Local organizers in Atlantic have put together plans for a welcome home celebration for Brandon Baier this weekend.  Baier is participating in the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Brandon will be arriving home Saturday March 23 and organizers are planning a caravan and presentation.  Local supporters are asked to meet at the LDS church east of Atlantic at the intersection of Highways 6 and 71 before 10:30 am.  Brandon will be met by an Atlantic fire truck for a ride and caravan into town.  They will head to the Nishna Valley Family YMCA for a welcome home reception.

The 27 year old Baier participated in Track & Field at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle last July, earning a gold medal and qualifying for the World Games.

Brandon won a bronze medal in the Shot Put earlier this week and will compete in the 100 meter dash and the 4 x 100 meter relay yet this week.

All are welcome and encouraged to turn out Saturday to show support for Brandon on his accomplishments!

The Iowa Hawkeye women were selected as a 2 seed in the Greensboro Region for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes will host 15th-seeded Mercer on Friday at 1:00pm Central on ESPN 2.

Iowa is the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament after the Hawkeyes won their first Big Ten Tournament title since 2001. Iowa is the No. 2 seed in the Greensboro Region (the program’s highest seed since it was a No. 2 seed in 1996) and will play host to first- and second-round games on campus at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the fourth time in seven years (also 2013, 2014 and 2015) . The Hawkeyes will take on 15th-seeded Mercer at 2 p.m. (ET) Friday on ESPN2 with the winner of that game moving on to face either No. 7 seed Missouri or 10th-seeded Drake on Sunday. Iowa is making its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance and second in as many seasons.

The Hawkeyes, who have a 21-25 (.457) record in NCAA Tournament play, including a 13-7 (.650) record at home, are one of eight current Big Ten schools who have advanced to the NCAA Women’s Final Four during their program’s history, doing so in 1993.

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s basketball team has been selected to play in its 18th NCAA Tournament, and 11th appearance in the last 13 years. The 3rd-seeded Cyclones will face 14th-seeded New Mexico State in the first round, Saturday, March 23rd in Ames, Iowa. As one of the top-16 teams selected in the field, Iowa State earned the right to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Cyclones’ first time under the new selection format allowing the top-16 the right to host.

The Cyclones game against New Mexico State will tipoff at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The winning team will advance to play the winner of the other game, (#6) DePaul vs. (#11) Missouri State, on Monday March 20.

Iowa State (25-8, 13-5 Big 12) is one of just 15 teams nationally to earn NCAA Tournament berths 11 of the last 13 years. All 17 of the Cyclones’ tournament bids have come under the direction of Bill Fennelly.  Iowa State’s selection as a No. 3 seed is the highest for the Cyclones since earning a three-seed in 2002.

New Mexico State (26-6, 15-1 WAC) was the regular season and tournament champion of the WAC this season. The Aggies are led by a guard tandem of two-time WAC Player of the Year Brooke Salas and fellow First Team All-WAC member Gia Pack. Salas is averaging a double-double, tallying 19.1 points per game and 11 boards. Pak is scoring 17 points per game and is churning out 3.5 assists per game.

The Atlantic girls and boys track teams faired well at the first Northwest Missouri State High School Open in Maryville.

In girls action, Atlantic finished 1-2 in the 400 and 4x400M relay. Haley Rasmussen (1:02.21) and Pluma Pross (1:04.19) finished 1st and 2nd in the 400M. Those two then teamed up with Aleigh Bean and Alyssa Derby to win the 4x400M Relay with a time of 4:21.26. Atlantic had another team in that relay that took 2nd place (Karsyn Rush, Taylor McCreedy, Kennedy Goergen, and Madison Botos 4:27.20)

Haley Rasmussen also finished 2nd in the long jump (15-06), and Taylor McCreedy was 2nd in the 800M (2:28.77).

Also on the girls side Shenandoah’s Logan Hughes won the shot put with a best toss of 37-03.50. Bedford’s Emma Lucas won the 3,200M run with a time of 11:33.30. Roxy Denton finished second in the 60 meter hurdles for Shenandoah as well.

In boy’s competition Atlantic had three champions. Jalen Petersen won the 3200M in 10:20.75. Chase Mullenix (1:58.33) and Craig Allen Becker (1:59.54) went 1-2 in the 800M. Chase and Craig Allen joined Zade Niklasen and Colin Mullenix to win the 4x400M Relay in 3:30.54.

Harlan had three champs on the boys side as well with Michael Erlemeier winning the long jump (20-01.25), and Jonathon Monson taking the 400M (52.76). The Cyclones’ 4×200 meter relay team of Mason Griffith, Connor Bruck, Eli Boldon and Jake McLaughlin won with a time of 1:34.92.

Lewis Central’s Logan Jones won the shot put with a toss of 53-02.00.

See full results from the meet here.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball teams have been selected to play in the 2019 NIT Tournament.

Nebraska (18-16) is a 4 seed an will host the 5th seeded Butler Bulldogs (16-16) on Wednesday, March 20th at 8:00pm. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Creighton (18-14) drew a 2-seed and will host 7th-seeded Loyola-Chicago (20-13) on Tuesday at 8:00pm. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

The two teams are in the same quadrant of the bracket, setting up a potential quarterfinal round match-up.

You can check out the full bracket here: 2019 NIT Bracket

The Drake Bulldogs men’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to play in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Bulldogs (24-9) will travel to face Southern Utah (16-16) on Friday, March 22nd. Gametime is to be announced.

The CIT does not have a set bracket and match-ups for ensuing rounds are determined by results of the previous rounds. All games in the tournament are played at on-campus sites.

You can check out more about the tournament and the first round pairings here.

AMES, Iowa – For the seventh time in the last eight years, the Iowa State men’s basketball team will put on its dancing shoes.

The Cyclones earned their 20^th NCAA Tournament bid in school history Sunday evening, as the 2019 NCAA Championship bracket was announced on CBS. The Cyclones are one of 15 teams in the nation to make seven NCAA Tournament appearances in the last eight years.

Iowa State (23-11, 9-9 Big 12) earned the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region and will face No. 11 seed Ohio State (19-14, 8-12 Big Ten), Friday March 22 in Tulsa, Okla.

The winner of the Iowa State-Ohio State game will play the winner of the Houston-Georgia State game on Sunday, March 24.

Steve Prohm, now in his fourth year as the Cyclone head man, will be taking his third Iowa State team to the NCAA Tournament, tying for the third-most by a head coach in school history: Johnny Orr (6), Fred Hoiberg (4), Prohm (3), Tim Floyd (3).

Prohm has an 83-52 all-time record at ISU.

Iowa State has a 10-6 record vs. teams in the 2019 NCAA Tournament: North Dakota State (1-0), Iowa (0-1), Kansas (2-1), Baylor (1-2), Kansas State (2-1), Texas Tech (1-1), Mississippi (1-0), Oklahoma (2-0).

The game will be the final game of the day on Friday in Tulsa with a scheduled tip time of 8:50pm Central and will be televised by TBS.

Check out the full NCAA Tournament Bracket here: 2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team received an at-large berth to the 2019 Men’s Basketball Tournament, its 26th appearance in the tournament, including its fourth under head coach Fran McCaffery.

Iowa (22-11) received a No. 10 seed and will play seventh-seeded Cincinnati (28-6) on Friday in Columbus, Ohio. The Hawkeyes and Cincinnati have met eight times previously, with the Bearcats holding a 6-2 series advantage. Cincinnati defeated Iowa 76-64 on March 17, 2005, in the most recent meeting. That meeting came in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis. That is the only time the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes and Bearcats are schedule to meet next season at the United Center in Chicago.

The game will be played as the first game of the day on Friday at 11:15am Central and we’ll have coverage on KJAN with pregame at 10:15am. The game will be televised on CBS.

Check out the full NCAA Tournament Bracket here: 2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats advanced to the NCAA Division II Central Region Final with a 70-59 win over Southern Nazarene University on Sunday in Maryville.

The Bearcats opened up an early 10 point lead in the game before the Crimson Storm rallied back to within 1 with about 4 minutes left in the first half. The Bearcats responded though with a 7-0 run and took a 36-28 lead into halftime. SNU would rally within 5 with just under four minutes left in the game but Northwest freshman Trevor Hudgins made some key plays down the stretch to lead the Bearcats to the win including two threes late in the game.

Hudgins tallied 16 points and 7 rebounds in the win. Senior Joey Witthus led all-scorers with 29 points on 10-16 shooting from the field.

Northwest remains unbeaten at 34-0 and will take on fellow MIAA Conference mate Missouri Southern in the Central Region Final on Tuesday night at 7:00pm. The winner will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Evansville, IN on March 27-30.

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

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