Iowa

Leistikow: The beauty of Iowa women’s basketball shines amid officiating chaos at Nebraska

Published

1 year ago

February 11, 2025

Leistikow: The beauty of Iowa women’s basketball shines amid officiating chaos at Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. − One of Lisa Bluder’s lasting legacies in 24 years as Iowa women’s basketball head coach was the mantra, “Everyone matters.”

From a generational superstar like Caitlin Clark to the medical staff to the men’s practice squad to the last player on the bench, Bluder reinforced the message time after time after time. And, the best part is, everyone bought in.

Everyone matters.

An example like Kate Martin will endure forever. She tore an ACL days before her Iowa arrival as a freshman in 2018, but she learned to pour into her teammates that first season that saw Megan Gustafson and the Hawkeyes reach the Elite Eight. She learned that her value that season was to be a positive teammate.

Her second season, she played sparse minutes. By the time Martin was a sixth-year senior, she was not only the team’s “glue” in back-to-back Final Four runs, she was the No. 2 scoring option behind Clark. Martin stuck with it and now, against all early odds, is sticking in the WNBA.

Clark spoke recently at her No. 22 jersey retirement about the team culture that’s been kept in place under the direction of Jan Jensen, Bluder’s longtime assistant and now first-year head coach. Clark was confident that success would be coming for this team sooner than later.

And the more this first season post-Clark and post-Bluder unfolds, the easier it is to see that this program is very much going in the right direction.

On a Monday night that saw repeated perplexing whistles and key Hawkeye players on the sidelines with foul trouble, “everyone matters” won the day.

And Iowa defeated Nebraska, 81-66, in a dominant performance before 6,535 fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

“If you’d have told me all that foul trouble in the first quarter … and we’re still going to come out of here with a win?” Jensen said. “Yeah, that was crazy.”

At one point, Nebraska had shot 23 free throws to Iowa’s six. The pinnacle of questionable calls was Addison O’Grady’s clean blocked shot on Alexis Markowski late in the third quarter, with Iowa’s lead at 52-43.

Quick sidebar: The Iowa team meets every day in a circle, another Bluder staple because it has no true top and bottom, no starting point and end point. Jensen has continued the circle tradition.

Iowa leaned on that circle mentality amid the foul adversity Monday.

“You’ve got to just stay in the circle,” said Lucy Olsen, who played all 40 minutes and scored a season-high 32 points. “You just laugh it off like, ‘It’s not really happening.’ … You can’t control what the refs are calling. So you just take a step back and just remember, stay in the circle, every huddle.”

Instead of getting overly animated on the sideline like she had during Iowa’s five-game losing streak, Jensen remained calm and encouraged her team to try to stop fouling and control what it could control, like defense, rebounding and following the game plan.

7 happy minutes from Jan Jensen after Iowa’s 81-66 win at Nebraska

The Iowa head coach saw her team play another complete game, this one avenging an earlier-season loss to the Cornhuskers.

“Every game is a different story,” Jensen said, “and you have to adjust.”

This game’s story was about Olsen, the fouls and … the young freshmen, who were thrust into key roles and looked like veterans on the Big Ten Conference road.

“That’s what I think was so fun about this win,” Jensen said.

Ava Heiden, a 6-foot-4 true freshman who had not played a minute in Iowa’s last three games, was suddenly on the floor late in the first quarter with O’Grady and Hannah Stuelke saddled with two fouls. She responded with six second-quarter points on 3-for-4 shooting and played good defense on Markowski, Nebraska’s top player.

Heiden stayed ready. She played ready, unafraid of the moment.

“The freshmen are here to serve the team,” Heiden said, “and I think we’re doing a great job.”

Iowa’s Ava Heiden was ready when number got called against Nebraska

The freshman contributed six key second-quarter points in Iowa’s 81-66 win at Nebraska with teammates in foul trouble.

What a quote. What a mature mentality as a freshman.

Heiden isn’t the only Iowa rookie who has had inconsistent playing time.

Some nights, Taylor Stremlow plays 26 minutes; other nights, she’ll play eight.

Aaliyah Guyton might be great one night (15 points in 30 minutes vs. Northwestern), off the next (1-for-9 shooting vs. USC).

Teagan Mallegni has continued to get chances in small doses. Monday, with Sydney Affolter in foul trouble, she played 10:42 and delivered a clutch three-point play in the second quarter.

Iowa turned a 24-24 tie into a 36-27 lead, with all four freshmen scoring a bucket apiece. That’s a testament to the work they’ve been putting in behind the scenes.

Afterward in the locker room, the team also roared to celebrate Mallegni drawing her first charge of the season.

“When they’re used to playing so many minutes in high school, and then they play eight … it’s hard for them to realize how great that eight is,” Jensen said. “And I thought that’s what was cool about (Monday), is that they got their opportunities … and then they were ready for the moment.”

That’s the mark of a good team, which Iowa is right now with five straight wins to follow its concerning five-game losing streak. The Hawkeyes (17-7 overall, 7-6 in Big Ten play) are now solidly in the NCAA Tournament field as long as they don’t collapse in their final five regular-season games. Up next: Thursday at home against Rutgers (6:30 p.m., Big Ten Plus), which is 2-11 in conference play.

“We talked about (playing) your best basketball in February,” Jensen said. “And so far, we’ve been showing that.”

The freshmen respect the veterans and are understanding of their roles; the veterans such as Olsen and Affolter appreciate what they’ve seen from the rookies. After Affolter’s 3-pointer late in the third quarter pushed Iowa’s lead to double digits for the first time, Stremlow was one of the first players off the bench to give her a chest bump.

“They’re special,” Olsen said of the freshmen. “They show up every day, no matter how many minutes they play. It’s confusing as a freshman. You never know if you’re going to get in.

“We all have trust, every time they come on the floor. We know they’re going to try their best, and they’re good basketball players, too.”

Everyone matters.

Jensen has talked often about how close she thought this team was from breaking through, even amid the five-game losing slide that saw the Hawkeyes repeatedly find frustrating ways to collapse.

Now this team has reached a point where everyone knows their roles, where everyone’s comfortable in their roles … and that allows everyone to play freer and looser. That’s what a true team is all about.

We saw that with Olsen’s magnificent night, with 12-for-20 shooting, six rebounds and seven assists. We saw that with Taylor McCabe, the junior who didn’t play a year ago at Nebraska and this time knocked down five 3s and scored 17 points against her home-state team.

Nebraska native Taylor McCabe showed out for Iowa, her big contingent

The Iowa junior had her best game against the Cornhuskers, draining five 3-pointers in the second half Monday in Iowa’s 81-66 win.

The vibes are good with Jensen and the Hawkeyes entering the home stretch, and the confidence is justifiably high.

“Our ceiling is so high, and I think that we’re hitting it in stride, right at the right time,” McCabe said. “You just see it every day in practice, too. Those members of our team that don’t get in to play as much, they’re getting better, and so they’re raising everybody else to keep getting better.

“And we’re just all gradually moving up that ladder. I really think that we’re just going to do some damage down the stretch.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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Iowa

‘¿Habla español?’ Iowa schools look overseas to find Spanish teachers

Published

5 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

‘¿Habla español?’ Iowa schools look overseas to find Spanish teachers

The Exchange Visiting Teachers from Spain helps schools find qualified Spanish teachers.
World language teaching positions are hard to fill in rural areas.

The sounds of Dallas Center-Grimes High School Spanish students singing “¿Por Que Te Vas?” by Jeanette with varying levels of gusto and prodding by teacher Antton Zuazu Hernández may seem like an unusual way to learn.

But the sing-along is how Zuazu Hernández, a native of Spain, helps engage his students and share his culture as part of a teacher-exchange program.

“I feel I’m a messenger in a way, and this is part of the program,” he said. “We’re expected to both bring our culture here and bring your culture back to Spain.”

Zuazu Hernández — who taught English in Spain — is among 26 bilingual teachers in Iowa as part of an exchange program between the Iowa Department of Education and Spain’s Ministry of Education and Culture.

“(The program) was created to address the shortage of qualified Spanish teachers in the state and helps expose students to different world cultures,” said Heather Doe, the department’s spokesperson. “… The Exchange Visiting Teachers from Spain program has been very successful in helping schools, especially in rural communities, hire highly qualified Spanish teachers.”

Iowa has nearly 1,200 world language teachers in kindergarten through college, according to the Iowa World Language Association website.

Some foreign language teachers in Iowa moved to the U.S. and later obtained teaching credentials. Others were recruited to work in Iowa schools.

Iowa schools, including Waukee Community School District, even offer financial incentives as a recruitment tool for hard to fill positions.

“Many of them, like me, will arrive with teaching experience from our home countries, but in the process of validating the credentials in the U.S. we find obstacles,” said Elizabeth Bulthuis, a Waukee High School world languages teacher who immigrated from Ecuador in 2003, “and the validating of credentials also can be lengthy and costly, because of all the educational systems and how they are structured differently.”

Exchange program is beneficial to schools, superintendent

The Spain exchange program — which brings hundreds of teachers to schools across the U.S. — comes with several requirements.

The Spanish teachers must be certified in the language with at least two years of experience, Doe said. Additionally, candidates go through a vetting process at the federal, state and local levels. Teachers also attend a three-day state orientation.

Schools and districts participating in the program pay an $895 fee to offset licensing and orientation costs, Doe said.

The program is a blessing for rural areas struggling to fill positions teaching foreign language, special education, math and science.

“It’s very difficult to even get an applicant,” said Deron Stender, the superintendent at the rural Creston Community School District, “… When I say it’s difficult to even find (the candidates) they don’t exist. And if they do, they’re probably going to be in a larger metro, urban, suburban areas where there’s just more opportunities.”

St. Anthony’s conducts bilingual class for its students

St. Anthony’s Catholic school brings Spanish speaking teachers to the U.S. to teach students the language.

Zuazu Hernández taught Spanish and drove a bus at Creston during the 2024-25 school year. But falling enrollment and budget cuts resulted in his position being eliminated.

A program drawback is teachers only have three-year visas, he said.

“When you have a very good individual that comes to your district from a foreign country after the third year, you still have that need again,” Stender said. “So, we just open it back up to the same program, but you’re doing another refresh of the process, and while that’s a challenge, it’s still better than not having a teacher in the classroom.”

Not every world language teacher comes from Spain

Another issue schools have faced is filling teaching positions for immersion programs.

In the early 2000s, St. Anthony’s started a Spanish-immersion program after several families with children of Honduras and Guatemala descent wanted their kids to have a Catholic school education and maintain their connection to the Spanish language.

“A lot of teachers go to school to teach Spanish, but they go to school to teach it as a standalone Spanish class,” principal Jennifer Raes said. “… We were really searching for teachers that could come here and teach in any subject, just a regular teacher, but also has the skills of teaching in Spanish and English.”

Marisol Guerra, a Honduras native, came to the U.S. in 2010 to help start St. Anthony’s program. Guerra manage to come to the U.S. as part of that year’s Spain exchange program cohort.

More than a decade later, the school offers classes in English and an immersive track where 85% of the students’ day is spent learning in Spanish. While families were hesitant in the beginning to take part in the immersion program, there is now a waitlist of almost a dozen families.

“There was uncertainty, (but) they wanted their children to learn a second language,” Guerra said, “and they wanted without knowing, I think, they also were exposing them to other cultures and opening their minds to other things.”

The over the years, St. Anthony’s has employed teachers who moved to America from Spain, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

The over representation of teachers from Spain likely is due to other countries not offering similar exchange programs, said Bulthuis, a member of the Iowa World Language Association.

It took several years for the veteran teacher — who came to Iowa in 2005 — to become credentialed to teach in the U.S. because she was not part of an exchange program.

“I think that world language teachers can be difficult to recruit because the pool of candidates is relatively small, so teachers need a strong language proficiency, cultural knowledge and all the teaching certifications,” said Bulthuis, who left Ecuador in 2003 because of the country’s financial crisis, “(but) many people who speak another language also have opportunity in other careers.”

Bulthuis does not recommend loosening the criteria to teach in Iowa but suggests improving or streamlining the process for an international teacher to obtain a state teaching license.

“… Not every Spanish speaking country is going to have (an exchange) program like that in place to help their community,” Bulthuis said,

Cultural exchange

Educators say employing international teachers goes beyond language skills.

“International educators can bring tremendous cultural and linguistic expertise to the classroom, which is an incredible skill and very valuable for students,” Bulthuis said.

That cultural exchange can carry over into a school’s lesson plans.

Zuazu Hernández often lets his American students’ interests drive what he teaches them about Spanish culture. These questions have ranged from wanting more insight into bullfighting, the Spanish school system, stereotypes and politics.

“Sometimes, they are more interested in me as a person, or the things I can tell them about Spain than the actual Spanish language,” he said, “but they have that curiosity that I think all teachers, we have to take advantage of.”

While reading “¡Viva el toro!” by Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray, a novel about bullfighting, Zuazu Hernández talked to students about his family’s love of the cultural spectacle and how it is losing popularity in Spain because of how the bulls are treated.

Zuazu Hernández is open about his perspective on the practice to his students.

“To me, bullfighting is not worth sustaining just because it’s a tradition — traditions are not always good or acceptable — but rather because it’s an art, and it expands the depth of human understanding of the most intense truths in life, with death as the scariest of all,” he told the Des Moines Register in an email.

His students appreciate his candidness and the chance to learn from teachers with different lived experiences.

“I like having different teachers because they have different experiences, and I think it adds to the overall class,” said Grace Heston, an 11th grader Dallas Center-Grimes High School. “When you’re learning about Spanish, you’re not just learning about a language, you’re learning about the culture associated with it.”

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com.

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Iowa

NCAA Wrestling Championships at-large bids announced

Published

17 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

NCAA Wrestling Championships at-large bids announced

The 330 wrestlers competing in Cleveland at the NCAA Championships are now set.

After the conference tournaments established the lion’s share of wrestlers, the NCAA announced the at-large bids on Tuesday, March 10, completing the rest of the field.

Brackets and seeds will be announced on March 10, but here’s a look at the contingents each state of Iowa program will be sending after the at-large bids were announced.

Iowa wrestling NCAA qualifiers

For the third year in a row, Iowa wrestling will be sending nine to the NCAA Championships. Victor Voinovich did not earn an at-large bid at 157 pounds after finishing ninth at the Big Ten Championships, one place outside of NCAA automatic qualification. He concludes his season with a 12-6 record.

Voinovich narrowly earned the starting job over Jordan Williams at 157, with Iowa coach Tom Brands saying it was very close, but Voinovich had shown a little more “fight” this year. Now that Voinovich hasn’t qualified for NCAAs, it’s a decision that will go further under the microscope.

What’s done is done, however, for Iowa. They’ll take Dean Peterson (125), Drake Ayala (133), Nasir Bailey (141), Ryder Block (149), Michael Caliendo (165), Patrick Kennedy (174), Angelo Ferrari (184), Gabe Arnold (197) and Ben Kueter (285) to Cleveland in hopes of salvaging what has been a tough season.

Iowa State wrestling NCAA qualifiers

For the first time since 2010, Iowa State will send all 10 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. Vinny Zerban earned an at-large bid at 157 pounds despite falling short of the automatic qualifying threshold at the Big 12 Championships. Zerban suffered a concussion and medically forfeited out of the tournament after his first match in Tulsa. His health status will be worth monitoring NCAAs inch closer, from March 19-22.

The Cyclones look poised for one of their best postseasons in recent memory with their 10 qualifiers ―Stevo Poulin (125), Garrett Grice (133), Anthony Echemendia (141), Jacob Frost (149), Zerban, Connor Euton (165), MJ Gaitan (174), Isaac Dean (184), Rocky Elam (197) and Yonger Bastida (285). The loss of Evan Frost hurts the Cyclones, considering his pedigree and season as a whole, but Grice’s has earned several ranked wins since entering the lineup in February and could still add some much-needed team points as the team chases a team trophy.

Behind title contenders Elam and Bastida, proven podium threats in Poulin, Echemnedia, Jacob Frost and Zerban (if healthy), Iowa State will be in the mix for a top-four finish in Cleveland.

UNI wrestling NCAA qualifiers

Northern Iowa will send five to the NCAA Championships. Automatic qualifiers Julian Farber (133), Caleb Rathjen (149) and Ryder Downey (165) will be joined by Jared Simma (174) and Nick Fox (184), who each earned at-large bids. The number of qualifiers could extend to six, with Trever Anderson (125) being the alternate at 125 pounds for NCAAs. However, he had to medically forfeit out of the Big 12 Championships, so his health status would be in question if he got called up.

With that, Max Brady (141), Cael Rahnavardi (157), John Gunderson (197) and Adam Ahrendsen (285) will have their seasons come to an end. Brady, a true freshman, will still have three NCAA chances in his career after showing promising moments in relief of Cory Land’s season-ending injury. Gunderson, a U23 World team member, will return for next season as well. Rahnavardi and Ahrendsen were both in their final seasons of eligibility.

Following injuries to Land and Wyatt Voelker, it’s been a hard year for the Panthers. This is half the number of NCAA qualifiers that UNI had last season when they qualified 10 for the first time since 1986. The last time UNI had five or fewer qualifiers was 2016.

However, all five of their wrestlers have each shown moments of brilliance, either this season or in prior NCAA Championships. They may be a smaller crew than normal, but Downey, Rathjen, Farber, Simma and Fox are all ones to watch in Cleveland.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

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Iowa

DCI agent say he was fired for questioning Iowa college gambling probe

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

DCI agent say he was fired for questioning Iowa college gambling probe

A former Iowa investigator is suing the state, claiming he was fired for criticizing a high-profile college sports gambling probe.
Mark Ludwick alleges his termination was retaliation for testifying that investigators conducted illegal searches and were told to mislead students.
The gambling investigation, which led to charges against dozens of student-athletes, has faced legal challenges over its methods.

A longtime investigator for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says he was forced out of the agency because he voiced reservations about a high-profile investigation into gambling in college athletics.

Mark Ludwick was hired by Iowa’s top investigative agency in 1997 and was terminated in November 2024, according to a lawsuit filed Feb. 20 in Polk County. According to his complaint, Ludwick was fired after two “frivolous” investigations, one claiming he’d exceeded the speed limit driving to a murder scene, and the other for assistance he provided to a domestic abuse victim.

The real reason, Ludwick alleges, is that officials were embarrassed after Ludwick testified under oath about what he regarded as weaknesses in their sports wagering investigation, which resulted in dozens of Iowa State University and University of Iowa student-athletes facing suspensions, 25 being criminally charged and 19 pleading guilty to underage gambling.

Ludwick testified in early 2024 he believed investigators had conducted illegal searches to identify the online gamblers and that he and other agents had been directed to lie to students about whether they were subjects of the investigation. He also alleged that stress about the case contributed to another agent’s fatal heart attack, although the agent’s relatives disputed the connection.

Now Ludwick is accusing the state of violating Iowa’s whistleblower protection statute. He declined through his attorney to comment. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office also declined to comment, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety, which includes the DCI, did not respond to an inquiry about the case.

Gambling investigation raised constitutional concerns

In the gambling investigation, DCI investigators used software tools provided by GeoComply, a Canadian company that contracts with online sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings, to look for evidence of illegal gambling activity. Using a GeoComply system, the investigators created a so-called “geofence” around college athletic facilities that allowed them to detect student athletes using wagering accounts registered to parents and friends to place bets ― sometimes on their own games.

Although the investigation resulted in numerous arrests and suspensions, it also drew controversy, in particular for agents’ failure to obtain warrants before conducting their location searches. GeoComply, which had encouraged Iowa to use its service, responded by cancelling the state’s access.

A large group of current and former students sued the state, accusing investigators of violating their constitutional rights. In November 2025, a federal judge ruled that the state’s investigation “does not comport with the Fourth Amendment,” which provides protection from illegal searches.

Nonetheless, the court dismissed the lawsuit, finding the officers involved were entitled to immunity. An appeal is pending.

Ludwick’s reservations emerge in depositions

Ludwick was an experienced investigator for the DCI, working on high-profile cases including the 2015 murder of Shirley Carter, whose son was tried and acquitted, and the 2017 deaths of two girls in a fire started by a relative.

While not the lead agent on the 2023 gambling investigation, Ludwick was tapped to assist by interviewing some of the student athletes. He later testified he grew concerned that the state’s geofence searches amounted to illegal, warrantless searches, and declined to participate in the case any further. He alleges that other DCI agents shared his concerns and also maneuvered to avoid being involved in the case.

Ludwick says he reported his concerns to his superiors. In January 2024, he was deposed by defense attorneys for four of the students, and “testified truthfully during his deposition that he believed an illegal search had been conducted.” Defense attorneys cited Ludwick’s remarks within days in filings covered by numerous media outlets, including the Des Moines Register, which “caused embarrassment and increased scrutiny for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Commissioner Bayens, and other employees,” Ludwick’s suit states.

According to the complaint, officials launched an investigation into Ludwick for speeding on March 5, weeks after the embarrassing testimony was reported. On Aug. 8, officials initiated a second investigation after, Ludwick says, “he attempted to help a victim of domestic abuse flee her abuser.” He denies his actions violated Iowa law or department policy.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

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