Local Sports
Have a sports tip or a score? Let us know!
Call or Text 712-324-2597
Email to newstips@kiwaradio.com
Northwest Iowa — Unity Christian is set to host a boys/girls track and field invite Thursday on the campus of Northwestern University.
MOC-Floyd Valley, Sioux Center, Western Christian and LeMars at the Unity Christian track and field quadrangular
Okoboji at the Algona coed invite
Iowa’s premier spring hunting season is quickly approaching and hunters will be going through their equipment, patterning their guns and securing vacation days to pursue the elusive Eastern wild turkey.
Elusive maybe an understatement; of the estimated 50,000 turkey licenses that will be purchased, only about 20 percent of hunters will find success.
Spring turkey hunting begins with the youth only season April 9-17, followed by the first of four regular seasons on April 18.
“Turkey’s have home field advantage,” said Jim Coffey, forest wildlife technician for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “We are going to his turf and trying to get him to act in a way that goes against nature. It’s a challenge.”
In the timber, hens will answer the male turkey’s call when she is ready to breed. Turkey hunters will try to replicate hen calls to gain the attention of the Tom, and then frustrate him enough that he will come to the hunter.
The good news for hunters is that there will be a large number of two year old gobblers to call this spring thanks to a successful hatch in 2014.
Those two year old birds will likely be anxious to show off their moxie as they try to establish themselves as the dominant Tom for the flock.
“Those birds will be wide spread in groups of two to five and likely respond to calls well, competing to see which bird can get to the “hen” first, which is good news for hunters,” Coffey said.
The early spring thaw has jump started turkey activity and spring green up that is changing the timber quickly.
“Normally over the course of the four seasons, the timber will change from bare branches to full leaf out but this year, winter loosened her grip early and having an early leaf out can make the conditions change quickly, shrinking the distance that you can see in the timber,” Coffey said.
Hunters may purchase two spring turkey licenses, with at least one valid May 4-22 during the fourth season.
Northwest Iowa — High school track teams from the Siouxland, War Eagle and Lakes Conferences will be at the Dakota Dome Tuesday for a coed indoor track meet. The field includes Sibley Ocheyedan, Okoboji, MMC-RU, West Sioux, Hinton and E-LC.
Girls Golf
River Valley at Hinton
Frisco Texas — MOC Floyd Valley grad Daniel Jansen and Ellsworth Minnesota alum Casey Schilling helped lead Augustana College to their first NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship Saturday afternoon.
The second seeded Vikings knocked off the top seeded Lincoln Memorial University Rail Splitters 90-81 in Frisco Texas a suburb of Dallas Fort Worth. Both Jansen and Schilling were named to the All Tournament Team along with team mate Alex Richter from Lakeville Minnesota. The three combined for 71 of the Vikings 90 points.
Augustana led 43-38 at the half and led by as much as 14 points with 13:44 to play in the second half. Richter led the offense with 26 points. Jansen the Division II player of the year hit for 25 points including 11-of-12 from the free throw line.Schilling hit for 20 points and pulled down 19 rebounds.
Augustana finishes their Championship season at 34-2. Lincoln Memorial ends the season at 34-3.
Kansas City, Mo. – Augustana’s Daniel Jansen has been named the 2016 National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Division II Player of the Year. The national organization made the announcement Thursday morning.
Jansen, a member of the NABC All-America team, will receive his award at the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show on Sunday, April 3, at the Cullen Theater at Wortham Center in Houston, Texas.
Jansen, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward from Orange City is the first men’s basketball player in Augustana history to be named National Player of the Year by the NABC. The MOC Floyd Valley graduate was the first at Augustana to score over 2,000 career points and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,217 points. He also ranks fifth all-time with 845 rebounds in his career. Jansen has been named to seven All-America teams in his career and has been named the NSIC and Central Region Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons.
A three-time All-NSIC First Team selection, Jansen is averaging 20.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. He recently earned his third straight All-NSIC First Team honor. He has set a new single season scoring mark in 2015-16 with 683 points and has scored in double-digits in 31 of 33 games this season, including 20-plus points 18 times. Jansen also became the NSIC’s all-time leading scorer in 2015-16 having scored 1,521 points in 88 career conference games. Jansen is one of just five active players in Division II (11 in all of NCAA basketball) with 2,000-plus career points and 600-plus career rebounds.
Prior to Wednesday night’s game against Tarleton State in the NCAA Divison II Elite Eight, Jansen had started all 128 games of his career. Jansen suffered an injury at shoot around prior to the Elite Eight and sat out Wednesday night’s game, missing the first game of his entire career at Augustana.
The Vikings defeated Tarleton State 86-79 at Dr Pepper Arena on Wednesday night to advance to the Final Four for the first time in program history. Augustana squared off against Western Oregon Thursday night in the national semi finals winning 74-55. Off the bench Jansen scored 13 points in the contest on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor including 3-of-4 from three point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Ellsworth Minnesota grad Casey Schilling is also a key part of the Viking squad. In the semifinal against Western Oregon he scored 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free thow line. Schilling also pulled down 9 rebounds in the contest.
Augustana will take a 33-2 record into the national championship at 2pm on Saturday March 26th when they square off against top ranked Lincoln Memorial in Frisco Texas.
Orange City, Iowa — Riley Van’t Hul has signed a letter of intent to continue his football career at Northwestern College next year.
Van’t Hul lettered two years for the Western Christian High School football team. The 5’8”, 150-pound defensive back and kicker totaled 20 tackles and one interception in leading his team to a state runner-up finish and 11-3 overall record. Van’t Hul also posted 53 points on special teams, going 50-for-58 on extra points and 1-for-1 in field goals. He is the son of Brian and Markie.
“Riley is a great fit at cornerback in our defense and defensive scheme,” commented head Northwestern College football coach Matt McCarty. “Riley is an athletic young man with great potential. Coach Aalbers and I are excited to work with him and watch him develop over the next four years.”