IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery announced Wednesday that redshirt junior Riley Till will be put on scholarship for the 2019-20 season.

Till (6-foot-7, 205 pounds), who was a walk-on the past three seasons, saw his minutes increase last season as a redshirt sophomore. The Dubuque, Iowa, native played in 16 games a year ago and had an impact in a handful of wins in 2018-19, including victories over No. 13 Oregon and Iowa’s comeback win at Penn State.

“I feel blessed and I thank God, coach McCaffery and staff, and my teammates for always believing in me and pushing me to be my best,” said Till. “I am grateful for the constant support of my family as well as the amazing Hawkeye fan base. Being an Iowa Hawkeye is a dream come true and I look forward to getting back to work with my brothers.”

Till was a two-year starter at Dubuque Wahlert High School, playing alongside current Hawkeye teammate Cordell Pemsl.

“Riley earned this scholarship,” said McCaffery. “He is the consummate teammate, a good student, and has worked extremely hard to improve his game the past three years. He has helped our team, and makes us better.”

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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(Radio Iowa) — A safety expert says as Iowa boaters plan to make their first voyage on the water this season, they should check the boat’s life jackets.  Susan Stocker, the boating law administrator and education coordinator in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says “Make sure that there aren’t any rips or tears in it.”  The major concern is to ensure the life jacket fits whomever may be wearing it on the boat. “Every life jacket has a label on it that tells the weight and the size for the intended wearer,” Stocker says.

There are more than 230-thousand registered boats in Iowa. Stocker says all boaters should use the buddy system — and give a “float plan” to someone who is NOT out on the water. “Where you’re going to go, when you’re going to be back and potentially even what ramp you’re going to be putting in at,” Stocker says. “With any high water, we may have some snags or debris that’s in the rivers and streams and being able that if you don’t show up back at home at 6:30 in the evening, that somebody starts looking for you.”

Flood conditions in some areas of the state may make boating impossible. Stocker says boaters must realize in high water, submerged trees and other objects can wreck the boat. “The other thing is when you are in a paddle-craft, whether it’s a canoe or a kayak, you’d better expect to be dumped and put in the water because that’s just the nature of those,” Stocker says, “and unfortunately I can say that we just had our third boating accident and it was a paddler.”

It happened within the last few days in southeast Iowa. Stocker says the paddler tipped over and “almost died from hypothermia.”

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hunter Dozier drove in three runs, top prospect Nicky Lopez had an RBI single in his big league debut, and the Kansas City Royals routed the Texas Rangers 11-5. Alex Gordon and Jorge Soler also drove in two runs apiece for the Royals, who scored nine times in the first inning and soon knocked Rangers starter Shelby Miller from the game. Danny Duffy earned the win with five shaky innings for Kansas City.

ATLANTA (AP) — St. Louis hit four home runs, including three-run shots by Marcell Ozuna, Yadier Molina and Kolten Wong, and the Cardinals beat struggling right-hander Mike Foltynewicz and the Atlanta Braves 14-3 on Tuesday night. Jack Flaherty did not allow a hit through four innings. St. Louis led 11-0 before Flaherty gave up three runs and three hits in the fifth.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals are giving top prospect Nicky Lopez his big league shot, summoning him from Triple-A Omaha and putting him right into the starting lineup for their series opener against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old Lopez was the Royals’ fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft.

The Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association released their latest set of weekly boys soccer rankings on Tuesday.

In Class 3A Waukee remains #1.

In Class 2A Cedar Rapids Xavier is still top-ranked. Lewis Central jumps in to the poll at #9 and Denison-Schleswig falls a spot to #13 this week.

In Class 1A Waterloo Columbus Catholic is still #1. AHSTW remains at #6 this week and Riverside moves up a couple spots to a tie for 13th with Chariton.

Check out the full rankings here: 20190514_Week_7_Rankings

Girls Soccer

CB Abraham Lincoln 1, Sioux City East 0
CB Thomas Jefferson 10, Carroll 0
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 10, Missouri Valley 0
St. Albert 11, Logan-Magnolia 1
Tri-Center 2, Underwood 0
Winterset/Earlham 5, Creston 0

Boys Soccer

CB Abraham Lincoln 5, Sioux City West 3
Lewis Central 3, CB Thomas Jefferson 0
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 9, Missouri Valley 0

The Atlantic girls golf team won their final tune-up before Regional play on Tuesday with a 204-225 win over Harlan.

The Trojans were led by Baylee Newell who shot 47 to take Medalist honors. Lauren Nicholas was Runner-Up with a 50. Atlantic’s other scores were ALyssa Ginther 52, Anna Wieser 55, Hannah Alff 55, Halsey Bailey 117.

Atlantic Head Coach Kathy Hobson: “Finally a great afternoon for golf. We had our ups and downs tonight as a team. Happy for Lauren Nicholas picking up a runner-up medal in her first year of golf. She has made a lot of improvement in her game. With our next outing being Regionals, we didn’t play like a team looking to earn a trip back to the state tournament.”

The Class 1A Region 1B golf tournament was postponed from Monday to Tuesday night. Here is a look at results from the Logan-Missouri Valley Golf Course.

Team Scores (Qualifiers in bold)

1. Woodbury Central 383
2. Westwood, Sloan 430
3. Logan-Magnolia 439
4. Ridge View 439
5. River Valley 483
6. Woodbine NTS
6. West Monona NTS
6. Lawton-Bronson NTS

Individual Top 6 Place Winners
1. Sally Gallagher, Woodbury Central – 77
2. Kennedy Mason, Ridge View – 92
3. Makenna Harding, Westwood, Sloan 97
4. Hanna Stratton, Woodbury Central 97
5. Sidnie Graff, Woodbury Central 100
6. Jaice Johnsen, Logan-Magnolia 101

Qualifiers advance to the Region 1 Final on Monday, May 20th at The Meadows Country Club in Moville, hosted by Woodbury Central.

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals are bringing up top prospect Nicky Lopez from Triple-A Omaha, and he could make his big league debut when Kansas City opens a series against Texas on Tuesday night. Right-hander Jake Newberry was optioned to Omaha in a corresponding roster move Monday. The Royals will still need to make a move with their 40-man roster before facing the Rangers.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Troy men’s basketball transfer Javan Johnson has signed with Iowa State. Johnson, who averaged 10.4 points a game last season, will join the team next fall. Johnson will sit out next season due to the NCAA’s transfer guidelines and be eligible to play the next two seasons after that. Johnson, a 6-foot-7 forward, started all 30 games as a sophomore for the Trojans in 2018-19.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback EJ Manuel, who was signed this offseason to compete for a backup job, has decided to retire after four seasons with Buffalo and one season with Oakland. Manuel was the 16th overall pick of the Bills in the 2013 draft, going 6-11 while struggling to live up to expectations. His decision was announced as part of several moves the Chiefs made to reshape their 90-man roster Monday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Longtime NFL coach Gunther Cunningham, who emigrated from postwar Germany as a child and then dedicated his life to football, has died after a brief illness. He was 72. Cunningham’s wife, Rene, said in a statement that he died Saturday.