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

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A few thousand athletes with intellectual disabilities from across Iowa will be gathering in Ames this week for the 34th annual summer games of the Special Olympics. Games spokeswoman Stephanie Kocer says the opening ceremony will be held Thursday night at Hilton Coliseum. “We have just over 2,800 athletes this year and 2,000 volunteers and about 1,500 coaches that come,” Kocer says. “They’re all coming to Ames and the Iowa State campus.”

The competitions run through Saturday and are the highlight of the year for many hundreds of the participants. “It’s three days of a ton of different sporting events,” Kocer says. “We have six sports: swimming, athletics — which is track and field, bocce, cycling, soccer, tennis and developmental events.”  This year is a special one as the games are marking their 50th anniversary. “We’re doing a few different things to celebrate the 50th here in Iowa,” Kocer says, “and there’s also going to be a big 50th celebration in July in Chicago, which is where the first games were held.”

Special Olympics was started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968. Today it is the largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

http://www.soiowa.org

The U-S Supreme Court has overturned a law which limited sports betting to the state of Nevada. Iowa Gaming Association president, Wes Ehrecke, says the state’s casinos have been preparing for the possibility of legalized sports betting in anticipation of the ruling. “This ruling is great news and we’d hoped that this would have been the outcome when New Jersey had challenged the constitutionally of only allowing one state — Nevada — to have legalized sports betting for over the last two-and-half decades,” Ehrecke says.

The Iowa Gaming Association represents the 19 state-licensed casinos and pushed for legislation making sports betting legal, but it failed to pass in the last session. Ehrecke says legislators wanted the certainty of the Supreme Court ruling before moving ahead, and he says they hoped the ruling would have come four weeks ago. “But now we will deal with trying to get the education and awareness ready for the next session,” Ehrecke says.

He says they believe the more than two decades of experience in the state-licensed casinos have make them the best places to run sports betting operations. “Certainly our Racing and Gaming Commission having that expertise and integrity and standards being set,” Ehrecke says. “Having someone come into a casino to establish their account, they could do so in person to bet, but also being able to could come through secure portals to have the option bet on their phone or laptop — we believe would be the best option.”

Critics who oppose legalized sports betting say it expands gambling. But Ehrecke says millions and millions of dollars are already bet illegally each year in Iowa and other states.”This is not really an expansion of gambling, but it allows for a more legalized structured and regulated form of what’s already existed — not only in Iowa, but around the country,” according to Ehrecke.

He says casinos have a variety of options if state lawmakers make sports betting legal. “Every casino would probably do something a bit different,” Ehrecke, “but certainly having a sports betting area. Some could be on the gaming floor, some could be incorporated into their existing sports bars they have now. That will be a part of that decision that works best for each respective casino.”

Ehrecke says the first order of business is to get a sports betting law passed. “We’re looking forward to educating and working with legislators and the media and the public to create awareness about why a legalized sports betting bill hopefully will get adopted here in the next session,” Ehrecke says.

The I-G-A supports a bill that would allow legalized betting on pro and college sports.

(Radio Iowa)

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Adeiny Hechavarria danced around catcher Salvador Perez with an inventive slide at home plate to score the go-ahead run, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1. Hechavarria dashed home on Matt Duffy’s single to right field in the sixth inning, sidestepped Perez to the right, then dived back toward the plate. Hechavarria faked toward the dish with his right hand, then jabbed his left hand just past Perez’s outstretched glove to tag the plate.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Anthony Holman has been named the NCAA managing director for championships operations and playing rules. Holman will be the lead administrator for the College World Series as successor to Ron Prettyman. Holman also will oversee championships in bowling, men’s ice hockey, FCS football, women’s volleyball, beach volleyball and rifle. Holman also will have responsibilities related to playing rules, governance duties and sport committee activity for multiple championships.

The Denison-Schleswig vs. St. Albert boys tennis Preliminary Substate match was postponed from Saturday to Monday and the Monarchs came out victorious 5-4. The Class 1A Substate at Kuemper Catholic on Saturday is now all set.

Atlantic will take on Denison-Schleswig and Kuemper Catholic will face Creston O-M. Winners of those matches will then play in the State Quarterfinal one hour after the final Substate match is finished.

Girls Soccer

Atlantic 6, Riverside 0
Glenwood 5, Kuemper Catholic 0
Lewis Central 10, Harlan 0
Treynor 9, Underwood 2

Boys Soccer

Kuemper Catholic 1, Atlantic 0
Denison-Schleswig 5, Glenwood 0
Harlan 3, Creston 0
Riverside 6, Nodaway Valley 0
Treynor 3, Underwood 0
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 5, Thomas Jefferson 2

Class 1A and 2A girls golf teams competed in the first round of Regional play on Monday. The top two teams and top 8 individuals will move on to the next round of competition. If a host school is one of the top two teams then the third place team will also qualify. Ties will not be broken for eight place individually so all players tied will advance.

Class 1A

Region 2B at Coon Rapids (Coon Rapids-Bayard)

Team Scores

1. Griswold 278 (Qualify)
2. Audubon 396 (Qualify)
3. Riverside 419
4. Exira-EHK 425
5. IKM-Manning 429
6. Glidden-Ralston 448
7. Coon Rapids-Bayard 467
8. East Mills 510

Individual Scores

1. Jasmine Turner, Audubon, 84
2. Jacey Anthofer, Exira-EHK, 87
3. Mateya Peters, Griswold, 90
4. Roni Hook, Griswold, 96
5. Bry Carlisle, Griswold, 96
6. Alyssa Brink, Riverside, 96
7. Jenna Reynolds, Griswold, 96
8. Whitney Reever, Glidden-Ralston, 99

Region 2A at Fox Run (Heartland Christian)

Team Scores

1. Boyer Valley 404 (Qualify)
2. Woodbury Central 418 (Qualify)
3. Tri-Center 442
4. Logan-Magnolia 460
5. Woodbine 512
6. St. Albert 543

Heartland Christian and Treynor had no team scores.

Individual Scores

1. Sally Gallagher, Woodbury Central, 81
2. Kayla Chapman, Treynor, 83
3. Anna Puck, Boyer Valley, 89
4. Katy Puck, Boyer Valley, 101
5. Jesse Decker, St. Albert, 105
6. Ashlyn Eckrich, Tri-Center, 106
7. Reagan Frazier, Boyer Valley, 107
8. Abby Miller, Boyer Valley, 107

Region 2C at Anita (CAM)

Team Scores

1. Mount Ayr 401 (Qualify)
2. CAM 406 (Qualify)
3. East Union 411 (Qualify)
4. Woodward-Granger 432
5. Lenox 494
6. Southwest Valley 509

Individual Scores

1. Sammi Jahde, CAM, 85
2. Abbey Schafer, Mount Ayr, 86
3. Quinn Eslinger, East Union, 88
4. Anna Collins, East Union, 93
5. Ericka Stender, CAM, 94
6. Katelyn Dolecheck, Mount Ayr, 98
7. Aubrey Mescher, Woodward-Granger, 101
8. Cierra DeHoet, Woodward-Granger, 101

Class 2A

Region 2A at Red Oak

Team Scores

1. Kuemper Catholic 368 (Qualify)
2. Clarinda 401 (Qualify)
3. Shenandoah 423
4. Missouri Valley 434
5. Underwood 441
6. Red Oak 459
7. Southwest Iowa 460
8. AHSTW NTS

Individual Scores

1. McKenna Ludwig, Kuemper Catholic, 86
2. Katie Schweers, Kuemper Catholic, 93
3. Kate Carlson, Red Oak, 95
4. Rachel Teten, Underwood, 95
5. Gracie Brown, Clarinda, 97
6. Lexy Knop, AHSTW 99
7. Carly Rahn, Clarinda, 99
8. Payton Hilts, Missouri Valley, 99

Region 2B at Lake Panorama (Panorama)

Team Scores

1. South Hamilton 408 (Qualify)
2. Roland-Story 416 (Qualify)
3. Panorama 428
4. Ogden 437
5. Des Moines Christian 442
6. Colo-Nesco 497
7. AC/GC 560

Individual Scores

1. Maranda Wheelock, Ogden, 95
2. CeCe Sturdivant, Des Moines Christian, 96
3. Katelyn Sogard, South Hamilton, 98
4. Susie Weaver, Roland-Story, 100
5. Claire Wiseman, Roland-Story, 100
6. Krista Swenson, South Hamilton, 101
7. Madison Fear, Panorama, 102
8. Kenady Campbell, South Hamilton, 104
9. Kayla Walker, Ogden, 104
10. Kaitlyn Rahfelt, Roland-Story, 104

Girls Soccer

Waverly-Shell Rock Tournament
St. Albert 6, Hudson 2
Columbus Catholic 2, St. Albert 1 (SO)
ADM 7, St Albert 0

Urbandale Tournament
Ankeny Centennial 2, Lewis Central 1
Urbandale 1, Thomas Jefferson 0
Lewis Central 2, Southeast Polk 1 (OT)
Thomas Jefferson 2, Dallas Center-Grimes 1

Regular Season
WDM Valley 4, CB Abraham Lincoln 0

Boys Soccer

Lewis Central 2, Sioux City North 0
WDM Valley 1, CB Abraham Lincoln 0

Girls Golf

IKM-Manning Wolves Invite

Team Scores:

1. Boyer Valley 211
2. IKM-Manning 214
3. Audubon 215
4. AC/GC NTS

Individual Scores

1. Anna Puck, Boyer Valley, 47
2. Kena Bair, AC/GC, 50
3. Jasmine Turner, Audubon, 50
4. Hanna Mullen, IKM-Manning, 51
5. Regan Frazier, Boyer Valley, 52

Some of the Boys Preliminary Substate Team Tennis matches were played on Saturday and some were postponed to Monday. These matches determine the final spots for Substate play coming up this Saturday.

Class 1A

@ Creston: Creston 5, Clarinda 2
@ Denison-Schleswig: Denison-Schleswig vs. St. Albert ppd to 5/14 at 3:30pm.

Substate for these teams will be played on Saturday, May 19th at Kuemper Catholic at around 8:30am.

Atlantic vs. Denison-Schelswig/St. Albert winner
Kuemper Catholic vs. Creston O-M

Winners will play in the State Quarterfinal one hour after the final substate match.

Class 2A

@ Sioux City North: Sioux City North vs. Lewis Central ppd to 5/15 at 11:00am.