KJAN Sports Director Chris Parks’ weekly talk on Atlantic sports. This week we catch up with Boys Basketball Coach Jeff Ebling, Girls Basketball Coach Dan Vargason, and Atlantic/CAM Wrestling Coach Tim Duff.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (19.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Atlantic girls basketball team will head to Shenandoah tonight for a Class 3A Quarterfinal game and we’ll have it on KJAN. The Trojans are coming off a hard fought game against Harlan in which they came up short but showed some good things.  The 4-17 Trojans will try to carry some of the positives from that game into this postseason game with a 12-9 Fillies squad.

The Fillies are led by Logan Hughes who is averaging 24.2 points per game and also led her team with 235 rebounds and 35 steals.  The Fillies were able to beat the Trojans in their lone meeting of the regular season back on December 14th 70-46. Logan Hughes had 26 points and 15 rebounds in that first meeting. Atlantic had a nice outing from Haley Rasmussen with 21 points in that game and she’s coming off an 18 point performance against Harlan.

Rasmussen has averaged 11 per game for the Trojans and is joined in double figure output by McKenzie Waters who has dropped in 10 per contest. Baylee Newell is right behind them with 9.4 points per outing. The Trojans will need everyone firing on all cylinders if they want to keep their season moving tonight.

Chris Parks will have the call of the game on KJAN with pregame starting at 6:50pm and tip-off set for 7:00pm tonight. You can listen to the game on AM1220, FM101.1, and online at kjan.com. No video feed tonight, as it is not allowed in the postseason by the IGHSAU.

Regional basketball is on tap Saturday for a few Class 1A first round match-ups that were postponed from Thursday. Quarterfinal action is on deck today for Class 3A and 2A will have first round games. We’ll have one in Class 3A Region 8 on KJAN tonight. Atlantic will travel to Shenandoah for a Quarterfinal game that tips at 7:00pm.

Here’s a look at the schedule this evening.

Class 1A Region 6

Mormon Trail at Lenox 7:00pm

Class 1A Region 8

Riverside, Oakland at Ar-We-Va 1:00pm
Whiting at Boyer Valley 6:00pm

Class 2A Region 6

Interstate 35 at Mount Ayr 7:00pm
Colfax-Mingo at East Marshall 7:00pm
Cardinal at Wayne 7:00pm
Pella Christian at Pleasantville 7:00pm

Class 2A Region 7

Woodward-Granger at Madrid 7:00pm
AC/GC at Southwest Valley 7:00pm
South Hamilton at Ogden 7:00pm
West Central Valley at Earlham 7:00pm

Class 2A Region 8

Underwood at St. Albert 7:00pm
Tri-Center at AHSTW 7:00pm
MVAOCOU at West Monona 7:00pm
Missouri Valley at Logan-Magnolia 7:00pm

Class 3A Region 2

Pocahontas Area at Clear Lake 7:00pm
Southeast Valley at Kuemper Catholic 7:00pm
Humboldt at Roland-Story 7:00pm
Greene County at Carroll 7:00pm

Class 3A Region 8

Clarinda at Red Oak 7:00pm
Atlantic at Shenandoah 7:00pm ON KJAN
Saydel at Des Moines Christian 7:00pm
Clarke at Creston 7:00pm

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Chris Parks.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

It’s District wrestling day around the state of Iowa. Individuals will be battling to try to earn a spot in the State Wrestling Tournament next week. Class 1A and 2A wrestlers had to earn their way to Districts last week by being one of the top two finishers in their respective weight class at 16 Sectional sites.

We’ll have coverage of the Class 2A District 4 at Harlan today on KJAN. Atlantic/CAM will have six wrestlers competing: Garrett McLaren (106), Joe Weaver (120), Chase McLaren (138), Kadin Stutzman (145), Connor Pellett (152), and Cale Roller (220).

Jim Field and Justin Williams will have wall to wall coverage of that District site today on KJAN with action set to begin at Noon.

Other District sites where area wrestlers will be in action are in Class 1A: Distric 2 at I-35, Truro and District 7 at Underwood. In Class 3A District 5 at Glenwood and District 4 at Fort Dodge.

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

AMES, Iowa (AP) — This could have been a lost season for Iowa State sophomore Cam Lard, who lost his starting job while serving a one-month suspension to open the year. Lard has settled into his new role as a reserve, and he’s starting to resemble the player he was a season ago. The 6-foot-9 Lard’s numbers are down considerably from where they were in 2017-18. But the 17th-ranked Cyclones are winning and Lard is doing his part. Iowa State hosts TCU on Saturday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is on a six-game losing streak as it heads into its visit to No. 15 Purdue on Saturday. The downturn comes after the Cornhuskers opened the season with wins in 11 of their first 13 games. They were picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten but now sit in 13th place. Nebraska is shooting 33 percent and averaging 59 points during the losing streak.

UNDATED (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals knew they were short a couple of pieces last season, even though they were in contention to make the playoffs until the final week. They may have plugged those holes with a trade for All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and star reliever Andrew Miller.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Veteran Adam Wainwright remains confident in his ability to still be effective on the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals. The team is believed to have one spot open for a starter and Wainwright wants to make his case as he goes into his 15th season in St. Louis. He says he is healthy after making just eight starts last year because of injuries.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas guard Lagerald Vick is taking a leave of absence from the basketball program. That means the No. 13 Jayhawks are even more short-handed in their effort to win a 15th straight Big 12 title. Jayhawks coach Bill Self said in a statement Thursday night that Vick has “some personal matters that require his immediate attention.” Vick is expected to be with family in Memphis when the Jayhawks host Oklahoma State on Saturday. Self said there is no timetable for his return.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Glenwood 73, Denison-Schleswig 68 (OT)
Lewis Central 55, Harlan 39

Other Scores

ADM, Adel 49, Boone 37
Ballard 62, Winterset 28
Carroll 49, Carlisle 44 (2OT)
CB Thomas Jefferson 55, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 42
Panorama 63, Martensdale St. Marys 34
Sioux City East 51, CB Abraham Lincoln 42

Boys Basketball

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Atlantic 63, Treynor 60
Denison-Schleswig 64, Glenwood 51 (Denison-Schleswig and Lewis Central share the 2018-19 Hawkeye Ten Conference Championship. Both 9-1 in conference games.)
Grand View Christian 77, Kuemper Catholic 48
Harlan 51, Lewis Central 49

Western Iowa Conference

Logan-Magnolia 47, Boyer Valley 43

Rolling Valley Conference

Exira-EHK 83, Woodward Academy 75
Madrid 59, Ar-We-Va 55
Nodaway Valley 70, CAM 40
St. Edmond, Fort Dodge 88, Paton-Churdan 54

Corner Conference

Fremont-Mills 45, Griswold 27
Sidney 57, Clarinda Academy 46

Pride of Iowa Conference

Bedford 81, Stanton 61
Lenox 49, East Union 43
Martensdale-St. Marys 53, Panorama 46

Other Scores

Carroll 67, Carlisle 62
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 62, CB Thomas Jefferson 43
Winterset 66, Ballard 56

Some Class 1A first round games were played Friday night after being postponed from Thursday.

Class 1A Region 7

Audubon 55, Coon Rapids-Bayard 37
Paton-Churdan 46, Ankeny Christian Academy 33

Class 1A Region 8

Siouxland Christian 56, River Valley 32
Glidden-Ralston 54, Woodbine 38

The Audubon win sets up a meeting for the Wheelers with CAM next Tuesday night the 12th at 7:00pm. We’ll have that game on KJAN from Anita.

The Atlantic boys basketball team picked up an impressive win over Class 2A 7th ranked Treynor on Friday night 63-60 in Atlantic. The Trojans started quick out of the gate and led by as many as 19 in the third quarter before surviving a wild finish to secure the win.

The Trojans led by 10 at the end of the first quarter and pushed the lead to 15 by the end of the half at 29-14. That 14 points for Treynor was their lowest first half offensive output of the season. Atlantic kept the Cardinals at bay in the third quarter with three triples and led 41-33 heading into the final period. The Trojans held a 10 point lead with under a minute to play.

Then things got a bit wild. The Cardinals made some tough transition buckets to inch closer. Jack Tiarks completed a three point play with :26 left to make it a 5 point game. Tyler Moen was fouled immediately on the ensuing inbound and made one of two free throws to make it a six point game. A tough contested three by Jack Stogdill went down to get the Cards within 3 with 12 seconds left. Atlantic then narrowly avoided a five second count with a last second timeout from Head Coach Jeff Ebling. Chase Mullenix was then fouled on the inbound with 10 seconds left. He made one of two and Atlantic led 61-57. Tim Zimmerman then splashed down a three with 2.7 seconds left to get the Cardinals within 1. The Cardinals then fouled Mullenix again with 1.5 seconds left. Mullenix hit one of two to make it a 62-60 game. The Cardinals tried a long pass up the left sideline and Logan Reilly skied to grab the ball but came down with it on the sideline. So Treynor was set to get the ball back with .9 of a second left. As the officials were called over to straighten out an issue at the scorers table, the Treynor coaching staff tried to usher their kids over for a chat near the sideline. Tyler Moen hustled over next to the same area on the floor and Treynor coaches and players pushed Moen away from their gathering. This got a rise from the Atlantic fans, coaches, and players. After discussion about that situation, Treynor’s bench was assessed a technical foul. So Atlantic sent Chase Mullenix to the line where he made one of two again to make it 63-60. The Trojans then got possession from the technical and were able to lob it in to Skyler Handlos to run out the clock.

Atlantic Head Coach Jeff Ebling was excited about the effort from his team.

Atlantic was led by 16 points from Tyler Moen and 15 from Chase Mullenix. The Trojans improve to 9-10 on the season and will next host Harlan on Monday night. That game will be played at the Atlantic Middle School and we’ll have it on KJAN.

The Cardinals were led by 18 from Jack Stogdill and 16 from Jon Schwarte. They finish the regular season with an 18-3 record and will next host a Class 2A District 14 Semifinal on February 14th against the winner of a Clarinda/Shenandoah Quarterfinal game.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is joining the College Football Playoff selection committee, replacing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith. CFP executive director Bill Hancock on Friday announced Barta would begin a three-year term this spring. Smith is stepping down after two years on the committee.

Barta is in his 12th year at Iowa. He is on the NCAA Division I Council and involved in the NCAA Ad Hoc Committee on Sports Wagering. Barta played football at North Dakota State, where he was a quarterback on teams that won Division II national championships in 1983, ’85 and ’86.

Smith said he is leaving the committee so he can focus on helping Ryan Day transition into his job as the Buckeyes’ new head coach.