State
- WR: Wyatt Young, Oklahoma State
- TE: Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech
- OL: Evan Tengesdahl, Cincinnati
- OL: Bruce Mitchell, BYU
- OL: Shadre Hurst, Houston
- OL: John Pastore, Kansas State
- OL: Howard Sampson, Texas Tech
Defense:
- DL: A.J. Holmes, Texas Tech
- DL: Wendell Gregory, Kansas State
- DL: Adam Trick, Texas Tech
- DL: Mateen Ibirogba, Texas Tech
- LB: Ben Roberts, Texas Tech
- LB: Austin Romaine, Texas Tech
- LB: Cade Uluave, BYU
- DB: Brice Pollock, Texas Tech
- DB: Faletau Satuala, BYU
- DB: Jamel Johnson, TCU
- DB: Will James, Houston
Special teams:
- K: Stone Harrington, Texas Tech
- P: Palmer Williams, Baylor
- KR/PR: J’Koby Williams, Texas Tech
Honorable mentions:
- Arizona: DB Jay’vion Cole; LB Taye Brown
- Arizona State: WR Reed Harris, DL CJ Fite
- BYU: QB Bear Bachmeier, DL Keanu Tanuvasa, LB Isaiah Glasker, DB Evan Johnson
- Cincinnati: OL Joe Cotton, OL Taran Tyo, DB MJ Cannon, P Max Fletcher, K Stephen Rusnak
- Colorado: WR Danny Scudero, LB Gideon ESPN Lampron, KR Quentin Gibson
- Houston: OL Drew Terrill
- Iowa State: DL Isaac Terrell, K Kyle Konrady, KR Aiden Flora
- Kansas: DL Leroy Harris III, LB Trey Lathan, KR Dylan Edwards
- Kansas State: TE Garrett Oakley
- Oklahoma State: QB Drew Mestemaker, LB Ethan Wesloski
- TCU: WR Jordan Dwyer, OL Ben Taylor-Whitfield, P John Hoyet Chance
- Texas Tech: RB Cameron Dickey, WR Coy Eakin, WR Malcolm Simmons, OL Sheridan Wilson, DB Brenden Jordan, DL Trey White
- Utah: RB Wayshawn Parker, DB Jackson Bennee, KR Mana Carvalho
- West Virginia: RB Cam Cook, P Bryan Hansen
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
-
Cleveland, OH7 minutes agoOhio ICAC Task Force’s “Operation Guardians’ Watch” Results in 25 Individuals Arrested and Charged for Attempting to Meet with an Underage Child to Engage in Sexual Activity
-
Austin, TX10 minutes agoTexas’ Goosby hosts camp to benefit heart research
-
Alabama15 minutes agoAlabama teen charged with stabbing mom to death issued vile threat to dad — as new pic shows bloodbath left behind
-
Alaska22 minutes agoOutmigration, inflation, choice schools: Alaska school closures likely to continue without changes
-
Arizona25 minutes agoWATCH: Arizona’s health insurance marketplace is seeing dropping enrollment
-
Arkansas30 minutes agoARKANSAS SIGHTSEEING: Randolph County can claim many firsts in Arkansas | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
-
California37 minutes agoToddler sustains brain injury in fall after California childcare worker threw him into the air, lawsuit says
-
Colorado40 minutes ago‘Saleabration’ comes back to Colorado Springs for third year
