The executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition has some issues with a survey out this week by A-D-T that showed five Iowa communities are in the top ten for the most dangerous to ride a bicycle. Webster City was ranked number three on the list behind New York City and Los Angeles. Mark Wyatt is with the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. “I think the results of this study are incomplete and inaccurate — but I don’t want to underemphasize that we have some work to do as far as making bicycling safer in this state,”Wyatt says.

Wyatt said the coalition is addressing the issue of bike safety. He says they have been working in the Iowa Legislature to get a safe passing distance bill approved and they have been working with the D-O-T to complete a state bike plan by this fall.  Wyatt says there are a lot of other efforts underway to improve the safety of bicyclists. “One city in Iowa — Hudson, Iowa — has adopted a local ordinance on safe passing and we’re working on more cities to join that city to upgrade their local ordinance,” according to Wyatt. “And then finally, as of July first we are launching a 20-thousand dollar media campaign addressing the safe passing of bicycles.”

Wyatt says the A-D-T study overlooks the work the coalition has been doing with other bike groups in making bike safety a key issues. “Unfortunately I don’t think the study from a home security company really reflected that amount of work that’s going on in the state,” Wyatt says. “Or the amount of fatal crashes in comparison to per capita rankings to say Florida and California, where it seems much more dangerous.” While he thinks the rankings aren’t accurate, Wyatt again says Iowa is by no means done when it comes to work to improve safety for bikers. “One death is too many in this state and we need to get to zero fatalities,” Wyatt says.

The other four Iowa communities listed among the most dangerous for bicyclists are Waterloo (7th) , Sioux City (8th), Johnston (9th) and Des Moines (10th).

(Radio Iowa)

CLASS 4A

Region 1

Lemars 9, Bishop Heelan 3
Storm Lake 6, Spencer 2

Region 2

Des Moines Hoover 5, Bondurant 2
Glenwood 2, Harlan 0

Region 3

Carroll 3, Perry 1
Boone 12, Webster City 2

Region 4

Dallas Center-Grimes 12, Knoxville 0
Pella 5, Grinnell 4

CLASS 5A

Region 1

Sioux City North 10, Sioux City West 0

Region 2

CB Thomas Jefferson 10, CB Abraham Lincoln 3

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

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Luke Weaver pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 11-2. Jedd Gyorko had three hits including a home run and drove in five runs to spoil Johnny Cueto’s return after two months on the disabled list. Matt Carpenter and Harrison Bader also went deep while Yadier Molina singled three times. The Cardinals had a season-high 18 hits _ their most since getting 19 against the New York Mets on Aug. 24, 2016.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has hired former Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long to lead its department. Long signed a five-year, fully guaranteed contract that will pay $1.5 million annually. He takes over for Sheahon Zenger, who was fired in May after struggling to turn around the Jayhawks’ football program and failing to build support for much-needed stadium renovations.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the final softball rankings for Classes 4A and 5A as postseason play begins tonight.

In Class 4A Denison-Schleswig comes in at #8 and Lewis Central is #9 in the final poll.

Check out the full polls for all classes here: 2018-final-softball-rankings-all-classes

Regional softball play gets underway for the 2 largest classes tonight around the state. Winners will move on to Regional Semifinals on Saturday. Here is a look at area games.

Class 4A

Region 1

Bishop Heelan vs. LeMars (@ Morningside) 5:30pm
Spencer @ Storm Lake 7:00pm

Denison-Schleswig and Sergeant Bluff-Luton await winners.

Region 2

Des Moines Hoover @ Bondurant-Farrar 7:00pm
Harlan @ Glenwood 7:00pm

Winterset and Lewis Central await winners.

Region 3

Perry @ Carroll 7:00pm
Webster City @ Boone 7:00pm

ADM and Norwalk await winners.

Class 5A

Region 2

CB Abraham Lincoln @ CB Thomas Jefferson 7:00pm

Ankeny awaits the winner.

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

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(Radio Iowa)  — An exhibit showcasing the history of 6-on-6 girls basketball in Iowa is in the midst of a six-city tour across the state. It was 25 years ago this year that Iowa’s final 6-on-6 state tournament was held. University of Iowa professor Susan Birrell is co-curator of the exhibit, which was first put on display in Mount Vernon in March. “At Mount Vernon, we were met at the door before the exhibit even opened on the first day by women who were eager to see the exhibit and share their own stories,” Birrell said.

The exhibit was moved to Ottumwa in May and is now on display in Guthrie Center through August 5. Julie Goodrich-Blake donated photos and other items to the exhibit. She played for Adel in the 1970s when her team made it to the finals of the state tournament two years in a row, losing both of those games. During her junior and senior years, Goodrich-Blake received fan mail from around the state and was a superstar in

Julie Goodrich, Adel, launches shot at state tournament

her small town in Dallas County. “We were treated like royalty, really,” Goodrich-Blake recalled. “We had so much success and the people of the community enjoyed watching us.”

Current University of Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder played 6-on-6 hoops for Linn-Mar in the late 1970s. Her teams never made it to the state tournament, but Bluder has fond memories of the pageantry put on display at Vet’s Auditorium in Des Moines. “Every year, we’d go and watch the state tournament and see all the glamour – and it was packed,” Bluder said. “The guys would come out in their tuxedos and clean the floor at halftime. The spotlights would come on and they’d announce the all-tournament teams and the people being inducted into the hall-of-fame. The whole thing was marvelous.”

Although the 6-on-6 game wasn’t unique to Iowa, support of the sport was extraordinary – both in terms of fans and organization. Iowa has the longest running state tournament dedicated to high school girls, with the first unsanctioned tournament held in 1920. Goodrich-Blake, who went on to play at Iowa State University, said she feels lucky that she grew up where she did. “My mother and grandmother played basketball, my aunts played, so I didn’t realize other girls my age weren’t getting to play across the country. It wasn’t novel to go out for basketball at Adel because everybody else had played before,” Goodrich-Blake said.

Iowa was one of the last two states to play 6-on-6 basketball (Oklahoma held its last 6-on-6 tournament in 1995). Each team in the 6-on-6 game had three guards on one side of the court and three forwards on the other. Shelly Lucas was a guard for the New London Tigerettes in the early 1980s. “I didn’t know it was unusual that I never got to score any points. I took a lot of pride in my defensive skills,” Lucas said. “My school was never a noteworthy school, we didn’t make it to state or anything like that. We were playing because it was fun to play and that’s what you did when you grew up in Iowa.”

Lucas, now a professor at Boise State University, earned a PhD at the University of Iowa in 2001. Her dissertation examined the controversy over switching Iowa high school girls’ basketball from a six-player to a five-player game. The traveling exhibit, currently in Guthrie Center, will make three more tour stops between August and the end of the year in Jefferson, Ames, and Conrad.
…….
LINK:
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa/celebrating-girls-and-womens-sport-in-iowa/

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

PHOENIX (AP) — Yadier Molina and Yairo Munoz homered, Miles Mikolas threw six strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals broke loose late to beat Arizona 8-4 and take two of three from the first-place Diamondbacks. Molina’s three-run shot on the first pitch from reliever Fernando Salas highlighted a five-run Cardinals seventh inning after Arizona had nursed a 2-1 lead through six. The Diamondbacks dropped to 1-5 on their homestand and lead the surging Dodgers by just a half-game in the NL West.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Trevor Bauer pitched effectively into the eighth inning and the Cleveland Indians beat the skidding Kansas City Royals 3-2 for a three-game sweep. Michael Brantley had an early RBI double and the Indians scored all their runs in the first three innings on only one hit.

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets have agreed to a deal with rookie forward Michael Porter Jr. Porter was taken by the Nuggets with the 14th overall pick in the draft last month. He was considered a top-five pick before a back injury that required surgery limited him to three games at Missouri last season.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster has been suspended without pay for the first two games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s conduct and substance-abuse policy. The NFL said Foster will also be fined for violations from a weapons offense and misdemeanor drug charge that were resolved earlier this offseason. Foster will miss San Francisco’s games against Minnesota and Detroit before being allowed to return on Sept. 17 before the Niners play Kansas City.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Ric Hanson

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The college football preview magazines are hitting the newsstands and most expect Wisconsin’s domination of the Big Ten West Division to continue. Phil Steele says with Alex Hornibrook back at quarterback, Johnathan Taylor at running back and the nation’s top ranked offensive line the Badgers are loaded on offense. He expects the defense to be strong again despite some losses. Steele says Iowa could make a run at the division title if they can knock off the Badgers in Kinnick Stadium. He expects Nebraska to show improvement under first year coach Scott Frost even though the Huskers face a demanding schedule.

(Learfield Sports)