Oskaloosa Indian Boys Swim Team wrapped up their 2015-16 season.  The team this year moved up 9 spots on the power rankings in the state of Iowa and look to continue the climb next year.   The team had a lot of fun this year and were able to push themselves through some very long and grueling practices to come out better swimmers at the end of the season.

Dawson Sarver won the Most Valuable Swimmer award as he joined the swim team this year after taking a few years off and was a great addition to the program and was the only senior this year.  He was only a second away from being the first Indian swimmer to qualify for state in the 100 Breaststroke and has 3 of the Oskaloosa Records.

The Iron Man Awards went to Dawson Sarver, Jack Miller and Jarod Miller for not missing any practices this season and for making it to all of the meets during the year.

During the last 3 years of having an Oskaloosa swim team, records have been kept and this year’s team broke every one of them during the season.  Dawson Sarver ended the season holding the Indian record in the 50 Free with a time of 23.51, The 100 Free with a time of 53.34, and the 100 Breast in a time of 1:03.27.  Jack Miller now holds the records in the 100 Backstroke in a time of 1:02.41, and the 200 IM in a time of 2:19.46.  Jarod Miller holds the record in the 200 Free with a time of 2:08.05, and the 500 Free in a time of 5:48.19.  Finishing out the individual records is Carter Huyser who holds the record in the 100 Fly in a time of 1:01.36.  The Medley Relay (all 4 strokes) record and the 200 Free Relay records are held by Jack Miller, Dawson Sarver, Carter Huyser, and Nik Dykstra with a time of 1:49.88 in the Medley and a time of 1:39.85 in the Free.  The 400 Free Relay record is held is held by group of Carter Huyser, Jack Miller, Jarod Miller, and Dawson Sarver in a time of 3:47.12.

All 11 swim team members Ean Beenken, Colton Berg, Sam Carmichael, Nik Dykstra, John Hammes, Carter Huyser, Jack Miller, Jarod Miller, Dawson Sarver, Jacob Spears and Connor Swim made it into the 50 Free Sub-30 Second Club this year and Nik, Jack and Dawson advanced into the Free Sub-25 second club.  Carter Huyser and Connor Swim made it into the Sub-30 Second club in the 50 Fly.  Jack made it into the Backstroke Sub-30 second club and Dawson Sarver made it into the Breaststroke sub 30 second club.  In the Free 60 second club Ean Beenken, Nik Dykstra, Carter Huyser, Jack Miller, Jarod Miller, Dawson Sarver and Connor Swim all received their awards with Carter and Dawson also advancing into the Sub-55 second club.  The 2 managers Darian Jaquez and Ellie Snyder also received t-shirts this year as they did an awesome job of keeping all of the stats for the year and timing the swimmers during practice.

With only one senior leaving and several more incoming freshmen joining the team next year the Indians are looking forward to continue moving the bar higher.

IOWA CITY – The Carver-Hawkeye crowd was ready to be heard even before the tip against their BIG 10 rival Wisconsin Badgers. The Hawkeyes haven’t had much luck doing battle with the Badgers as of late, losing five in straight matches. But this game was billed differently with the #8 ranked Hawks walking into the gym as the favorites.

The first half lived up the pregame rival type hype. The Badgers of Wisconsin held a mere one point lead at the half way mark. Peter Jok stole the first half show knocking down 3 of 4 from three point land. His badger counterpart, Bronson Koenig would answer with a couple buckets of his own behind the arc. The back and forth contest would ensue through the first half. Hawkeye leading scorer, Jarrod Uthoff, was quite only playing 10 first half minutes due to foul trouble. Jok would make up for Uthoff’s absence scoring half of Iowa’s points with 17 big ones.

The second half started quickly as Uthoff would be well rested and come out firing with five points in the first three minutes. The badgers were forced to take a team time out to slow Iowa’s momentum. Wisconsin would answer with a couple buckets of their own. The second half was much like the first trading buckets back and forth. At times both teams would secure slight leads that wouldn’t last long. Adam Woodbury’s height would be biggest difference as the Hawks kept staying in the game with second chance opportunities. Woody, as the team affectionately calls, would have 18 boards, 10 of which were offensive. In the end, the Hawks couldn’t put a run to match the Badgers down the stretch. Jok and Uthoff went cold missing a few open looks that would normally be expected to fall.

As the gap grew, a few timely three point buclets from the Badgers were too much for Iowa to overcome. The Hawkeyes lost their 6th straight contest against Wisconsin and lost their first home game in almost a year, 67-59.

There were some opportunities says Coach McCaffrey “I thought we got great shot opportunities. I thought 14 turnovers contributed to that. I can’t remember what the breakdown was in the first half versus second half. I know I think we had eight the first half, six in the second half, I think. But six turnovers is too many. Eight is way too many against a team that’s playing half-court man. We’ve got to do better than that, but we got a little hesitant at times.”

The Hawkeyes will now look to get off the two game losing streak against another Big 10 rivals in Ohio State Sunday on CBS.

McCaffrey says this being in the national spotlight is a great motivator “It’s a great opportunity. We haven’t played well in the last two games, yet we have done some good things in those two games.”

The game is scheduled for a 3:00pm tip-off and can be heard on 104.9 KBOE with the pregame at 2 PM.

Story provided by  Zach Payne of KBOE/KMZN

The Iowa Hawkeye men’s basketball team heads into a Big Ten matchup Wednesday night against Wisconsin looking to bounce back from a tough four-point loss on the road to Penn State last Wednesday. The defeat dropped the Hawks to 20-6 overall and 11-3 in the Big Ten.

Senior star Jarrod Uthoff said the team took advantage of having a week off.

“It was very nice to get to step back and relax your body,” said Uthoff, who leads the Hawks in scoring. “We had a couple days off and we could recharge.”

The break seemed much needed for the Hawkeyes, who dropped two of their last three games and surrendered the outright lead in the Big Ten. Iowa fell four spots to #8 in the latest Associated Press poll released Monday.

The players held a closed meeting after last Wednesday’s loss, but Uthoff says there’s nothing to worry about.

“We’re fine. We’re absolutely fine,” Uthoff assured. “We’re looking forward to Wednesday.”

The focus moves to Wednesday’s home game with Wisconsin, who has rebounded from a slow start to be receiving votes nationally with a 17-10 overall record and a 9-5 mark in the Big Ten.

Uthoff says this is a different team than the one that Iowa has struggled to beat in recent years.

“I think it’s a different team,” explained Uthoff. “Without Frank [Kaminsky], Traevon [Jackson], a couple of those guys, I think it’s a different team.”

Redshirt freshman Nicholas Baer knows what to expect from the Badgers.

“They’re going to play hard and play physical,” said Baer. “They have some great talented bigs that can stretch you. Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig are their leaders and they do a really nice job of leading them.”

The Hawkeyes have just three remaining games in the regular season after Wednesday’s contest.

You can hear the action on 104.9 FM KBOE beginning at 7 PM with Gary Dolphin and Bobby Hansen on the call. Tip-off is at 8 PM in Iowa City.

It was a busy 3 days at the 2016 State Wrestling Tournament and you heard every exciting second of the action on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN as Jamie Brockman and Brett Sams brought you over 30 hours of live coverage from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.  When it was all said and done 3 state champions (Bryce Leshen and Carter Isley of Albia and Briar Cochran of Moravia) were crowned and a total of 14 wrestlers earned top eight finishes for medals from the Mahaska Zone Network area, led by Albia with four medalists and Moravia with three.

In Class 2A, all four Albia wrestlers earned medals including two champions, earning Albia a third place team finish. Bryce Leshen at 145 and Carter Isley at heavyweight both earned titles to end their stellar high school careers.  For Leshen, it was his first state championship while Isley won his second after winning at 220 pounds last year.  After getting upset in the semifinals Friday night losing 6-5 to eventual champion Matthew Randone of Davenport Assumption, freshman Aden Reeves came out strong Saturday and took home a third place medal at 106 and Blake Lawless finished 6^th place at 152. Also earning medals in Class 2A were Levi Duwa of Mid-Prairie (who advanced to the finals but lost by fall in overtime to Gavin Dinsdale of Webster City), Lucas Roland of PCM (finished in 7^th place at 138), and Tanner Hoffstetter of Grinnell (finished 6^th place at heavyweight).

Several area wrestlers earned medals in Class 1A, highlighted by Briar Cochran of Moravia who won his first state championship at 132, beating Lisbon’s Chase McLaughlin 14-11 in the finals to finish his senior season at 56-1.  Zach Axmear of English Valleys also advanced to the finals Saturday night but was defeated by Connor Schulista of Alburnett, 6-3, and finished his junior season 55-2.   Nicholas Martin of Moravia finished 6^th at 126, Kaleb Reeves of Sigourney/Keota finished 7^th at 182, and Quinton Casteel of Moravia finished 8^th at 220 pounds.

In Class 3A, after being upset in the quarterfinals, Isaiah Cox of Ottumwa finished in 5^th place at 182 and ended his senior season at 50-5. Drew Sams of Oskaloosa wrestled tough all tournament to earn a 7^th place medal at 132. Sams lost in the opening round to eventual champion Grant Stotts of West Des Moines Valley 3-2, won the first round consolation 10-1, then pulled an upset  winning over #5 Keenan Cook of Fort Dodge in 2^nd round consolation.  The match was scoreless through regulation and two full overtimes and came down to the ultimate tiebreaker 30-second period where Sams won by riding Cook for the full :30. Sams lost in the third round consolations 4-1, then won by medical forfeit over Cameron Sadeghi of Keokuk to earn his first medal in his third trip to the state tournament ending his junior season 38-11. Also in Class 3A Pella’s Keegan Poole finished 6^th place at heavyweight.

On March 16^th, the Mahaska Zone Network will unveil the All-Area Wrestling Team, consisting of the best wrestler at each weight class. The wrestlers will receive a prize pack, as will our basketball All-Area honorees. That show will be at 6 PM on March 16^th on KBOE and KMZN.

Story provided by Jamie Brockman