In high school basketball last night, there were a few area teams on the floor.

In boys’ basketball:

Cedar Valley Christian School 50, English Valleys 32

Fairfield 81, West Branch 67

Lynnville-Sully 60, Colfax-Mingo 42

Washington 75, Sigourney 66

In girls’ basketball last night:

Cedar Valley Christian 44, English Valleys 30

Lynnville-Sully 57, Colfax-Mingo 32

Van Meter 50, Pella Christian 36

Washington 65, Sigourney 40

West Branch 63, Fairfield 41

The Oskaloosa Boys Swim Team traveled to Grinnell on Saturday to swim at the large Bear Swim Complex to take place in a big invite that included Linn Mar-Marion, Des Moines East, Indianola, Ottumwa, Grinnell, Vinton-Shellsburg, Williamsburg and Oskaloosa. The boys swim team came away finishing in the middle of the pack by earning 119 team points and beating Williamsburg, Vinton-Shellsburg and Grinnell before the meet was over.

The boys started out swimming the 200 Medley Relay and the team of Jack Miller, Dawson Sarver, Carter Huyser, and Nik Dykstra took 5th place with a time of 1:51.19 and Osky also sent the team of John Hammes, Jarod Miller, Connor Swim, and Ean Beenken to the event and they swam a 2:06.58 for the Indians.

In this meet you could have unlimited entries in the 50 Free event so Osky had 7 swimmers go to the blocks to see what they could do. Nik Dykstra earned a 10th place finish and came away with the best time for the Indians with a 25.31, followed by Connor Swim 26.07, Jarod Miller 26.43, Ean Beenken 27.18, Colton Berg 27.86, Sam Carmichael 28.82, and Jacob Spears with a 30.78.

In the 100 Fly Carter Huyser led the Indians with a 1:03.87, while breaking his own school record, and Connor Swim came in with a 1:09.73.

In the 100 Free, Colton Berg went to the blocks and came away with a1:05.29 for the Indians and was followed by Jacob Spears with a 1:14.67.

The long distance swimming event, 500 Free, was swam by 2 swimmers for Osky as Nik Dykstra and John Hammes went to the blocks. Nik Dykstra swam a 6:14.73 to break the old Indian Record while earning a 7th place finish and was followed by John Hammes who finished in a time of 6:31.45.

The next event was the 200 Free Relay as Osky sent 2 teams again to compete in this event. The team of Jack Miller, Dawson Sarver, Carter Huyser, and Nik Dykstra swam a time of 1:40.35 as they took home 6th place while the team of Jarod Miller, Colton Berg, Ean Beenken, and Connor Swim swam a time of 1:49.34 for the Indians.

Jack Miller then went out a swam a 1:03.70, breaking his old Indian record, while earning a 4th place finish for the Indians and John Hammes finished in 1:09.89 for the Indians.

The final individual event showed the continued growth of Dawson Sarver swimming the 100 Breast as he won the event with another personal best and Indian record time of in a time of 1:03.96, and brought home another Gold Medal for the Indian team.

The final event, 400 Relay, was loaded up once again by Carter Huyser, Jack Miller, Jarod Miller, and Dawson Sarver as they swam a 3:47.12 earning a 5th place finish and giving the Indians the final points of the night.

The Indians next meet is at Williamsburg on Thursday as they hope to continue improving their times while showing people that the swimming program is on the rise.

Story provided by Todd Miller

Indianola–The Statesmen wrestling team hit the mat one final time before break as it competed at the Simpson Luther L. Hill Invitational Saturday.

Ten different wrestlers were victorious on at least one occasion with John Altieri (Fr., Warwick, R.I., Sociology) posting the best day with a pair of falls at 125 pounds.  157-pounder Christian Padilla (Sr., Tampa, Fla., Secondary Education), with one fall and one technical fall, and 174-pounder Tyler Foubert (Fr., Gibson, Iowa, Business Management), with one pin, also won twice.

Bryan Pittman (Sr., Flossmoor, Ill., Information Technology), at 141 pounds, and Kionte Crocker (So., Brandon, Fla., Industrial Technology), at 149 pounds, each pinned an opponent, while 197-pounder Aaron Allen (Sr., Bolivar, Mo., Secondary Education) managed a technical fall and heavyweight Mark Gadson (Sr., Deerfield Beach, Fla., Physical Education) had a major decision.

The trio of 133-pounder Bryce Castagna (So., Willcox, Ariz., Digital Communication), 197-pounder Chris Rodriguez (Fr., Tampa, Fla., Sociology), and heavyweight Matthew Cuthbert (Fr., Yucaipa, Calif., Sociology) each won once as well.

Next Up: William Penn is off nearly a month before traveling to Pella on January 9 to compete in the Central Invitational.  Action begins at 9 a.m.

Story provided by Wade Steinlage

The boys traveled back to Marshalltown to take on the Bobcats and the number 1 rated team in the state, Johnston Dragons. The Indians have been improving all year and they continued to show people that the swimmers are working hard as they continued to take time off of their swims and collect more team points in the process.

All high school swim meets start with the 200 Medley Relay and the Indians sent Jack Miller, Dawson Sarver, Carter Huyser and Nik Dykstra to the blocks and they swam another school record breaking time of 1:54.60 for a 4th place finish.

Jarod Miller was sent to swim the 200 Free for the first time in his career and he swam a 2:14.50 for a 4th place finish.

Osky loaded up the 50 Free event with 6 swimmers and Nik Dykstra came away with the best time of 25.08 for a 4th place finish and was followed by Connor Swim with a 25.99, Ean Beenken a 27.31, Colton Berg a 27.71, Sam Carmichael 29.33 and Jacob Spears swam a 30.57 to finish the Indian swimmers.

The 100 Butterfly was next and Carter Huyser took the honors for the Indians with a time of 1:04.74 for a 4th place finish and broke the previous Indian record for the event.

Connor Swim followed him up and swam a 1:12.23.

In the next event, the 100 Free, Colton Berg was sent out to compete for the Indians and he swam a 1:02.53.

The next big race was the 200 Free Relay and Osky sent 2 teams to compete in this as the team of Jack Miller, Nik Dykstra, Carter Huyser, and Dawson Sarver came away with another Indian record swimming with a time of 1:39.85 as they earned a second place finish and they were followed by the second team of Connor Swim, Ean Beenken, Colton Berg, and Jarod Miller who swam a 1:51.56.

The next individual event was the 100 Backstroke as Jack Miller went to the blocks and swam a 1:03.71 for a fourth place finish.

Next up was the 100 Breast as Dawson Sarver went out and earned a first place finish by swimming it in 1:05.67 and was followed by Jarod Miller who swam a 1:19.38 and earned a third place finish.

With a quick turn-around time for Dawson and Jarod they joined Jack Miller and Carter Huyser to swim the last event of the night, 400 Freestyle Relay. They broke the old Indian swimming record by over 7 seconds as they swam it in 3:51.40 and took home the fourth place finish.

The young Indian swim team continues to get better as they have broken 9 out of the 11 Indian records from previous years and they continue to break some of their own that they had set earlier this year. The Grinnell invite is next as there will be 6 tough opponents that will be there this Saturday to compete in the Grinnell College pool.

Story provided by Todd Miller

The Oskaloosa Indian Boys Swim Team traveled to Newton to take part in the Cardinal invite that included Indianola, Decorah, Newton/Pella, Oskaloosa, Grinnell, and Vinton-Shellsburg schools. Osky had some outstanding races as they placed in the top half of the heats and earned 202 points on the day beating Vinton and Grinnell and coming close to surpassing Newton as well. The Indians earned 2 gold medals on the day as Jack Miller won the 200 Free and Dawson Sarver won the 100 Breaststroke and the Indians earned a silver medal as well with Jack Miller taking second place in the 100 Backstroke.

Newton has a meter pool which takes a little getting used to as it is longer than the normal pool measured in yards so with the conversion utility tool the following is the list of times that the Indians achieved on the day.

200 Medley Relay event started off the day as Osky sent 2 teams into the varsity relay and came away with a 5th place finish by John Hammes, Dawson Sarver, Connor Swim, and Colton Berg with a time of 1:58.50 and a 6th place finish of 1:59.98 by Jack Miller, Jarod Miller, Carter Huyser, and Nik Dykstra.

In the 200 Free Jack miller came away with a 2:09.64 for a first place finish and was followed by Nik Dykstra with a 2:19.74.

Up next was the 200 Individual Medley and Jarod Miller took 5th place with a time of 2:25.36 and was followed by John Hammes with a 2:37.03.

The following event was the 50 Free and Connor Swim led the way for the Indians with a 6th place finish while swimming a 25.81, Ean Beenken had a 26.80, and Jacob Spear swam a 31.59.

After the 50 Free there is a 10 minute break for the teams to cool-down from their last events or to get warmed up for the events that follow. The first event coming out of the break is the 100 Butterfly and Carter Huyser earned a 5th place finish while swimming a 1:06.98 and was followed by Connor Swim with a 1:14.30.

The 100 freestyle was next and the Indians sent Nik Dykstra who earned a 5th place finish in a time of 58.26 and was followed by Carter Huyser with a 1:01.75 and Sam Carmichael with a 1:14.77

The 200 Freestyle Relay was next as Osky earned a 6th place finish here with Jarod Miller, Colton Berg, Ean Beenken, and Dawson Sarver swimming it in 1:41.15.

The 100 Backstroke was next and Jack Miller earned a second place finish in the event while swimming a 1:04.87 and was followed up by John Hammes who swam a 1:11.85.

Dawson Sarver led the 100 Breast event from start to finish as he earned a first place finish in a time of 1:06.44 and he was followed by Jarod Miller who swam a 1:18.82 for a 6th place finish.

For the last event of the night, 400 Freestyle Relay, the Indians sent Connor Swim, Carter Huyser, Nik Dykstra, and Jack Miller to the blocks. They came away with a 3:55.43 and earned a 4th place finish to wrap up the meet. Next week the Indians swim at Marshalltown against them and Johnston on Tuesday and they drive to Grinnell on Saturday.

Story provided by Todd Miller

PELLA — It wasn’t the start the Central College men’s basketball squad was looking for Tuesday night, but the Dutch stayed composed en route to an 86-62 win over Westminster (Mo.).

Central (6-1) fell behind quick, as the Blue Jays (2-3) jumped out to a 9-0 lead, forcing coach Craig Douma to call timeout. But the Dutch answered back, scoring the next 12 points, and did not trail again.

“Our guys responded well out of the timeout,” Douma said. “We showed some maturity and really stuck to our guns.”

The Dutch shot 51 percent from the floor and 35 percent from behind the arc. Central found its 3-point stroke in the second half, knocking down 8-of-19 after only 4-of-15 in the first half.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well in the first half,” Douma said. “Coming out of halftime, I felt like we settled down and shot much better.”

Douma knows that can’t be the case every game.

“We are confident we can play better and will have to this season,” he said. “Tonight wasn’t as sharp as we would like it to be, but there’s room for improvement.”

Central forced the Blue Jays into 19 turnovers and took advantage for 23 points.

“We have been stressing to our guys to create scoring opportunities off turnovers and we did that well tonight,” Douma said.

Junior forward Colby Taylor (Creston) had a game-high 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, while bringing down five rebounds and dishing out six assists. Junior forward Ryan Kunkel (Solon) was the leading rebounder with 11, adding eight points and three blocks.

Junior guard Pete Walker (Red Oak) tied a career high with 14 points, but it was his four offensive rebounds that stood out to Douma.

“Pete is playing with a lot of passion and excitement right now,” Douma said. “He bailed us out with his offensive rebounding, creating some extra possessions when we needed them.”

Sophomore guard Kyle Smith (Ionia/New Hampton HS) knocked down 4-of-7 seven shots for 14 points.

“Kyle gave us a nice spark off the bench tonight,” Douma said. “When he plays to his strengths, these are the type of performances that will come.”

It will be a quick turnaround for the Dutch, traveling to Des Moines Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. contest with Grand View. The Vikings knocked off Central 79-67 in Pella last season.

“We are going to be challenged by (Grand View’s) athleticism,” Douma said. “Their defensive ball pressure will be intense so we need to focus on taking care of the ball. We have to limit them to one-shot opportunities by doing a great job rebounding on the defensive end.”

Story provided by Central CollegeSports Information Office

Oskaloosa–The national raters rewarded the William Penn men’s basketball team for its outstanding start by placing the program at #6 as the NAIA released its first Division I rating Tuesday.

The Statesmen (11-1, 4-0 Heart), winners of 11 straight, were lifted 25 positions from a preseason ranking of #31.  The ranking is the highest for William Penn since finishing the 2012-2013 campaign at #2 (WPU was #7 to start the 13-14 year).

The Statesmen have earned 210 points, while #1 Pikeville (Ky.) has 250 points and nine first-place votes.  Georgetown (Ky.), with the final first-place nod, is second and Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Arizona Christian, and Columbia (Mo.) round out the top five.

Saturday’s matchup will be a big one as #13 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) comes to Oskaloosa for a 4 p.m. start.  Avila (Mo.) also represents the Heart at #24.

NAIA Men’s Basketball Rating #1 – December 8, 2015
(Number in parentheses is first-place votes)
1. Pikeville (Ky.) (9)
2. Georgetown (Ky.) 1)
3. Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
4. Arizona Christian
5. Columbia (Mo.)
6. William Penn
7. Lewis-Clarke State (Idaho)
8. LSU-Alexandria
9. Dalton State (Ga.)
10. Hope International (Calif.)
11. Talladega (Ala.)
12. Wayland Baptist (Texas)
13. MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
14. Westmont (Calif.)
15. SAGU (Texas)
16. Carroll (Mont.)
17. Xavier (La.)
17. Martin Methodist (Tenn.)
19. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
20. Texas Wesleyan
21. Vanguard (Calif.)
22. Wiley (Texas)
23. Langston (Okla.)
24. Avila (Mo.)
25. Montana State-Northern

Others receiving votes: Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 41; Campbellsville (Ky.) 32; Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 26; Dillard (La.) 21; Biola (Calif.) 17; Mobile (Ala.) 15; Park (Mo.) 9; Tougaloo (Miss.) 8; William Woods (Mo.) 3.

Story Provided by Wade Steinlage

In boys’ basketball in the area last night:

B-G-M, Brooklyn 61, North Mahaska, New Sharon 57
Belle Plaine 68, Tri-County, Thornburg 34
Central Lee, Donnellson 74, Cardinal, Eldon 60
Chariton 63, Albia 54
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 62, Davis County, Bloomfield 61
Grand View Christian School 107, Melcher-Dallas 17
Keota 88, Iowa Valley, Marengo 39
Knoxville 79, Clarke, Osceola 39
Lynnville-Sully 61, H-L-V, Victor 21
Montezuma 62, Colfax-Mingo 34
Moravia 56, Lamoni 54
Muscatine 68, Washington 43
Ottumwa 57, Fairfield 51
Pekin 65, Columbus Community, Columbus Junction 45
Pella 76, Ballard 49
Pleasantville 71, Wayne, Corydon 58
Regina, Iowa City 56, Mid-Prairie, Wellman 36
Seymour 58, Twin Cedars, Bussey 50
Sigourney 73, English Valleys, North English 32

In girls’ basketball last night:

Ballard 52, Pella 49

Belle Plaine 60, Tri-County 33

BGM 65, North Mahaska 34

Centerville 46, Moulton-Udell 31

Central Lee 69, Cardinal 55

Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 71, Davis County 44

Fairfield 41, Ottumwa 36

Grand View Christian 85, Melcher-Dallas 35

Iowa Valley 47, Keota 27

Knoxville 48, Clarke 47

Lynnville-Sully 37, HLV 28

Montezuma 65, Colfax-Mingo 33

Moravia 67, Lamoni 42

Pekin 77, Columbus 53

Pleasantville 55, Wayne 43

Iowa City Regina 50, Mid-Prairie 37

Seymour 45, Twin Cedars 18

Sigourney 63, English Valleys 32

Last night on the Mahaska Zone Network, you heard the Oskaloosa Indians boys’ basketball team in action against the Centerville Big Reds in non-conference play. The Indians would rally for a thrilling 50-49 victory in their home opener.

Centerville took an early 8-2 lead, but Oskaloosa would tie the game early with two Spencer Tucker three-pointers. Centerville would remain in the lead throughout the first three quarters, but the lead would never get to be more than six points.

The game was fairly clean in ball-handling, as the teams combined for only 17 turnovers, but there were several fouls on both sides. The killer for Oskaloosa was that fouls they were committing were in the act of shooting, and Centerville took advantage, going 21 for 29 from the free throw line. Oskaloosa was 7 for 11 from the charity stripe.

Despite the lopsided free throw totals, the biggest free throws of the game were buried by Oskaloosa’s senior center Wade Votroubek. Votroubek was fouled in the act of shooting with 7.5 seconds remaining, and calmly hit both foul shots to give Oskaloosa just their second lead of the game at 50-49. Tucker Nunnikhoven, who had some huge minutes off the bench, played great defense on Centerville leading scorer Brett Kauzlarich, forcing him to miss a tough shot at the buzzer, giving Oskaloosa the win.

Votroubek led the Indians with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 blocks. Jake Moore joined him in double-figures with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Kauzlarich led all scorers with 19 points, and added 3 assists and 3 steals. Tate Felton grabbed a double-double for the Big Reds with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Both teams are now 2-1 on the season.

Oskaloosa will be back in action this Friday against Pella Christian as a part of a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader. The action begins on our airwaves with the Brown’s Shoe Fit Basketball Countdown at 5:30 PM with the girls’ game tipping at 6:15 PM on 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN, the KMZN mobile app, and radiokmzn.com.