Atlantic’s Alyssa Ginther sits in 4th place after day one of competition at the Class 3A Girls State Golf Tournament at Coldwater Links in Ames. Ginther shot an opening round +8, 79 on Tuesday. The current leader is Britta Snyder of Gilbert who shot a -1, 70. Atlantic’s Baylee Newell is in 19th after shooting a +14, 85 on Tuesday.

Rylie Driskell of Creston and Somer Sinnard of Carroll are currently tied for 9th with opening rounds of +12, 83.

Creston sits in 3rd in the team race with a +62 team total on day one. Washington leads with a +50 total on day one. Carroll is in 8th with a +100 team total.

Atlantic will finish in 4th place in the Class 1A State Team Tennis Tournament. Atlantic fell in their Semifinal

Atlantic Boys Tennis Team
Photo courtesy Shawn Petersen

match against Maharishi, Fairfield 5-1. The Trojans then fell to the Boone Toreadors in the Class 1A Team Tennis Consolation Final 5-2. Atlantic fell behind 4-2 after singles play and needed to win all three doubles matches in order to take third place but they came up short, with the #3 doubles team getting knocked off first.

The Trojans finish a very successful 2018 season with the 5th trip to the Final Four in school history and the 4th place medal. The duo of Grant Podhajsky and Cooper McDermott took home their second straight doubles medal on Saturday with a 6th place finish. Sophomore Nile Petersen also competed in singles play at State.

Match Scores against Boone

Singles

#1 Singles: Mason Hulse, Boone def. Grant Podhajsky, Atlantic 6-2, 6-4.
#2 Singles: Cooper McDermott, Atlantic def. Jackson Zehr, Boone 6-3, 6-2
#3 Singles: Nile Petersen, Atlantic def. Corbin Wafful, Boone 4-6, 7-5, 1 (10-7)
#4 Singles: Cody Frame, Boone def. Kalob Flory, Atlantic 6-4, 1-6, 1 (10-5)
#5 Singles: Jimmy Boustead, Boone def. Luke Hohenberger, Atlantic 6-4, 6-4
#6 Singles: Jackson Smith, Boone def. Jake Redler, Atlantic 4-6, 3-6

Doubles

#3 Doubles Jimmy Boustead/Jackson Smith (Boone) def. Luke Hohenberger/Jake Redler (Atlantic) 6-3, 6-3

Boone clinches the win 5-2 to take third place at state. Atlantic will take home 4th place.

The Atlantic boys tennis team fell in their State Semifinal match on Tuesday morning against Maharishi, Fairfield 5-1. Maharishi clinched the win during singles play, so doubles matches were not played. Maharishi will advance to the State Championship match against Dubuque Wahlert. Wahlert swept past Boone in the other Semifinal 5-0 in singles play.

Atlantic will now play in the Consolation Final against Boone.

Match Scores against Maharishi

#1 Singles: Kai Vessey (Maharishi) def. Grant Podhajsky (Atlantic) 6-0, 6-3
#2 Singles: Devan Burke (Maharishi) def. Cooper McDermott (Atlantic) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
#3 Singles: Daniel Zhu (Maharishi) def. Nile Petersen (Atlantic) 6-2, 6-3
#4 Singles: David Zhang (Maharishi) def. Kalob Flory (Atlantic) 6-3, 6-4
#5 Singles: Luke Hohenberger (Atlantic) def. Allison Bhavani (Maharishi) 6-4, 6-3
#6 Singles: Karthik Vempati (Maharishi) def. Jake Redler (Atlantic) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3

The Girls State Golf Tournaments begin today for all four classes.

The Class 1A State Tournament is being played at American Legion Golf Course in Marshalltown. Griswold is competing as a team. Other local individuals include Jacey Anthofer of Exira-EHK, Sammi Jahde of CAM, and Kayla Chapman of Treynor.

Class 2A is being contested at Lake Panorama National Golf Course. Kuemper Catholic is competing in the team tournament. Other individuals include Madison Fear of Panorama and Gracie Brown of Clarinda.

Class 3A is playing at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. Creston and Carroll are playing in the team race. Other individuals include Atlantic’s Alyssa Ginther and Baylee Newell. Ellen Keast of Harlan will also be competing individually.

Class 4A is teeing it up at Elmwood Country Club in Marshalltown. No local teams or individuals are competing in 4A.

The Atlantic Community School Board voted 3-to 2 this (Tuesday) morning to approve all of the 2018-19  Coaches/Sponsors Continuing Contracts, except for one. The Contract for Head Girls Basketball Coach Kelly Juhl, was not renewed. Their decision came following a closed session held at the Schuler Elementary School Media Center. Officials have stated the job will be opened up for a typical search to find a new coach.

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

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Many Iowans are getting their bicycles tuned-up and ready for a summer full of riding. Cycling enthusiasts are also hoping it’s a much safer season than recent years. According to the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, 11 people died in bicycle crashes in the state in 2016. Nine of those crashes involved collisions with vehicles. Roger White, with the group Cedar Valley Cyclists in Cedar Falls, says lawmakers could do much more to protect people pedaling on Iowa’s highways. “It’s very difficult to prove reckless driving, so there’s a void in the law,” White says. “One of the things that would help is if the legislature would pass full-lane passing of bicyclists and, at the same time, increase the penalties for driving distracted.”

While White is suggesting cars be required to move into another lane while passing bikes, others have called for a three-or-five foot passing clearance. “Neither of those are enforceable because you have two vehicles moving down the road at the same time and the vehicle driver is sitting way over on the left side – it’s very difficult to judge the distance from the opposite side of the vehicle while you’re going 55 or whatever miles an hour,” White says. “The only thing that’s clear is you know when you’re in the opposite lane or not, so full-lane passing is the solution to that.”

White and many other bicyclists are also calling for greater penalties in Iowa for motorists who are found at fault for hitting a cyclist. White says, many times, a motorist is only charged with failure to yield – even if the cyclist is killed or seriously injured.

(Radio Iowa)

Atlantic Boys Tennis Team
Photo courtesy Shawn Petersen

The Atlantic Trojans boys tennis team will compete in the State Team Tennis Final Four today. The Class 1A Team Finals are being played at the Waveland Tennis Courts in Des Moines.

Atlantic will be the #3 seed and play their Semi-Final match against #2 seeded Maharishi, Fairfield. The other Semi-Final is # Dubuque Wahlert vs. #4 Boone. Play begins at 8:30am for the Semi-Final matches. The State Championship and Consolation Final will be played 1 hour after Semi-Final play is complete.

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

UNDATED (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals rookie reliever Jordan Hicks is lighting up radar guns and shutting down opponents. The 21-year-old is challenging New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman as the hardest thrower in baseball. Hicks has hit 105 mph multiple times this season, and his sinker regularly reaches triple digits. Hicks made the jump from Class A to the majors this season. He says he’s not sure where his power comes from and that he simply focuses on throwing the ball hard.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Miguel Sano belted a two-run homer, Eddie Rosario hit a three-run double and the Minnesota Twins snapped a four-game skid with an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Lance Lynn pitched six effective innings to win his second consecutive start after a dreadful stretch in his first season with the Twins.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jonathan Villar and Christian Yelich homered and Ryan Braun had three hits to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee starter Brent Suter (5-3) allowed three runs in five innings. He hit a two-run double in the fourth that gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead. Milwaukee won for the 10th time in 12 games.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Defending national champion Florida is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA baseball tournament. The Gators are the first program to be a top seed three times. Play begins Friday in 16 regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha.