Indianola Basketball Squads Win Little Hawkeye Conference Championship with Saturday Sweep
The Indianola girls basketball squad won an outright Little Hawkeye Conference title with a thrilling 69-65 win over Grinnell Saturday afternoon, while the boys earned a share of the title with Norwalk after taking down the Tigers 96-74 in a doubleheader heard live on 94.3 KNIA. The Indians girls traded blows with the Tigers early on in their contest, with neither team earning much of an advantage leading to a 35-34 Grinnell lead at the half. The Tigers began to pull away in the third quarter building a 10 point lead, but the Indians went on a run in the final few minutes to end the quarter with a 56-55 lead. The fourth quarter provided much of the same excitement despite the Indians leading scorer Lauren Blake fouling out of the contest with over five minutes left. Indianola eventually built a six point lead 65-59 with less than two minutes to go, but missed shots and turnovers allowed the Tigers to get back into the game almost immediately. With the score tied at 65, sophomore Emma Kluver hit a three-point shot to put the Indians up for good, and head coach Jeff Janssen tells KNIA Sports he couldn’t be prouder of his team for overcoming foul trouble, playing their second game in less than a day, and players being in situations they normally might not be in.
“Our girls faced so much adversity this year. We didn’t have many 20 or 30 point wins, or at all really, but we were in these types of games so often. And girls who weren’t in the game typically at the end made plays two straight nights now in a row, and I’m so proud of them and I’m happy for our program to come from where we came last year to what we achieved this year i’m real proud of our girls.”
Blake led the Indians with 23 points, and Kluver scored 15. The Indians boys had some trouble with the Tigers early, but Caden Rehmeier kept the Indians in the game hitting six three point shots and scoring 20 points to lead Indianola to a 51-40 lead at the half after the early deficit. Grinnell fought back to get the score within three at 56-53 with just three minutes left in the quarter, but a 10-0 to end the quarter and a 19-2 overall run put the game away for the Indians. Rehemeier and Drew Kingery led the squad with 20 points apiece, and the Indians had five players score in double figures. The regular season comes to a close for the Indians girls with a 15-6 record, and they will host Des Moines East in the first round of regional play on Wednesday. The Indians boys improve to 17-3, and have their regular season finale on Tuesday hosting SE Polk.
Indianola Boys Swimming Performs Well at State
The Indianola boys swimming team sent seven events to the state meet in Iowa City on Saturday, seeing results as high as seventh place overall and several top 10 finishes. Full results are below.
200 Medley Relay – 15th
Matt Coffelt, Nathan Pollard, Peter Picard, Abram Wadle
200 Freestyle Relay – 14th
Collin Guerts, Oskar Reels, Abram Wadle, Brad LaGrange
400 Freestyle Relay – 10th
Collin Guerts, Brad LaGrange, Matt Edgington, Nathan Pollard
200 Freestyle – Collin Guerts – 11th
100 Freestyle – Collin Guerts – 10th
100 Butterfly – Nathan Pollard – 16th
100 Breastroke – Nathan Pollard – 7th
Indianola Wrestling Qualifies Six to State Meet
The Indianola wrestling team qualified their team to compete at Wells Fargo Arena next Wednesday in the dual tournament, and followed that up by qualifying six wrestlers individually on Saturday. Headed to the state meet this week include:
Ryder Downey – 113lbs – 1st
Cooper Belt – 120lbs – 1st
Brennan Meacham – 152lbs – 2nd
Nick Bonnano 160lbs – 1st
Caleb Watson 182lbs – 2nd
Miles Berg – 195lbs – 2nd
The state wrestling meet will take place this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena. The state dual tournament will start on Wednesday. Full coverage of the state wrestling meet can be found on 94.3 KNIA, and KNIAKRLS.com.