IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The dismantling of Iowa’s underperforming roster began Tuesday, as reserves Brady Ellingson and Ahmad Wagner announced that they were leaving the program.

The school says Ellingson, a redshirt junior, will graduate in May and seek to play a year as a graduate transfer at another school, while Wagner says he wants to give football a shot after three seasons playing basketball for the Hawkeyes. He hasn’t decided whether to stay at Iowa or play football at another school.

Ellingson, a 40-percent career 3-point shooter, averaged 2.8 points and 1.1 assists a game last season. But he couldn’t find consistent playing time even after fellow guard Christian Williams abruptly quit the team in November.

Wagner was a highly sought-after recruit in both basketball and football coming out of high school. But his hoops career fizzled in 2017-18 as he averaged just 1.7 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.

One possible option for Wagner would be to stay in Iowa City and join coach Kirk Ferentz’s squad, which never seems to have enough receivers. Ferentz held a news conference on Tuesday, but Wagner’s announcement came roughly an hour after Ferentz finished talking with reporters.

“My plan now is to train and get my body into football shape so I can be ready for when I decide where I will finish my athletic and academic goals,” Wagner said.

The Hawkeyes will bring in a likely starter at Ellingson’s position next fall in highly touted freshman Joe Wieskamp.

“Brady is a hard worker, a terrific teammate, and a good student. We wish Brady good luck in his future endeavors,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.

Ellingson and Wagner’s departures will open up a pair of scholarships for the Hawkeyes. They’ve avoided using the graduate transfer rule in recent years, but anything might be possible after a disappointing 13-18 record in 2017-18 — their worst season in nearly a decade.

Iowa could use a veteran point guard who can attack the rim and open perimeter space for the likes of Wieskamp and fellow guard Jordan Bohannon, and it might also be in the market for another power forward after losing Wagner.

The Hawkeyes could even stash a scholarship for later use after adding just two freshmen in their latest recruiting class.

Iowa is also awaiting word on star forward Tyler Cook’s future.

Though Cook isn’t projected to be picked in this spring’s NBA Draft, he will go through the league’s evaluation process. Cook hasn’t hired an agent, meaning he could return to the Hawkeyes.

The Atlantic girls track team also competed on Monday at the Dan Lennon Invitational at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Top finisher for the Trojans included Haley Rasmussen 5th in the Long Jump. The Sprint Medley Team finished 7th and Taylor McCreedy was 4th in the 800M Run.

Full Girls Results from Dan Lennon Invite

High Jump
2nd- Megan Witte, Lewis Central 5-2
T10th- Sophie Sykes, St. Albert 4-10
T10th- Josey Starner, Thomas Jefferson 4-10

1600M Run
13th- Madison Botos, Atlantic 6:09.26
15th- Gracie Springman, St. Albert 6:10.98

4x200M Relay
11th- Lewis Central 1:55.64

Long Jump
1st- Darby Thomas, CB Abraham Lincoln 16-11.25
2nd- Caitlyn Jones, CB Thomas Jefferson 16-10.75
5th- Haley Rasmussen, Atlantic 15-11.00
6th- Shelby Wilfong, CB Abraham Lincoln 15-09.00

Shot Put
1st- Lauren Payne, Lewis Central 41-09.75
7th- Catlin Spurgin, CB Abraham Lincoln 35-08.75
9th- Josey Starner, CB Thomas Jefferson 35-07.25

60M Dash
3rd- Darby Thomas, CB Abraham Lincoln 7.97

4x400M Relay
9th- CB Abraham Lincoln: Hayley Hartman, Taylan Keefer, Lexi Thomas, Marrisa Trotter.

3200M Run
8th- Moriah Heilesen, CB Abraham Lincoln 13:10.76

Sprint Medley
7th- Atlantic: Jessica Hartwig, Alyssa Derby, Haley Rasmussen, Taylor McCreedy 4:40.22

400M Dash
11th- Kennedy Goergen, Atlantic 1:09.34

800M Run
4th- Taylor McCreedy, Atlantic 2:33.20
9th- Kerigan Keefer, CB Abraham Lincoln 2:39.24
13th- Karsyn Rush, Atlantic 2:42.14

The Atlantic boys track team competed at the Dan Lennon Invitational at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion on Monday and posted some strong finishes.

Gratt Reed took the title in the 60 Meter Hurdles with a time of 8.46.  The Sprint Medley team for Atlantic took gold with a time of 5:45.26. Chase Mullenix won the 800 Meters with a time of 2:02.36.

The Trojans will prepare now for the outdoor track season to begin at Denison on Tuesday, March 27th.

Full Boys Results from Dan Lennon

Long Jump
10th- Gratt Reed, Atlantic
21st- Ryan Rohe, Lewis Central
29th- Herb Fant, CB Abraham Lincoln

60M Hurdles
1st- Gratt Reed, Atlantic 8.46
3rd- Ethan Bernard, St. Albert 8.76
6th- Tyler Blaha, St. Albert 8.94

800M Run
1st- Chase Mullenix, Atlantic 2:02.36
2nd- Craig Becker, Atlantic 2:05.69
10th- Luke Gronstal, St, Albert 2:12.28

3200M Run
4th- Steven Hornberg, CB Abraham Lincoln 11:24.72
5th- Bennett Heisterkamp, St. Albert 11:28.73
7th- Caden Tellander, CB Abraham Lincoln 11:24.72
8th- Connor Lancial, Lewis Central 11:45.37

Sprint Medley
1st- Atlantic: Zade Niklasen, Dillon Sonntag, Zeke Whetstone, Chase Mullenix 3:45.26
4th- St. Albert: Blake Rallis, Andrew Hanafan, Tyler Blaha, Kyle Barnes 3:49.79
9th- St. Albert B 3:51.79
10th- Atlantic B 3:53.52

1600M Run
14th- Austin Wickman, CB Abraham Lincoln 5:44.31

4x200M Relay
3rd- Atlantic: Gratt Reed, Zade Niklasen, Jayden Barnwell, Dillon Sonntag 1:36.39
4th- St. Albert: Blake Rallis, Tyler Blaha, Ethan Bernard, Andrew Hanafan 1:36.45

400M Run
3rd- Zeke Whetstone, Atlantic 53.81
5th- Sam Rallis, St. Albert 53.93
6th- Kyle Barnes, St. Albert 54.00
9th- Aiden Antisdal, St. Albert 55.97

High Jump
T11th- Thomas Fidone, Lewis Central 5-10
T16th- Spencer Ray, Atlantic 5-6

Shot Put
1st- Dane Theobald, Lewis Central 52-8.25
2nd- Logan Jones, Lewis Central 50-11.50
4th- Jasper Stottlemyer, CB Abraham Lincoln 48-02.00
10th- Matt Fagan, St. Albert 45-09

4x400M Relay
2nd- St. Albert: Blake Rallis, Kyle Barnes, Tyler Blaha, Andrew Hanafan 3:34.05
3rd- Atlantic: Zade Niklasen, Dillon Sonntag, Zeke Whetstone, Gratt Reed
7th- St. Albert B
9th- Lewis Central
10th- Woodbine

Graceland University in Lamoni will play for the national championship on Tuesday night in Men’s College Basketball NAIA Division I.

The Yellowjackets rallied in the second half of their semifinal win over LSU Shreveport (LA) 87-80 on Monday night.

LT Davis led the Yellowjackets with 28 points. Will Nelson added 22 and Dalton Payton had 14. Jeremy Deemer also had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The 5th Seeded Yellowjackets outscored the Pilots by 19 in the second half to pick up the win.

Graceland will now square off against LSU-Alexandria in the National Championship game tonight at 7:00pm. The Generals defeated another Iowa school William Penn 84-75 in the other semifinal on Monday to reach the title game.

Tuesday’s championship will be available through a streaming broadcast on ESPN3 from Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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

NEW YORK (AP) — Buffalo and Central Michigan are crashing the women’s Sweet 16. The two 11 seeds from the Mid-American Conference pulled off stunning upsets of Florida State and Ohio State on the road to advance to the regional semifinals for the first time in school history.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jordin Canada scored 21 points and Japreece Dean added 16 points to lead third-seeded UCLA to an 86-64 victory over No. 11 seed Creighton in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. UCLA (26-7) reaches the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year and advances to the Kansas City Regional and will face Texas on Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — From 11 pairs of sisters to a mother-daughter combination, the women’s NCAA Tournament is a family affair. Carly Fabbri plays for a Quinnipiac team coached by her mother, Tricia. Says daughter Carly: “Just being able to have the opportunity to play for her has been awesome.”

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The only thing Bill Self was pleased about from the Jayhawks’ first-round win in the NCAA Tournament was the fact that they won. He wasn’t a whole lot more impressed with their second-round win. So as they head to Omaha, Nebraska, for the regional semifinals against Clemson, Self is hopeful that the best is yet to come. Kansas will play the red-hot Tigers on Friday night.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The NCAA Tournament has an altered landscape for the Sweet 16 after losing four of its top eight seeds. Top seeds Virginia and Xavier are gone, along with 2-seeds North Carolina and Cincinnati. That leaves Villanova and Kansas as the remaining No. 1 seeds, while No. 11 seeds Syracuse and Loyola-Chicago are the surprise teams vying to make it to San Antonio for the Final Four.

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Spencer Lee became the first true freshman to win a national title for the Iowa Hawkeyes since 1993 on Saturday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland. Lee topped Nick Suriano of Rutgers 5-1 at 125 pounds as the Hawkeyes claimed third place in the team race.

Lee suffered an ACL injury his senior season in high school and began his first season with the Hawkeyes as a redshirt. He says he and the Hawkeyes have lofty goals going forward as they try to reel in Penn State.

The Nittany Lions claimed their seventh team title in the last eight years.

(Learfield Sports)

The Iowa Hawkeye baseball team rallied late to complete a three game sweep of Evansville, Saturday. Kyle Crowl’s RBI single capped a two run eighth inning as the Hawkeyes posted a 4-3 victory.

Iowa improves to 11-6 and returns to action Tuesday by hosting Saint Louis.

(Learfield Sports)

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

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Barry Brown scored 18 points, and Kansas State ended UMBC’s brief, but historic run in the NCAA Tournament with a 50-43 victory. UMBC had only had two field goals in the final six minutes and shot just 29.8 percent for the game. UMBC garnered national attention for its relatively unknown program when it destroyed the top-ranked Virginia 74-54 in the biggest upset in college basketball history. It was the first time a No. 16 seed had defeated a No. 1 seed.

CHICAGO (AP) — Patrik Berglund scored 3:31 into overtime, and the St. Louis Blues came from behind for a big 5-4 victory over the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. Defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn each had a goal and three assists for the Blues, who are trying to rally for a playoff wild card in the Western Conference. Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and Vladimir Sobotka also scored.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — The Royals signed right-handed reliever Justin Grimm to a $1.25 million, one-year deal that includes up to $300,000 incentives after he was released by the Chicago Cubs last week. The 29-year-old Grimm was 1-2 with a 5.53 ERA in 50 appearances last season.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA will just need to win one more home game to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year. The third-seeded Bruins host 11th-seeded Creighton on Monday evening in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — When considering where to slot Dexter Fowler in the batting order, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny isn’t concerned about last year. There’s additional data to consider. And with a good track record in the past, that could leave him at the leadoff spot for the Cardinals.

UNDATED (AP) — Many of the freshmen who garnered so much of the college basketball world’s attention during the regular season are having an abbreviated postseason. Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, Oklahoma’s Trae Young, Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr. Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Texas’ Mohamed Bamba are all considered potential NBA lottery picks whenever they turn pro. They’re also all out of the NCAA Tournament.