14 for ‘14

Area teams and athletes put together a memorable year in 2014, seeing unparalleled amounts of success.

It was a record-breaking year for many, and several teams and athletes etched their names in history for years to come.

Here’s a look back at the year in sports, with the Creston News Advertiser’s top 14 sports stories of 2014, as compiled by CNA sports editor Scott Vicker and CNA sports writer Larry Peterson.

• 1. Creston/O-M football makes first trip to UNI-Dome — Fifth-year head coach Brian Morrison guided the Panthers through a 7-2 regular season, including 5-1 as district runner-up to Dallas Center-Grimes. The team then went on a 3-1 postseason run — longest in school history — that included a 31-7 win over Greene County and 59-31 victory over Norwalk, both rematches from regular-season triumphs.

Then came the wildest game in the program’s history, which propelled the Panthers to their first UNI-Dome appearance.

In a game that went back and forth the entire night, Creston/O-M avenged its earlier 35-14 defeat to Dallas Center-Grimes with a 50-49 overtime win on the Mustangs’ field in the Class 3A quarterfinal round.

A touchdown pass from all-state quarterback Alex Nielsen to McClain Haines brought the Panthers within a point at 49-48. Morrison elected to go for the win on a two-point conversion. Sophomore running back Chase Shiltz, injured earlier in the game, took a pitch from Nielsen and raced to the left corner of the end zone for the winning conversion, igniting bedlam on the Panthers’ side of the field.

The team was escorted from the city limits to the high school by fire and police vehicles, with numerous other vehicles waiting on the northeast corner of town for the team buses.

On the ensuing trip to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, students stood outside waving banners and homemade signs in an enthusiastic send-off for the semifinals, where the team fell to Sioux City Bishop Heelan, 59-14.

In so many ways, this Panther team broke new ground. There are 12 additions alone just to the program’s single season leaders chart in offensive and defensive categories. A Creston team had never won 10 games before, nor reached the semifinal round of the playoffs.

The Panthers had a record five all-staters, including Nielsen as consensus first team all-state quarterback for both the Des Moines Register and Iowa Newspaper Association. Junior linebacker Seth Maitlen was also on the INA first team. He and Thompson (offensive line) were on the Register’s second team.

Named to the INA second team were Thompson at offensive line, Shiltz at running back and senior Conner Pals as a kicker.

Haines had nine pass interceptions to become the program’s all-time single season leader. Pals is tied for third with seven this year.

Maitlen shattered the single-season tackles record with 181, topping Matt Buck and Trevor Frain’s bests of 147 and 146.

Likewise, Nielsen set the bar high as the new single season passing leader with 2,868 yards and 23 touchdowns, passing G.G. Harris from 2005 in both categories. Nielsen also had 32 combined passing and rushing touchdowns, topping Luke Neitzel’s 28 from 2012.

Shiltz set a new mark of 30 total rushing and receiving touchdowns, and was just 10 yards shy of matching Neitzel’s record of 1,260 rushing yards in 2012. Shiltz now stands second in that category, while passing Neitzel’s record of 20 rushing TDs with 24 this season.

• 2. Mount Ayr wins boys track state championship — No team in the Creston News Advertiser coverage area dominated 2014 quite like the Mount Ayr boys track team did.

The team lived by the mantra “Unbreakable.” And that’s exactly what the Raiders were.

Fifty years after finishing runner-up, the Raiders finally claimed their first ever team title in boys track, rolling to a Class 1A record 77 points at the 2014 Co-ed State Track Meet at Drake Stadium.

Madrid finished second with 58 points.

Senior Noah Larsen’s third win of the meet, this one in the 1,600 meters, clinched the team title for the Raiders with two events left on the blue oval.

The Mount Ayr boys qualified 13 events to the Co-ed State Track Meet, winning six of those events and placing with nine of the 13 entries.

Larsen became one of the breakout stars of the meet, winning the 3,200 meters, the 1,600 meters and anchoring the 4x800 relay to gold.

He took second place behind sophomore teammate Kyle Dolecheck in the 800 meters Saturday morning, providing 18 team points for Raiders. Dolecheck also ran on the winning 4x800 relay and the 4x400 relay in addition to taking fourth in the 400 meters.

Senior Erik Freed also brought home three gold medals, running legs on the winning 4x800, 4x400 and distance medley relay teams.

Jacob Sobotka, who would later go on to be named the 2014 South Central Male Athlete of the Year by the Creston News Advertiser and Osceola Sentinel-Tribune, finished off his high school athletic career with a pair of state championships, running on the 4x400 and distance medley relay teams. He was also a part of the 4x100 relay team that finished seventh.

Junior Lincoln Martin ran on the winning distance medley relay and the 4x400 relay, in addition to running on the 4x100 relay. Junior Grant Staats was the fourth member of the distance medley and also finished seventh in the 400 hurdles and the 4x100 relay.

Sophomore Trevor Anderson, running on the blue oval for the first time in his career, earned a gold medal as the fourth member of the 4x800 team. Senior Cody Stackhouse anchored the seventh-place 4x100 relay.

Junior Joe Ricker finished 12th in the discus throw.

In addition to the state championship, the Raiders won their fourth straight Pride of Iowa Conference championship.

Mount Ayr qualified two relay teams to the 2014 Drake Relays, breaking school records in both events.

The 4x100 relay team of Staats, Sobotka, Freed and Stackhouse broke a 14-year-old school record at the Drake Relays. The 4x400 relay of Dolecheck, Larsen, Freed and Sobotka broke its own school record and finished 14th out of 24 teams in the event, as the lone Class 1A school in the field.

• 3. Raider football makes first trip to UNI-Dome — Using the confidence built by the state track championship in the spring season, the Mount Ayr football team was nearly as dominant as the Raider track team.

After suffering a season-opening loss to eventual Class 2A state semifinalist Albia, the Raiders dominated every team that stepped in its path for the next two months.

Over the course of an 11-game winning streak that propelled Mount Ayr to its first appearance in the state semifinals at the UNI-Dome, the Raiders outscored their opponents 596-138.

Playing in its third state quarterfinal game in eight years, Mount Ayr finally broke through to the Class A semifinals with a 52-8 win over Earlham, in what co-head coach Delwyn Showalter called the biggest game in Raider Stadium history.

The Raiders lost to eventual state champion Logan-Magnolia in the semifinals, 28-7, as two early turnovers led to short fields and scores for the Panthers.

The costly turnovers created a 21-0 deficit just 12:03 into the game, with the Raiders having run a total of 13 offensive plays.

But in making it to the UNI-Dome, the Raiders set the bar high for future generations of Raider football.

“You’ve taken Mount Ayr to the next level,” co-head coach Derek Lambert said in a postgame speech to his team. “You’ve taken us up the rung on that ladder that we talk about all the time. It’s because of your work ethic.

"I'm so proud of the effort you gave," he continued. "Things didn't go our way. We had a lot of things that did not go our way. Yet we still continued to battle. We turned the page and we continued to battle. That's the sign of a good football team, guys. That's a sign of a great football team. I couldn't be prouder to stand anywhere else than in this group right here."

The Raiders were rewarded for their run with four players receiving all-state recognition from the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Senior defensive lineman Joe Ricker became a three-time first-teamer on defensive line. He was joined on the first team by senior linebacker Riley Weehler and senior offensive lineman Tucker Winemiller. Senior Jake Ricker received third-team honors on the offensive line.

• 4. Wolfe leads Creston track — Creston's Jay Wolfe had a junior track campaign to remember.

Wolfe realized a lifelong dream of becoming a state champion when he dominated the field in the Class 3A 800 meters at the 2014 Co-ed State Track Meet.

He crossed the line in 1:53.79, becoming Creston’s first ever state champion at 800 meters. He bested the field by 1.42 seconds and just missed breaking the Class 3A state meet record by .05 seconds.

Wolfe also anchored Creston’s 4x400 relay team to a new school record in the prelims, helping the Panthers qualify for finals in the event.

The team of Bryce Briley, Maxx Walters, Brandon Phipps and Wolfe ran 3:25.81 in prelims to break the previous school record set in 1977. The Panthers qualified in sixth place for finals and finished fifth.

To put the performance into perspective, and to show how much the relay team has progressed throughout the year, at the first meet of the season — the Hawkeye 10 Conference Southern Division Meet — the Panthers finished third in the 4x400 relay, behind two teams from Glenwood.

The Panthers were the only team from the Hawkeye 10 to reach the finals in Class 3A.

The Creston boys 4x800 relay entered the state meet hoping to win the school’s first ever relay state championship. The team had not lost all season, with the exception of the Drake Relays, and was the top Class 3A finisher at the Drake Relays.

A dropped baton in the leadoff leg crushed its hopes of a state championship, but the relay team still finished fifth. Members of the team were Briley, Cooper McDermott, Phipps and Wolfe. Phipps would later place seventh in the 1,600 meters.

Just two weeks after finishing fifth at the Hawkeye 10 Conference Meet, the Creston boys track team was the highest finisher among Hawkeye 10 schools at state track, finishing 15th with 19 points, despite having just five athletes competing at state track.

Wolfe also broke the Drake Relays meet record in the 800 meters, finishing second to Sioux City East’s Carter Lilly. He also broke Jerome Howe’s 46-year-old meet record at Clarinda in the 800 meters.

The Creston girls track team qualified five events to state track and broke four school records out of those five events, while medaling in three events. All five events posted season-best times.

The 4x800 relay finished fourth, while the distance medley relay placed eight. Natalie Mostek broke the school record in the 800 meters, finishing eighth. Maria Mostek broke a school record in the 1,500 meters. The Panthers also ran a season’s best in the 4x400 relay.

• 5. Creston/O-M wrestling — After matching their state rating by taking fourth in the state dual tourney, Creston/O-M was 15th in Class 2A at the traditional state tournament with 36.5 points.

The Panthers, 10-0 in league duals and 17-2 overall, qualified seven wrestlers for state. Three were placewinners in runner-up Chase Shiltz (145 pounds), Trevor Frain sixth at 170 and Seth Maitlen eighth at 195.

It was the 12th time in head coach Darrell Frain’s 14 years as coach that Creston/O-M had at least one wrestler in the state finals.

Shiltz reaching the finals as a freshman and Maitlen getting on the medal stand as a sophomore were highlights, Frain said. On the other hand, second-ranked Trevor Frain getting edged in overtime in the semifinals and ending up sixth, after suffering a torn meniscus in the semifinal match, was “gut-wrenching” coach Frain said.

And, injuries from state duals hampered seniors Kruz Adamson and Adam Baker from performing at top level in their first and only state tournament opportunity, Frain noted.

Trevor Frain, earning the 2014 Mike Abel Most Outstanding Wrestler Award, finished a stellar 189-41 career with three state appearances (two medals) and the 189 victories ranks second on the all-time wins chart behind four-time champion Jake Marlin. He ended up in front of state champs Kalab Evans (181), Andrew Long (180), Keaton Hulett (178), Quin Leith (175) and Collin Bevins (158).

Frain’s 99 career falls ranks only behind Marlin (147), Boone Hayes (109), Andrew Long (107) and Collin Bevins (104). He tied for eighth for most wins in a season (52). Shiltz was right behind with 51, and his 31 falls in a season is tied for 13th.

The Panthers won the John J. Harris Invitational for the sixth time in nine years, as Frain recorded what might be a state record with a five-second pin of Coon Rapids-Bayard’s Reno Doty.

Creston/O-M won its third straight Hawkeye 10 Conference team title.

• 6. Panther golfers finish second — West Delaware put a wrinkle in Creston/O-M's plans for a repeat state golf championship, opening up a 14-stroke lead on the first day and finishing with a 13-stroke margin.

West Delaware (622) won its first boys golf championship, one year after the Panthers achieved the same accomplishment. The Panthers (634) held off Webster City (636) for second place.

Creston/O-M’s defending state medalist, Carson Whittington, earned his fourth state placing medal by tying for third at 71-76 — 147. Centerville’s Alex Moorman, who won as a freshman two years ago and lost by one stroke to Whittington last year, gained his second state title by shooting 70-73 — 143.

After the first day, Moorman led Whittington by one stroke.

In his four years, Whittington placed eighth, fifth, first and tied for third.

Hoepker (83-79) and Christian Groumoutis (87-85) showed the most improvement from day one, and Hunter Sickels shaved a stroke off his opening day round of 80. But overall, there wasn’t enough improvement to cut into West Delaware’s lead.

• 7. "Black Plague" finishes fourth — The Nodaway Valley boys cross country team, ranked first in the state entering the state meet, fell short of its goal to end the season on the deck at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course, as the Wolverines finished fourth in the team standings.

It was an especially tough pill for head coach Darrell Burmeister and his team to swallow, with the Wolverines finishing just eight points back of Denver for third place and 11 points behind West Fork for second place.

Bellevue won the team title with 80 points, while West Fork scored 92 and Denver finished with 95 points. Nodaway Valley scored 103 points.

“Eight points is not a lot,” Burmeister said after the race. “It hurts. Our guys did the best they could today. We had a great season, going undefeated until today and being one of the lowest scoring teams in the state throughout the season.”

Sophomore Shane Breheny paced the Wolverines with a seventh-place finish to earn all-state honors.

Breheny, who took the race out early and set the pace, finished with a clocking of 16:54.7. West Fork’s Peyton Twedt won the race in 16:24.0.

All seven varsity runners return for the 2015 season. Nodaway Valley posted three perfect scores throughout the 2014 season, with several of them coming off a memorable summer camp trip to Salt Lake City, Utah.

• 8. Creston volleyball resurgence — In many respects, it was a fairy tale season.

The team posted a 20-8 record — the best since coach Polly (Gammell) Luther was the team’s setter for a state tournament squad in the late 1980s — and tied Lewis Central for third in the Hawkeye 10 Conference at 6-4. A year earlier the Panthers were 13-14 overall and ninth in the league at 2-8.

The varsity lineup on the court was basically the same. But a new mindset played a part in the turnaround, Luther said.

Seven seniors were among the 15 letterwinners, and Luther has been involved with them since their younger club years. Her daughter Hanna, second-team all-conference setter, is a member of the class.

Others are Brenna Baker, Nicole Haley, Ashley Harris, Marie Hood, Haylee LaMasters and Natalie Mostek, who was named Hawkeye 10 all-conference on the first team, and honorable mention all-state.

Luther said the season got kick-started with successive come-from-behind wins at Council Bluffs St. Albert and Carroll Kuemper, trailing 0-2 in both before winning three straight sets.

Creston won its first regional match at home against Glenwood, 3-1, before falling in straight sets to state qualifier Lewis Central in the semifinals. LC lost to repeat state champion Harlan at the state tourney.

• 9. Schmelzer leads area wrestlers at state — With a win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont's Tyler Foubert in the Class 1A 160-pound finals, Kallan Schmelzer would have become Southwest Valley's first state champion in the first year of a whole-grade sharing agreement between Corning and Villisca.

In addition, Schmelzer would have become the first state champion from Corning since 1983, when Matt Carl won the the Class 1A 105-pound title.

But Schmelzer’s state title hopes took a big hit early in his finals match with Foubert, as Foubert quickly threw Schmelzer to his back in a five-point move, setting the tone for a 14-3 major decision.

Still, it was an impressive run through the tournament for the senior in his first appearance at the state tournament.

Schmelzer lived dangerously throughout the tournament, barely surviving his quarterfinal and semifinal matchups.

In both matches, Schmelzer found himself either on his back, or nearly turned onto his back when the final whistle blew.

Schmelzer finished the season with a 36-3 record, losing to just two wrestlers.

Mount Ayr senior Erik Freed finished sixth at 138 pounds in Class 1A, while junior teammate Joe Ricker placed third at 285. Bedford/Lenox freshman Jared Hensley placed fourth at 113 pounds.

• 10. Kate Patton — Former Murray standout Kate Patton excelled in every sports season.

Patton capped off her volleyball career in 2013 by breaking school records for most assists in a season (666) and assists per game (7.84).

During the 2013-14 basketball season, she led the Lady Mustangs with 18.7 points per game, 99 assists and 139 steals. Her 99 assists ranked 11th in Class 1A and her 139 steals ranked third.

She was named unanimous first-team all-conference in the Bluegrass Conference, named to the all-district team and received second-team all-state honors in Class 1A by the INA.

Patton broke Murray school records for most points in a game (31), most points in a season (429), most points in a career (1,340) and most steals in a career (442).

Throughout her career, Patton had her most success at the state level in track and field.

During her senior year, she won Bluegrass Conference championships in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters, while also placing fourth in the long jump.

She qualified for the Drake Relays in the 100 meter dash for the second straight year, where she finished 14th out of 24 in 12.87 seconds, improving from her 24th seed place.

At the 2014 Co-ed State Track Meet, Patton finished fourth in the Class 1A 100 meter dash, running 12.86 seconds. She placed third in the 200 meter dash in 26.32 seconds and finished 16th in the 400 meter dash in 1:02.93.

She owns Murray school records in the long jump, 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and is part of the school record 4x400 relay team.

In softball, Patton hit .422 with a team-leading five home runs and four triples to go with 29 RBI. She was perfect in stolen bases, going 21-for-21. Patton finished the season with a 24-3 record in the pitching circle with an ERA of 1.61.

She helped Murray win back-to-back Bluegrass Conference championships in softball and was named a first-team all-stater in Class 1A.

She is currently continuing her track and field career at Central College.

• 11. Krejci retires from SWCC — After 36 years with Southwestern Community College, Bill Krejci retired from his position as director of athletics and athletic fundraising on Aug. 29 to move to the Des Moines area with his wife, Teresa, who resigned from Southwestern to accept a position at Drake University.

It didn’t take long after his retirement for Krejci to be inducted into the Southwestern Community College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Krejci joined his mentor, Ron “Fox” Clinton, as the second inductee into the SWCC Athletic Hall of Fame on Dec. 6.

The SWCC Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2013 to honor student-athletes, teams, coaches, administrators and contributors for their outstanding performance or contributions to the SWCC athletic program. Clinton, retired SWCC athletic director, basketball and softball coach and instructor, was the first inductee in March 2013.

Krejci was hired as assistant director of student activities, physical education instructor and head baseball coach after coaching at the 1978 state tournament for Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson’s appearance there.

Krejci served as head baseball coach 22 years at SWCC, and also succeeded Clinton as men’s basketball coach for eight years when Clinton took over the women’s program.

In September 1999, after 22 years at the helm of the baseball program, Krejci resigned from that post to become athletic director/fundraiser at the college. During his time in that role, he increased fundraising for athletics by establishing two events — the SWCC Athletic Fundraiser Auction and the SWCC Golf Tournament — as well as creating the SWCC Athletic Booster Club. These events and activities bring in approximately $50,000 for athletics each year.

Before retiring, Krejci made several key hires as new coaches were named at SWCC for golf (Larry Shimono), volleyball (Ting Liu), baseball (Pedro Hernandez) and men’s basketball (Todd Lorensen). Lorensen succeeded Krejci as athletic director/fundraiser.

• 12. Creston/O-M tennis shines — It was a history-making season for Creston/O-M tennis.

On the boys side, senior Garret Taylor surpassed all other Panthers on record by placing fifth in Class 1A singles. Taylor went 4-1 in the state tournament held at Byrne’s Park Tennis Center, losing only in the quarterfinals to eventual third-place finisher Cam Long of Dubuque Wahlert.

Taylor was the program’s first singles qualifier for state tennis since Tony Hartman in 2006.

He was the first singles medalist since eighth-place John Brentnall in the one-class meet in 1989, and the program’s highest finisher ever. (Brentnall was the No. 1 player on the 1989 Panther squad that placed third in the one-class team tournament.)

Along the way, Taylor ended up higher in the state field than two players who had defeated him earlier in the season. In the match to play in the consolations for fifth place, Taylor avenged a regular-season loss to Red Oak four-time state qualifier Jordan Nelson, who entered state play as a district champ with a 13-1 record.

Senior Audrey Fyock and sophomore Jenna Taylor gained what is believed to be Creston’s first-ever girls doubles victory in state tennis when they topped Ryan Petlevich and Hanna Schoning of Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji, 6-2, 6-3 at the University of Iowa Tennis Center in Iowa City.

It was the first state competition produced from Creston/O-M girls tennis since Amanda Clark in singles in 2000. Creston’s doubles tennis history included participation by Kelly Reed and Janelle Johnson in 1980 and 1981, and Becci Kouri with Janelle Holm in 1983.

• 13. Creston harriers improve at state cross country — Creston's three State Cross Country Meet competitors may not have met their placing goals at the Nov. 1 state meet, but all three improved on their times and places from last year's state meet.

Senior Maria Mostek finished 33rd out of 123 runners in the Class 3A girls race, clocking a time of 15:55.5 in her final trip to the state meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

The one-two punch of Cooper McDermott and Jay Wolfe just missed out on all-state performances, as McDermott finished 13th in 16:37.7 and Wolfe placed 16th in 16:42.2.

McDermott’s time was a 38-second improvement from his state meet race last year, while Wolfe improved by 50 seconds and set a new personal best time by 12 seconds in his final cross country race. Mostek improved her time by 17 seconds from last year.

It was another history-making season for Creston cross country.

Mostek became the program’s first female athlete to qualify for the state meet as an individual four times. McDermott became the first Creston boy since Scott Vicker in 2005 and 2006 to repeat as Hawkeye 10 Conference champion.

With Mostek, McDermott and Wolfe qualifying for state, the Panther cross country program has qualified 18 individuals for state in the past 15 years.

• 14. Former Panthers lead Dutch to NCAA Tournament — After conference coaches picked Central College to finish last in the Iowa Conference during the preseason, a nine-game winning streak propelled the Dutch to the IIAC regular season championship.

Former Creston players senior Spencer Bakerink and freshman Colby Taylor were key parts of the team that also went on to win the conference tournament, earning the Dutch an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

After picking up an 85-72 win over St. Olaf (Minn.) in the opening round of the Division III NCAA Tournament, the Central men’s basketball season came to an end with a 76-71 loss to top-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the second round.

After trailing by 15 points in the second half, the Dutch fought back to within two points in the final minutes before the top-ranked Pointers, playing on their home floor, put the Dutch away for good.

Bakerink started all 29 games for the Dutch during the 2013-14 season and finished third on the team in rebounding and blocked shots.

Taylor earned honorable mention on the Iowa Conference’s all-conference teams as a freshman and was named D3hoops.com’s All-West Region rookie of the year after averaging 9.8 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Honorable mention

January — Tim Jackson’s documentary “Wrestling With Iowa” released with a world premiere screening and DVD sales in Creston. Nodaway Valley’s Darrell Burmeister defeats former all-state player James Larson in first meeting between the two as head coaches.

February — Creston/O-M girls bowling, along with boys individuals Darin Hatfield and Blake Eddy qualify for state bowling. Creston/O-M girls finish ninth at state bowling.

March — Nodaway Valley boys basketball falls short of a third straight trip to state in a 59-57 overtime loss to East Mills. Kristopher “Kritter” Hayes finishes in top five at national hunting competition. Murray football coach Keith Shields resigns after five playoff appearances in 15 seasons and a runner-up finish in 2011.

May — Katlin Briley named second-team All-American infielder at regional champion DMACC and signs with Briar Cliff. DMACC finished third in the national and Briley was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player at the Division II JUCO National Championships. Brett Watson hired to lead Panther boys basketball. Former Creston athletes Kierra Smith and Audrey Bolinger, along with former Orient-Macksburg athlete Morgan James, qualify for nationals in track. Trevor Frain and Brandon Phipps share CHS Outstanding Male Athlete Award, while Chelcee Downing wins CHS Outstanding Female Athlete Award.

June — Brent Douma named Creston girls basketball coach. Creston boys soccer, ranked 12th, reaches substate semifinals, losing to No. 5 Glenwood, 2-1, ending the year 12-5. Creston sophomore Madison Hance ties for 31st at girls state golf. Ceremony held to honor Creston’s five straight conference champion baseball teams starting with the 1989 team.

July — Haylee LaMasters’ perfect game clinches share of the Hawkeye 10 Conference softball title for Creston. Dan McKinney retires after 19 years of coaching at Orient-Macksburg. Mount Ayr reaches softball regional final after starting the year 1-8. Creston baseball beats top-seeded Winterset for first district win since 2008. Lenox baseball reaches substate final, losing to Underwood, 2-1 in extra innings. Mount Ayr’s Jacob Sobotka named Defensive MVP for the victorious South team in Shrine Bowl.

August — Former Creston athlete Scott Belger, who was one pitch away from winning a state baseball championship as a Panther player, finally wins a state championship, as head coach of Southeast Polk.

October — Longtime KSIB sports broadcaster Gary Bucklin joins Creston Community Schools Hall of Fame. Local fans join the fun at Kauffman Stadium as Royals reach Word Series.

November — Creston junior Camryn Somers swims on Waukee’s state champion 200-yard medley relay at state swimming meet. Former Murray standout Seth Nerness named first-team all-state and wins state football championship with Southlake Christian Academy in North Carolina. The SWCC sport shooting team ended its fall season undefeated as a team by winning Nov. 8 in cold, snowy conditions at the Warren County Izaak Walton League in Indianola at a conference event hosted by Simpson College.

December — Nodaway Valley boys basketball coach became just the 37th coach in Iowa High School Athletic Association history to record 500 career victories. Southwestern Community College men’s basketball enters Christmas break with 12-3 record and ranked 11th in the nation.