Winter Sports Preview

SECTION C • FRIDAY, NOV. 26 2010

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Sports Department

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INSIDE

INSIDE

Central Springs 189 pounder Andrew Nodtvedt has his eyes set on a state title after finishing third in Class 1A last year.

Jacob Colon (right) and the Clear Lake wrestling team is aiming for its sixth straight North Central Conference title.

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C2 • FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010

Page Editor: Jared Patterson • GLOBE GAZETTE

WINTER PREVIEW

BOWLING

CIML IOWA ❙ MASON CITY

Mohawk bowlers ready to roll

By JARED PATTERSON jared.patterson@globegazette.com

Globe Gazette file photo

WRESTLING

Above: Mason City’s Valentine Flores.

Below: Mason City’s Travis Mallo.

CIML IOWA ❙ MASON CITY

Flores, Mohawks ready for next challenge

By JARED PATTERSON

With that comes an added importance on preparation.

ASON CITY — Valentine Flores “We need to make sure we look at the • About the cover: The Mason City epitomizes what Dusty Rhodes schedule and train the right way,” Rhodes wrestling team has six state qualifiers in its said. “We have to be smart about what we wants his wrestling team to be. lineup. On the cover (from left) are: Jared There’s effort, then there’s the effort are doing and how we are doing it.”

Flores displays.

The invite to The Clash speaks more Bartel, Travis Mallo, Max Krieger, Blake There’s perseverance, then there’s the Spotts, Parker Sturges and Valentine Flores. about where the program is than anything perseverance Flores exhibits.

Rhodes can say.

When Flores was a sophomore for the Photo by Bryon Houlgrave/The Globe Gazette “That being said, we haven’t really Mason City High wrestling team, he was a accomplished anything these guys want bit of an unknown commodity. mit Travis Mallo are two seniors with a yet,” he said. “This is their program, and After placing at the state tournament out wealth of state tournament experience. they want to win.” of nowhere that season, people began takThey are hardly alone, though.

And they’ve clearly bought into what ing note.

Six Mohawks (Flores, Mallo, Blake Rhodes is selling.

Now, he’s turned into one of the unques- Spotts, Jared Bartel, Max Krieger and ParkFlores has gone out for cross country er Sturges) have tasted the state tournationed leaders of a Mohawk team that just to be in shape for wrestling. ment. could be their best in years.

Mallo, a fourth-place finisher at 171 Add in a group of freshmen as highly “He’s the model that good things happounds, wrestled in the Junior Pan-Am touted as any in the Rhodes era and expec- Games in Brazil this summer, taking gold. pen when you work hard,” Rhodes said. tations creep even higher.

“Val hasn’t had the easiest life.

But if you had to pick one guy who has “We train hard and try to do some things impressed his coach more than anyone so “He’s resilient. He keeps coming back. year-around to make wrestling important He’s a good kid. He’s going to make misfar, look no further than Bartel — his gritty to these guys,” Rhodes said. “This is a takes every now and then like everyone 189 pounder. group of kids that have wrestled since they does, but he learns and moves on. He just “If I had to take somebody and say this were five years old. perseveres.” kid looks real good for this time of year, I’d “They want to get better.

They want to Flores was stabbed in an incident this take Jared,” Rhodes said. “He’s big enough win, and they are spread out enough in summer that left him in a hospital bed in for this weight class now and he’s techniweight where we can put together a pretty Rochester, Minn. cally better.” solid lineup. ” He was laid up for a while, but now he’s Whether or not the Mohawks can comSolid, no question. Great, well that back to 100 percent, showing no ill effects pete with the Bettendorfs, the Iowa City remains to be seen. of the injury.

Rhodes has put together the most rigor- Wests or Waverly-Shell Rocks of the world “I’m real happy to be here,” said Flores, a ous schedule a Mohawk wrestling team has is an entirely different conversation. two-time state placewinner. “Things hap“I had a talk with the guys about what it’s had in quite some time. pen and you have to go through life and going to take to compete in 3A,” Rhodes said.

They start with the Keith Young Invite in overcome things.

“Whether it’s realistic or not, I don’t know.

Cedar Falls.

“It’s nice to be back with my teammates “It’s a long season. There’s a long time There’s The Clash (Rochester, Minn.), and having a chance to win. (Wrestling) between now and February. I’m just going arguably the marquee dual tournament in teaches me to keep my head up… To not to make sure we are technically sound and the nation, as well as the Cedar Rapids give up and to keep fighting.” get better every day.”

Duals and the Battle of Waterloo.

That’s the mantra of a Mohawk team Added Flores, “It’s all mental. It’s about Throw in the CIML meet and there’s no that appears to be as talented as any in who wants it more. You go out and fight for doubt the Mohawks will be battle tested recent memory. six minutes.”

Flores and fellow senior and Army com- come tourney time. jared.patterson@globegazette.com

COVERSTORY

M

MASON CITY — There’s no lack of excitement around the Mason City High bowling programs.

“Anyone who thinks bowling is losing momentum should see the energy and the excitement these kids have for the sport,” Mohawk girls coach Marilyn Schachel said. “This is the first time we have had so many come out in all the grade levels. This is what builds good teams, and I believe these girls will prove that.”

The girls team won all but one meet last year and lost in substate by two pins to Fort Dodge.

Jennifer Reuter looks to anchor the squad. Reuter had a 178 average with a high game of 234. Schachel also expects big things from freshman Rebecca Broerman.

“She has bowled several 200 games and has bowled on USBC state teams,” the coach added.

On the boys side, the goal is simple.

“We hope the team has as much fun this year as in the past as well as achieving something we have never done before ... going on to state,” coach Stephen Chuck said.

Cody Brandau, Ben Buck, Spencer Clausen, Colton Payne and Evan Stalker are five varsity returners for the Mohawks, who went 4-6 last year.

Buck placed fourth at the CIML playoffs with a 407 while Brandau highest twogame series last year was a 477.

“We should win our substate conference and continue on to state competition for the first time in team history,” Chuck said.

MASON CITY MOHAWKS — BOYS December 6 — vs. Southeast Polk; 9 — at West Des Moines Dowling; 13 — vs. Waukee; 16 — vs. West Des Moines Valley.

January 6 — at Fort Dodge; 13 — at Marshalltown; 20 — at Waukee; 24 — at West Des Moines Valley; 27 — vs.

Fort Dodge.

February 4 — vs. Marshalltown; 7 — at Des Moines Lincoln.

MASON CITY MOHAWKS — GIRLS December 6 — vs. Southeast Polk; 9 — at West Des Moines Dowling; 13 — vs. Waukee; 16 — vs. West Des Moines Valley.

January 6 — at Fort Dodge; 13 — at Marshalltown; 20 — at Waukee; 24 — at West Des Moines Valley; 27 — vs.

Fort Dodge.

February 4 — vs. Marshalltown; 7 — at Des Moines Lincoln.

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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Jared Patterson

FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010 • C3

WINTER PREVIEW

Globe Gazette file photo Globe Gazette file photo

Clear Lake’s Jacob Colon.

Newman’s Matt Bertsch.

WRESTLING

WRESTLING

NORTH CENTRAL ❙ CLEAR LAKE

Lions gunning for 4thstraight 20-win year

By JARED PATTERSON jared.patterson@globegazette.com

CLEAR LAKE — This is, in fact, the golden age of Clear Lake wrestling.

Just a glance at the record books proves that.

The Lions’ three-straight 20-win seasons is the best in school history.

The only other 20-win dual season in school history came in 1997-98.

“This wasn’t a wrestling community,” Clear Lake coach Gary Weber said. “People in our community built it into a wrestling community.”

That doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon.

The Lions have 43 kids in their wrestling room, approaching an alltime high in Weber’s tenure.

Of those 43, there are some hammers.

Senior Jacob Colon, a state tournament veteran, is back and aiming for his first state title.

Add in 10 other starters back from a team that went 22-3 and there’s no reason to think the Lions won’t again be a force in the North Central Conference.

“We are shooting for that sixth one,” said Colon, referring to the goal of winning a sixth straight NCC title.

“And hopefully we can make it to state duals and finish in the top four.”

The Lions have nine guys back who won at least 20 matches including seniors Brady and Austin Horner who won a combined 64 matches

last year.

“They were chubby little seventhgraders who had .500 records,” Weber said. “They worked so hard to get where they are.”

Weber, who said he was considering retirement at one point, said he was re-energized by last year’s team that exceeded expectations.

He’s thinking that momentum will carry over to this year, and that’s spearheaded by Colon.

He admitted that last offseason he “kind of slacked.” That wasn’t the case this year as he is as confident as ever entering his senior year.

“This year I’ve put in the work,” Colon said.

Added Weber,“The Colon family wrestles more in the offseason than any family I’ve coached. Two years ago he was close. And last year, the (Brandon) Sorenson kid was just that good.”

While there is plenty of experience back, one spot that is up for grabs is at heavyweight. The Lions have four heavyweights out this year, none of whom have wrestled before.

“If there’s one weight where you don’t have to be quite as technical it’s heavyweight,” Weber said.

And Weber’s just thankful he has a wealth of experience on his staff to help with the inexperience.

“We’ve got 10 coaches,” said Weber, whose team is fourth all-time in state dual appearances with 11.

“What a credit to our kids and our community.”

NORTH IOWA ❙ NEWMAN

Knights in numbers battle as season begins

By JARED PATTERSON

“The top three would be nice,” said Bertsch, who is penciled in at MASON CITY — It’s a different 125 pounds. “Doing better than last feel around the Newman Catholic year is always something you have to wrestling team. look forward to.”

Maybe it’s not having three-time The same goes for Brinson. state champ Derric Thomas in the During his first year at Newman, room. Or maybe it’s just the fact that he qualified for state. It was, the room isn’t as packed as in years though, a short-lived trip. past.

“It could have turned out better,” Coach Mark Bertsch won’t sugar- Brinson said. “I didn’t do as well as I coat it: he wishes he had planned. (This year) I want to more than 18 kids on his rostake it all. I keep those goals ter. The fact is, he doesn’t, in mind and go from there.” and he isn’t planning on It’s that attitude coach using that as an excuse.

Bertsch hopes filters down to “It surprises me that for as the rest of the team. long as we’ve had a pretty Keegan Taylor, a place nice program that now we winner as a sophomore, is are trying to figure out numback after missing part of bers,” Bertsch said. last season.

Brinson Yes, the numbers are low, He and guys like Parker but he has some pieces in place.

Mariner, Kane Louscher, Tanner The Knights have three wrestlers Gribben and Clayton White look to back with state tournament experi- anchor a team that will undoubtedly ence. have a couple open weights.

That starts with seniors Matt “Parker is a kid that’s done everyBertsch and Tevin Brinson. thing we’ve asked of him,” coach “It’s about pushing yourself and Bertsch said. “As coaches, that’s the winning as a team,” said Matt, an thing you want from an athlete.”

8th-place finisher a year ago. “Your Now, he’d just like a few more of senior year it’s not just about being them. an individual.”

“It’s something we have to try and That’s not to say he doesn’t have fight through,” he said. “When kids some individual goals in mind. come out, it’s a sacrifice.” jared.patterson@globegazette.com

Green Devils look to repeat in NIC

By JEREMY KOENIGS

Blaser (140) and Brad Ringhofer (171) — were lost to graduation.

All three qualified for the Class 2A OSAGE — Year in and year out, the Osage wrestling team has been one of state tournament with Hejhal placing fourth and Blaser sixth in his weight the best in North Iowa. class.

Coach Brent Jennings, who begins All three exceeded30 wins last seahis 15th season at the helm, is expectson. ing more of the same this season as Jobe Goodale also exceeded the 30the Green Devils aim for another win plateau for the Green Devils, placNorth Iowa Conference title. ing fifth at 112 pounds.

“We will have a good, balanced “We had four wrestlers in the state team this year, top to bottom, and should have a good handle on the con- tournament last year but only one ference,” the coach said.“Our coach- returns, that being Jobe Goodale,” Jennings said.“We have to start getting ing staff is looking forward to the more kids to the state tournament if we upcoming season. want to compete at the state level.

“Our kids are hungry and looking “Four is not enough to get the job for a higher accomplishment at the done. We will be looking for more kids end of the year, both as individuals to have 30 wins and get more kids on and as a team.” the award stand at the state tournaA year after placing second to Forest City at the North Iowa Conference ment.”

With 10 starters and 12 letterwintournament, the Green Devils took home the conference title for the sixth ners returning, Jennings’ goals don’t seem that far out of reach. time in seven years last season.

Of the 10 returning starters, They won the tournament with 233 Goodale, Brandon Barker, Patrick points, placing 10 wrestlers in the McNally, Joe Michels, Luke Hanke, finals and crowning six champions Ryan Randall and Joe Roll all exceeded along the way.

Three of those champions from last the 20-win mark while Colin Barker had 19 wins. season — Trevor Hejhal (135), Brent sports@globegazette.com

Indians, LMNK looking for top spot

By JARED PATTERSON jared.patterson@globegazette.com

he Forest City wrestling team has tasted what it’s like to be the best wrestling team in the North Iowa Conference.

It hasn’t, though, been able to do it on a consistent basis.

That distinction belongs to Brent Jennings and the tradition-rich Osage Green Devils.

There’s no doubt that Forest City coach Murray Anderson and Co. think about that fact frequently.

“Osage is obviously one of the perennial powers in North Central Iowa,” Anderson said. “We’d like to scrap with them and be considered in the same sentence as Osage.”

Scrapping with the Green Devils is easier with guys like Aaron Sorenson, Cole Anderson, Tim Brock and Tyler Harmon back.

Sorenson, a state champ, has signed to wrestle at Iowa State while Anderson has state title aspirations himself.

“I want to put people in the state tournament,” coach Anderson said. “It seems as though winning the conference is a nice goal along the way, kind of a stepping stone. My fear a couple years ago that we would implode after we won the conference.”

There is another team that wants to toss its name into the hat as far as the best in the NIC is concerned.

The LMNK wrestling team has been on the incline the past few years under coach Alex Brandenburg.

This year, LMNK has

T

WRESTLING

NORTH IOWA ❙ CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Globe Gazette file photo

Forest City’s Cole Anderson wrestles at the state tournament last year in Des four wrestlers back that won more than 23 matches.

“We would like to hit that 20-win mark for duals,” said Brandenburg, who returns state qualifier Royce Byrnes. “I’d like to see three or four kids make the state tournament and have a couple kids place at the state tournament.”

The conference is loaded with state tournament experience, including West Hancock’s Gunnar Clark.

Clark came out of nowhere to finish sixth at 152 pounds as a freshman as the Eagles were district champs for the first time in 16 years.

“We should be a strong individual tournament team since we will have some very good individuals up top assuming they can spread themselves out at different weights,” coach Wayne Kronemann said.

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CIML IOWA CONFERENCE Saturday, Dec. 4 Mason City at Cedar Falls tournament Tuesday, Dec. 7 Mason City and Osage at Forest City Thursday, Dec. 9 Mason City at Johnston Saturday, Dec. 11 Mason City at Cedar Rapids Kennedy tournament Friday, Dec. 17 Mason City at Waterloo West tournament Saturday, Dec. 18 Mason City at Waterloo West tournament Tuesday, Jan. 4 Waukee at Mason City Friday, Jan. 7 Mason City at Rochester, Minn. Invitational Saturday, Jan. 8 Mason City at Rochester, Minn. Invitational Thursday, Jan. 13 Mason City at Fort Dodge Saturday, Jan. 15 Mason City at Ankeny tournament Tuesday, Jan. 18 Clear Lake at Mason City Thursday, Jan. 20 Mason City at Marshalltown Saturday, Jan. 22 Mason City at Waverly-Shell Rock Duals in Waterloo Tuesday, Jan. 25 West Des Moines Valley at Mason City Thursday, Jan. 27 Ames at Mason City Tuesday, Feb. 1 CIML Invite at Southeast Polk CORN BOWL CONFERENCE Tuesday, Nov. 30 AGWSR, Denver-Tripoli and West Fork at Rockford Central City, Nashua-Plainfield, Oelwein and Postville at North Fayette North Butler and Tri-County (Thornburg) at Turkey Valley Thursday, Dec. 2 LMNK, Sumner-Fredericksburg and Waterloo Columbus at Riceville/St. Ansgar Saturday, Dec. 4 Central Springs, Clarksville, Clear Lake, Estherville-Lincoln Central, Forest City, GarnerHayfield, Iowa Falls-Alden, Riceville/St. Ansgar, Rockford and West Fork at Manly Earlybird Nashua-Plainfield at Valley of Elgin tournament Tuesday, Dec. 7 Aplington-Parkersburg and North Butler at Sumner-Fredericksburg Central Springs and West Fork at Newman Catholic Nashua-Plainfield and Turkey Valley at Crestwood Saturday, Dec. 11 Central Springs, Dike-New Hartford, Gilbert, Riceville/St. Ansgar South Central Calhoun, South Hamilton and West Fork at Central Springs Invitational in Nora Springs Clarksville, Cedar Falls, Edgewood-Colesburg, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Hudson, LMNK, NashuaPlainfield and Rockford at Nashua-Plainfield Invitational North Butler at Aplington-Parkersburg tournament Tuesday, Dec. 14 Aplington-Parkersburg, Hampton-Dumont and Nashua-Plainfield at Sumner-Fredericksburg Central Springs and Garner-Hayfield at Forest City Riceville/St. Ansgar, Rockford and West Fork at North Butler Thursday, Dec. 16 Belmond-Klemme at West Fork Blooming Prairie (Minn.), Central Springs and Southland (Minn.) at Riceville/St. Ansgar Newman Catholic and Rockford at West Hancock Friday, Dec. 17 Nashua-Plainfield at Waterloo West Invitational Saturday, Dec. 18 Central Springs at West Hancock tournament Nashua-Plainfield at Waterloo West Invitational North Butler at Iowa Falls-Alden tournament Riceville/St. Ansgar at Dike-New Hartford Invitational Rockford at LMNK Duals in Northwood Monday, Dec. 20 West Fork at Clarion-Goldfield Tuesday, Dec. 21 Crestwood and Riceville/St. Ansgar at Osage Tuesday, Jan. 4 Forest City and Riceville/St. Ansgar at NashuaPlainfield Thursday, Jan. 6 Central Springs, Garner-Hayfield and Rockford at Nashua-Plainfield Clarksville and Valley of Elgin at Riceville/St. Ansgar East Marshall, Jesup and North Butler at Denver-Tripoli Saturday, Jan. 8 Central Springs at Hampton-Dumont tournament Nashua-Plainfield and North Butler at DenverTripoli Invitational Riceville/St. Ansgar at Forest City tournament Tuesday, Jan. 11 Central Springs and LMNK at Osage Rockford at Belmond-Klemme Thursday, Jan. 13 Belmond-Klemme and West Hancock at Riceville/St. Ansgar Nashua-Plainfield and Turkey Valley at Valley of Elgin North Butler at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 15 Central Springs at South Hardin tournament Nashua-Plainfield and Riceville/St. Ansgar at Hudson Invitational North Butler at LMNK Duals in Lake Mills Rockford at AGWSR Invitational Tuesday, Jan. 18 Nashua-Plainfield and South Winneshiek at North Butler Thursday, Jan. 20 West Hancock at Central Springs LMNK and Riceville/St. Ansgar at Garner-Hayfield Saturday, Jan. 22 Belmond-Klemme, BGM (Brooklyn), Charles City, LMNK, Nashua-Plainfield, North Butler, Postville, Rockford and Wapsie Valley at North Butler Invitational Central Springs at Interstate-35 tournament Riceville/St. Ansgar at Riceville/St. Ansgar Invitational Monday, Jan. 24 West Fork at Riceville Thursday, Jan. 27 Belmond-Klemme and Central Springs at North Butler Saturday, Jan. 29 Corn Bowl Conference tournament at Nashua Tuesday, Feb. 1 Central Springs, Clarion-Goldfield and Clarksville at Aplington-Parkersburg North Butler, Turkey Valley and Wapsie Valley at Jesup NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE Thursday, Dec. 2 Algona at Iowa Falls-Alden Hampton-Dumont at Clear Lake Saturday, Dec. 4 Algona at Eagle Grove Invitational Clear Lake at Manly Earlybird Hampton-Dumont at Independence Invitational Thursday, Dec. 9 Algona and Clear Lake at St. Edmond Clarion-Goldfield and Webster City at Hampton-Dumont Saturday, Dec. 11 Algona hosts the Martin Family Invite Clear Lake at Webster City tournament Tuesday, Dec. 14 Aplington-Parkersburg, Hampton-Dumont and Nashua-Plainfield at Sumner-Fredericksburg Thursday, Dec. 16 Clarion-Goldfield at Algona Clear Lake at Eagle Grove Iowa Falls-Alden at Hampton-Dumont Saturday, Dec. 18 Algona and Clear Lake at Iowa Falls-Alden Invitational

WINTER PREVIEW Hampton-Dumont at Clarion-Goldfield Invitational Tuesday, Jan. 4 Algona and Twin River Valley at Humboldt Thursday, Jan. 6 Clear Lake and Iowa Falls-Alden at ClarionGoldfield Eagle Grove and Webster City at Algona Hampton-Dumont and St. Edmond at Humboldt Saturday, Jan. 8 Algona and Clear Lake at Forest City Invitational Hampton-Dumont at Hampton-Dumont Duals Tuesday, Jan. 11 Charles City and Clear Lake at Denver-Tripoli Estherville-Lincoln Central and Okoboji at Algona Thursday, Jan. 13 Eagle Grove at Hampton-Dumont Webster City at Clear Lake Saturday, Jan. 15 Algona at Ankeny tournament Clear Lake at Osage tournament Hampton-Dumont at South Hardin Invitational Tuesday, Jan. 18 Algona and Osage at West Hancock Clear Lake at Mason City Thursday, Jan. 20 Forest City and Newman Catholic at HamptonDumont Saturday, Jan. 22 North Central Conference meet at Humboldt Thursday, Jan. 27 Clear Lake at Humboldt Hampton-Dumont at Algona Saturday, Jan. 29 Hampton-Dumont at South Central Calhoun Invitational Tuesday, Feb. 1 LMNK and Spirit Lake at Clear Lake

Etherington leads Comets

NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE Thursday, Dec. 2 Charles City at Independence Saturday, Dec. 4 Charles City at Cedar Falls tournament Friday, Dec. 10 Charles City at Crestwood Saturday, Dec. 11 Charles City at Cedar Rapids Kennedy tournament Thursday, Dec. 16 Charles City and New Hampton at Waukon Friday, Dec. 17 Charles City at Waterloo West tournament Saturday, Dec. 18 Charles City at Waterloo West tournament Thursday, Jan. 6 Decorah and Oelwein at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 8 Charles City at Forest City tournament Tuesday, Jan. 11 Charles City and Clear Lake at Denver-Tripoli Friday, Jan. 14 Oelwein at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 15 Charles City at Hudson tournament Thursday, Jan. 20 Charles City and Waverly-Shell Rock at Crestwood Saturday, Jan. 22 Osage at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 29 Northeast Iowa Conference meet at Waverly

WRESTLING SCHEDULES

NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE Monday, Nov. 29 Emmetsburg and Forest City at West Hancock Tuesday, Nov. 30 Belmond-Klemme and Garner-Hayfield at Osage Thursday, Dec. 2 Garner-Hayfield at West Hancock Osage at Newman Catholic LMNK, Sumner-Fredericksburg and Waterloo Columbus at Riceville/St. Ansgar Saturday, Dec. 4 Forest City and Garner-Hayfield at Manly Earlybird LMNK at Blue Earth, Minn. tournament Osage at Independence tournament West Hancock at Okoboji tournament Tuesday, Dec. 7 Mason City and Osage at Forest City Central Springs at Newman Catholic Thursday, Dec. 9 LMNK and Rochester (Minn.) Century at Albert Lea (Minn.)

Friday, Dec. 10 Belmond-Klemme at Forest City Saturday, Dec. 11 Forest City at Algona tournament Garner-Hayfield hosts the Paul Nelson Duals LMNK at Nashua-Plainfield tournament Newman Catholic at Dyersville Beckman tournament Osage at South Winneshiek tournament West Hancock at Algona tournament Tuesday, Dec. 14 Central Springs and Garner-Hayfield at Forest City Osage at Don Bosco Thursday, Dec. 16 Newman Catholic and Rockford at West Hancock Friday, Dec. 17 Osage at Waterloo West Duals Saturday, Dec. 18 Forest City at North Polk tournament Garner-Hayfield at Clarion-Goldfield tournament LMNK at LMNK Duals in Northwood Newman Catholic at Iowa Falls-Alden tournament Osage at Waterloo West Duals West Hancock at West Hancock tournament Tuesday, Dec. 21 Crestwood and Riceville/St. Ansgar at Osage Webster City at Forest City Tuesday, Jan. 4 Eagle Grove and West Hancock at LMNK Forest City and Riceville/St. Ansgar at NashuaPlainfield New Hampton and Turkey Valley at Osage Thursday, Jan. 6 Belmond-Klemme and LMNK at Newman Catholic Central Springs, Garner-Hayfield and Rockford at Nashua-Plainfield Saturday, Jan. 8 Forest City at Forest City Invitational Garner-Hayfield at Graettinger-Terril tournament LMNK at Hampton-Dumont Duals Newman Catholic at BCLUW tournament Osage at Winterset tournament West Hancock at St. Edmond Duals Tuesday, Jan. 11 Central Springs and LMNK at Osage Newman Catholic and St. Edmond at GarnerHayfield Thursday, Jan. 13 Belmond-Klemme and West Hancock at Riceville/St. Ansgar North Butler at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 15 Forest City at Estherville-Lincoln Central Duals Garner-Hayfield at Sumner-Fredericksburg tournament LMNK and West Hancock at LMNK Duals in Lake Mills Newman Catholic at AGWSR tournament Osage at Osage Duals Tuesday, Jan. 18 Algona and Osage at West Hancock Thursday, Jan. 20 Forest City and Newman Catholic at HamptonDumont LMNK and Riceville/St. Ansgar at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Central Springs Saturday, Jan. 22 Forest City at Riceville Invitational LMNK at North Butler tournament Newman Catholic at Interstate-35 tournament Osage at Charles City tournament Tuesday, Jan. 25 Garner-Hayfield and Manson-NW Webster at Graettinger-Terril Thursday, Jan. 27 LMNK at Forest City Nashua-Plainfield at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 29 North Iowa Conference tournament at Britt Tuesday, Feb. 1 LMNK and Spirit Lake at Clear Lake Southeast Webster-Grand, South Hamilton and West Hancock at Manson-NW Webster

CHARLES CITY — Jesse Etherington is a secret no more.

The Charles City sophomore who burst onto the scene last year to place fourth at the state meet anchors a team that returns 13 letterwinners off an 11-7 squad.

“Lots of letterwinners should make a good team,” Comet coach Dave Williams said.

Etherington is ranked second in the preseason at 130 pounds behind Denver-Tripoli’s Brandon Sorenson.

The Comets lost some heavy hitters off a team that finished ninth at state and third in the NEIC a year ago.

Also in Class 2A,

CIML IOWA MASON CITY MOHAWKS Coach: Dusty Rhodes begins his 8th season with a record of 141-62.

2009-10 record: 16-7 in duals.

Returners: Blake Spotts, jr., 119; Parker Sturges, jr., 125; Valentine Flores, sr., 135; Max Krieger, jr., 152; Travis Mallo, sr., 171; Jared Bartel, jr., 189; Matt Tornquist, so., 103; Cody King, sr., 112; Tim Rickard, sr., 130; Austin Voves, so., 135; Dillon Coe, jr., 140; Jordan Flaherty, sr., 160; Aaron Kacer, sr., 215.

Coach’s comments: “I think we have a great balance of yound and experienced leadership. It should be a fun year barring injuries, however, we do have more depth than we have had in the past.”

NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE CLEAR LAKE LIONS Coach: Gary Weber begins his 23rd year.

2009-10 record: 22-3 in duals.

Returning starters: Matt Bieber, 112; Jacob Colon, 125; Brady Horner, 140; Jordan Dahl, 152; Alex Fessler, 119; Austin Horner, 130; Zach Huey, 145; Paxton Farmer, 160; Michael Keeran, 171; Logan Kellog, 189; Jake Ausitn, 215.

Coach’s comment: “I’m very excited. I had planned on retiring, but we are having too much fun. We have great kids and a superb coaching staff.”

ALGONA BULLDOGS Coach: Brian Morgan is entering his ninth year with the Bulldogs.

Returning letterwinners (10): Jake Adams, so.; Jake Anderson, sr.; Brad Bjustrom, jr.; Will Chipman, jr.; Michael Erpelding, jr.; Mitchell Erpelding, so.; Garrett Johnson, so.; Joel Lanus, jr.; Micah Lavrenz, jr.; Alex Wiseman, sr.

Coach’s comments: “We have a solid core of returners. My expectation is that we make a gain each day.”

CORN BOWL CONFERENCE ST. ANSGAR/RICEVILLE Coach: Che Oulman and Kirby Moses are co-coaches.

2009-10 record: N/A. First year combined.

Key returnees: Cody Marsh, sr., 171; Spencer Hulshizer, sr., 285; Dylan Johnson, jr., 140; Jordan Heimer, jr., 152; Ben Smillie, so., 160; Damon Dalluge, so., 145; Tyler Bartels, sr., 103/112; Logan Linkenmeyer, sr., 285; Marcus Uthe, jr., 140; Kenny Linkenmeyer, jr., 140/145.

Coach’s comments: “From 140-285 we will be strong.”

CENTRAL SPRINGS Coach: Jay McDonough begins his fifth year as coach.

2009-10 record: The Panthers were 6-8 in duals and third in the Corn Bowl.

Returning starters: Kyle White, so., 103/112; Michael Faught, sr., 119-125; Colten Kisner, so., 130/135; Kellen Kessler, so., 140/145; Chris Smith, sr., 145; Dylan Miller, sr., 152/160; Ike Doccum, sr., 145/152; Gary Garcia, sr., 160; Andrew Nodtvedt, sr., 189; Dylan Coyle, jr., 215.

Coach’s comments: “They’re a great group of kids that have shown lots of improvement throughout the years. We’re bringing in a lot of freshmen this year and we’re looking for these guys to be leaders.”

WRESTLING

CORN BOWL ❙ CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Globe Gazette file photo

Charles City’s Jesse Etherington.

Hampton-Dumont is expecting big things from state tournament veteran Alex Brown. Brown is ranked eighth at 119 pounds and looks to anchor a Bulldogs team looking to surprise some people in the North Central Conference.

NORTH BUTLER BEARCATS Coach: Gordy Smith begins his 25th year.

2009-10 record: 4-13 overall and 2-3 in conference.

Returning letterwinners: Paxton Hinders, sr., 152; Casye Krull, sr., 189; Nick Montgomery, sr., 160; Brady Janssen, so., 125; Ty Ruby, so., 130; Cody Swingen, so., 215.

Coach’s comments: “”We will get better as the season progresses. Many new faces this year will keep us competitive.”

NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE OSAGE GREEN DEVILS Coach: Brent Jennings starts his 15th year.

2009-10 record: Osage won the North Iowa Conference last year.

Returning starters: Jobe Goodale, sr.; Brandon Barker, sr.; Patrick McNally, sr.; Joe Michels, jr.; Luke Hanke, jr.; Ryan Randall, jr.; Joe Cockrum, jr.; Joe Roll, jr.; Casey Palsic, jr.; Colin Barker, so..

Returning letterwinners: Tallia Goodale, sr.; Jacob Anhorn, so.

Coach’s comments: “We will have a good, balanced team this year top to bottom and should hav ea good handle on the conference.”

WEST HANCOCK EALGES Coach: Wayne Kronemann and Bill Dallman are co-coaches.

Returning starters: Gunnar Clark, so.; Ryder Clark, so.; Mason Muth, so.; Zac Schleuger, jr.; Bret Walk, sr..

Athletes who will contribute: Chris Schleuger, so.; Nate Aitchison, so.

Coach’s comments: “We will struggle in dual meets becuase I don’t believe we will have any guys in the lower weights. Kids are just getting too big. Iowa needs to start allowing 7-8 graders compete or re-do the weight classes.”

GARNER-HAYFIELD Coach: Jeff Short begins his fifth year.

Returning letterwinners: Aaron Babcock, jr., 112; Sklar Oborney, jr., 112; Drew Henely, sr., 125; Richie Kozisek, sr., 119; Dakota Schuver, jr., 152; Rick Young, jr., 140/145; Brad Young, sr., 160; Stuart Blank, jr., 130/135; Corey Dodd, so., 160/171; Lucas Jackson, jr., 125/130; Ethan Kropp, jr., 130/135; Dakota Back, jr., 112/119.

LMNK Coach: Alex Brandenburg and Ron Dodd.

2009-10 record: 17-7 overall and 5-1 in the NIC. Returning letterwinners: Logan Butler, so., 112; Shaun Haugerud, so., 112; Cameron Batton, so., 119; Andy Dahle, so., 135; Calvin Beal, jr., 140; Blake Huntington, jr., 145; Spencer Capitani, sr., 152; Royce Byrnes, sr., 152; JR Linquist, sr., 160/171; Ben Irons, so., 160/171; Josh Perez, jr., 215.

Coach’s comments: “We would like to hit the 20-win mark for duals and l’d like to see three or four kids make the state tournament.

NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE CHARLES CITY COMETS Coach: Dave Williams begins his 16th year.

2009-10 record: 11-7 overall, third in the NEIC. Returning letterwinners: Tyler Mitchell, 140; Seth Marvin, 171; Max Anderegg, 189; Brian Halligan, 215; Oscar Guzman, 152; Elijah Poolman, 103; Ryan Sharp, 215/285; Jesse Etherington, 130; Austin Hoeft, 125; Cole Hoeft, 130/135; Zach Mitchel, 145; Adam Staudt, 119/125; Lucas Johnson, 171.

Nodtvedt has eyes on the prize Huskies are coaches favorite to win Corn Bowl

By JARED PATTERSON jared.patterson@globegazette.com

Andrew Nodtvedt and his coaches do spend time talking about last year’s state tournament.

But for the Central Springs senior, the focus of those conversations revolves around the thirdplace match.

That methodical 4-1 win over Graettinger’s Nate Howard for third place at 189 pounds in Class 1A was the best-case scenario considering the circumstances.

It was Howard, a couple days earlier, who spoiled Nodtvedt’s dream of being a state champ.

“The last match is what we talk about,” Central Springs coach Jay McDonough said. “We’ve learned from our losses, but now the confidence is there.”

McDonough That confidence has spilled over to this year for the two-time state place winner.

There’s no doubt his goal is to be a state champ.

If anyone knows just how determined Nodtvedt is it’s McDonough, who has some scraps with his chiseled 189-pounder in the room.

“He’s so dang strong, and he’s Frost the fastest 189-pounder I’ve dealt with,” the coach said. “It happened for him the last half of last season when he started shooting a little double leg.”

And with that comes the simple goal of standing atop the podium on a Saturday night in Des Moines.

“That’s kind of what we expect,” McDonough said. “It’s a goal, and it’s a legitimate goal.”

As far as the conference race goes, there’s little doubt who the favorite is.

“You know those guys, they are full of it,” Nashua-Plainfield coach Al Frost chuckled at the notion of the Huskies being the heavy favorite according to conference coaches. “We’re kind of taking the approach we did last year. We’ve got to wait and see. We don’t have an established lineup.”

But for the Huskies, more often than not they’ve been able to plug in bodies and not lose a beat.

In the process, they’ve turned into one of the most dominant Class 1A wrestling programs in the state, making near yearly trips to the state dual tournament.

“We have to have some guys step up,” Frost said. “We are in about the same situation we were in last year.”

That resulted in a 34-27 loss to Don Bosco in the finals of the 1A state duals last year.

One of the dark horses will be the new program consisting of Riceville and St. Ansgar.

“From 140-285 we will be strong,” co-coaches Che Oulman and Kirby Moses said. “The light weights will be very young with the exception of senior and eighth-place state placewinner Tyler Bartels.”

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WINTER PREVIEW

PRESEASON WRESTLING RANKINGS

BY THE PREDICAMENT

Eagles lone ranked team out of NIC ith many teams long on experienced players, girls basketball in the North Iowa Conference may be unpredictable.

West Hancock returns three starters from its runner-up team of last season.

The Eagles open the season rated 14th in Class 1A. West Hancock,though, got some valuable experience in tournament play as it advanced to the regional semifinals before bowing out to eventual state runnerup Manson-Northwest Webster.

Tops among the returnees for West Hanock is point guard Sarah Mallen, a 5-foot-2 junior sparkplug.

The Eagles also bring back some size on the front line with 6-1 Ahna Bruns and 6-0 Brook Heusinkveld.

“We return a little over half our scoring,” Eagles coach Paul Sonius said.

“But we have to be ready to play every night because there are some pretty good teams in our conference.”

North Iowa, which finished third in conference play last season, returns four letterwinners, headlined by post player Amber Paden.

The Lady Bison will be competitive if their backcourt develops quickly.

Garner-Hayfield will look to sneak up the conference standings.

The Cardinals uncharacteristically struggled last season, finishing with an 8-15 record, but they return four starters, including backcourt running mates Jasmine Doble and Lauren Opp. Doble and Alicia Savoy combined to average nearly 18 points per game a season ago.

“With the loss of one starter, we feel good about the experience level of this team,” veteran GarnerHayfield coach Jim Haag said.

With a year of experience, the Cardinals should be able to eliminate some of the turnovers which plagued them last season.

W

PRESEASON RANKINGS CLASS 1A School 2009-10 1 Martendale-St. Marys 26-2 2 Stanton 22-1 3 North Mahaska 24-1 4 Tripoli 18-5 5 Ar-We-Va 16-4 6 Prince of Peace 17-8 7 Lynnville-Sully 18-7 8 Sidney 17-8 9 Bedford 14-5 10 Lamoni 15-8 11 NSK 22-3 12 Exira/Elk Horn-Kim. Exira: 260;EHK: 12-9 13 NE Hamilton 20-3 14 West Hancock 16-7 15 Lone Tree 16-8 CLASS 2A School 2009-10 1 OA-BCIG 21-4 2 Roland-Story 25-2 3 Mount Ayr 26-2 4 Kuemper Catholic 22-3 5 Logan-Magnolia 21-3 6 Maquoketa Valley 17-5 7 West Central Valley 18-4 8 AGWSR 19-4 9 Mediapolis 17-6 10 IKM-Manning 19-5 11 Wapsie Valley 17-1 12 Bondurant-Farrar 13-8 13 Hinton 21-2 14 Des Moines Christian 18-5 15 Panorama 21-3

GIRLS HOOPS NORTH IOWA ❙ CONF. PREVIEW Forest City returns eight letterwinners, including point guard Amanda Busta.

With experienced depth and athleticism, the Indians may look to push the ball a bit more offensively this season.

Fresh off of a secondplace finish in volleyball, Lake Mills brings many of the same athletes onto the basketball court.

First-year coach Beth Van Roekel will build around Lindy Pins, a guard who earned all-district honors last season.

Also back is senior forward Amanda Lampman and sophomore forward Megan Johnson.

Osage will be one of the younger teams on the court this year, but the Green Devils return three starters from last season’s 13-8 squad.

The depth for Osage is in a junior class that may have as many as eight players in coach Chad Erickson’s rotation.

“Our success will depend on how quickly our kids make the transition to varsity,” Erickson said.

With so many programs boasting experience, talent and balance, the North Iowa Conference crown will be up for grabs this season.

—David Durbala

Players to watch: X Lindy Pins (Lake Mills): The Bulldog junior is the leading returning scorer in the conferece at 13.9 points per game.

X Amber Paden (North Iowa).The Lady Bison senior averaged 12.9 points per game last year and seven rebounds.

X Jessica Rogers (Osage). Rogers was one of the top rebounders in the league last year averaging 6.2 per game.

X Jasmine Doble (Garner-Hayfield): Doble is the leading returning 3-point shooter in the conference.She made 45 3s a year ago.

X Sarah Mallen (West Hancock): Mallen was the leading distributor in the league, finishing with 91 assists.

RETURNING STATE PLACE WINNERS

8th — Matt Bertsch 8th —Kyler Deutsch 8th — Taylor Wedeking 6th — Gunnar Clark

CLASS 3A School 2009-10 1 Ballard 23-1 2 Mount Vernon 25-3 3 Central DeWitt 19-4 4 Dallas Center-Grimes 19-3 5 Pella 15-6 6 MOC-Floyd Valley 21-2 7 Carroll 16-5 8 Davenport Assumption 22-3 9 Union 16-7 10 Williamsburg 16-7 11 Dubuque Wahlert 12-10 12 Bishop Heelan 26-1 13 Harlan 21-3 14 Keokuk 14-9 15 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 18-5 CLASS 4A School 2009-10 1 Des Moines East 24-1 2 Ankeny 21-3 3 Iowa City High 12-7 4 Linn-Mar 25-0 5 Pleasant Valley 18-3 6 Cedar Rapids Washington 14-9 7 Sioux City North 15-8 8 Iowa City West 16-7 9 Mason City 13-8 10 Lewis Central 18-5 11 Waterloo West 14-10 12 Bettendorf 17-5 13 West Des Moines Valley 12-11 14 Waukee 24-2 15 Johnston 13-7

CLASS 2A Top 10 State Tournament Teams (# of ranked wrestlers): 1. Davenport Assumption (8) 2. Denver-Tripoli (7) 3. Ballard Huxley (6) 4. Sergeant Bluff Luton (4) 5. Perry (4) 6. Williamsburg (4) 7. Creston-OM (2) 8. East Marshall (3) 9. Independence (4) 10. New London-WMU (2) Individual Rankings 103 1. Pryce Creighton (Sr.) Dallas Center Grimes 2. Tyler Devriese (So.) Davenport Assumption 3. Tanner Cowan (So.) Centerville 4. Tyler Bartels (Sr.) St. Ansgar-Riceville 5. Cole Parmely (So.) Oelwein 6. Quinn Tonne (Jr.) Denver-Tripoli 7. Zach Skopec (Fr.) Spirit Lake Park 8. Eddie Frye (Sr.) Benton Community 9. Leighton Gaul (So.) New Hampton 10. Ray Quiroz (Jr.) Columbus Junction.

112 1. Dylan Peters (Jr.) Denver-Tripoli 2. Colton McCrystal (So.) Sgt. Bluff Luton 3. Mitch Funk (Sr.) MFL Central 4. Kyle Springer (So.) Davenport Assumption 5. Landon Felton (Jr.) Monticello 6. Jimmy Scieszinski (Jr.) Van Meter 7. Doug Miner (So.) Spirit Lake 8. Austin Evens (Jr.) Independence 9. Patrick Rooney (So.) Bondurant Farrar 10. Brett Marcum (So.) Missouri Valley 119 1. Topher Carton (Jr.) Davenport Assumption 2. Sawyer Ferris (Jr.) New London-WMU 3. Chase Flack (Sr.) JSPCEG 4. Matt Paulus (Sr.) New Hampton 5. Jobe Goodale (Sr.) Osage 6. Dalton Kingery (Jr.) PCM Monroe 7. Walker Marshall (Jr.) Missouri Valley 8. Alex Brown (Sr.) Hampton Dumont 9. Alex Rust (Sr.) CLGLR 10. Dillon Hanson (So.) Ballard 125 1. Gunnar Wolfensperger (Jr.) Denver-Tripoli 2. Tyler Patten (Sr.) Webster City 3. Jacob Colon (Sr.) Clear Lake 4. Cole Anderson (Sr.) Forest City 5. Kyle Blocker (So.) East Marshall 6. Dakota Simmons (Sr.) Fairfield 7. Zach Henning (Jr.) Decorah 8. Hunter Langley (Jr.) Sgt. Bluff Luton 9. Ryan Matherly (Sr.) Grinnell 10. Isaac Lundgren (Jr.) Spirit Lake Park 130 1. Brandon Sorensen (So.) Denver-Tripoli 2. Jesse Etherington (So.) Charles City 3. Logan Thomsen (So.) Union 4. Tre Rutz (Sr.) Humboldt 5. Josh Perkins (Sr.) Atlantic 6. Brandon Silbaugh (Jr.) JSPCEG 7. JC Vercande (Jr.) Williamsburg 8. Toby Rains (Sr.) Perry 9. Jason Bowers (Jr.) Anamosa 10. Jerad Hoefer (Sr.) West Delaware 135 1. Jake Marlin (So.) Creston/O-M 2. Jake Kadel (Sr.) New London-WMU 3. Matt White (Sr.) Albia 4. Kyler Risher (Sr.) Centerville 5. Keegan Mumma (Jr.) ADM Adel 6. Dustin Harberts (Sr.) Chariton 7. Ben King (Sr.) SH-BCLUW 8. Cory Chapin (Jr.) Denver-Tripoli 9. Shiloh Snyder (Sr.) Maquoketa 10. Jacob England (Sr.) Winterset 140 1. Wil Stetzel (Sr.) Perry 2. Tyler Walz (Jr.) South Tama 3. Bo Cosens (Sr.) Ballard 4. Brad Schwenke (Sr.) Atlantic

3rd — Andrew Nodtvedt 5th — Jobe Goodale 3rd — Jacob Colon 5th — Cole Anderson 4th — Jesse Etherington 1st — Aaron Sorenson 6th —Valentine Flores 4th — Travis Mallo 5th — Jared Bartel

CLASS 1A 119 Newman 125 Nashua-Plainfield 140 Nashua-Plainfield 152 West Hancock 189 Central Springs CLASS 2A 112 Osage 119 Clear Lake Forest City 125 Charles City 145 Forest City CLASS 3A 135 Mason City 171 Mason City 189 Mason City

25-12 37- 11 36- 10 31- 16 44- 4 35- 10

5. Tom Mahoney (Sr.) New Hampton 6. Jed Siegwarth (Sr.) MFL Central 7. Dakota Snyder (Sr.) Maquoketa 8. Brady Horner (Sr.) Clear Lake 9. John Even (Sr.) Denver-Tripoli 10. Logan Hewitt (So.) Anamosa 145 1. Tanner Hiatt (Sr.) Ballard 2. Aaron Sorenson (Sr.) Forest City 3. Brody Grothus (Sr.) Davenport Assumption 4. Blake Meling (Jr.) East Marshall 5. Josh Schaefer (Sr.) BCIG-OA 6. Gayge Samuelson (Jr.) Decorah 7. Brady Milder (Sr.) Columbus Junction 8. Zach Fligg (Sr.) Davis County 9. Rob Nichols (Jr.) Atlantic 10. Hunter St. John (Sr.) Williamsburg 152 1. Nick Georgean (So.) Davenport Assumption 2. Ryan Valline (Sr.) East Marshall 3. Dakotah Poe (Sr.) Albia 4. Nick Winter (Sr.) MFL Central 5. Ryan Cox (Sr.) Mount Vernon 6. Royce Byrnes (Sr.) Lake Mills-NK 7. Cody Fritz (Jr.) Solon 8. Josh King (Jr.) Sgt. Bluff Luton 9. Dallas Rozeboom (So.) BHRV 10. Chris Johnson (Sr.) Independence 160 1. Cody Solari (Sr.) Sgt. Bluff Luton 2. Garrett Smith (Jr.) Denver-Tripoli 3. Taimon Wehr (Sr.) Harlan 4. Collin Ascherl (Jr.) MOC Floyd Valley 5. Chase Skoneczka (Sr.) Benton Community 6. Brad Mickelson (Sr.) Ballard 7. Keegan Davis (Jr.) Perry 8. Erik Lux (So.) South Tama 9. Nick Fuller (Jr.) Independence 10. Cody Morris (Jr.) Bedford-Lenox 171 1. Tanner Weatherman (Sr.) Ballard 2. Colton Van’t Hof (Sr.) Sioux Center 3. Kyle Lux (Sr.) South Tama 4. Drew Cox (Sr.) Clear Creek Amana 5. Seth Esaias (Jr.) Red Oak 6. Sam Lahr (Jr.) West Delaware 7. J.J. Hanus (Jr.) Solon 8. Tommy Argo (Sr.) Davenport Assumption 9. Willie Lawrence (Sr.) Bedford-Lenox 10. Devin Mitchell (Sr.) Bondurant Farrar 189 1. Blaize Cabell (Sr.) Independence 2. Noah Pickard (Jr.) North Polk 3. Jack Manning (Sr.) Woodward Granger 4. Bruce McWilliams (Jr.) Sheldon-SO 5. Colten Riley (Jr.) South Calhoun 6. Adam Reth (So.) West Delaware 7. Tyler Walls (Sr.) Clear Creak Amana 8. Ross Larson (Jr.) Ballard 9. Logan Kellogg (Jr.) Clear Lake 10. Bradley Grothus (Jr.) Davenport Assumption 215 1. Collin Bevins (Jr.) Creston/O-M 2. Kane Seeley (Jr.) Perry 3. Devin Lemke (Sr.) Iowa Falls 4. Tom Malloy (Sr.) Williamsburg 5. Troy Brown (Sr.) Carlisle 6. Dustin Moore (Sr.) PCM Monroe 7. Jake Boehme (Sr.) West Liberty 8. Bryce Kelleher (So.) Sheldon-SO 9. Brian Halligan (Jr.) Charles City 10. Alex Rans (Sr.) West Delaware 285 1. Austin Blythe (Sr.) Williamsburg 2. Tyler Swope (Sr.) Davenport Assumption 3. Bret Johnson (Sr.) Roland Story 4. Zach Bauer (Sr.) Dallas Center-Grimes 5. Tony Saucedo (Sr.) Clarke (Osceola) 6. Jake Tool (Jr.) PCM Monroe 7. Mike Smithburg (Sr.) Fairfield 8. Logan Schafer (Jr.) Ridge View 9. Logan Hopp (Sr.) New Hampton 10. Creighton Fox (Jr.) DeWitt Central CLASS 3A Top 10 State Tournament Teams (# of ranked wrestlers): 1. Bettendorf (12) 2. Iowa City West (8) 3. Waverly Shell Rock (7) 4. SE Polk (7) 5. Lewis Central (7) 6. North Scott (5) 7. Mason City (5) 8. Urbandale (3) 9. WDM Valley (5) 10. Pleasant Valley (4) Individual Rankings 103 1. Andrew Steiert (So) Waverly-Shell Rock 2. Juan Coulter (Sr) Muscatine 3. Drake Swarm (Jr) Bettendorf 4. Alijah Jefferies (Fr) Linn-Mar 5. Travis Willers (Fr) Pleasant Valley 6. Jake Koethe (Fr) WDM Valley 7. Chase Lynn (Fr) Dubuque Senior 8. Trey Blaha (Fr) CR Prairie 9. David Habhab (Jr) Ames 10. Jay Fresh (Jr) Knoxville 112 1. Tyler Willers (Jr) Pleasant Valley 2. Colby Knight (So) Urbandale 3. Joel Northrup (So) Linn-Mar 4. Jake Agnitsch (Sr) Ames 5. Matt Birnbaum (Sr) Fort Dodge 6. Evan Reynolds (So) Norwalk 7. Jordan Jones (Sr) DM North/Hoover 8. Logan Ryan (Fr) Bettendorf 9. Adrian Lozano (Sr) Sioux City North 10. Jake Gotto (Jr) Western Dubuque 119 1. Cory Clark (Jr) SE Polk 2. Eric DeVos (Jr) Waverly-Shell Rock 3. Kegan Wakefield (So) Iowa City West 4. Nick Sulentic (So) Lewis Central 5. DeShawn Robertson (Jr) Waterloo East 6. Bryce Lynn (Sr) Dubuque Senior 7. Richie Eikenberry (Sr) Bettendorf

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8. Dan Williams (So) Oskaloosa 9. Chase Helenthal (Jr) Keokuk 10. John Christopherson (So) Spencer 125 1. Connor Ryan (Jr) Bettendorf 2. Jack Hathaway (Jr) Iowa City West 3. Kyle Larson (Jr) WDM Valley 4. Tyler Feller (Sr) Lewis Central 5. Tanner Werner (Sr) Waverly-Shell Rock 6. Tyler McWilliams (Jr) Sioux City East 7. Karsten VanVelsor (So) Ottumwa 8. Ronald Genco III (Sr) Clinton 9. Randy McPhee (So) Davenport West 10. Drew Stewart (Jr) SE Polk 130 1. John Meeks (Jr) DM Roosevelt 2. Alex Hernandez (So) Bettendorf 3. Peter Stewart (Jr) Sioux City North 4. Brandon Thomas (Sr) WDM Valley 5. Tanner Schaefer (So) Spencer 6. Johnny Jaeger (Jr) Dowling Catholic 7. Kolton Rottink (Jr) Waverly-Shell Rock 8. Blake Spotts (Jr) Mason City 9. Austin Boyd (So) Burlington 10. Angelo Kelly (Sr) Ottumwa 135 1. Gradey Gambrall (Jr) Iowa City West 2. Adam Perrin (Sr) North Scott 3. Jay Hildreth (Sr) Lewis Central 4. Brian Warren (Jr) DM North/Hoover 5. Taylor Wickett (Sr) Bettendorf 6. Valentine Flores (Sr) Mason City 7. Luke Kremer (Jr) CR Kennedy 8. Braxton Chicchelly (Sr) CR Xavier 9. Derek Rose (Jr) Keokuk 10. Wade Edgington (Sr) Indianola 140 1. Bo Schlosser (Sr) Bettendorf 2. Elijah Sullivan (Sr) Iowa City West 3. Jordan Rinken (Sr) Waverly-Shell Rock 4. Brayton Taylor (Jr) Ft. Dodge 5. Ryan Rodriguez (Jr) CR Kennedy 6. Kevin Brimeyer (Sr) Dubuque Hempstead 7. Blake Letney (Jr) Pleasant Valley 8. Josh Pederson (Jr) Linn-Mar 9. Steve Gutschenritter (Sr) Glenwood 10. Jake Randall (Jr) Spencer 145 1. Chad Ryan (Sr) Sioux City North 2. Gabriel Moreno (Jr) Urbandale 3. Dylan Blackford (So) SE Polk 4. Luke Swalla (Sr) Ames 5. Zach Witte (Jr) CR Prairie 6. Garrett Hathaway (Jr) Iowa City West 7. Colbey Vance (Jr) Pleasant Valley 8. Drake Chase (Jr.) Bettendorf 9. Zak Jones (Sr) DM East 10. Michael Burgos (Sr) Marshalltown 152 1. Cody Caldwell (Sr) Waverly-Shell Rock 2. Britt Thompson (Sr) Iowa City West 3. Alex Meyer (Jr) SE Polk 4. Dominic Chase (Sr) Bettendorf 5. Tyler Schaefer (Sr) Spencer 6. Shane Williams (Jr) CR Kennedy 7. Trey Lewis (Jr) WDM Valley 8. Zeb Wahle (Jr) Lewis Central 9. Max Krieger (Jr) Mason City 10. Austin Fleetwood (Sr) North Scott 160 1. Justin Koethe (Jr) Iowa City West 2. Taylor Berger (Sr) Carroll 3. Ben Swalla (Sr) Ames 4. Bryan Levsen (Jr) Bettendorf 5. Peyton Wagner (Jr) CR Prairie 6. Cameron Jewett (Jr) SC East 7. Matt Knipp (Sr) SE Polk 8. Carson Powell (Jr) Ankeny 9. Jordan Wetzel (Sr) Muscatine 10. Zach Elliott (Sr) Norwalk 171 1. Levi Peters (Sr) Ft. Dodge 2. Travis Mallo (Sr) Mason City 3. Nate Shaw (Jr) Bettendorf 4. Ryan Sheldon (Sr) CR Kennedy 5. Michael Kluesner (Sr) Western Dubuque 6. Tarin Phillips (Jr) WDM Valley 7. Alex Steenblock (Sr) CR Prairie 8. Kyle Putnam (Sr) Lewis Central 9. Rob Myers (Sr) Ankeny 10. Bud Smith (Jr) SE Polk 189 1. Brandon Abernathy (Sr) Indianola 2. Jared Bartel (Jr) Mason City 3. Bryce Sellers (Sr) North Scott 4. Evan Rethmeier (Sr) Newton 5. A.J. McBroom (Sr) SE Polk 6. Mickey Pelfrey (So) Iowa City West 7. Andrew Netolicky (So) CR Prairie 8. David Demmer (Sr) Western Dubuque 9. Mark Atwater (Jr) Linn-Mar 10. Mike Freeman (Sr) DM Roosevelt 215 1. Joe Scanlan (Jr) Johnston 2. Conner Herman (Sr) CR Jefferson 3. Jesse South (Sr) Urbandale 4. Ben Nagle (Sr) North Scott 5. Zach Renshaw (So) Lewis Central 6. Kris Rhode (Sr) Spencer 7. Clint Richers (Jr) Ft. Madison 8. Joe Brock (Jr) Newton 9. A.J. Garcia (Jr) Linn-Mar 10. Jacob Heiden (Sr) Denison 285 1. Cody Krumwiede (Sr) Waverly-Shell Rock 2. Brodie Berrie (Sr) Bettendorf 3. Thomas Heiderscheit (Sr) Ankeny 4. Jake Arthur (Sr) North Scott 5. Tommy Grimes (Sr) Lewis Central 6. Don Dawson (Jr) Indianola 7. Nathan Jones (Sr) GRNT 8. Chris Stevenson (Sr) LeMars 9. Cody Donnelly (Sr) Iowa City High 10.Jake Scanlan (Fr) Johnston

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Osage’s Lexi Friesen drives to the basket during a game last season.

3. Jake Crosby, Sr., Eddyville-Blakesburg 4. Curtis Weber, Sr., Don Bosco 5. Austin Rasch, Sr., Manson NW Webster 6. Brick Imerman, Sr., Guthrie Center 7. Jared McCoy, Jr., Woodbury Central 8. Tevin Brinson, Sr., Mason City Newman 9. Blake Rottink, Sr., Clarksville 10. Andy Glaser, Jr., Nashua-Plainfield 189 1. Andrew Nodtvedt, Sr., Central Springs 2. Kyle Soderblom, Sr., Lynnville-Sully 3. Dalton Peterson, Sr., Woodbine 4. Matthew Schmelzer, Sr., South Winneshiek 5. Ethan Calvert, Sr., Interstate 35 6. Connor Johnston, Jr., Tri-County/Montezuma 7. Zac Schleuger, Jr., West Hancock 8. Spencer Shepherd, Sr., WACO 9. Tim Stephens, Sr., Lawton-Bronson 10. Caleb Ciavelli, Jr., Clarksville 215 1. Nate Howard, Sr., Graettinger-Terril 2. Cade Lambson, Sr., Mount Ayr 3. Josh Treybal, Sr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 4. Evan Mikels, Sr., Logan-Magnolia 5. Phil Lumley, Sr., Pleasantville 6. Trent Baker, Sr., Westwood (Sloan) 7. Steve Clubb, Jr., Sigourney 8. Tony Becker, Sr., Don Bosco 9. Reed Petersen, Sr., Belle Plaine 10. Nate Davis, Sr., Valley (Elgin) 285 1. Brendan TerWee, Sr., West Lyon 2. Caleb White, Sr., Tri-Center (Neola) 3. Joe Koehn, Jr., Valley (Elgin) 4. Zach Salisbury, Sr., Sumner-Fredericksburg 5. Adam Steger, Jr., Maquoketa Valley 6. Tyler Smith, Jr., Lisbon 7. Marco Naughten, Jr., CB St. Albert 8. Matt Eads, Sr., Interstate 35 9. Nick Schmelzer, Jr., South Winneshiek 10. Fernando Muniz, Sr., Louisa-Muscatine

MS-11877

Globe Gazette file photo

CLASS 1A Top 10 State Tournament Teams (# of ranked wrestlers): 1. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn (7) 2. Logan-Magnolia (6) 3. Lisbon (5) 4. Don Bosco (5) 5. Alburnett (4) 6. Martensdale-St. Marys (4) 7. Interstate 35 (4) 8. Tri-Center (Neola) (3) 9. North Linn (2) 10. Eddyville-Blakesburg (3) Individual Rankings 103 1. Jordan Bremer, Jr., Woodbury Central 2. Phillip Laux, Jr., Pekin 3. Andrew Foutch, So., Underwood 4. Zach Welter, Jr., North Linn 5. Hunter Hutchison, So., Lisbon 6. Tyler Dalen, Jr., Graettinger-Terril 7. Blake Dietz, Jr., Nashua-Plainfield 8. Aaron Bartenhagen, So., Durant-Bennett 9. Bret Hildebrand, So., Waterloo Columbus 10. Robbie Thornton, Sr., Manson NW Webster 112 1. Brance Simms, Jr., Twin River Valley 2. Trevor Reiste, Sr., Panorama 3. Heath Nagel, So., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 4. Drew Mangrich, Jr., Don Bosco 5. Zach Imler, Sr., Coon Rapids-Bayard 6. Aaron Anderson, Jr., Clarion-Goldfield 7. Kole Stapes, Jr., Martensdale-St. Marys 8. Nathan Ryan, Jr., Woodbury Central 9. Jason Crosby, So., Eddyville-Blakesburg 10. Troy Schwartz, So., Guthrie Center 119 1. Tyler Shulista, Jr., Alburnett 2. Kody Krenz, Jr., Louisa-Muscatine 3. Nick Drenth, Jr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 4. Kolbi Kohl, Jr., Lisbon 5. Jesse Partlow, Jr., Manson NW Webster 6. Keegan Taylor, Sr., Mason City Newman 7. Taylor Hagen, Jr., Martensdale-St. Marys 8. Tyler Reiste, Sr., Panorama 9. Brady Meyer, So., Sumner-Fredericksburg 10. Quinton Doiel, Jr., Logan-Magnolia 125 1. Christopher Halblom, Sr., Alburnett 2. Brennan McNitt, Sr., CB St. Albert 3. Dillon Lorentzen, Sr., Logan-Magnolia 4. Matt Bertsch, Sr., Mason City Newman 5. Jesse Hahn, Jr., Highland (Riverside) 6. Ryan Joint, So., West Central Valley 7. Ryan Hall, Jr., Jesup 8. Kaleb Wessel, Sr., Nodaway Valley 9. Hank Voss, Jr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 10. Darrian Irlbeck, So., Tri-Center (Neola) 130 1. Drew Proctor, Sr., Tipton 2. Chet Utesch, Jr., Akron-Westfield 3. Jordan Johnson, Sr., Interstate 35 4. Nathan Van Zante, Sr., Eddyville-Blakesburg 5. Austin Demuth, Jr., Don Bosco 6. Kyler Deutsch, Sr., Nashua-Plainfield 7. Carter Funke, So., Maquoketa Valley 8. Brandon Chesnut, Sr., West Monona 9. Gage Curry, Sr., Louisa-Muscatine 10. Maxx Schultz, Jr., Clarion-Goldfield 135 1. Logan Mulnix, Jr., North Linn 2. Brandon Welter, Sr., Don Bosco 3. David Walker, Jr., Martensdale-St. Marys 4. Jared Hefler, Sr., Ogden 5. Chad Richardson, Sr., Lawton-Bronson 6. Kris Lehman, Sr., Guthrie Center 7. Steven Brockshus, Sr., Sibley-Ocheyedan 8. Kolby Baier, Sr., Nodaway Valley 9. Grant Henderson, So., Alburnett 10. John Hageman, So., Turkey Valley 140 1. Nolan Oviatt, Sr., Logan-Magnolia 2. Skyler Rice, Sr., Emmetsburg 3. Ben Huber, Jr., Hudson 4. Tait Simpson, Jr., Lisbon 5. Nick Becker, Sr., Wilton 6. Jake Slocum, Jr., West Branch 7. Taylor Hotek, Sr., Waterloo Columbus 8. Matt Steffen, Sr., Kingsley-Pierson 9. Alex German, Sr., Alburnett 10. Wes Prill, Sr., Pleasantville 145 1. Robert Walker, Jr., Martensdale-St. Marys 2. Matt Finch, Sr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 3. Loren Williams, So., Tri-Center (Neola) 4. Rilen Carew, Sr., West Branch 5. Taylor Wedeking, Jr., Nashua-Plainfield 6. Tasker Phillips, Sr., Pleasantville 7. Max Cherry, Sr., East Buchanan 8. Troy Sodders, Sr., Logan-Magnolia 9. Clay Stetzel, Sr., Guthrie Center 10. Josh Adam, Sr., Iowa City Regina 152 1. Austin Kessler, Sr., Durant-Bennett 2. Dallas Houchins, Sr., Interstate 35 3. Gunnar Clark, So., West Hancock 4. Cody Harrison, Sr., Eagle Grove 5. Wyatt Towne, Sr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 6. Robbie Kerr, Sr., Valley (Elgin) 7. Drake Fanslau, Jr., Underwood 8. Tanner Taylor, Jr., Okoboji 9. Brady Kime, Jr., Sumner-Fredericksburg 10. Dray Carl, Sr., Corning 160 1. Austin Even, Jr., Jesup 2. Tyler Ogburn, Sr., Corning 3. Marrick Loftus, Sr., Logan-Magnolia 4. Zach Jones, Jr., Okoboji 5. Jason VanGinkel, Sr., West Lyon 6. Cole Larsen, Sr., Guthrie Center 7. David Lindner, Sr., Fort Dodge St. Edmond 8. Brett Flynn, Jr., Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 9. Andrew Wellik, So., Emmetsburg 10. Cody Hubrich, Sr., Twin River Valley 171 1. Dacoda Ward, Sr., Lisbon 2. Jayden Devilbiss, Sr., South Winneshiek

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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Jared Patterson

FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010 • C6

WINTER PREVIEW

Globe Gazette file photo

Central Springs’ Ashley Brinkman dives for a loose ball during a game last season.

Globe Gazette file photo

Clear Lake’s Sara Jo Raner.

By JEREMY KOENIGS

GIRLS BASKETBALL

sports@globegazette.com

NORTH CENTRAL ❙ CLEAR LAKE

Seniors’ time to step up Lions lose scoring but have six seniors to rely on

Lovik and Kathryn Nieman.

Hansen, Lovik and Nieman combined for 22.4 points per game and Hansen and Lovik were the Lions’ top two rebounders, combining for 257 of the team’s 690 rebounds.

By JEREMY KOENIGS “You hate to lose those girls sports@globegazette.com but we have six girls back and all CLEAR LAKE — With six six have have varsity experisenior players returning who were all part of her rotation last ence,” Bacon said. “We’re very year, Clear Lake girls basketball pleased to have them out again coach Kay Bacon has a solid core and they’ve been working hard.

“They know the expectations, to build around for the upcomknow what we’re hoping for and ing season.

“They all have great attitudes spent a lot of time together in the summer.” and they’re a great group that’s Running the controls will be excited to get started,” Bacon said. “Our entire senior group is 5-foot-7 senior point guard a group of leaders and it’s nice to Brita Hand, who averaged 6.1 have six girls that are capable of points per game and led the Lions in assists (50) and steals leading.”

However, the Lions, who were (49).

“It’s very nice,” Bacon said of 11-9 overall and 10-8 in the having a senior point guard.

North Central Conference last “She spent a lot of time condiseason, will need to replace the tioning in the off-season and we production of departed senior wish nothing but the best for starters Macey Hansen, Erika

her.”

Also returning are 5-7 small forward Rea Faber and 6-1 center Sara Jo Raner.

Faber averaged 10.1 points per game and was second on the team in steals with 47 while Raner averaged 5.5 points and 4.3 per game.

“Rea did a great job for us last year in the scoring column and adds a defensive presence,” Bacon said. “Sara Jo continues to improve at the offensive end.”

Seniors Taylor Diehl, Rachel Kopriva and Ashley Willms also return while the rest of the varsity roster will be filled by juniors Erin Borgman, Lauren Loudenburg, Emily Monson, Meg Monson and Mikkie O’Brien and sophomore Megan Loux.

Bacon said underclassmen will bring more depth to the Lions.

“We’re hoping our depth will help us,” the coach said.

3-point specialist TerHark back for Bulldogs orth Central Conference girls basketball ran through Algona a season ago. The Algona Bulldogs, who reached the state semifinals before dropping their first game of the season, rambled through the conference with a perfect mark.

This year figures to be much more competitive in the league as the Bulldogs lost four key players from that 25-1 squad, although if Algona coach Brad Sudol must rebuild, the return of Laura TerHark will certainly help.

TerHark, who has been named to the Class 3A second-team all-state team the past two years.

TerHark led the state in three-point field goals last season and will be counted on to stabilize the offense until the new faces get acclimated to varsity play.

A number of other players who saw considerable action last year, including Brittany Vaske, MacKenzie Siefken and Megan Gerhardt, also return, and a wealth of new talent will be infused from a junior varsity squad that was 16-4 last season.

“I was pleased about what I saw this summer at team camp,” Sudol said. “There should be a lot of competition for spots this year which will make practice intense.”

While Algona clearly expects to be at or near the top of the conference standings this year, a number of other teams will present challenges.

Clear Lake, with a solid nucleus returning, including point guard Brita Hand, figures to be improved while St. Edmond boasts one of the conference’s top returnees in Theresa Doyle.

Hampton-Dumont should have a say in things as the Bulldogs return six letterwinners from a fourth-place squad, although they must replace four of their top five scorers from a season ago.

Taryn Barz, a sophomore center, will likely be the focal point of the Hampton-Dumont offense.

“The parity will make it fun to play every night,” Bulldogs coach Chad Johnson said.

Bishop Garrigan will be in rebuilding mode after losing its top two scorers from last season, and the Golden Bears will count on two seniors, Kelly Klein and Mackenzie Schindler, to help develop a squad dominated by juniors and sophomores.

Coach Beany Bode does welcome back five letterwinners from last season.

—David Durbala

N

NOR TH IO WA PREP S AT

Experienced Panthers look to dethrone Bearcats

Globe Gazette file photo

Algona’s Laura TerHark takes a shot during a game last season.

Players to watch:

X Laura TerHark (Algona): The guard connected on 77 3-pointers last year and was an 83 percent free-throw shooter.

X Taryn Barz (Hampton-Dumont): The sophomore center averaged eight points per game as a freshman.

X Chelsea Doughan (Bishop Garrigan): Was second on the team, averaging 9.7 points per game. Made 49 3-pointers.

X Theresa Doyle (St.Edmond): The junior averaged 10 points per game and shot 60 percent from the floor.

X Chelsey Harvey (C-G): Averaged 11.6 points per game last year.

ith several key cogs for the North Butler girls basketball team lost to graduation, coaches around the Corn Bowl Conference are wondering if this is the year of vulnerability for the Bearcats.

But while the battle for the top spot in the conference may be the most wideopen in years, each game will be a battle.

“Every game for us is going to be tough, but that’s what makes it fun, to have to battle out the entire game to pull out a win,” NashuaPlainfield coach Chaya Feldman said.

Central Springs coach Bob Axdahl added,“The Corn Bowl Conference will be tough and competitive as usual. West Fork should have a very good team and North Butler will continue to be a solid program that plays defense as well as anyone in the area.

“We look forward to the upcoming season as both a challenge and an opportunity.”

Axdahl has good reason for expecting success from his team this season following a 14-7 season which included an 11-3 mark in conference play.

The Panthers have everyone back from that team, including first-team allconference selection Kaitlyn Bartel, second-team selections Lynzy Peters and Taylor Chrencik and honorable mention pick Nichol Hebel.

Those four combined to average 34.4 points per game and accounted for 73.6 percent of the team’s rebounds last season.

As for West Fork, coach Doug Sheriff returns nine letterwinners from a team that finished 9-12 overall and 6-8 in the conference.

“We have a great group of kids to work with this year,” Sheriff said.

Leading the list of returnees are seniors Shelby Ward and Maci Robeoltman and junior Caitlyn Hanig.

The trio combined for 30.3 points per game and had 272 rebounds, 154 steals and 121 assists for the Warhawks.

Rockford coach Blake Hansen, whose team was winless last season, added his take on what it will take to win in the conference.

“We need to play with discipline and focus to compete in the Corn Bowl Conference,” he said.

Hansen’s team returns eight players who saw a lot of action at the varsity level.

Included in that group is Sadie Wyborny, who averaged 11.2 points per game as a freshman.

W

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GIRLS HOOPS CORN BOWL ❙ CEN. SPRINGS At Riceville, the Wildcats return senior letterwinners Loralei Smith, Brooke Foster, Jessica Beran and Tami Runde.

The four combined for 23 points and 16 rebounds per game for the a team that finished 4-10 in conference play.

North Butler must replace Carly Jacobs, Bobbi Boomgarden, Jamie Jacobs and Kelly Dolan while Northwood-Kensett lost Kate Hartman.

St. Ansgar also lost its leading scorer in Kayley Steinberg, but senior Kayla Hemann, who averaged 7.9 points and 6 rebounds per game, returns.

Nashua-Plainfield, which finished with a 7-7 conference mark last season, lost top scorer and rebounder Lacey Flugge, but returns Chelsey Wedeking.

Wedeking, who averaged 14.9 points per game last season, is receiving interest from Division III schools.

“I am hoping to see a huge contribution from Chelsey Wedeking,” Feldman said.

Players to watch: X Chelsey Wedeking (Nashua-Plainfield): The point guard averaged 14.9 points per game.

X Kaitlyn Bartel (Central Springs): The senior averaged a team-high 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

X Caityln Hanig (West Fork): Averaged 9.5 points per game and had 117 rebounds, 81 steals and 69 assists.

X Sadie Wyborny (Rockford): Averaged 11.2 points per game as a freshman.

X Britney Low (Northwood-Kensett): Was the Vikings’second-leading scorer with 9.1 points per game.

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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Jared Patterson

WINTER PREVIEW GIRLS BASKETBALL CIML IOWA CONFERENCE MASON CITY MOHAWKS Coach: Curt Klaahsen begins his fourth season as coach of the Mohawks.

2009-10 record: Mason City finished 13-8 overall.

Returning starters: Jadda Buckley, so., PG; Autumn Alitz, sr., P; Payton Mellman, jr., W. Other returning letterwinners: Allison White, sr., W; Hannah Jones, jr., PG; Courtney Hemmen, jr., W; Cortni Rush, so., P; Morgan Vorba, so., W. Others expected to contribute: Madi Johnson, sr., W; Ashley Cordle, jr., W; Myah Mellman, fr., PG; Brianna Lewerke, jr., P. Coach’s comments: “We have great work ethic, love for the game, the desire to be excellent and team camaraderie. We have an overall lack of height, rebounding and a tough schedule.”

Globe Gazette file photo

Newman’s Jessica Balek.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

NORTH IOWA ❙ NEWMAN CATHOLIC

Balek, Knights look to continue success

By KIRK HARDCASTLE

and (Grace) Moore to be our leaders.”

Schutt said he still plans on playASON CITY — Mike Schutt ing the same style of basketball that just wants his team to get the Knights have in the past — playbetter. ing a lot of players and shooting the Newman Catholic, which quali3-pointer when open. fied for the state tournament in “It’s a large part of our style,” 2008, won 20 games a year ago.

Schutt said “and I didn’t start doing But the Knights must replace five it just because of my personnel. starters from last year’s team so they “So I don’t plan to stop doing it might take some lumps early in the just because certain people are no season. longer here. The kids like it and “If we’re better in February than expect it, and philosophically it’s we are in November, it’s a good seawhat I want to do.” son,” Schutt said. “That’s always the Newman was the 2009-10 North case.

Iowa Conference champion.

“It’s not a good idea to get hung up Schutt said No. 14 (1A) West Hanon wins and losses but rather to cock is the league favorite this season. focus on continually improving.”

“I would say West Hancock is Newman returns eight letterwinprobably the favorite based on their ners from last year’s team.

Jessica Balek averaged 10.8 points returning players,” he said. “I think per game as a sophomore last season the conference will overall be very and Claire Jessen scored 5.3 points a balanced this year.

“I see us fitting in somewhere. game as a junior.

Hopefully, we’ll have at least a little Schutt said it’s important for the to say about the race.” returners to provide the leadership.

Schutt knows it will come down to “We’ll have to lean on them a lot,” how well his players without much he said. “The nice thing about what varsity experience play. we do is that we always do have at least a few girls coming back who “We have five starters to replace,” have played a lot. he said, “so that’s our main area to “So we should have some experiimprove. ence to lean on. We look at people “Our young people will need to like (Jessica) Balek, (Claire) Jessen grow up quickly.” kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

M

CORNBELT CONFERENCE VENTURA LADY VIKES Coach: Rodney Huber begins his third season as coach of the Lady Vikes with a record of 17-23.

2009-10 record: Ventura finished 6-13 overall and 6-8 in the Cornbelt Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Hannah Vavrik, sr. PF/C; Andrea Toppin, sr., G/F; Alicia Christians, sr., PG; Janice Waldron, sr., G/F; Mandy Hackenmiller, sr., PG. Others expected to contribute: Kiana Cullinan, sr., G/F; Emily Mathews, fr., F/C; Morgan Ames, fr., G/F; Courtney Young, fr., G/F; Hallie Hall, so., PG. Coach’s comments: “This is the most seniorheavy team since I have been coaching here and we believe some of the close losses (lost four games by three points or less) from last year will turn into wins this year. We are very good in the post this year but we need to establish more consistency within our guard play. We have a terrific ball-handling group this year from the 1 to the 5 and believe this will help us play an up-tempo game that we want to play.”

CWL PANTHERS Coach: Kevin McPeak begins his third year as coach.

Returning letterwinners: Hillary Hilbert, sr., F; Alesha Carroll, sr., G; Alannah Carroll, sr., G; Karen Meyers, sr., G; Whitney Shellenberg, sr., F; Maggie Ludwig, jr., F; Megan Studer, so., G. Coach’s comments: “We will have senior leadership and a group of kids that don’t quit.”

CORN BOWL CONFERENCE CENTRAL SPRINGS PANTHERS Coach: Bob Axdahl begins his fourth season as coach of the Panthers.

2009-10 record: Central Springs finished 14-7 overall and 11-3 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Kaitlyn Bartel, sr., F/P; Lynzy Peters, sr., G/P; Taylor Chrencik, sr., G; Nichol Hebel, sr., G; Ashley Brinkman, sr., G; Molly Frank, jr., F; Nicole Young, so., G. Coach’s comments: “With everyone back from a team that finished 14-7, we are looking forward to this season. Some of the kids played a lot of basketball in the off-season and have worked hard to improve. We believe that our strengths will be our experience, depth, ability to defend and have different kids score on different nights.”

NASHUA-PLAINFIELD HUSKIES Coach: Chaya Feldman begins her third season as coach of the Huskies.

2009-10 record: Nashua-Plainfield finished 11-11 overall and 7-7 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Chelsey Wedeking, sr.; Kelly Beirschenk, sr.; Karlissa Firman, sr.; Callie Matthews, jr.

Others expected to contribute: Summer Borglum; Miranda Wagner.

Coach’s comments: “We do not have much for height this year but we do have quickness and strong leadership from our returning point guard Chelsey Wedeking. We have a young team with some lacking in a lot of varsity experience, but I feel if we pick up the speed of the game we can have a lot of good openings for our quick guards.”

RICEVILLE WILDCATS Coach: Barb Gesell returns as coach of the Wildcats.

2009-10 record: Riceville finished 4-17 overall and 4-10 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Loralei Smith, sr.; Brooke Foster, sr.; Jessica Beran, sr.; Tami Runde, sr.

Others expected to contribute: Katerina Bohr, sr.; Jo Sunnes, jr.; Kate Green, jr.; Jessica Schneider, jr.; Alyssa Schwarck, jr.

Coach’s comments: “We hope to use our quickness this season. We have a hard-working senior class to build around this season. As always, a lot depends on the strength of the underclassmen.”

ROCKFORD WARRIORS Coach: Blake Hansen begins his second season as coach of the Warriors.

2009-10 record: Rockford finished 0-22 overall and 0-14 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Taylor Marzen, sr., F; Caley Johnson, sr., F; Emily Ott, sr., C; Kaycee Salisbury, sr., F; Nicole Schubert, sr., G; Danielle Bodensteiner, sr., G; Lauren Parcher, jr., F; Sadie Wyborny, so., G; Madison Thieman, so., G.

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WEST FORK WARHAWKS Coach: Doug Sheriff begins his third season as coach of the Warhawks.

2009-10 record: West Fork finished 9-12 overall and 6-8 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Caitlyn Hanig, jr., C; Shelby Ward, sr., G; Maci Robeoltman, sr., F; Sarah Weiland, sr., G; Bayley Fleshner, sr., F; Lisa Jorgensen, sr., G; Stefi Lyles, sr., G; Emily Fjone, sr., G; Nicole Schulz, sr., F. Other expected to contribute: Ashlee Harbaugh.

Coach’s comments: “We have a great group of kids to work with this year.”

NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE ALGONA BULLDOGS Coach: Brad Sudol begins his ninth season as coach of the Bulldogs with a record of 136-53.

2009-10 record: Algona finished 25-1 overall and 18-0 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Laura TerHark, 5-6, sr.; Megan Gerhardt, 5-7, sr.; Brittany Vaske, 5-11, sr.; MacKenzie Siefken, 5-10, sr.; Jade Simpson, 5-8, jr.; Paige Yi, 5-6, so.; Rachel Teague, 5-8, so.

Others expected to contribute: Jenni Zeller, jr.; Katlyn Loeschen, jr.; Heather Ziesman, so.; Nicole Kenne, so.; Amber Lenz, so.

Coach’s comments: “We are very excited about the upcoming season! We lost a nucleus of seniors, but I was very pleased about what I saw this summer at team camp. We will have roles to fill on the team this year. There should be a lot of competition for spots this year which will make practice intense and competitive.”

BISHOP GARRIGAN GOLDEN BEARS Coach: Beany Bode begins his third season as coach of the Golden Bears.

2009-10 record: Bishop Garrigan finished 9-15 overall and 5-13 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Kelly Klein, sr.; Mackenzie Schindler, sr.; Chelsea Doughan, jr.; Anna Kollasch, jr.; McKayla Loss, jr.

Others expected to contribute: Kelsie Berke, jr.; Alicia Richter, jr.; Mallory Bormann, so.; Emily Bell, so.

Coach’s comments: “We definitely have some young leaders emerging. The players’ enthusiasm has been a pleasant surprise this season, and their willingness to cooperate in learning new ideas will hopefully make our game more diverse throughout the season.”

CLEAR LAKE LIONS Coach: Kay Bacon begins her 35th season as coach of the Lions.

2009-10 record: Clear Lake finished 11-9 overall and 10-8 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Brita Hand, sr., PG; Rea Faber, sr., G/F; Taylor Diehl, sr., F; Rachel Kopriva, sr., G/F; Sara Jo Raner, sr., C; Ashley Willms, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: Erin Borgman; Lauren Loudenburg; Meg Monson; Emily Monson; Mikkie OíBrien.

Coach’s comments: “We are looking to be very competitive. We will rely heavily on our quickness and depth.”

HAMPTON-DUMONT BULLDOGS Coach: Chad Johnson begins his seventh season as coach of the Bulldogs.

2009-10 record: Hampton-Dumont finished 12-10 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Carly Hanson, sr., PG; Maicie Mason, sr., SG; McKenna Wragge, sr., C; Haylee Hansen, jr., SG; Sarah Nelson, jr., F; Taryn Barz, so., C. Others expected to contribute: Nicki Wirtjes, sr., SG; Tiffany Allen, jr., SG; Rachel Miller, so., C; Meg Hanson, so., PG; Chantal Janssen, jr., C. Coach’s comments: “I think that the conference will be extremely competitive and the parity will make it fun to play every night.”

NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE CHARLES CITY COMETS Coach: David Sloter begins his third season as coach of the Comets.

2009-10 record: Charles City finished 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the Northeast Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Lisa Berns, sr., PG; Riley Forsyth, sr., G/F; Abby Lasher, sr., G/F; Karli Schlader, jr., PF; Taylor Molstead, sr., SG; Micaela Forsyth, jr., G/F. Coach’s comments: “We expect a lot from our seniors and juniors this year and we are evaluating underclassmen as we go, hoping we can get some solid support as the season goes along.”

NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE FOREST CITY INDIANS Coach: Dusty Meyn begins his second season as coach of the Indians.

Returning letterwinners: Bailey Gilbertson, sr., F; Piper Paulsen, sr., P; Becca Saatmann, sr., P; Alexis VanOverbeke, sr., F; Jaz Coleman-Monson, sr., G;

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Others expected to contribute: Madson Wood; Emily Carroll; Emily Laudner; Kelly Hain.

Coach’s comments: “We return eight players that saw a lot of varsity time last year and hopefully the experience gained will help us. We need to play with discipline and focus to compete in the Corn Bowl Conference.”

Bethany Hall, sr., G; Amanda Busta, jr., PG; Connor Thompson, jr., G. Coach’s comments: “We are coming off a threewin season, but expectations are much higher for this year. We graduated two seniors and brought back four starters and four girls off the bench.

There is a lot of potential for this year’s team and success will depend on how well we shoot the ball.”

NEWMAN CATHOLIC KNIGHTS Coach: Mike Schutt is back as coach of the Knights.

Returning letterwinners: Grace Moore, sr.; Claire Jessen, sr.; Whitney Allison, sr.; Jessica Balek, jr., Sam Grant, jr.; Clare Schlader, sr.,; Alex Eckenrod, sr.; Michaele Schilling, so.

Coach’s comments: “We should be athletic and we should have some good shooters.”

GARNER-HAYFIELD CARDINALS Coach: Jim Haag begins his 15th season as coach of the Cardinals with a 200-113 record and overall record of 253-177.

2009-10 record: Garner-Hayfield finished 8-15 overall and 4-10 in the North Iowa Conference.

Returning starters: Jasmine Doble, 5-4, jr., G; Alicia Savoy, 5-9, jr., F; Jenna Wellik, 5-10, sr., F; Lauren Opp, 5-0, sr., G. Coach’s comments: “With the loss of only one starter, we feel good about the experience level of this team. We have several players who gained valuable experience last season who should be leaders for us and contribute significantly. We feel this team possesses more depth then we have had in recent years. We must get balanced scoring from five-six players and our defense must be our cornerstone to be in every game this season.”

LAKE MILLS BULLDOGS Coach: Beth Van Roekel begins her first season as coach of the Bulldogs.

2009-10 record: Lake Mills finished 12-8 overall and 7-6 in the North Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Lindy Pins, 5-7, sr., G; Amanda Lampman, 5-10, sr., SF; Haley Mathews, 59, sr., SF; Megan Johnson, 5-7, so., PF Coach’s comments: “I think we have the potential to do very well in the conference this year. I want our girls to play together as a team and be known for their hustle and extra effort they put out on the floor. We have many talented athletes and I am looking forward to coaching them.”

NORTH IOWA LADY BISON Coach: Tom Smith begins his 31st season as coach of the Lady Bison.

2009-10 record: North Iowa finished 13-9 overall and 8-5 in the North Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Amber Paden, sr., F/C; Carrie Berschman, sr., G; Brandy Newton, sr., C; Sarah Anderson, sr., F/G. Others expected to contribute: Maranda Eichenberger; Haley Engelbarts; Macy Heetland; MaKayla Heetland.

Coach’s comments: “We graduated a number of seniors last year, including our No. 1 point and shooting guard. How quickly we fill those positions will have a lot to say about what we do as a team early in the year.”

WEST HANCOCK EAGLES Coach: Paul Sonius begins his fourth season as coach of the Eagles.

2009-10 record: West Hancock finished 16-7 overall and 9-4 in the North Iowa Conference.

Returning starters: Sarah Mallen, 5-2, jr. PG; Brook Heusinkveld, 6-0, jr., F; Ahna Bruns, 6-1, jr., F. Other returning letterwinners: Brookelyn Savoy, 5-9, jr., G/F; Kaylee Weiland, 5-6, jr., G; Anna Mallen, 5-9, so., G. Others expected to contribute: Ashley Grant, 5-6, sr., G; Kellie Schmit, 5-8, so., F; Brittany Brooks, 5-9, sr., F; Katelin Willert, 5-6, jr., G/F; Derica Jakoubek, 5-5, jr., G. Coach’s comments: “We return a little over half of our scoring after losing two all-conference players.

This group that returns has a lot of experience, especially at the point where it all begins in twoyear letterwinner Sarah Mallen. With her abilities and experience and all the other talented girls we have coming back, I like our chances of reaching our goals of a winning season and conference championship. We have to be ready to play every night as there are some pretty good teams in the conference.”

OSAGE GREEN DEVILS Coach: Chad Erickson is in his 10th season with Osage.

2009-10 record: 13-8 overall.

Returning starters: Lexi Friesen, jr., G; Jess Rogers, jr., P; Cortney Perrin, jr., G. Returning letterwinners: Sam Rogers, jr., P; Connor Krabbe., jr. P. IOWA STAR CAL CADETS Coach: Ashley Atwood begins her first season.

2009-10 record: 17-5 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Katie Johnson, sr., G; Abby Muhlenbruch, sr., G; Katie Dirksen, sr. F; Kendra Vanness, jr., F; Kaitlyn Muhlenbruch, jr., G; Hanna Pals, jr., F; Amber Bradley, jr., G; Brooke Elphic, so., F.

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C8 • FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010

WINTER PREVIEW

GIRLS HOOPS

CIML IOWA ❙ MASON CITY

REACHING FOR THE

STARS

By JEREMY KOENIGS sports@globegazette.com

By KIRK HARDCASTLE kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

ASON CITY — Expectations are high for the Mason City girls basketball team this season. Mason City, which was 13-8 a year ago, is ranked ninth in the Class 4A preseason rankings by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

But fourth-year coach Curt Klaahsen has a way to lasso the preseason hype.

“We told (the players) that if it was seeded that way, we wouldn’t be a state-tournament team, because we’re ninth,” Klaahsen said. “We’ve got to work ourself up inside that.

“We just have to keep getting better. We can do some good things, but we need to get better, too, to compete with those teams that are above us.”

Junior Payton Mellman, a two-year starter, is buying into the coach’s philosophy.

“It’s great to be recognized for our hard work,” Mellman said.

“It’s pushing us, but we’re trying to ignore the rankings and keep working hard.”

Mason City returns three starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s team that bowed out in the regional semifinal to Ames.

Returning starters for the Mohawks are Mellman, sophomore Jadda Buckley and senior Autumn Alitz.

After Ames knocked the Mohawks out of the regional tournament (31-29) a year ago, Ames coach Joel Sullivan put the favorite tag in the CIML Iowa Conference on the Mohawks for the 2010-11 season.

“They return more players than everybody else,” Sullivan said last February in the Mohawk gym. “Buckley is a great player and those other two freshmen (Cortni Rush and Morgan Vorba) are really nice players, too.”

Buckley, a 5-foot-8 point guard, was a third-team all-state selection by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association a year ago.

Buckley, who is drawing interest from Division-I schools, averaged 11.1 points per game as a freshman.

Buckley also grabbed 77 rebounds to go with 52 assists and 50 steals.

“She’s stronger,” Klaahsen said. “She’s faster and she’s grown a little bit.

“Her speed and everything has just picked up a bit from last year. She’s more confident. She’s taking more of a leadership role as she’s not a freshman anymore.”

Klaahsen said he plans to have his team play full-court pressure defense from start to finish.

“It’s something you have to do for 32 minutes,” Klaahsen said.

“You can’t just do it for awhile.

“Maybe early in the game it doesn’t do much, but when you keep subbing and getting fresh kids in, other teams are starting to wear down.”

While Sullivan called the Mohawks the CIML Iowa Conference favorite, Klaahsen said Waukee, the defending league champ, is the team to beat.

“I think you start with the team that won it last year,” the coach said. “It’s their championship until somebody knocks them off. The rest of us have to go get it.”

But the Mohawks won’t just be content with a conference championship.

“We have high goals this year,” Mellman said. “We definitely want to get to state and compete at the highest level.”

M

Mason City’s Jadda Buckley.

Jadda Buckley Mason City Freshman X The 5-foot-8 guard earned firstteam all-CIML Iowa Conference honors.

X Was a Class 4A third-team allstate selection by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association, recording 77 rebounds, 52 assists and 50 steals while averaging 11.1 points per game.

X Shot 46 percent from 3-point range and 70.3 percent from the freethrow line.

Dana Christensen Belmond-Klemme Senior X Was a unanimous first-team allNorth Iowa Conference selection and was named conference player of the year.

X The 5-foot-9 guard dished out 66 assists along with recording 69 steals.

X Averaged 14 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Broncos.

Natalie Hackbarth Algona Senior X Earned unanimous first-team allNorth Central Conference and IGCA Class 3A second-team all-state and Iowa Newspaper Association Class 3A second-team all-state honors.

X The 6-foot-2 forward, who will play volleyball at Creighton, averaged 15.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in helping the Bulldogs to a perfect 18-0 confer-

GIRLS BASKETBALL 2009-10 ALL-AREA TEAM ence record.

X Averaged 2.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game for the Bulldogs, who finished the season with a 25-1 record.

70 steals and 51 assists.

X The Kirkwood recruit finished sixth in the state in scoring at 23.5 points per game and second in the state in rebounds per game with 16.2.

Chandra Hampton

Carly Jacobs

Hampton-Dumont Senior X The 5-foot-8 point guard was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the third straight season.

X Was a unanimous first team allNorth Central Conference selection, posting 62 assists and 39 steals for the Bulldogs.

X Led the NCC averaging 17.8 points per game and was tied for fourth in the conference with 7.4 rebounds per game average.

North Butler Senior X The 5-foot-6 guard was a unanimous first team all-Corn Bowl Conference and IGCA Class 1A first-team all-state selection as the Bearcats won their sixth straight conference title.

X Helped North Butler to a 21-2 overall record and 14-0 mark in conference play, recording 53 steals and 49 assists.

X Led the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding with 15 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game averages.

Kate Hartman

Kirsten Lipps

Northwood-Kensett Senior X Was a unanimous first-team allCorn Bowl Conference, IGCA Class 1A first-team all-state and INA Class 1A second-team all-state selection for the Vikings, recording 48 blocked shots.

X The 6-foot-2 post player, who was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the second straight season, had

Algona Senior X Selected to the Globe Gazette All-

Lady Vikes have three starters back

By KIRK HARDCASTLE kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

VENTURA — Hopes are high for the Ventura girls basketball team.

The Lady Vikes return three starters and five letterwinners from last year’s team that was 6-13 overall.

“We believe that we have the senior leadership and young talent to compete for a (Cornbelt) conference title,” Ventura coach Rodney Huber said.

“We would feel disappointed if this year we didn’t have 15-plus wins and advanced farther than the second round in district play.”

Returning starters for the Lady Vikes are seniors Hannah Vavrik, Andrea Toppin and Alicia Christians.

Other returning letterwinners are seniors Janice Waldron and Mandy Hackenmiller.

“This is the most senior-heavy team since I have been coaching here,” Huber said. “We believe some of the close losses from last year will turn into wins this year.”

Ventura, which was 6-8 in the conference a year ago, lost four games by three points or less.

Huber, who begins his third year as coach, said a strength of his team will be post play.

“We need to establish more consistency within our guard play,” the coach said. “We have a terrific ball handling group this year and believe that will help us play an up-tempo game that we want to play.”

In Corwith, Kevin McPeak has seven letterwinners back, including Maggie Studer and Alannah Carroll.

“We will have senior leadership and a group of kids that don’t quit,” said McPeak, who begins his third season as the girls coach.

“We are looking to improve on last year and put a couple of wins on the board.”

BELMOND -KLEMME

Area team for the third straight season.

X The 5-foot-11 forward was a unanimous first-team all-North Central Conference, IGCA Class 3A first-team all-state and INA Class 3A first-team all-state selection, averaging 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

X The University of Nebraska-Kearney recruit recorded 79 assists, 50 steals and 20 blocked shots while shooting 80.4 percent from the free-throw line as the Bulldogs won their fourth straight NCC title and advanced to the state semifinals.

Have A Great Season Broncos!

Laura TerHark Algona Junior X The 5-foot-5 guard was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the third straight season.

X Earned unanimous first-team allNorth Central Conference, IGCA Class 3A second-team all-state and INA Class 3A second-team all-state honors, recording 93 assists, 69 rebounds and 54 steals while averaging 11.5 points per game.

X Led the state with 77 3-point goals after recording 86 as a freshman and 85 as a sophomore.

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X Abby Lasher (Charles City): The senior led the Comets in scoring, assists and steals last season and was second in rebounding.

X Olivia Kriener (Crestwood): Averaged 11.2 points per game and grabbed 102 rebounds as a sophomore.

X Liz Moerer (Waverly-Shell Rock): Led the Go-Hawks in scoring (9.7 points per game) and rebounds (117) as a junior last season.

X Moran Lonning (Decorah): Was the Vikings’ top scoring, averaging 10.2 points per game and added 26 3pointers, 59 steals and 48 assists.

X Logan Worden (Oelwein): Led the Huskies in rebounding with 179 rebounds, including 74 on the offensive end, and averaged 8.5 points per game.

State tourney talk surrounds Mohawks

CORNBELT CONFERENCE

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Comets ready to replace, reload

Players to watch:

GIRLS HOOPS

GIRLS BASKETBALL

NEIC ❙ CHARLES CITY

CHARLES CITY — With six returning letterwinners from last year’s team that finished 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the Northeast Iowa Conference back, the pieces seem to be in place for the Charles City girls basketball team to have a very successful season.

“We have a pretty solid core group,” Charles City coach David Sloter said.

“We’re trying to find the right combinations by putting opportunities out there for other girls to play with our core group. It’s an exciting time.”

While it may be an exciting time with high expectations, Sloter knows that he must find players to replace the production of departed seniors Maddie Forsyth, Makaila Schlader and Karina Figueroa.

The trio combined for 23.8 points per game and 52.8 percent of the team’s rebounds last season.

“We’re missing some big guns as we lost around 24 points and 17 rebounds per game.”

Leading the list of likely players to fill that void is senior Abby Lasher.

Lasher, who has drawn interest from several colleges to play at the next level, led the Comets in scoring with 15.5 points per game and also had 32 3-pointers, 112 rebounds, 68 assists and 50 steals.

“She’s been a tremendous leader and has a lot of schools looking at her,” Sloter said. “She hasn’t solidified where she will go but she’s great to have for our program.”

Lisa Berns, Riley Forsyth and Taylor Molstead are the other returning seniors, joined by juniors Karli Schlader and Micaela Forsyth. Those five combined for 17.7 points per game last season.

Sloter said all of the players embrace their roles on the team.

“They’re all comfortable in their role,” Sloter said.

“They trust each other and we like to see that. They’ve had success together in other sports and having that success at other sports is icing on the cake.”

While Sloter expects his team to be competing for the top spot in the conference, he knows it won’t be easy.

“We have to play like we have the last two years and we have to play together,” the coach said. “We play good competition in our conference. Waukon always seems to reload and Crestwood also lost some girls.

“We feel it’s our turn.

That’s our goal, our expectation. Our girls aren’t afraid.”

Page Editor: Jared Patterson • GLOBE GAZETTE

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL MS-11759

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CIML IOWA CONFERENCE Tuesday, Nov. 30 Forest City at Mason City Friday, Dec. 3 Mason City at Johnston Saturday, Dec. 4 Mason City at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 7 Des Moines Hoover at Mason City Friday, Dec. 10 Mason City at Waukee Monday, Dec. 13 Mason City at Urbandale Friday, Dec. 17 Mason City at Fort Dodge Saturday, Dec. 18 West Des Moines Valley at Mason City Monday, Dec. 20 Marshalltown at Mason City Friday, Jan. 7 Ames at Mason City Saturday, Jan. 8 West Fork at Mason City Friday, Jan. 14 Waukee at Mason City Tuesday, Jan. 18 Mason City at Ankeny Friday, Jan. 21 Fort Dodge at Mason City Friday, Jan. 28 Mason City at Marshalltown Saturday, Jan. 29 Waterloo East at Mason City Tuesday, Feb. 1 Mason City at West Des Moines Dowling Friday, Feb. 4 Mason City at Ames Saturday, Feb. 5 Cedar Falls at Mason City Friday, Feb. 11 Mason City at West Des Moines Valley Tuesday, Feb. 15 Des Moines East at Mason City CORNBELT CONFERENCE Tuesday, Nov. 30 CWL at Ventura Thursday, Dec. 2 Ventura at Garner-Hayfield Friday, Dec. 3 Ventura at WCLT Tuesday, Dec. 7 Ventura at Twin River Valley Friday, Dec. 10 Ventura at West Bend-Mallard Saturday, Dec. 11 West Hancock at Ventura Tuesday, Dec. 14 Ventura at North Sentral Kossuth Friday, Dec. 17 Clay Central-Everly at Ventura Graettinger-Terril at CWL Ruthven-Ayrshire at WCLT Monday, Jan. 3 Belmond-Klemme at Ventura Tuesday, Jan. 4 Ventura at CWL West Bend-Mallard at WCLT Friday, Jan. 7 CWL at Clay Central-Everly WCLT at Graettinger-Terril Tuesday, Jan. 11 CWL at North Sentral Kossuth WCLT at Ventura Friday, Jan. 14 Armstrong-Ringsted at WCLT Graettinger-Terril at Ventura Ruthven-Ayrshire at CWL Tuesday, Jan. 18 CWL at WCLT Twin River Valley at Ventura Thursday, Jan. 20 Northwood-Kensett at Ventura Friday, Jan. 21 CWL at Armstrong-Ringsted Ventura at Ruthven-Ayrshire WCLT at Harris-Lake Park Tuesday, Jan. 25 Twin River Valley at CWL West Bend-Mallard at Ventura Friday, Jan. 28 Armstrong-Ringsted at Ventura Harris-Lake Park at CWL WCLT at North Sentral Kossuth Tuesday, Feb. 1 North Sentral Kossuth at Ventura WCLT at Twin River Valley West Bend-Mallard at CWL Thursday, Feb. 3 Ventura at Central Springs Friday, Feb. 4 Ventura at Harris-Lake Park WCLT at Clay Central-Everly Monday, Feb. 7 West Fork at Ventura

NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE Monday, Nov. 29 Algona at Charles City Hampton-Dumont at AGWSR North Sentral Kossuth at Bishop Garrigan Tuesday, Nov. 30 Bishop Garrigan at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Eagle Grove Friday, Dec. 3 Eagle Grove at Clear Lake Iowa Falls-Alden at Algona St. Edmond at Hampton-Dumont Webster City at Bishop Garrigan Tuesday, Dec. 7 Bishop Garrigan at Humboldt Clarion-Goldfield at Algona Clear Lake at Iowa Falls-Alden Webster City at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Dec. 10 Algona at Webster City Bishop Garrigan at St. Edmond Clarion-Goldfield at Hampton-Dumont Clear Lake at Humboldt Saturday, Dec. 11 North Butler at Hampton-Dumont Monday, Dec. 13 Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer at Bishop Garrigan Tuesday, Dec. 14 Algona at Eagle Grove Clear Lake at Bishop Garrigan Hampton-Dumont at Humboldt Friday, Dec. 17 Bishop Garrigan at Hampton-Dumont Clarion-Goldfield at Clear Lake St. Edmond at Algona Tuesday, Dec. 21 Algona at Bishop Garrigan Hampton-Dumont at Clear Lake Tuesday, Jan. 4 Bishop Garrigan at Eagle Grove Hampton-Dumont at Iowa Falls-Alden Humboldt at Algona Webster City at Clear Lake Friday, Jan. 7 Algona at Hampton-Dumont Iowa Falls-Alden at Bishop Garrigan St. Edmond at Clear Lake Saturday, Jan. 8 Forest City at Clear Lake Garner-Hayfield at Algona Tuesday, Jan. 11 Hampton-Dumont at Clarion-Goldfield St. Edmond at Bishop Garrigan Friday, Jan. 14 Algona at Iowa Falls-Alden Bishop Garrigan at Webster City Clear Lake at Eagle Grove Hampton-Dumont at St. Edmond Saturday, Jan. 15 Clear Lake at Garner-Hayfield Tuesday, Jan. 18 Clarion-Goldfield at Bishop Garrigan Clear Lake at Algona Eagle Grove at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Jan. 21 Algona at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Webster City Humboldt at Bishop Garrigan Iowa Falls-Alden at Clear Lake Saturday, Jan. 22 Algona at Forest City Hampton-Dumont at West Fork Tuesday, Jan. 25 Bishop Garrigan at Clear Lake Eagle Grove at Algona Humboldt at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Jan. 28 Algona at St. Edmond Clear Lake at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Bishop Garrigan Saturday, Jan. 29 Bishop Garrigan at Garner-Hayfield Tuesday, Feb. 1 Bishop Garrigan at Algona Clear Lake at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Feb. 4 Bishop Garrigan at Iowa Falls-Alden Clear Lake at St. Edmond Hampton-Dumont at Algona Tuesday, Feb. 8 Algona at Humboldt Clear Lake at Webster City Eagle Grove at Bishop Garrigan Friday, Feb. 11 Humboldt at Clear Lake Iowa Falls-Alden at Hampton-Dumont Webster City at Algona Saturday, Feb. 12 Clear Lake at Charles City Tuesday, Feb. 15 Algona at Clear Lake NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE Friday, Nov. 26 Sumner-Fredericksburg at Charles City Monday, Nov. 29 Algona at Charles City Saturday, Dec. 4 Mason City at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 7 Charles City at Crestwood Tuesday, Dec. 14 Decorah at Charles City Thursday, Dec. 16 West Hancock at Charles City Saturday, Dec. 18 Charles City at St. Ansgar Tuesday, Dec. 21 Waverly-Shell Rock at Charles City Friday, Jan. 7 Oelwein at Charles City Tuesday, Jan. 11 New Hampton at Charles City Thursday, Jan. 13 Osage at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 15 Charles City at Forest City Tuesday, Jan. 18 Charles City at Decorah Friday, Jan. 21 Waukon at Charles City Tuesday, Jan. 25 Crestwood at Charles City Friday, Jan. 28 Charles City at Waverly-Shell Rock Tuesday, Feb. 1 Charles City at Oelwein Friday, Feb. 4 Charles City at New Hampton Saturday, Feb. 5 Charles City at Nashua-Plainfield Thursday, Feb. 10 Charles City at Garner-Hayfield Saturday, Feb. 12

Clear Lake at Charles City Tuesday, Feb. 15 Charles City at Waukon NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE Monday, Nov. 29 West Hancock at Eagle Grove Tuesday, Nov. 30 Central Springs at Lake Mills Forest City at Mason City Newman Catholic at St. Ansgar North Iowa at West Fork Northwood-Kensett at West Hancock Osage at Crestwood Thursday, Dec. 2 Lake Mills at Northwood-Kensett Newman Catholic at WCLT Ventura at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Central Springs Friday, Dec. 3 Forest City at Estherville-Lincoln Central Saturday, Dec. 4 Belmond-Klemme at Clarion-Goldfield Garner-Hayfield at West Fork Lake Mills at Rockford North Iowa at North Sentral Kossuth St. Ansgar at Osage Webster City at Forest City Tuesday, Dec. 7 Forest City at Belmond-Klemme Garner-Hayfield at West Hancock Newman Catholic at Osage North Iowa at Lake Mills Friday, Dec. 10 Belmond-Klemme at Lake Mills Forest City at North Iowa Newman Catholic at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Osage Saturday, Dec. 11 Northwood-Kensett at Newman Catholic Riceville at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 14 Belmond-Klemme at Newman Catholic Forest City at Osage Lake Mills at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at North Iowa Thursday, Dec. 16 West Hancock at Charles City Friday, Dec. 17 Garner-Hayfield at Forest City Newman Catholic at North Iowa Osage at Lake Mills West Hancock at Belmond-Klemme Saturday, Dec. 18 Estherville-Lincoln Central at Lake Mills Garner-Hayfield at Central Springs Osage at Rockford Monday, Dec. 20 Crestwood at Forest City Tuesday, Dec. 21 Belmond-Klemme at Prairie Valley Osage at Central Springs West Fork at Newman Catholic Monday, Jan. 3 Belmond-Klemme at Ventura Tuesday, Jan. 4 Forest City at Newman Catholic Lake Mills at West Hancock North Iowa at Garner-Hayfield Osage at Belmond-Klemme Friday, Jan. 7 Garner-Hayfield at Belmond-Klemme Newman Catholic at Lake Mills North Iowa at Osage West Hancock at Forest City Saturday, Jan. 8 Belmond-Klemme at CAL Clarion-Goldfield at West Hancock Forest City at Clear Lake Garner-Hayfield at Algona Osage at New Hampton Tuesday, Jan. 11 North Iowa at WCLT Southeast Webster-Grand at Belmond-Klemme Thursday, Jan. 13 Osage at Charles City Friday, Jan. 14 Belmond-Klemme at North Iowa Lake Mills at Forest City Osage at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 15 Belmond-Klemme at West Fork Central Springs at North Iowa Charles City at Forest City Clear Lake at Garner-Hayfield Newman Catholic at Rockford Tuesday, Jan. 18 Belmond-Klemme at Forest City Lake Mills at North Iowa Osage at Newman Catholic West Hancock at Garner-Hayfield Friday, Jan. 21 Garner-Hayfield at Newman Catholic Lake Mills at Belmond-Klemme North Iowa at Forest City Osage at West Hancock Saturday, Jan. 22 Algona at Forest City Lake Mills at North Sentral Kossuth Monday, Jan. 24 Armstrong-Ringsted at North Iowa Tuesday, Jan. 25 Garner-Hayfield at Lake Mills Newman Catholic at Belmond-Klemme North Iowa at West Hancock Osage at Forest City Friday, Jan. 28 Belmond-Klemme at West Hancock Forest City at Garner-Hayfield Lake Mills at Osage North Iowa at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 29 Bishop Garrigan at Garner-Hayfield Tuesday, Feb. 1 Belmond-Klemme at Osage Garner-Hayfield at North Iowa Newman Catholic at Forest City West Hancock at Lake Mills Friday, Feb. 4 Belmond-Klemme at Garner-Hayfield Forest City at West Hancock

CLEAR LAKE

Lake Mills at Newman Catholic Osage at North Iowa Saturday, Feb. 5 Belmond-Klemme at Twin River Valley Monday, Feb. 7 Garner-Hayfield at Osage Newman Catholic at West Hancock North Iowa at Belmond-Klemme Tuesday, Feb. 8 Glenville-Emmons (Minn.) at Lake Mills WCLT at West Hancock Thursday, Feb. 10 Charles City at Garner-Hayfield Forest City at Lake Mills Friday, Feb. 11 Lake Mills at Armstrong-Ringsted Newman Catholic at Central Springs North Iowa at Northwood-Kensett

North Butler at Newman Catholic Northwood-Kensett at North Iowa Monday, Nov. 22 Charles City at Rockford Crestwood at Riceville New Hampton at Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, Nov. 23 Central Springs at Newman Catholic Clarksville at Rockford Garner-Hayfield at West Fork Lake Mills at St. Ansgar Friday, Nov. 26 Riceville at Waukon tournament Saturday, Nov. 27 Riceville at Waukon tournament St. Ansgar at Charles City Monday, Nov. 29 Aplington-Parkersburg at North Butler Nashua-Plainfield at Osage Tuesday, Nov. 30 Central Springs at Lake Mills Newman Catholic at St. Ansgar North Iowa at West Fork Northwood-Kensett at West Hancock Thursday, Dec. 2 Lake Mills at Northwood-Kensett West Hancock at Central Springs Friday, Dec. 3 Central Springs at Northwood-Kensett Nashua-Plainfield at North Butler Riceville at St. Ansgar Rockford at West Fork Saturday, Dec. 4 Lake Mills at Rockford Nashua-Plainfield at Clarksville North Butler at Gladbrook-Reinbeck St. Ansgar at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 7 Central Springs at Rockford Nashua-Plainfield at St. Ansgar North Butler at Riceville Northwood-Kensett at West Fork Friday, Dec. 10 Riceville at Nashua-Plainfield Rockford at Northwood-Kensett St. Ansgar at North Butler West Fork at Central Springs Saturday, Dec. 11 North Butler at Hampton-Dumont Northwood-Kensett at Newman Catholic Riceville at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 14 Nashua-Plainfield at Northwood-Kensett North Butler at Central Springs Riceville at Rockford St. Ansgar at West Fork Friday, Dec. 17 Central Springs at Nashua-Plainfield Northwood-Kensett at North Butler Rockford at St. Ansgar West Fork at Riceville Saturday, Dec. 18 Garner-Hayfield at Central Springs Osage at Rockford Sumner-Fredericksburg at Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, Dec. 21 Nashua-Plainfield at Turkey Valley Osage at Central Springs West Fork at Newman Catholic Tuesday, Jan. 4 AGWSR at North Butler St. Ansgar at New Hampton Friday, Jan. 7 Central Springs at Riceville Northwood-Kensett at St. Ansgar Rockford at North Butler West Fork at Nashua-Plainfield Saturday, Jan. 8 Clarksville at Riceville St. Ansgar at Garner-Hayfield West Fork at Mason City Tuesday, Jan. 11 Nashua-Plainfield at Rockford North Butler at West Fork Riceville at Northwood-Kensett St. Ansgar at Central Springs Friday, Jan. 14 North Butler at Nashua-Plainfield Northwood-Kensett at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Riceville West Fork at Rockford Saturday, Jan. 15 Belmond-Klemme at West Fork Central Springs at North Iowa Crestwood at St. Ansgar Newman Catholic at Rockford North Butler at BCLUW Riceville at South Winneshiek Tripoli at Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, Jan. 18 Central Springs at West Fork Nashua-Plainfield at Riceville North Butler at St. Ansgar Northwood-Kensett at Rockford Thursday, Jan. 20 CAL at Rockford Northwood-Kensett at Ventura Friday, Jan. 21 Riceville at North Butler Rockford at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at Northwood-Kensett Saturday, Jan. 22 Garner-Hayfield at Rockford Hampton-Dumont at West Fork Hudson at Nashua-Plainfield Riceville at Leroy-Ostrander (Minn.)

Tuesday, Jan. 25 Central Springs at North Butler Northwood-Kensett at Nashua-Plainfield Rockford at Riceville West Fork at St. Ansgar Thursday, Jan. 27 Glenville-Emmons (Minn.) at Northwood-Kensett Friday, Jan. 28 Nashua-Plainfield at Central Springs North Butler at Northwood-Kensett Riceville at West Fork St. Ansgar at Rockford Tuesday, Feb. 1 Central Springs at St. Ansgar Northwood-Kensett at Riceville

GIRLS BASKETBALL CIML IOWA CONFERENCE Friday, Nov. 19 Mason City at Clear Lake Tuesday, Nov. 23 Des Moines East at Mason City Tuesday, Nov. 30 Forest City at Mason City Friday, Dec. 3 Mason City at Johnston Tuesday, Dec. 7 Des Moines Hoover at Mason City Friday, Dec. 10 Mason City at Waukee Saturday, Dec. 11 Mason City at Charles City Monday, Dec. 13 Mason City at Urbandale Friday, Dec. 17 Mason City at Fort Dodge Saturday, Dec. 18 West Des Moines Valley at Mason City Monday, Dec. 20 Marshalltown at Mason City Friday, Jan. 7 Ames at Mason City Saturday, Jan. 8 West Fork at Mason City Friday, Jan. 14 Waukee at Mason City Tuesday, Jan. 18 Mason City at Ankeny Friday, Jan. 21 Fort Dodge at Mason City Friday, Jan. 28 Mason City at Marshalltown Saturday, Jan. 29 Waterloo East at Mason City Tuesday, Feb. 1 Mason City at West Des Moines Dowling Friday, Feb. 4 Mason City at Ames Saturday, Feb. 5 Cedar Falls at Mason City Friday, Feb. 11 Mason City at West Des Moines Valley CORNBELT CONFERENCE Tuesday, Nov. 30 CWL at Ventura Thursday, Dec. 2 Ventura at Garner-Hayfield Friday, Dec. 3 Ventura at WCLT Tuesday, Dec. 7 Ventura at Twin River Valley Friday, Dec. 10 Ventura at West Bend-Mallard Saturday, Dec. 11 West Hancock at Ventura Tuesday, Dec. 14 Ventura at North Sentral Kossuth Friday, Dec. 17 Clay Central-Everly at Ventura Graettinger-Terril at CWL Ruthven-Ayrshire at WCLT Tuesday, Jan. 4 Ventura at CWL West Bend-Mallard at WCLT Friday, Jan. 7 CWL at Clay Central-Everly WCLT at Graettinger-Terril Tuesday, Jan. 11 CWL at North Sentral Kossuth WCLT at Ventura Friday, Jan. 14 Armstrong-Ringsted at WCLT Graettinger-Terril at Ventura Ruthven-Ayrshire at CWL Tuesday, Jan. 18 CWL at WCLT Twin River Valley at Ventura Thursday, Jan. 20 Northwood-Kensett at Ventura Friday, Jan. 21 CWL at Armstrong-Ringsted Ventura at Ruthven-Ayrshire WCLT at Harris-Lake Park Tuesday, Jan. 25 Twin River Valley at CWL WCLT at North Sentral Kossuth West Bend-Mallard at Ventura Friday, Jan. 28 Armstrong-Ringsted at Ventura Harris-Lake Park at CWL Tuesday, Feb. 1 North Sentral Kossuth at Ventura WCLT at Twin River Valley West Bend-Mallard at CWL Thursday, Feb. 3 Ventura at Central Springs Friday, Feb. 4 Ventura at Harris-Lake Park WCLT at Clay Central-Everly Monday, Feb. 7 West Fork at Ventura Tuesday, Feb. 8 Ventura at Northeast Hamilton CORN BOWL CONFERENCE Friday, Nov. 19

ROAR ROAR ROAR!

LIONS! LIONS! LIONS!

ROAR ROAR ROAR!

CORN BOWL CONFERENCE Monday, Nov. 29 Aplington-Parkersburg at North Butler Rockford at Clarksville Tuesday, Nov. 30 Central Springs at Lake Mills Newman Catholic at St. Ansgar North Iowa at West Fork Northwood-Kensett at West Hancock Thursday, Dec. 2 Lake Mills at Northwood-Kensett West Hancock at Central Springs Saturday, Dec. 4 Garner-Hayfield at West Fork Lake Mills at Rockford Nashua-Plainfield at New Hampton North Butler at Gladbrook-Reinbeck St. Ansgar at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 7 Central Springs at Rockford Nashua-Plainfield at St. Ansgar North Butler at Riceville Northwood-Kensett at West Fork Friday, Dec. 10 Riceville at Nashua-Plainfield Rockford at Northwood-Kensett St. Ansgar at North Butler West Fork at Central Springs Saturday, Dec. 11 North Butler at Hampton-Dumont Northwood-Kensett at Newman Catholic Riceville at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 14 Nashua-Plainfield at Northwood-Kensett North Butler at Central Springs Riceville at Rockford St. Ansgar at West Fork Friday, Dec. 17 Central Springs at Nashua-Plainfield Northwood-Kensett at North Butler Rockford at St. Ansgar West Fork at Riceville Saturday, Dec. 18 Charles City at St. Ansgar Garner-Hayfield at Central Springs Osage at Rockford Sumner-Fredericksburg at Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, Dec. 21 Nashua-Plainfield at Turkey Valley Osage at Central Springs West Fork at Newman Catholic Tuesday, Jan. 4 AGWSR at North Butler St. Ansgar at New Hampton Friday, Jan. 7 Central Springs at Riceville Northwood-Kensett at St. Ansgar Rockford at North Butler West Fork at Nashua-Plainfield Saturday, Jan. 8 Clarksville at Riceville West Fork at Mason City Tuesday, Jan. 11 Nashua-Plainfield at Rockford North Butler at West Fork Riceville at Northwood-Kensett St. Ansgar at Central Springs Thursday, Jan. 13 New Hampton at Riceville Friday, Jan. 14 North Butler at Nashua-Plainfield Northwood-Kensett at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Riceville West Fork at Rockford Saturday, Jan. 15 Belmond-Klemme at West Fork Central Springs at North Iowa Crestwood at St. Ansgar Newman Catholic at Rockford North Butler at BCLUW Riceville at South Winneshiek Tripoli at Nashua-Plainfield Tuesday, Jan. 18 Central Springs at West Fork Nashua-Plainfield at Riceville North Butler at St. Ansgar Northwood-Kensett at Rockford Thursday, Jan. 20 CAL at Rockford

Clarksville at North Butler Northwood-Kensett at Ventura Friday, Jan. 21 Riceville at North Butler Rockford at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at Northwood-Kensett Saturday, Jan. 22 Hampton-Dumont at West Fork Hudson at Nashua-Plainfield Riceville at Leroy-Ostrander (Minn.)

Tuesday, Jan. 25 Central Springs at North Butler Northwood-Kensett at Nashua-Plainfield Rockford at Riceville West Fork at St. Ansgar Thursday, Jan. 27 Glenville-Emmons (Minn.) at Northwood-Kensett Friday, Jan. 28 Nashua-Plainfield at Central Springs North Butler at Northwood-Kensett Riceville at West Fork St. Ansgar at Rockford Tuesday, Feb. 1 Central Springs at St. Ansgar Northwood-Kensett at Riceville Rockford at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at North Butler Thursday, Feb. 3 CAL at Northwood-Kensett Ventura at Central Springs Friday, Feb. 4 Nashua-Plainfield at West Fork North Butler at Rockford Riceville at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Northwood-Kensett Saturday, Feb. 5 Charles City at Nashua-Plainfield Monday, Feb. 7 Denver at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at Ventura Tuesday, Feb. 8 Central Springs at Northwood-Kensett Nashua-Plainfield at North Butler Riceville at St. Ansgar Rockford at West Fork Friday, Feb. 11 Cedar Falls NU High at St. Ansgar Newman Catholic at Central Springs North Iowa at Northwood-Kensett

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NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE Monday, Nov. 22 Charles City at Rockford Saturday, Nov. 27 St. Ansgar at Charles City Thursday, Dec. 2 Waukon at Charles City Saturday, Dec. 4 Algona at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 7 Crestwood at Charles City Saturday, Dec. 11

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NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE Friday, Nov. 19 Mason City at Clear Lake Monday, Nov. 22 Bishop Garrigan at North Sentral Kossuth Tuesday, Nov. 23 Eagle Grove at Bishop Garrigan Forest City at Algona Monday, Nov. 29 Hampton-Dumont at AGWSR Tuesday, Nov. 30 Algona at Clear Lake Bishop Garrigan at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Eagle Grove Friday, Dec. 3 Eagle Grove at Clear Lake Iowa Falls-Alden at Algona St. Edmond at Hampton-Dumont Webster City at Bishop Garrigan Saturday, Dec. 4 Algona at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 7 Bishop Garrigan at Humboldt Clarion-Goldfield at Algona Clear Lake at Iowa Falls-Alden Webster City at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Dec. 10 Algona at Webster City Bishop Garrigan at St. Edmond Clarion-Goldfield at Hampton-Dumont Clear Lake at Humboldt Saturday, Dec. 11 North Butler at Hampton-Dumont Monday, Dec. 13 Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer at Bishop Garrigan Tuesday, Dec. 14 Algona at Eagle Grove Clear Lake at Bishop Garrigan Hampton-Dumont at Humboldt Friday, Dec. 17 Bishop Garrigan at Hampton-Dumont Clarion-Goldfield at Clear Lake St. Edmond at Algona Tuesday, Dec. 21 Algona at Bishop Garrigan Hampton-Dumont at Clear Lake Tuesday, Jan. 4 Bishop Garrigan at Eagle Grove Hampton-Dumont at Iowa Falls-Alden Humboldt at Algona Webster City at Clear Lake Friday, Jan. 7 Algona at Hampton-Dumont Iowa Falls-Alden at Bishop Garrigan St. Edmond at Clear Lake Saturday, Jan. 8 Forest City at Clear Lake Tuesday, Jan. 11 Hampton-Dumont at Clarion-Goldfield St. Edmond at Bishop Garrigan Friday, Jan. 14 Algona at Iowa Falls-Alden Bishop Garrigan at Webster City Clear Lake at Eagle Grove Hampton-Dumont at St. Edmond Tuesday, Jan. 18 Clarion-Goldfield at Bishop Garrigan Clear Lake at Algona Eagle Grove at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Jan. 21 Algona at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Webster City Humboldt at Bishop Garrigan Iowa Falls-Alden at Clear Lake Saturday, Jan. 22 Hampton-Dumont at West Fork Tuesday, Jan. 25 Bishop Garrigan at Clear Lake Eagle Grove at Algona Humboldt at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Jan. 28 Algona at St. Edmond Clear Lake at Clarion-Goldfield Hampton-Dumont at Bishop Garrigan Saturday, Jan. 29 Bishop Garrigan at Garner-Hayfield Tuesday, Feb. 1 Bishop Garrigan at Algona Clear Lake at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Feb. 4 Bishop Garrigan at Iowa Falls-Alden Clear Lake at St. Edmond Monday, Feb. 7 Algona at Spencer Tuesday, Feb. 8 Algona at Humboldt Clear Lake at Webster City Iowa Falls-Alden at Hampton-Dumont Friday, Feb. 11 Humboldt at Clear Lake Webster City at Algona Saturday, Feb. 12 Clear Lake at Charles City

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Rockford at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at North Butler Thursday, Feb. 3 CAL at Northwood-Kensett Ventura at Central Springs Friday, Feb. 4 Nashua-Plainfield at West Fork North Butler at Rockford Riceville at Central Springs St. Ansgar at Northwood-Kensett Monday, Feb. 7 Denver at Nashua-Plainfield West Fork at Ventura

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C10 • FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010

Page Editor: Jared Patterson • GLOBE GAZETTE

WINTER PREVIEW

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BOYS BASKETBALL

NORTH CENTRAL ❙ CLEAR LAKE

GETTING DEFENSIVE Lions think wins will start on defensive end

By KIRK HARDCASTLE kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

LEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake boys basketball team allowed at least 65 points eight times last season.

So the focus during the preseason for the Lions has been defense.

“We’ve put a big emphasis on defense and rebounding,” Clear Lake coach Kevin Kahler said.

“We’re trying to shore that end of the floor up a bit and hopefully that carries over to our offense.”

Senior forward Nick Kruger, who averaged 6.9 points per game a year ago, said the Lions’ defense should be improved.

“I think we have the depth to be better,” Kruger said. “We should be able to press more as we’ll have fresh legs coming off the bench.”

Kahler, who begins his sixth year as coach of the Lions, returns five letterwinners from last year’s team that was 5-17 overall a year ago.

Top returners for the Lions are seniors Grant Peterson, Brent Tarr and Kruger and juniors Chase Crosby and Ozzie Adams.

Kahler said he’s encouraged by the effort in the preseason.

“I like what I see,” Kahler said. “The kids have been working hard. I feel like we’ve gotten better every night.

“I feel like we’re headed in the right direction.

The big thing is that the effort has been outstanding.”

Crosby, a second-team all-North Central Conference performer as a sophomore, led the Lions in points (13.3) and rebounds (5.3) a year ago.

“He’s going to be a marked man this year,” Kahler said. “When you have the kind of season he had last year, you’re not going to sneak up on anybody.

“People are going to identify him and defenses will be geared to shut him down.”

Clear Lake, which was 5-13 in the NCC a year ago, averaged 50.6 points per game last season.

Peterson said the offense should be improved as well.

“I definitely feel we’ll be able to score some points,” Peterson said. “But if we’re not making every shot our defense should be able to keep us in the game.”

Kahler said St. Edmond, which shared the league crown with Algona last year, is the team to beat in the North Central.

“It goes through St. Edmond,” Kahler said.

“They’re the favorites this year. They’re the favorites every year.”

C

Globe Gazette file photo

Garrigan’s Austin Vaske is back this season.

Guard play will be key in NCC

By KIRK HARDCASTLE

A

Globe Gazette file photo

Clear Lake’s Ozzie Adams.

BOYS BASKETBALL

NORTHEAST IOWA ❙ CHARLES CITY

Comets must replace Buss, 5 starters CHARLES CITY — The Charles City boys basketball team was 21-2 a year ago.

The Comets won the Northeast Iowa Conference and advanced to the district final before bowing out to Waverly-Shell Rock.

CONTINUED FROM C9 Mason City at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 14 Decorah at Charles City Thursday, Dec. 16 West Hancock at Charles City Tuesday, Dec. 21 Charles City at Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, Jan. 7 Charles City at Oelwein Tuesday, Jan. 11 Charles City at New Hampton Thursday, Jan. 13 Osage at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 15 Charles City at Forest City Tuesday, Jan. 18 Decorah at Charles City Friday, Jan. 21 Charles City at Waukon Tuesday, Jan. 25 Charles City at Crestwood Friday, Jan. 28 Waverly-Shell Rock at Charles City Saturday, Jan. 29 Charles City at Cedar Falls Tuesday, Feb. 1 Oelwein at Charles City Friday, Feb. 4 New Hampton at Charles City Saturday, Feb. 12 Clear Lake at Charles City NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE Friday, Nov. 19 North Butler at Newman Catholic Northwood-Kensett at North Iowa WCLT at Garner-Hayfield Monday, Nov. 22 West Bend-Mallard at North Iowa Tuesday, Nov. 23 Central Springs at Newman Catholic Forest City at Algona Garner-Hayfield at West Fork Lake Mills at St. Ansgar North Iowa at Armstrong-Ringsted West Hancock at WCLT Monday, Nov. 29 Nashua-Plainfield at Osage West Hancock at Eagle Grove Tuesday, Nov. 30 Central Springs at Lake Mills Forest City at Mason City Newman Catholic at St. Ansgar

But all five starters graduated from the team that was 12-0 in league play.

“The outlook for the 2010-11 season is going to be challenging,” veteran Comet coach Todd Forsyth said. “With all five starters graduating and some

North Iowa at West Fork Northwood-Kensett at West Hancock Thursday, Dec. 2 Lake Mills at Northwood-Kensett Newman Catholic at WCLT Ventura at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Central Springs Friday, Dec. 3 Forest City at Estherville-Lincoln Central Saturday, Dec. 4 Belmond-Klemme at Clarion-Goldfield Lake Mills at Rockford North Iowa at North Sentral Kossuth St. Ansgar at Osage Tuesday, Dec. 7 Garner-Hayfield at West Hancock Forest City at Belmond-Klemme Newman Catholic at Osage North Iowa at Lake Mills Friday, Dec. 10 Belmond-Klemme at Lake Mills Forest City at North Iowa Newman Catholic at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Osage Saturday, Dec. 11 Northwood-Kensett at Newman Catholic Riceville at Osage West Hancock at Ventura Tuesday, Dec. 14 Belmond-Klemme at Newman Catholic Forest City at Osage Lake Mills at Garner-Hayfield North Iowa at West Hancock Thursday, Dec. 16 West Hancock at Charles City Friday, Dec. 17 Garner-Hayfield at Forest City Newman Catholic at North Iowa Osage at Lake Mills West Hancock at Belmond-Klemme Saturday, Dec. 18 Estherville-Lincoln Central at Lake Mills Garner-Hayfield at Central Springs Osage at Rockford Monday, Dec. 20 Crestwood at Forest City Tuesday, Dec. 21 Osage at Central Springs West Fork at Newman Catholic Tuesday, Jan. 4 Forest City at Newman Catholic Lake Mills at West Hancock North Iowa at Garner-Hayfield Osage at Belmond-Klemme

the conference.

The returning starters are senior guards Slater LGONA — And the guards shall lead them. Johansen and Mason EverThe brother combina- man.

“We do not have any tion of Ryan and Michael experience back,” HamptonMcMahon will be counted on heavily to lead the Algona Dumont coach Heath Walton said,“but we do have boys basketball team this kids that love to play and will season. work very hard to get better.”

“Ryan and Michael have BISHOP GARRIGAN really set the tone for how we returns two starters from last want to play since they year’s team that qualified for arrived as sophomores,” the state tournament.

Algona coach Noel Senior Kevin Elbert and McLaughlin said.“They junior Austin Vaske return to bring out the best in their lead the Golden Bears, who teammates.

“We rely on their ability to were 18-7 a year ago.

“The key to the season disrupt the opponent with their quickness and hustle.” will be leadership from Kevin Ryan averaged 14.6 points Elbert and Austin Vaske,” Garrigan coach Roger per game a year ago and Froehlich said.“Both have Michael scored 6.7 points a played two full years on varcontest. sity.”

Ryan also averaged 3.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.6 Players to watch steals per game for the BullNick Clark (St. Edmond) — The dogs, who won the North junior averaged 16.0 points per game Central Conference with a to lead the Gaels.He’s the top returnrecord of 13-5. ing scorer in the conference.

McLaughlin said the idenRyan McMahon (Algona) — The tical twins are different types guard returns for his senior season of players. after averaging 14.6 points per game a Ryan McMahon plays year ago.He also averaged 4.2 assists point guard for the Bulldogs. and 2.6 steals per game.

“He is as quick as there is,” Chase Crosby (Clear Lake) — The McLaughlin said.“He has junior averaged 13.3 points per game a the ability to change direcyear ago to lead the Lions.He also led tions with the ball and get to the Lions in rebounding (5.3 per the basket. game).

“He may be only 5-foot-9 Austin Vaske (Bishop Garrigan) — on a good day but he gets off The junior averaged 11.7 points per the floor quicker than anygame as a sophomore.He connected one, which allows him to do on 38 3-point goals and shot 82 perthings that most players his cent from the free-throw line (73 of size can’t do.”

89).

HAMPTON-DUMONT Kade Olson (Iowa Falls-Alden) — returns two letterwinners The junior averaged 14.4 points per from last year’s team that game a year ago,which ranked sevwas 10-11 overall and 8-10 in enth in the conference. kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

returners not coming out, there are a lot of question marks.

“The challenge of this team will be to grow game by game throughout the entire season.”

Forsyth, who has an overall record of 250-219, has a roster of nine seniors

Friday, Jan. 7 Garner-Hayfield at Belmond-Klemme Newman Catholic at Lake Mills North Iowa at Osage West Hancock at Forest City Saturday, Jan. 8 Clarion-Goldfield at West Hancock Forest City at Clear Lake St. Ansgar at Garner-Hayfield Monday, Jan. 10 North Iowa at WCLT Thursday, Jan. 13 Osage at Charles City Friday, Jan. 14 Belmond-Klemme at North Iowa Lake Mills at Forest City Osage at Garner-Hayfield West Hancock at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 15 Central Springs at North Iowa Charles City at Forest City Newman Catholic at Rockford Wednesday, Jan. 17 CWL at West Hancock Tuesday, Jan. 18 Belmond-Klemme at Forest City Lake Mills at North Iowa Osage at Newman Catholic West Hancock at Garner-Hayfield Friday, Jan. 21 Garner-Hayfield at Newman Catholic Lake Mills at Belmond-Klemme North Iowa at Forest City

and six juniors.

“The strengths that come out of this squad are speed and quickness,” the coach said. “This team has not put in a lot of off-season time together.

“We are hopeful to be a competitive team as the season progresses.”

Osage at West Hancock Saturday, Jan. 22 Garner-Hayfield at Rockford Lake Mills at North Sentral Kossuth Osage at New Hampton Tuesday, Jan. 25 Garner-Hayfield at Lake Mills Newman Catholic at Belmond-Klemme Osage at Forest City West Hancock at North Iowa Friday, Jan. 28 Belmond-Klemme at West Hancock Forest City at Garner-Hayfield Lake Mills at Osage North Iowa at Newman Catholic Saturday, Jan. 29 Bishop Garrigan at Garner-Hayfield Tuesday, Feb. 1 Belmond-Klemme at Osage Garner-Hayfield at North Iowa Newman Catholic at Forest City West Hancock at Lake Mills Friday, Feb. 4 Belmond-Klemme at Garner-Hayfield Forest City at West Hancock Lake Mills at Newman Catholic Osage at North Iowa Monday, Feb. 7 Forest City at Lake Mills Garner-Hayfield at Osage Newman Catholic at West Hancock North Iowa at Belmond-Klemme Tuesday, Feb. 8 Glenville-Emmons (Minn.) at Lake Mills

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FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010 • C11

WINTER PREVIEW

BOYS BASKETBALL

NORTH IOWA ❙ CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Globe Gazette file photo

Forest City’s Kyle Rosacker returns this season.

Globe Gazette file photo

NIC looks to reload B

Newman’s Drew Verstegen.

BOYS BASKETBALL

NORTH IOWA ❙ NEWMAN CATHOLIC

VERSATILE VERSTEGEN Knights, Verstegen hope to take advantage of mismatches

By JEREMY KOENIGS

While Verstegen knows he’ll be expected to supply much of the scoring punch, he thinks he ASON CITY — After has great teammates around falling a game short of him. the Class 1A state tour“Winning is all about putting nament last season, expectain hard work and hustling everytions are high for the Newman where,” said Verstegen, who tied Catholic boys basketball team. for 13th in the state with 80 Having one of the area’s top blocked shots, tied for 22nd in scorers back in 6-foot-3 senior the state with 77 steals and also Drew Verstegen will do that. recorded 84 assists. “We have a “Potential is a dangerous word,” Newman Catholic coach lot of guys we can go to this year.

All of the guys are quick, hard Grant Trygstad said. “I feel real workers and everyone’s a threat good about this group and I think they can be as good as they to score, which creates a lot of want to be. It’s going to be a fun mismatches.”

The Knights lost Michael year for the kids.”

Bohl, Josh Luecht, Carter Verstegen was a unanimous Kruckenberg and Alex Halsted to first team all-North Iowa Congraduation but Louscher said ference selection last season, there’s a lot of new faces to fill averaging 17.6 points per game the holes. and 10.9 rebounds per game.

“We lost a lot of great players Blake Louscher, a 6-4 senior center who will anchor the post and it’s going to take everyone stepping up,” Louscher said. for the Knights, said having an athlete like Verstegen at a school “We definitely have the talent.

“We’re a very athletic group Newman’s size is hard to find. and we’ll use our athleticism to “He’s almost unstoppable,” get some boards and get the fast Louscher said. “He can handle break going.” the ball for his size, he can post Rounding out the lineup will up, he can shoot and he’s got be 6-3 senior Blake Gatton, 6-3 moves to take his man one-onChris Hall and 5-10 junior Gabe one. He can do pretty much Dunn. whatever he wants.” sports@globegazette.com

M

“This will be one of the tallest teams we’ve had in a long, long time as we have three guys who can dunk the basketball,” Trygstad said. “I told them that I’d rather have a guy that can hit a 15-footer consistently than a guy who can dunk because you only get a chance to dunk once a game if you’re lucky.”

Trygstad added that ideally he’d like to see all five starters in double figures.

“We should be a much better offensive team,” the coach said.

“I’d love to see five guys in double figures, that’s the ultimate goal.

“We should be able to have scorers at all positions and we’ll have to rotate the ball to the other side of the floor better to get some shots off.”

Seniors Jacob Linahon and Josh Winters, who is recovering from a broken right arm, are expected to add depth.

“Linahon’s probably the most improved player from last year’s team and then Josh plays hard,” Trygstad said. “If everybody else played as hard as him, I’d say, ‘Yes, we’re ready.’ He play’s hard, which you love to see.”

Mohawks think improvement will yield success MASON CITY MOHAWKS November 23 — vs. West Des Moines Valley; 29 — vs. Ames.

December 2 — at Johnston; 4 — at Ames Invitational; 9 — at Des Moines Roosevelt; 11 — at Cedar Falls Invitational; 16 — at Des Moines Lincoln; 20 — vs. Marshalltown.

January 6 — at Waukee; 8 — at Austin (Minn.) Invitational; 13 — at Spencer; 17 — at Fort Dodge; 22 — CIML Iowa Conference meet at Fort Dodge.

By JARED PATTERSON jared.patterson@globegazette.com

MASON CITY — Mason City boys swim coach Steve Hugo doesn’t measure success by conference or state championships.

In the pool, it’s about cutting times.

“We may not win a meet this season but if everyone keeps a clear view of the goals for better times we will have a successful season by that measure,” said the veteran coach.

While the Mohawks don’t have a wealth of state tournament experience, they do return Jacob Weiss, who swam on a relay at the state meet as a sophomore.

The senior, who Hugo calls the the team’s top trainer in both the freestyle and the backstroke, looks to be one of those most consistent performers for the Mohawks.

Add in juniors Wyatt Rowe and Nick Riesen and that’s where it starts for a Mohawk team that went 16-1 last year.

“This year’s team is hard a hard-working group that could place in the top three at conference and districts,” Hugo said. “And they could qualify a relay and three to four members

oys basketball in the North Iowa Conference will feature a lot of teams with a lot questions heading into the 2010-11 season.

The talent that graduated from last year for conference members is staggering: Forest City’s Tyler Putz, Lake Mills’ Chris Throne, Justin Meyer at BelmondKlemme, Alex Bruggeman from Garner-Hayfield and Ben Matson at North Iowa, among others.

One squad that may not have as many questions as others is Osage, which was junior-dominated last season with Jon Lutz and Trevor Molitor both averaging in double figures.

The Green Devils’ top six scorers last season were all juniors, and a host of athletic underclassmen should provide some depth.

While Forest City must now assess life without the Putz brothers, the cupboard is not completely bare as the Indians boasted a talented sophomore class last season.

Kyle Rosacker averaged 14.6 points per game last season and will likely be called upon to shoulder a bigger load until the team can find its rhythm.

Still, tradition is on coach Dan Rosacker’s side as Forest City has won the conference title for the past six seasons.

“We have some good young players who have been in the program and are ready to step up,” Rosacker said.

“We will be a much more balanced team.”

Despite a couple of key losses, North Iowa figures to be strong again as it returns six letterwinners from a 129 team.

Tops among the veterans for the Bison will be senior forward Logan Hovland and sophomore point guard Eric Krull.

“We will be considerably younger and not as experienced,” North Iowa coach Chad Hinders said.

West Hancock might be one of the deepest teams in the leage as the Eagles expect to return eight letterwinners.

The Eagles might get off to a slow start as they are dealing with some lingering injuries to key performers.

Garner-Hayfield may emerge as one of the top teams in the conference as it is one of the few teams to return a pair of players who averaged more than 10 points per game.

Josh Thompson and Jace Engstler demonstrated a lot of athletic chemistry on the football field and the premier wide receiver and quarterback return their talents to the court where they combined to average more than 22 points per game.

“We have a lot of guys competing for playing time,” Cardinals coach Joe Albertson said. “Our practices should be very intense, and I hope that leads to success.”

Garner-Hayfield, which was 14-10 last year, lost a tough, two-point decision in regional final play.

BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULES. PAGE C9-10

Globe Gazette file photo

Mason City’s Jacob Weiss swims during a meet last year. at state. They must own practices from now until the end of the season.”

An added benefit Hugo will have from this year’s team is a strong freshman class.

He think guys like Louis Blackmore, Chris Messer, Jake Miller, Noah Langholz and Tyler Tweeten will pair nicely with his freshman group.

“Improved fitness and skill level each meet will lead to faster times,” Hugo said.

Another wrinkle will be fine-tuning the lineup to give the Mohawks the best

chance at being well represented at the state meet.

“This season there will be a lot of shifting around in events from meet to meet searching for the best event for each athlete and for the team’s best possible lineup for the championship meets at the end of the season.”

Coach: Steve Hugo begins his 26th year as coach.

2009-10 record: The Mohawks were 1-6-1 in dual meets.

Returning letterwinners: Jacob Weiss, sr.; Wyatt Rowe, jr.; Nick Riesen, jr.

Athletes who will contribute: Louis Blackmore, jr.; Chris Messer, sr.; Jake Miller, jr.; Noah Langholz, sr.; Tyler Tweeten, so.; Kyle Weiss, fr.; Trevor Brunsvold, fr.; Patrick Rowe, fr.; Forest Cerg, fr.; Sam Gao, fr.

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C12 • DAY, NOV. 26, 2010

BOYS BASKETBALL CIML IOWA CONFERENCE MASON CITY MOHAWKS Coach: Adam Callanan begins his first season as coach of the Mohawks.

2009-10 record: Mason City finished 4-17 overall and 2-8 in the CIML Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Lincoln Vorba, 6-3, sr., F; Sam Skogen, 5-11, jr., G; AJ Rier, 6-2, jr., F; Jack Esser, 6-1, jr., G. Others expected to contribute: Jacob Peter, sr., G; Danny Larsen, sr., F; Matt Merry, sr., G; Robert Swenson, sr., F; Dylan Hall, sr., F; Ryan Bice, jr., F; Connor DeRoy, jr., G; Dakota Alexander, jr., C. Coach’s comments: “The 2010-11 Mohawks look to improve on last year’s record and build renewed excitement in the program under new head coach Adam Callanan. With an experienced coaching staff and a host of new faces adding depth to the program, Mason City is looking forward to an exciting season on the court.”

CORNBELT CONFERENCE VENTURA VIKINGS Coach: Ryan Eastvold begins his third season as coach of the Vikings.

Returning letterwinners: Jared Callison, sr., G/F; Cal Huber, sr., G; Cole Hanley, sr., G/F; Joel Watson, jr., F; Zach Tannahill, sr., G; Ryan Schmitz, jr., G; Tyler Christy, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: James Stephenson; Sam Treloar; Zack Ryerson.

Coach’s comments: “We return four out of five starters with our leading scorer, Jared Callison, coming back. We have quite a bit of experience coming back in guards, but our post play is very much a concern with no true center.”

WCLT TIGERS Coach: Doug Mogensen begins his first year.

2009-10 record: 4-22.

Returning letterwinners: Eric Spear, sr., G; Kyle Eden, sr., C; Jake Meinders, sr., F; Bryce Haler, sr., F; Tommy Schutter, sr., F; Kyle Pals, sr., F; Tyler Franzen, jr., G; Chase Stohr, jr, G; Logan Kunkel, so., F. Others expected to contribute: Weston Harms, Tristen Eden.

Coach’s comments: “In order to compete we will have to do much better at the little things.”

CORN BOWL CONFERENCE CENTRAL SPRINGS PANTHERS Coach: Phil Perry begins his fifth season as coach of the Panthers.

2009-10 record: Central Springs finished 813 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Jesse Johnson, sr., PG; Jake Mills, sr., SF; Ethan Losee, jr., P. Others expected to contribute: Hunter Scholl, jr., SG; Charlie Weiner, so., SF; Eric Birkedal, sr., P; Matt Logeman, so., PG. Coach’s comments: “We lack size, but have good quickness and athleticism. Finding scoring needs to be a priority as we’re returning less than five points per game. We need to be focused and intense to be competitive.”

NASHUA-PLAINFIELD HUSKIES Coach: Matthew Welp begins his third season as coach of the Huskies.

2009-10 record: Nashua-Plainfield finished 2-19 overall and 2-12 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Tanner Baldwin, sr., PF; Luke McMichael, sr., G; Brice Berger, sr., PF; Kevin Klobassa, jr., G. Others expected to contribute: Griffin Poppe, sr., C; Caleb Smith, sr., G; Lucas Legel, sr., PF; Matt Sharp, so., G; Drew Dietz, so., C; Tyler Laube, so. G. Coach’s comments: “More than any other year, we will have plenty of competition in practice to make us better. Everyone will be fighting for playing time, which should be fun to see in practice and on game nights.”

RICEVILLE WILDCATS Coaches: Warren Haacke and Bryce Conway are co-coaches for the Wildcats.

2009-10 record: Riceville finished 11-12 overall and 6-8 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Dalton Berentsen, sr., F; Michael Theis, sr., PG; Jaydon Stover, sr., G; Derek Shedenhelm, sr., F; Justin Anderlik, so., C. Others expected to contribute: Allen Koenigs, jr.; Caleb Harken, jr.; Ethan Baver, jr.; Logan Jarvis, jr.; Jeremy Birchem, sr.

Coach’s comments: “We will be fairly athletic and return quite a bit of experience. We need to replace six seniors, three of which were our top three scorers. Defensively, what we lack in height we will need to make up with hustle and be fundamentally sound.”

ROCKFORD WARRIORS Coach: Rudy Evertsen returns as coach of the Warriors with a record of 34-47 and overall record of 40-85.

2009-10 record: Rockford finished 12-7 overall and 11-3 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning starters: Scott Paulus, sr., F; Luke Staudt, sr., G; Darrin Kingery, jr., G. Other returning letterwinners: Brent Christeson, sr., F; Collin DeVary, sr., F; Kalen Parker, sr., C; Eric Staudt, sr., C. Other expected to contribute: Wes Winters, jr., F. Coach’s comments: “We have good team quickness and a group of good shooters. Several of our returning players logged a lot of minutes last season and were key contributors of the team that was conference runner-up.

We are looking to build off our successes in close games last season and turn the football team’s success this fall into a positive this winter.”

ST. ANSGAR SAINTS Coach: Merlyn Thorson begins his 31st season as coach of the Saints.

2009-10 record: St. Ansgar finished 10-10 overall and 8-6 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Cael Halfman, jr., G; Casey Mayer, sr., G; Jackson Steinberg, jr., F; Nick Sweetland, sr., C; Klay Rustad, sr., F. Coach’s comments: “Team success will depend on how quickly four new starters can adjust to their new role.”

WEST FORK WARHAWKS Coach: Jordan Nelson begins his seventh season as coach of the Warhawks.

2009-10 record: West Fork finished 22-1 overall and 14-0 in the Corn Bowl Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Seth Tuttle, sr., F; Jace Winfrey, sr., G; Hunter Clausen, sr., G; Nate Plagge, sr., F; Sam Siefken, sr., F; Ryan Gossweiler, sr., G; Tyler Larson, jr., PG; Jordan Hubka, jr., G; Payton Plagge, so., F/C. Other expected to contribute: Nathan Folkers, jr.; Aaron Dougherty, jr.; Zane Ruger, so.; Spencer Halloran, fr.

Coach’s comments: “The kids are looking forward to the season, and a lot of them did some quality work in the off-season. I believe the success of our football team this year will carry over to some very positive attitudes and excitement on the basketball court.”

NORTH CENTRAL CONFERENCE ALGONA BULLDOGS Coach: Noel McLaughlin begins his sixth season as coach of the Bulldogs.

2009-10 record: Algona finished 16-7 overall and 13-5 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Ryan McMahon. 58, sr., PG; Michael McMahon, 5-8, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: John Krause, 6-1, sr., G; Connor McGuire, 6-1, sr., F; Noah Hollinger, 6-4, sr., F; Blair Bradley, 5-9, sr., G; Sam Lipps, 6-4, jr., F; Sam Curtis, 6-2, jr., F; Dylan Cink, 6-1, jr., G; Sawyer Frideres, 6-1, so., G.

Page Editor: Jared Patterson • GLOBE GAZETTE

WINTER PREVIEW Coach’s comments: “Our team strength will be our ability to defend our opponents. We also have good team speed. Leadership and experience in the backcourt will also be our strength. The season we will lack size and experience in the post position. Another area that we see as a weakness is lack of varsity experience from many of the players that will see time this season.”

BISHOP GARRIGAN GOLDEN BEARS Coach: Roger Froehlich begins his eighth season as coach of the Golden Bears with a record of 110-56.

2009-10 record: Bishop Garrigan finished 117 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Kevin Elbert, 5-7, sr., G; Austin Vaske, 6-0, jr., G/F; Andrew Behr, 6-1, sr., G; Zach Keith, 5-6, jr., PG; Grant Reding, 5-11, jr., F; Eli Marlow, 5-10, jr., G; Alex Boisjolie, 5-9, jr., F. Others expected to contribute: John Burns, 6-3, so., F/C; Adam Hamilton, 6-2, so., F/C. Coach’s comments: “The key to the season will be leadership from Kevin Elbert and Austin Vaske as both have played two full years on varsity. Ball handling will be one of our biggest strengths. Our No. 1 goal of the season is to be playing our best ball at the end of the season during tournament time.”

CLEAR LAKE LIONS Coach: Kevin Kahler begins his sixth season as coach of the Lions.

2009-10 record: Clear Lake finished 5-13 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Grant Peterson, sr., G; Nick Kruger, sr., F; Ozzie Adams, sr., F; Brent Tarr, sr., F; Chase Crosby, jr., F. Others expected to contribute: Tanner Bacon, sr., F; Tanner Tusha, jr., G; Tanner Truesdell, jr., G; Luke Monson, jr., F; Jake Kockler, jr., G; Jordan Kruger, sr., F. HAMPTON-DUMONT BULLDOGS Coach: Heath Walton begins his seventh year as coach of the Bulldogs.

2009-10 record: Hampton-Dumont finished 10-11 overall and 8-10 in the North Central Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Slater Johansen, sr., G; Mason Everman, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: Josh Benning; Wyatt Carriger; Tanner Brolsma; Sam Butson; Drew Anderson; Spencer Claypool.

Coach’s comments: “We do not have any experience back but we do have kids that love to play and will work hard to get better.”

NORTHEAST IOWA CONFERENCE CHARLES CITY COMETS Coach: Todd Forsyth begins his 22nd season overall with an overall record of 250-219 and a 206-161 record with the Comets.

2009-10 record: Charles City finished 21-2 overall and 12-0 in the Northeast Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Jacob Heugel, sr.; Zach Izakson, jr..

Other expected to contribute: Nick Melrose, sr.; Drew Armstrong, sr.; Jordan Bock, sr.; Jared Tieskotter, sr.; Henry Fisher, sr.; Caelon Christensen, sr.; Sidney White, sr.; Dylan Soloman, sr.; Nathan Molstead, jr.; Jon Blumberg, jr.; Mike Clark, jr.; David Boyd, jr.; Brook Girkin, jr.; Ben Swartzrock, jr.

Coach’s comments: “The outlook for the 2010-11 season is going to be challenging. With all five starters graduating and some returners not coming out, there are a lot of question marks. The challenge for this team will be to grow game by game throughout the entire season.”

NORTH IOWA CONFERENCE FOREST CITY INDIANS Coach: Dan Rosacker begins his 10th season as coach of the Indians.

2009-10 record: Forest City finished 21-4 overall and 14-0 in the North Iowa Conference.

Returning letterwinners: Kyle Rosacker, jr., G; Aaron Anderson, sr., G; Tyler Flugum, jr., G; Matt Snyder, so., F; Justin Putney, jr., C. Others expected to contribute: Drew Tweeten, sr., G; Mike Larson, sr., C; Parker Farland, jr., G; Johnathan Mathlesen, so., G. Coach’s comments: “We’ll have to replace Tyler Putz, Andrew Rosacker and Derek Amundson, but have some good, young players who have been in the program that are ready to step up. All five of our returning letterwinners have started at one point in their career. We will be a much more balanced team. We may struggle early as we settle into roles.”

GARNER-HAYFIELD CARDINALS Coach: Joe Albertson begins his fourth season as coach of the Cardinals.

2009-10 record: Garner-Hayfield finished 1410 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Josh Thompson, sr., F; Ben Lau, sr., G; Zach Greiman, sr., G; Michael Brown, sr., F; Cole Greiman, sr., G; AJ Haag, jr., G; Jace Engstler, jr., G. Others expected to contribute: Damon Quandt, sr., G; Joe Ermer, jr., G. Coach’s comments: “We have a lot of guys competing for playing time. Our practices should be very intense, and I hope that leads to success.”

WEST HANCOCK EAGLES Coach: Brian Peterson begins his third season as coach of the Eagles.

2009-10 record: West Hancock finished 10-14 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Gerardo Ibarra, jr., G; Eric Cox, jr., G; Jacob Patterson, jr., F/C; Ryan Fedders, jr., G/F; Johnny Eekhoff, jr., C; Tyler Thompson, sr., G; Ryan Swanson, sr., F; Parker Quadstad, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: Pat Smith, so., F; Brandon Luppen, jr., G. Coach’s comments: “We have the opportunity to be real good, but we need to get our student-athletes healthy and they need to be allin.”

LAKE MILLS BULLDOGS Coach: Kyle Menke begins his 12th year.

2009-10 record: 16-5 overall and 10-3 in the NIC. Returning letterwinners: Marcus Gaskill, sr., F; Alex Grunhovd, sr., G; Tyler Rice, sr, G; Tim Brandt, sr., G; Dylan Davis, sr, F; Drey LyBarger, sr., G. Others expected to contribute: Josh Zabel, sr., G; Jake Wuerflein, sr., F; Bryan Hengesteg, jr., G. Coach’s comments: “One of the big key to our season will be how well our role players develop. We need to find a solid group of defenders and ball handlers that will compliment our three returning starters. We have the potential to be a well-balanced offensive team on offense.”

NORTH IOWA BISON Coach: Chad Hinders is starting his third season at North Iowa.

2009-10 record: 12-9 overall, 7-6 in conference play.

Returning letterwinners: Logan Hovland, sr., F; Phil Griese, sr., F; Scott Evans, sr., F; Eric Krull, soph., G; Mark Milbrandt, soph., F; Jordan Anderson, soph., G. OSAGE GREEN DEVILS Coach: Steve Bremer begins his fourth year.

2009-10 record: 3-17 overall.

Returning letterwinners: Trevor Molitor, sr.; F; Jon Lutz, sr., C; Marcus Chrstiensen, sr., G; Jacob Wagner, sr., g; Jacob Chambers, sr., G; Matt Bushbaum, jr., G; Luke Wagner, sr., G; Mitch Eisenman, jr., G; Taylor Ott, jr., C; Tanner Lewis, sr., F; Tanner Molitor, jr., F. Coach’s comments: “The conference is not as clear cut as past years, and if any of the conference schools play well and consistent through the year it could be fun for conference play.”

BOYS BASKETBALL

CIML IOWA ❙ MASON CITY

GOOD OFFSEASON TO WINNING SEASON?

First-year coach Callanan hopes offseason pays dividends

By KIRK HARDCASTLE kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

MASON CITY — The Mason City boys basketball team is not going to be a tall one.

The Mohawks have two players who list at 6-feet-5 inches (Ryan Bice and Danny Larsen).

But that is about it for height for the Mohawks.

“Our speed, athleticism and depth should be some of our strengths this year,” Mason City first-year coach Adam Callanan said. “We will be very athletic in the guard court with returning starters Sam Skogen and Lincoln Vorba.”

Vorba, a 6-3 shooting guard, was a first-team all-CIML Iowa Conference performer a year ago.

Vorba averaged 16.8 points and six rebounds per contest a year ago.

He connected on 55 3-point goals and shot 81.8 percent from the freethrow line (81 of 99).

Skogen, a 5-11 point guard, was a second-team all-league performer as a sophomore. He averaged 13.8 points a contest.

“So you know those kids can get it done on a nightly basis,” said Callanan, who takes over for Jon Nelson. “Although we will rely on them in many different ways, I expect our improved depth to take some pressure off those two kids.

“We will improve in the statistical area that matters most to both of

Callanan

them — wins.”

Mason City, which was 4-17 a year ago, welcomes back seniors Jacob Peter and Matt Merry.

Peter did not play his junior season and Merry missed the season due to a knee

injury.

Callanan also said he expects junior guard Jack Esser to contribute this season.

“Our depth will also allow us to play a high tempo full-court game that should be exciting to watch,” the coach said.

Callanan, who took over for Nelson in May, said he was pleased with the way his team worked during the summer months.

The Mohawks had open gyms two to three times a week and attended a couple of summer team camps.

“I was most pleased with the attendance and willingness to improve all summer,” Callanan said.

“I do not remember an open gym where we had fewer than 12 kids in the gym.

“Most of the time our numbers were closer to 15 or 20 players.”

Callanan said the CIML Iowa Conference should be a balanced one without a standout team like Ames the last couple of seasons.

“Waukee should probably be considered the CIML Iowa Conference favorites,” the coach said. “They return a solid core of starters and have brought in a Drake recruit from Arizona (Judd Welfringer) that will make them that much better.

“Many of the teams in our league will be evenly matched this season and we will be very competitive with the top teams.”

Globe Gazette file photo

Mason City’s Lincoln Vorba (pictured) averaged 16.8 points and was a first-team CIML Iowa selection. He also connected on 82 percent of his free throws.

BOYS BASKETBALL

CORNBELT ❙ CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Vikings look to replicate last year’s success he west side of the CornBelt Conference will be loaded this season, but the east side could be up for grabs.

While North Sentral Kossuth may have a leg up on paper, a couple of area teams with a lot of experience will figure heavily in the race.

Ventura, which tied for first last season, returns four of five starters, including leading scorer Jared Callison.

The Vikings boast eight letterwinners.

“We have quite a bit of experience in our guards,” Ventura coach Ryan Eastvold said. “Our post play is a concern with no true center.”

Without a center, the Vikings will have to use their overall athleticism to overcome a potential liability on the boards, which could mean a fast tempo and crisp offensive sets to improve the shooting percentage.

At CWL, Kent Mick is back for his second season at the helm and he should be enthusiastic over the return of all five starters from 2009-10.

Mitchell Shipman and Caleb Anderson, a pair of senior guards, figure to lead the show, and Mick hopes to get a full season from athletic guard Jason Carroll, who missed much of last season due to injury.

The Panthers return five other letterwinners, so depth should not be a major concern.

CWL, though, will have to make up for a lack of heighth. But if the Panthers can rebound on a consistent basis, look for them to substantially improve on last season’s 5-14 mark.

—David Durbala

T

Cadets must replace scoring LATIMER — With 90 percent of its scoring and 80 percent of its rebounding gone from a 5-17 team last season, CAL will need contributions from a lot of players to make up the loss.

Several players looked upon to step up this season will be seniors Tanner Yakel, Logan State and Dillon Muhlenbruch, juniors Alex Dohrmann, Joel Johnson and Clayton Miller and sophomore Ben Fahrmann.

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GLOBE GAZETTE • Page Editor: Jared Patterson

FRIDAY, NOV. 26, 2010 • C13

WINTER PREVIEW

BOYS BASKETBALL 2009-10 ALL-AREA TEAM Nathan Buss Charles City Senior X The 6-foot-9 forward was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the second straight season.

X The University of Northern Iowa recruit was a first-team all-Northeast Iowa Conference and Class 3A Iowa Newspaper Association first-team all-state selection, leading the state in scoring with a 27.2 points per game average.

X Averaged 10.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 77.7 percent from the free-throw line for the Comets, who finished 21-2 overall and 12-0 in the conference.

Brandon Doughan Globe Gazette file photo

West Fork’s Seth Tuttle.

BOYS BASKETBALL

CORN BOWL ❙ WEST FORK

A STEP ABOVE 6-8 Tuttle, 6-7 Plagge a matchup nightmare

By KIRK HARDCASTLE

ment on offense and working on our outside shooting a lot more.

HEFFIELD — Jordan Nelson • About the cover: West Fork’s Seth “I expect they will get double considers himself lucky. The teamed and teams are going to keep Tuttle (right) and Payton Plagge don’t West Fork boys basketball doing it until we can combat that. just have height on their side. They coach has a 6-foot-8 inch senior I’m expecting that and a lot of zone.” have some game as well.

(Seth Tuttle) and 6-7 sophomore West Fork dropped a 37-36 (Payton Plagge) at his disposal. decision to Wapsie Valley in the Photo by Bryon Houlgrave.

That’s a luxury that most Class 2A district final last year. schools in the state don’t have That loss is motivating the regardless of class.

Warhawks as the 2010-11 gets grade.

“It’s one thing to have tall kids,” under way.

“His only weakness last year Nelson said. “It’s another thing to “West Fork’s legacy right now is was that he was scared. This year, have tall kids that know the game not making it past the district I don’t think he has that problem and play it extremely well. final,” Plagge said. “We just want anymore.”

“When you have one big guy I to take it one game at a time and Tuttle said he knows the twin think it’s easier for defenses to key not get too far ahead of ourselves.” towers will be the focus of opposon that one guy. When you have The Warhawks (22-1 overall, 14ing teams’ defenses this season. two, it’s a little bit harder, espe0 in the Corn Bowl Conference a “Schools our size don’t usually cially when they can both play on have two 6-9 players let alone the year ago) don’t want to get too far the perimeter as well as the guards that we have,” Tuttle said. ahead of themselves but they inside.” admit they want their season to “If you have two big guys, they’ll Tuttle, who has signed a probably play a 2-3 zone against end at Wells Fargo Arena in Des national letter of intent to play you.

Moines. basketball at Northern Iowa, aver“We found out the rough way Tuttle, who was a member of aged 20.7 points per game a year against Wapsie Valley that we the of the SCMT state tournament ago and 10.7 rebounds a contest. couldn’t hit a jump shot. team in 2008, said the Warhawks Plagge scored 8.3 points and “So our main focus was to be have what it takes to make it to the grabbed 7.0 rebounds a contest as able to hit the shots from the state tournament. a freshman.

“We’ve put a lot of time in the Tuttle said that Plagge will be a perimeter.”

Nelson agreed that inconsistent weight room this year,” Tuttle Division-I player, as well. outside shooting was a downfall of said. “Coach (Eric) Burt and coach “I could have told you a long (Jordan) Nelson really emphasized time ago that Payton was going to the Warhawks a year ago.

“If they’d double on Seth or us getting in the weight room and be a really special player,” Tuttle said. “I remember watching him in double on Payton, we didn’t shoot the experience just comes from the ball very well,” the coach said. playing games and we bring a lot seventh and eighth grade and he was dunking the ball in eighth “We’re working on more moveback.” kirk.hardcastle@globegazette.com

COVERSTORY

S

Warhawks the favorite but who’s next?

Tyler Putz Forest City Senior X The 6-foot point guard was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the third straight season, helping the Indians to the Class 3A state tournament.

X Earned unanimous first-team all-North Iowa Conference and player of the year honors, finishing 10th in the state with 146 assists — eighth all time with 522 for his career — and recorded 75 steals — sixth all time with 407 for his career.

X The Class 3A INA first-team all-state selection averaged 23.9 points per game, which ranked seventh in the state, pulled down 89 rebounds and shot 83.1 percent from the free-throw line for the Indians, who finished the season with a 21-4 overall record and 14-0 mark in the NIC.

Chris Throne Lake Mills Senior X The 6-foot-3 forward was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the second straight season.

X Was a unanimous first team all-North Iowa Conference and Class 2A INA first-team all-state selection, averaging 21.8 points per game — 21st in the state — for the Bulldogs.

X Ranked fourth in the state with 74 3-point goals and recorded 126 rebounds, 56 assists, 51 steals and 15 blocked shots while shooting 80.6 percent from the free-throw line.

Seth Tuttle West Fork Junior X The 6-foot-8 center was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the second straight season.

X Was a unanimous first-team all-Corn Bowl Conference and Class 2A INA first-team all-state selection, averaging 20.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.

X Recorded 84 assists, 60 blocked shots and 49 steals for the Warhawks, who finished 22-1 overall and 14-0 in conference play.

Drew Verstegen Newman Catholic Junior X The 6-foot-2 guard was a unanimous first team all-North Iowa Conference selection, leading the Knights to a Class 1A substate final.

X Averaged 17.6 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game.

X Tied for 13th in the state with 80 blocked shots, tied for 22nd in the state with 77 steals and also recorded 84 assists.

Lincoln Vorba Mason City Junior X The 6-foot-2 forward was a unanimous first-team all-CIML Iowa Conference selection.

X Averaged 18.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Mohawks.

X Recorded 55 3-point goals, 35 assists and 22 steals while shooting 81.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Corn Bowl Players to watch:

six seniors, including their top three scorers.

X Seth Tuttle (West Fork): The UNI recruit averaged 20.7 points and 10.7 n paper, the Corn However, five letterwinrebounds per game while also recording 84 assists, 60 blocked shots and 49 Bowl Conference ners return, including four steals. appears to be West X Reese Kock (North Butler): Led the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding seniors in Dalton with averages of 14.6 and 7.3 per game, respectively.

Fork’s to lose.

Berentsen, Michael Theis, X Tanner Baldwin (Nashua-Plainfield): Averaged 13 points and 8.6 rebounds However, the games Jaydon Stover and Derek per game for the Huskies. must still be played in Shedenhelm.

X Cael Halfman (St. Ansgar): The lone returning starter for the Saints averorder to determine who North Butler returns aged 9.7 points, 2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last season. indeed is king of the confour of its five top scorers X Scott Paulus (Rockford): Averaged 9.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game ference. from last season, led by last season for the Warriors.

While the Warhawks senior Reese Kock. rolled to a 22-1 overall Kock averaged 14.6 record and 14-0 mark in points and 7.3 rebounds conference play and return per game last season for nine letterwinners that CORN BOWL ❙ CONFERENCE PREVIEW the Bearcats. includes all-state selection Nashua-Plainfield and UNI recruit Seth Tut- all-state selection Brandon becoming cohesive. returns its top three scortle, coaches around the Wood. Wood was one of “Team success will ers, looking to improve on league are excited for the the top scorers in the state depend on how quickly a 2-12 mark in conference chance to knock off West with a 23.8-per-game four new starters can play under third-year Fork. average and also averaged adjust to their new role,” coach Matthew Welp.

One of those teams is 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, the coach said.

Leading the way are Rockford, where the War- 2.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per Central Springs is in a riors return three starters game. similar position to St. Ans- seniors Tanner Baldwin and seven letterwinners Leading the list of gar as the Panthers return and Luke McMichael. from a team that was sec- returnees is Scott Paulus, Baldwin, a 6-foot-4 one starter in senior guard ond in the conference last who averaged 9.6 points power forward, averaged 13 Jesse Johnson. season with an 11-3 record. and 7.5 rebounds on his Northwood-Kensett points and 8.6 rebounds “We have good team way to being a first-team was also hit hard by gradu- per game for the Huskies, quickness and a group of all-conference selection. ation. who have six seniors who good shooters,” Rockford St. Ansgar returns five The Vikings lost their are expected to contribute. coach Rudy Evertsen said. letterwinners, led by junior top five scorers and “We have a great group “Several of our returning guard Cael Halfman, from rebounders, with sophoof seniors that are returnplayers logged a lot of a team that finished third more Brady Cotter the top ing,” Welp said. “They minutes last season and in the conference with an returnee with a 3.5 points have been in the system for were key contributors of 8-6 mark. per game average. a few years now and have Veteran coach Merlyn Riceville also has some the team that was conferbeen working really hard to Thorson said similar sucence runner-up.” rebuilding to do. The make themselves better.” cess will depend on Gone from that team is Wildcats have to replace sports@globegazette.com

O

Brandon Wood Rockford Senior X The 6-foot-2 guard was selected to the Globe Gazette All-Area team for the second straight season.

X Earned unanimous first-team all-Corn Bowl Conference and Class 1A INA second-team all-state honors, finishing eighth in the state with a 23.8 points per game average.

X Recorded 113 rebounds, 62 3-point goals, 47 assists, 47 steals and 23 blocked shots while shooting 75.2 percent from the free-throw line.

C-W-L

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Bishop Garrigan Senior X Was a unanimous first-team all-North Central Conference and Class 1A INA second-team all-state selection, leading the Golden Bears to the Class 1A state tournament.

X The 6-foot-2 forward finished tied for seventh in the state with 66 3point goals and shot 80.4 percent from the free-throw line.

X Averaged 19.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while recording 66 assists, 63 steals and 34 blocked shots for the Golden Bears.

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SECTION C • FRIDAY, NOV. 26 2010

INSIDE Jadda Buckley and the Mohawk girls haven’t had expectations like this for a long time. The No. 9 Mohawks have their sights set on the state tournament.

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INSIDE

INSIDE

Algona’s Laura TerHark is one of the shooting stars in the area. The 3point bomber looks to lift Algona atop the NCC once again.

Lincoln Vorba (right) and the Mason City High basketball team is hoping to give new coach Adam Callanan plenty to be happy about during his first year as coach.

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