Iowa

Southeast Polk wrestling wins 3rd straight Iowa state duals title

Published

4 months ago

February 7, 2026

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

Iowa High School Baseball Stats: Leaders On The Diamond This Summer

Published

8 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

Iowa High School Baseball Stats: Leaders On The Diamond This Summer

As we work through the month of June, things are starting to heat up on the diamond around Iowa high school baseball.

With the start of postseason play just around the corner in July, teams are working to get prepared for the stretch run.

High School On SI Iowa has a Top 25 state power ranking while the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association releases weekly class-by-class rankings.

Here are leaders as of June 17, 2026 for several major hitting and pitching categories. Stats are from those uploaded to the Bound website.

Iowa High School Baseball Leaders

Home Runs

Tru McBride, Fort Dodge, 9
Colton Roemmich, West Des Moines Valley, 9
Brandon Bea, Davenport North, 8
Kamden Jorgensen, Saydel, 8
Gabe Blanshan, Urbandale, 7

Running Batted In

Callan Koch, Sioux City East, 38
West Cole, Mason City Newman Catholic, 37
Tru McBride, Fort Dodge, 36
Chance Georgius, Roland-Story, 34
Ty Heydon, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 34

Stolen Bases

Aiden Ferry, Roland-Story, 38
Tate Garman, Algona, 33
Titan Foster, Nodaway Valley, 32
Tate Moulton, Grand View Christian, 30
Cael Wishman, Baxter, 29

Runs Scored

Cal Jepsen, Sioux City East, 45
Aiden Frey, Roland-Story, 43
Cal Heydon, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 41
Kolton Schiltz, Fort Dodge, 40
Colton Wight, Martensdale-St. Marys, 39

Hits

Colton Wight, Martensdale-St. Marys, 39
Cal Jepsen, Sioux City East, 38
Callan Koch, Sioux City East, 36
Ty Heydon, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 35
Lucas Kelley, Des Moines Roosevelt, 34

Doubles

Joe Nilles, Sioux City North, 13
Colton Wight, Martensdale-St. Marys, 13
Lucas Kelley, Des Moines Roosevelt, 12
Brett Harris, Western Dubuque, 12
Brooks Bond, Lewis Central, 11

Triples

Callan Koch, Sioux City East, 7
Will Nesler, Ankeny Centennial, 5
Jacob Pierro, Dubuque Wahlert Catholic, 5
Lucas Kelley, Des Moines Roosevelt, 5
Cal Jepsen, Sioux City East, 4

Total Bases

Colton Wight, Martensdale-St. Marys, 68
Tru McBride, Fort Dodge, 68
Bryce Pauly, Davenport North, 67
Cal Jepsen, Sioux City East, 65
Ty Heydon, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 62

Pitching Wins

Tyler Etten, Urbandale, 9
Chase White, Dyersville Beckman Catholic, 7
Colton Moffit, Baxter, 7
Connor Mullenbach, Saint Ansgar, 6
Aidan Nielsen, Don Bosco, 6

Earned Run Average (min. 18 innings pitched)

Connor Mullenbach, Saint Ansgar, 0.00
Luke Vestal, Pleasantville, 0.00
Ryan Stedman, West Des Moines Valley, 0.24
Will Litton, Iowa City Regina Catholic, 0.25
Judd Jirovsky, Grundy Center, 0.26

Strikeouts

Colton Moffit, Baxter, 85
Brody Wangsness, North Butler, 75
Lincoln Roethler, Denver, 71
Owen Klocksiem, Louisa-Muscatine, 67
Cooper Chizek, Emmetsburg, 65

Opponents Batting Average Against (min. 18 innings pitched)

Macklin Loftus, Logan-Magnolia, .017
Jack Wedemeier, Waverly-Shell Rock, .065
Teagan Brunk, Shenandoah, .069
Ryan Stedman, West Des Moines Valley, .072
Bronx Siebersma, MVAOCOU, .075

Saves

Beckham Simon, West Liberty, 4
Deacon Kucera, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 4
Graham Rima, Pleasant Valley, 4
Gavin de Jesus, Waukee, 4
Easton Goodwin, Waterloo Columbus Catholic, 3

Innings Pitched

Colton Moffit, Baxter, 43
Tyler Etten, Urbandale, 38.2
Owen Galvin, Denison-Schleswig, 38
Tallon Crandall, Carroll, 37.1
Austin Remster, Melcher-Dallas, 37.1

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Iowa

Rain brings second week of relief in Iowa drought monitor map

Published

18 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

Rain brings second week of relief in Iowa drought monitor map

Drought conditions in Iowa improved for a second consecutive week, though areas of moderate drought expanded in parts of the state.

The U.S. Drought Monitor offers a state-by-state tracking of drought conditions nationwide. New maps and forecasts are released each Thursday. What are the current drought conditions in Iowa?

U.S. Drought Monitor map: How much of Iowa is in a drought?

The latest Drought Monitor report, released on Thursday, June 18, showed about 46% of Iowa experiencing some form of drought. This continues the streak of conditions improving week to week in Iowa. The previous report, released on June 11, showed that 63% of the state was experiencing some form of drought.

The most recent report reflects conditions as of 8 a.m. June 16, right as storms were sweeping through Iowa, with parts of eastern Iowa seeing more than 2 inches of rainfall. Light rainfall on June 17 led to areas like Iowa City and Burlington reporting around an inch of rain.

Here is the breakdown of current drought conditions in Iowa:

61% of the state of Iowa is experiencing no drought conditions
39% of Iowa is experiencing abnormally dry conditions
7% of Iowa is experiencing moderate drought conditions
0% of Iowa is experiencing severe drought conditions

Even though drought conditions have improved overall in Iowa, the area experiencing moderate drought increased from the week of June 11, particularly in northern Iowa. Much of Cerro Gordo, Hancock and Kossuth counties are under D1 conditions, with nearby Palo Alto, Winnebago, Floyd and Mitchell also in moderate drought.

Pockets of moderate drought also persist along the northwest edge of Iowa in Lyon, Sioux and Plymouth counties. In eastern Iowa, Jackson, Clinton and Scott counties saw their moderate drought status ease week to week.

Most of the U.S. is facing drought conditions

About 73% of the U.S. is experiencing some level of drought, a 2-percentage-point improvement from the prior week. Some of the most intense drought conditions are in the southeast and the mountain west.

Iowa Drought Monitor tracks conditions weekly

The U.S. Drought Monitor offers a state-by-state tracking of drought conditions nationwide. New maps and forecasts are released each Thursday.

The intensity levels range from abnormally dry, or D0, to exceptional drought, or D4.

Typically with D0 conditions, corn can show drought stress. Pond levels start to decline under moderate drought conditions and soybeans abort pods, according to the Drought Monitor. The Drought Monitor also has a look-back chart that compares drought conditions from 3 months ago up to 1 year ago.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.

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Iowa

Tornadoes reported in Illinois, Iowa as severe weather roils Midwest

Published

1 day ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

Tornadoes reported in Illinois, Iowa as severe weather roils Midwest

Confirmed tornadoes were reported in Illinois and Iowa Wednesday night as severe weather descended on a large swath of the Midwest.

According to the National Weather Service, a confirmed tornado was reported near the small northeast Iowa community of Harpers Ferry at 5:10 p.m., while a second confirmed tornado rolled through Charleston in central Illinois at about 6:40 p.m. local time.

Both tornadoes were flagged by the weather service as a “particularly dangerous situation,” a rare designation used by the weather service for environments in which “strong and violent tornadoes” are possible.

Photos and videos obtained by CBS News showed extensive damage in Charleston, with downed trees and power lines. Hail that measured 2.75 inches was also reported in the Charleston area, according to the weather service.

“There are a large number of trees blocking roadways throughout Charleston at this time,” Charleston police said in a Facebook post. “Unless it is an absolute emergency, do not drive or attempt to go anywhere.”

The city of Charleston later declared a local state of emergency.

Damage after a tornado struck Charleston, Illinois, on June 17, 2026.

Cameron Craig

One cell phone video captured the terrifying moments what appeared to be a large tornado tore through Effingham, Illinois, located about 40 miles southwest of Charleston.

Larry Thies, coordinator for the Effingham Emergency Management Agency, told CBS News that initial information indicated damaged buildings, trailers, and downed power lines and trees. He said officials were working to set up an emergency operations center, but were facing challenges because internet was down in the area.

The extent of the damage to region was still unclear. There was no immediate word of injuries or fatalities. CBS News senior meteorologist Rob Marciano said there were at least seven reported tornadoes during the weather event.

According to utility tracker PowerOutage.us, at least 55,000 customers were without power in Illinois.

Earlier Wednesday, Marciano reported that more than 125 million Americans were facing severe weather advisories, including the Gulf Coast states, which were under flood alerts due to Tropical Storm Arthur. Speaking on “CBS Evening News,” Marciano said such ripe tornado conditions were rare for June.

“This is unique for June, this is unusual to have such a strong jet stream just screaming across the country, then you’ve got the summertime tropical moisture coming in…and then some cold air coming in,” Marciano said. “And winds coming at different direction, at different levels, creating that spin. So what that equates to is really the high probability of seeing, not just tornadoes, but intense tornadoes of EF2 strength or higher on the ground for a long time. And also damaging winds at 75 mph or higher, and of course big time hail.”

Nikki Nolan

contributed to this report.