Iowa

‘Send code!’: Iowa State men’s basketball title rings reference ‘Among Us’

Published

1 year ago

August 28, 2024

Press Room

‘Send code!’: Iowa State men’s basketball title rings reference ‘Among Us’

J.J. Post, ESPNAug 28, 2024, 03:12 PM ET

The Iowa State Cyclones’ Big 12 championship rings include a rather suspicious detail.

The most prominent elements of the hardware highlight all the usual bells and whistles of a team celebrating a title. There are the red and gold colors and retro logo that pay homage to the Cyclones’ brand. There’s a “23-0 at Hilton” line, referencing the team’s undefeated record at the Hilton Center, as well as in Kansas City (“Hilton South”) and Omaha (“Hilton West”) in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

And then there’s the video game character.

The details on Iowa State’s rings 👀💍
(via @CycloneMBB) pic.twitter.com/btPs1Bm7IB
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— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 28, 2024

The video game “Among Us” rose to fame in 2020, bolstered by interactive elements suitable for a socially distanced world. The game’s player base has declined since, but it never went away completely — certainly not in Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State would use the game as a means of team bonding on road trips throughout the season. The animated character graphic is accompanied by the text “Send code!” a phrase used by the Cyclones to signify the start of a new game.

not the detail i expected
— Among Us 🚀 PAX West (@AmongUsGame) August 28, 2024

Iowa State men’s basketball will set out to defend its conference crown and undefeated home record on November 4, when the team opens the season against Mississippi Valley State.

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Iowa

Overnight fire destroys Dubuque County farm building

Published

15 hours ago

February 8, 2026

Press Room

Overnight fire destroys Dubuque County farm building

DUBUQUE COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A Dubuque County Farm building is now considered a total loss after an overnight fire.

Just after 1 a.m. Sunday crews were called to a property along Dyersville East Road. Upon arriving, fire crews found a farm building fully engulfed in flames.

No injuries were reported but the property damages are estimated to be up to $100,000.

Officials say the fire was not suspicious and an investigation is not planned.

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Iowa

Southeast Polk wrestling wins 3rd straight Iowa state duals title

Published

1 day ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

Southeast Polk wrestling wins 3rd straight Iowa state duals title

CORALVILLE − After a regular season full of dual dominance, the Southeast Polk wrestling team capped it off with an Iowa boys state duals championship on Saturday, Feb 7.

It’s the third straight for the program and the fifth since 2019. The Rams now own eight boys state duals titles, which is the third most in Iowa and only behind Don Bosco (16) and Davenport Assumption (9).

The Rams opened with a wire-to-wire victory over Pleasant Valley, winning 11 of 14 bouts to claim the dual, 54-15. In the semifinals, Southeast Polk drew its likely top challenger for a title against No. 4-seed Dowling Catholic.

While Southeast Polk lost the opening two matches to the Maroons by fall to Cruz Gannon at 106 pounds and technical fall to Jack Wallukait at 113, the Rams bounced back to win 46-25 over Dowling Catholic. In total, the Rams won nine of 14 matches to reach the finals.

Southeast Polk drew Indianola for the final dual to secure a team title. Ultimately, the hammers at the beginning of the lineup shined for the Rams as they blitzed Indianola, 57-11. At 106 pounds, Amir Newman-Winfrey rolled to a 15-0 technical fall over Indianola’s Chandler Brown. Indianola’s Cain Crosson answered with a win by fall over Jaren Wirtz, but Southeast Polk went on to win the next eight matches to clinch a third-straight duals title.

The Rams got wins from Mat Prine at 120 (fall over Max Metzger), Eddie Woody at 126 (fall over Hayden Wessel), Nash Hanson at 132 (18-3 technical fall over Cameran Cunningham), Nico DeSalvo at 138 (fall over Grady Nelsen), Wil Oberbroeckling at 138 (17-1 technical fall over Stoney Wood) and Justis Jesuroga at 150 with a thrilling 6-1 win by decision at the buzzer over Elijah Blewitt. Alex Penzkover clinched the dual at 157 for Southeast Polk, winning in sudden victory (4-1) over Rylan Hilton. After a win for Dokken Biladeau at 165, Southeast Polk was able to let some junior varsity guys on the mat and enjoy the win.

“Our lineup hasn’t really been full until the last few weeks, so it was nice to see everyone kind of come together and get some really good wins,” Southeast Polk head coach Jake Agnitsch said.

The Rams were one of several central Iowa teams that found success. Following Indianola as a runner-up, Waukee Northwest secured a 36-29 win over Dowling Catholic in the third-place dual. Dallas Center-Grimes also took sixth in the program’s first appearance in the event since 2010.

Those teams will all be chasing the Rams in two weeks at the traditional state tournament. The tough part for them is that the Rams’ leaders have stepped up into their new roles and gotten things rolling at the perfect time.

“We were the younger guys looking up to Mike Slade, the Martinsons and now we had to step into that and show all the younger guys what it’s like to work hard and win championships,” Oberbroeckling said.

1. Southeast Polk
2. Indianola
3. Waukee Northwest
4. Dowling Catholic
5. Linn-Mar
6. Dallas Center-Grimes
7. Iowa City West
8. Pleasant Valley

Eddyvillle-Blakesburg-Fremont emerges from Class 2A to claim duals state title

For the the forth-consecutive year, we have a new Class 2A duals team state champion. This time around, it was the Rockets of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. It’s the program’s first-ever duals state title in what was only the school’s fourth-ever appearance in the tournament.

The Rockets opened with a 40-29 dual victory over Alburnett in the first round, downing a quality program that has been in these moments plenty in recent years. They followed it up with a 41-25 victory over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows to reach the finals, where they won a thriller of a dual vs. Decorah.

The lightweights from 113 pounds to 144 pounds racked up 31 of the team’s 37 points in the 37-33 dual win over the Vikings. Those same guys will be the ones hoping to win state titles in Des Moines in two weeks, and could very well propel the Rockets to a traditional state title as well.

“We’ve probably been doubted as a dual team, just because we have a lot of really good individuals,” Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont head coach Dimitri Boyer said. “It’s something they’ve looked forward to and something that’s been our goal sheet.”

1. Eddyvillle-Blakesburg-Fremont
2. Decorah
3. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows
4. Independence
5. Alburnett
6. West Delaware
7. Algona
8. Glenwood

Don Bosco wins sixth duals title in a row

The Dons winning Class 1A’s state duals title is one of the more-reliable things wrestling fans in Iowa can count on from year-to-year. Don Bosco secured its 16th duals state title with a 53-27 over Logan-Magnolia in the first round, a 52-15 win over Hinton in the semifinal and a 36-30 win in the finals over Jesup in what was the dual of the day.

Going into the final match of the dual at heavyweight, the score was just 33-30 and the state title hung in the balance. Don Bosco’s Kyler Salis’ second-period takedown to win a 5-3 decision was the decider, as the Dons showed grit to walk away with another state title.

“I’m proud of our kids for being composed and getting the job done,” Don Bosco head coach Chris Ortner said.

Don Bosco already had a firm lead on the most dual state titles heading into the tournament, but the program’s continued dominance of Class 1A extended another year behind a special group of wrestlers. The Schwab brothers Hayden and Hendrix, Ty Martin, Kaiden Belisnky and Dawson Youngblut are just a few of their state title contenders as they look to potentially have a historic state tournament in two weeks.

1. Don Bosco
2. Jesup
3. Hinton
4. Lake Mills
5. Woodbury Central
6. Riverside
7. Logan-Magnolia
8. Nashua-Plainfield

Match-by-match results and brackets can be found on Flowrestling.com.

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

VOTE: Most outstanding wrestler at 2026 Iowa girls state tournament

Published

2 days ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

VOTE: Most outstanding wrestler at 2026 Iowa girls state tournament

The 2026 Iowa high school girls state wrestling tournament is in the books.

On Friday night, 28 individual state champions were crowned and two programs took home the coveted team title hardware.

Each one of those state title winners had a daunting challenge in front of them when arriving in Coralville at the start of competition on Feb. 5. But they all made it through the gauntlet unscathed to earn the right to call themselves a state champion.

While all 28 competitors are state title winners forever, the Des Moines Register has left it up to the fans to decide which one of the newly-crowned champs was the most impressive over the last few days of competition.

Readers will have until Feb. 15 to cast their vote in our fan poll for who they think the most outstanding wrestler at this year’s tournament was.

The results of this fan poll will not influence who the Register picks as its Wrestler of the Year at the end of the academic calendar.