Spring drills are underway at Iowa as the Hawkeyes look to fix an offense that ranked next to last in the Big Ten despite a 10-4 finish to the season. That includes a passing game that had a completion rate of well under 60 percent.

That’s Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. The Hawks must replace All-American center Tyler Linderbaum but Ferentz feels an offensive line plagued by inexperience last season will show marked improvement.

Ferentz feels the offensive line made strides late in the season.

Ferentz says depth on the defensive line has allowed Logan Jones to move to center to become one of the candidates to replace Linderbaum.

Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla are on-two on the depth chart at quarterback. Joe Labas is listed third.

Iowa State senior forward George Conditt is headed home for Friday night’s Sweet-16 game against Miami. The native of Chicago will be playing his first game in the United Center.

Conditt has watched a number of games in the United Center.

Conditt says the Cyclones remain motivated by the coaches and media members who picked them to finish last in the Big 12 after last year’s 2-22 finish.

Conditt says the Cyclones are succeeding because they are playing with no fear.

The Iowa State women are getting ready for Friday night’s NCAA regional semifinal round game against Creighton. It is ISU’s first rip to the Sweet-16 since 2010 while Creighton is coming off an upset win at Iowa.

That’s Iowa State guard Emily Ryan who says these teams are similar in some ways.

Ryan says defending the three point shot is a key.

With a victory the Cyclones would advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2009. Junior forward Morgan Kane.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom unveiled the 2022 schedule of events. The competition will welcome athletes and spectators from around the world during the 112th edition of America’s Athletic Classic, to be held April 27-30, 2022, at Drake Stadium.

After the cancellation in 2020 and an altered schedule in 2021, the 112th edition of the Drake Relays will return to the conventional format with competitors from university, college, high school and elite ranks all participating in an integrated schedule over four days in Drake Stadium.

Track and field competition will begin on Wednesday, April 27 with the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon, which will mark the first time in three years that either of these events will be contested. The combined events conclude on Thursday, April 28, followed by the Distance Carnival. Friday, April 29, will again be divided into two sessions, featuring the nation’s top collegiate athletes alongside Iowa’s finest high school athletes.

For an early look at the meet schedule and for the 2022 Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom, click here (PDF).

For high school meet information, click here (PDF).

For university and college meet information, click here (PDF).

All-session tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.draketix.com/drakerelays.

All-session reserved tickets are $100 and all-session general admission tickets are $75. Single-session tickets go on sale to the public on April 1.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Wednesday’s University of Iowa baseball game against Grand View at Duane Banks Field has been cancelled due to the impending weather.  There is no makeup date scheduled.

The Hawkeyes will return to action Friday, hosting Central Michigan at 4:05 p.m. (CT) in the opening game of a three-game series.

Atlantic Alumnus Ryan Hawkins just finished up a stellar college basketball career. He won three National Championships and notched record marks at Northwest Missouri State before using an extra year of eligibility to join the Creighton Bluejays this past season and lead them to the round of 32 at the NCAA Tournament. During a recent interview on KJAN Ryan talked about the thrill of this season and playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Hawkins finished his lone season at Creighton with 482 points, 272 rebounds, 53 assists, 32 steals, and 13 blocks. Hawkins finishes his college basketball career with 2,580 points, 1,220 rebounds, 257 steals, 229 assists, and 82 blocks. Ryan has kept his options open for what the future holds but before anything else he wants to give basketball at the next level a chance.

Ryan has had a big following of fans from Atlantic and Northwest Missouri State that have kept up with his basketball career. He said it’s been fun to see all the support and how it’s continued this year.

Hawkins ended up taking on a big leadership role on a young Creighton team and he said it was just natural to try to share his knowledge gained from experience with the younger guys.

Ryan has had some conversations with NBA teams and believes he will get a shot to prove himself at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas this year. He’s certainly been a great representative of Atlantic and a strong inspiration for youth in the community. It’s been a joy to follow his career and we will continue to follow his journey.

Catch the full interview Jim Field conducted with Ryan HERE

BOSTON – Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger has been named a finalist for the 2022 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award.

The Jim Phelan Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I coach, is named in honor of a legendary bow-tied coach who spend his entire career at Mount Saint Mary’s University.

Otzelberger, who is in his first season leading the Cyclones, has orchestrated one of the nation’s top stories, helping ISU improve from a 2-22 record last season to a 22-12 record and a Sweet Sixteen appearance this season. The +20 win improvement is the second-best in college basketball history and ISU is the first team to go from two wins the season before to the Sweet Sixteen.

The Cyclones started the season 12-0, the second-best start in school history and rose to as high as No. 8 in the Associated Press Top-25 Coaches Poll. ISU won the Upsie NIT Season Tip-Off with wins against Xavier and Memphis and owns wins against Big Ten regular season champions Wisconsin and Big Ten Tournament champions Iowa.

Otzelberger broke the school record with five wins over top-25 teams, the most-ever by a first-year head coach at Iowa State.

The Cyclones earned their 21^st NCAA Tournament berth and reached the sixth Sweet Sixteen in school history.

Otzelberger and the Cyclones will face Miami on Friday at approximately 8:45 p.m. on TBS.

Iowa Hawkeyes forward Keegan Murray (15) during a photo shoot at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, IA on Monday, September 13, 2021. (Stephen Mally/hawkeyesports.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Tuesday the four finalists vying for the honor of the 2022 Naismith Trophy, which includes University of Iowa men’s basketball sophomore forward Keegan Murray. The prestigious award recognizes the most outstanding men’s college basketball player.

Joining Murray as a finalist for the award are Ochai Agbaji of Kansas, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis, and Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky. The University of Iowa is the only school to have both a men’s and women’s basketball student-athlete represented as a 2022 finalist; Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is a finalist for the women’s trophy.

This marks the third consecutive season that Iowa has had a Naismith Trophy Finalist: Luka Garza (2020 and 2021) and Murray (2022). Garza was the recipient of the award last year.

Hawkeye fans can vote for Murray from March 22-29, by visiting naismithfanvote.com. Fans may also vote on the @NaismithTrophy Twitter page. The fan vote will account for five percent of the overall vote.

The men’s ceremony to award the 2022 Naismith Trophy for Men’s Player of the Year will take place Sunday, April 3, at the Naismith Awards Brunch during the Final Four in New Orleans.

University of Iowa women’s basketball sophomore Caitlin Clark was named a Naismith Player of the Year Finalist, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Tuesday.

The list of finalists include Clark, South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, NC State’s Elissa Cunane and Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith.

Clark, a Des Moines, Iowa, native, led the nation in points per game (27.0), assists per game (8.0), total assists (257), total points (863), free throws made (200), triple doubles (5) and 30-point games (11). Clark is the only women’s basketball player to lead the country in both assists per game and points per game in a single season.

Clark registered five triple-doubles this season, leading the country in most career triple-doubles by an active player with six. Clark’s six career triple-doubles ties former Hawkeye Sam Logic’s Big Ten record (2011-15) for most in a career and ties for the fifth most single season (5) and career (6) triple-doubles in NCAA Division I history.

Clark broke the 1,000-career point barrier against Evansville in early January and became the fastest Division I player (men’s or women’s) to reach 1,500 career points over the last 20 seasons, reaching the feat in 56 games.

Clark was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Tournament MVP, while earning unanimous first team All-Big Ten honors and an All-Big Ten Tournament spot. She was named a Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year finalist, Dawn Staley Award finalist, Naismith semifinalist and to the WBCA Wade Trophy Midseason Watch List and John R. Wooden Award National Ballot Top-15. She is a 2021-22 first team AP All-American, USBWA All-American and first team CoSIDA Academic All-American.

JUPITER, Fla., March 22, 2022 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they reached agreement on 2022 contracts with five of their seven salary arbitration eligible players and 20 of their 21 pre-arbitration players.

Pitchers Jack Flaherty, Giovanni Gallegos, Jordan Hicks, Dakota Hudson and Alex Reyes agreed to terms to avoid salary arbitration, while outfielders Harrison Bader and Tyler O’Neill did not.

Of the pre-arbitration players, those agreeing to terms were Génesis Cabrera, Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman, Junior Fernandez, Ryan Helsley, Ivan Herrera, Andrew Knizner, Lars Nootbaar, Johan Oviedo, Freddy Pacehco, Johan Quezada, Angel Rondón, Ali Sánchez, Edmundo Sosa, Brendon Waddell, Jake Walsh, Kodi Whitley, Jake Woodford, Juan Yepez and T.J. Zeuch.

Outfielder Dylan Carlson had his contract renewed.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have optioned or re-assigned six players to their minor league camp, reducing the number of players in Major League camp to 55.

The team optioned pitcher Brandon Waddell to the Memphis (AAA) roster and re-assigned pitcher Trent Baker, first baseman Luken Baker, infielders Delvin Perez and Jordan Walker and catcher Pedro Pages to minor league camp.

The University of South Dakota hosted the Dan Lennon Indoor Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the results.

Class A Monday, March 21st

GIRLS

60M Hurdles
7th- Abby LaSale, CB Abraham Lincoln 10.68a

Shot Put
3rd- Kierra Schmiedling, Lewis Central 11.44m

High Jump
5th- Emily Madison, Fremont-Mills 4-11.00

BOYS

60M Dash
7th- Jonathan Humpal, Lewis Central 7.24

1600M
7th- Ethan Eichhorn, Lewis Central 4:49.04

3200M
8th- Kade Diercks, Lewis Central 11:03.04

4x200M Relay
9th- CB Abraham Lincoln 1:39.66

4x400M Relay
3rd- Lewis Central (Lucciano Fidone, Ethen Fishell, Jonathan Humpal, Luke Woltmann) 3:40.18

Shot Put
3rd- Hunter Deyo, Lewis Central 14.98m
6th- Parker Matiyow, Lewis Central 14.41m

Long Jump
1st- Jonathan Humpal, Lewis Central 6.26m

Class B Tuesday, March 22nd

Girls

400M
2nd- Isah VanArsdol, Tri-Center (1:05.87)
8th- Kyla Corrin, Tri-Center (1:08.31)

800M
5th- Madison Sporrer, Logan-Magnolia (2:36.55)

1600M
4th- Courtney Sporrer, Logan-Magnolia (5:43.29)
9th- Quincey Schneckloth, Tri-Center (6:11.60)

3200M
4th- Madison Sporrer, Logan-Magnolia (12:27.99)
9th- Mya Moss, Logan-Magnolia (13:21.60)
10th- Ryleigh Thomas, Treynor (13:24.59)

60M Hurldes
1st- Clara Tiegland, Treynor (9.62)
6th- Kiera Hochstein, Logan-Magnolia (10.15)

4x200M Relay
4th- Treynor (Jozie Lewis, Racehl Kinsella, Clara Tiegland, Olivia Larsen) 1:25.44
8th- Harlan 2:00.01

4x400M Relay
4th- Harlan (Lilly Metzger, Ella Plagman, Dani Smith, Kaia Bieker) 4:25.04

Sprint Medley Relay
1st- Harlan (Lilly Metzger, Ella Plagman, Lauren McLaughlin, Kaia Bieker) 4:26.51
5th- Logan-Magnolia 4:42.57

Shot Put
5th- Jadyn Huisman, Treynor 11.04m

High Jump
7th- Clara Tiegland, Treynor 4-08.00

Long Jump
8th- Haley Bladt, Harlan 4.40m

BOYS

60M Dash
1st- Chase Ryan, Underwood 7.05a
5th- Will Nueharth, Harlan 7.26a
7th- Mikey Dose, Underwood 7.31a

400M
1st- Scott Pearson, Underwood 52.17
9th- Matthew Benedict, Sidney 57.24

800M
2nd- Raymond Patomson, Underwood 2:12.52a
4th- Tyler Shelton, Harlan 2:13.79
5th- Luke Seidler, Underwood 2:15.94
9th Payton Chapman, Treynor 2:17.44

1600M
6th- Payton Chapman, Treynor 5:09.89a

60M Hurdles
4th- Carter Davis, Underwood 8.71a

4x200M Relay
2nd- Underwood (Chase Ryan, Joey Anderson, Mikey Dose, Ty Strutton) 1:38.29
9th- Harlan

4x400M Relay
2nd- Underwood (Alex Ravlin, Mason Boothby, Bryce Patten, Scott Pearson) 3:44.34
6th- Harlan (Bret Van Baale, Josef Reisz, Wil Neuharth, Jacob Birch) 3:51.62

Sprint Medley Relay
2nd- Underwood (Joey Anderson, Ty Strutton, Alex Ravlin, Scott Pearson) 3:54.61
3rd- Harlan (Lukas Francis, Will Arkfeld, Josef Reisz, Tyler Shelton) 4:00.76
7th- Underwood
8th- Treynor

Shot Put
1st- Thomas Huneke, Underwood 15.40m
5th- Easton Eledge, Underwood
6th- Walter Ausdemore, Underwood
9th- Jameson Bieker, Harlan

High Jump
3rd- Matthew Benedict, Sidney 6-02.00
T7th- Mason Boothby, Underwood 5-08.00

Full results can be found HERE