South Winn’s Derek Dietzenbach took third in the 3000-meter run on Friday afternoon at the Upper Iowa Conference Indoor Track Meet at Luther College. Dietzenbach’s 11:15.03 effort helped the Warriors score 118 team points, good enough to claim the top spot. (Jerry Wadian photo)

Warriors impress at UIC Indoor

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The South Winneshiek boys’ and girls’ track and field teams competed at the Upper Iowa Conference Indoor Meet on Friday, March 23, at Luther College in Decorah.

Both squads performed exceptionally well as the boys took first overall and the girls came in second.

West Central’s Mary McDonough opened the indoor track season with this heave in the shot during the UIC Meet Friday at Luther College. (Jerry Wadian photo)

Blue Devils kick off track season

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

West Central opened the 2018 track season Friday with the UIC Indoor Meet at Luther College in Decorah.

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams did well with sixth-place finishes.

Lucas Wurzer is one of the very few freshmen out for NFV track this season. He is shown starting off in the 400 dash Friday at the UIC Indoor Track Meet in Decorah.

NFV boys 2nd at UIC

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The NFV boys’ track team may have surprised some people in the UIC Indoor Track Meet Friday when the TigerHawks finished second by a mere two points at Luther College in Decorah.

South Winn won, as expected by most in preseason polls, with 118 points. However, NFV made it a razor-thin margin with 116 points.

Brinna Ehler just missed a bronze medal in the shot with this heave of 31’09” Friday at the UIC Indoor Track Meet at Luther College. Her fourth-place finish earned five team points for NFV.

TigerHawk girls third at UIC Indoor

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

While Kee High blew away the field at Friday’s UIC Indoor Track Meet at Luther College in Decorah, NFV finished a very respectable third with 85 points, two points better than Central/Elkader.

TigerHawk veterans Marin Ehler and Ryin Lehmann won gold in the shot and 55 hurdles, respectively. The 4x60 shuttle hurdle also brought back gold. Rachel Reicks earned a silver medal in the long jump, while Callie Halverson won bronze medals in the 800 and the 4x800.

Alice and Roger Magnan recently gave the Upper Iowa University wrestling program a $100,000 challenge gift that could mean $200,000 for the program if other alumni and friends will match the gift. Roger was a two-time conference champion at UIU. Alice (DeLong) Magnan is a Maynard native who graduated from UIU. The couple are adamant in how much wrestling has meant to their lives and want UIU to win a national championship. (submitted photo)

Upper Iowa wrestling gets $100,000

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The Upper Iowa wrestling program could get up to $200,000 under a new challenge gift.

Former UIU wrestler Roger Mangan, a 1962 graduate from Chicago, has given the wrestling program a gift of $100,000, with the challenge that other alumni match the gift dollar for dollar.

Magnan was the IIAC champion at 147 in 1959 and 1960. After graduation, the history major, with minors in political science and French, went on to coach for 16 years in Iowa before becoming an educational consultant.

Indoor track opens in Waverly

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The NFV boys’ and girls track teams opened the indoor season Tuesday, March 13, at the Wartburg High School Meet in Waverly.

No team scores are kept at this particular meet, but 36 schools from all four classes converged on the Waverly campus for this season-opener.

Jace Burrow (55 hurdles) and Marin Ehler (shot) each won gold medals; both athletes won the same event last season in Waverly.

Chandler Douglas and Caleb O’Hare finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 3200. Douglas also finished fourth in the 800, and O’Hare was sixth in the 1600.

Upper Iowa University wrestlers brought home some very impressive trophies from the DII National Wrestling Tournament they hosted over the weekend in Cedar Rapids. The team won the fourth-place trophy (front, center). Individual awards went to (front, l-r) Maleek Williams (runner-up) at 125 and Josh Walker, the 133 pound champion; (back) NFV alum Nick Baumler (seventh at 197) head coach Heath Grimm (National Wrestling Coaches Association DII Tournament Coach of the Year) and Damien Penichet (fourth at 149). (Jerry Wadian photo)

UIU wrestlers fourth, crown 4 All-Americans

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The Upper Iowa University wrestling program walked away from the DII National Wrestling Championships with enough trophies to fill another display case.

Of the six wrestlers who qualified for the National Tournament, which UIU hosted in Cedar Rapids Friday and Saturday, four earned All-American status by finishing in the top eight. 

As a team, the Peacocks finished fourth, marking the third time UIU has finished that high since joining DII.

Head coach Heath Grimm won a pair of honors. After the tourney, he was named the National Wrestling Coaches Association DII Tournament Coach of the Year.

Of the four new All-Americans, Josh Walker became the newest Peacock to win a national title. Maleek Williams was a runner-up, Damian Penichet finished third, and NFV alum Nick Baumler placed seventh.

Walker went 4-0 at 133.  The senior said afterwards, “I always wondered what it’d be like to be a national champion, but it’s still sinking in that I actually won.” 

Walker won two matches by fall and his quarterfinal on a 2-0 decision. 

In the championship match, Walker faced a wrestler he has beaten twice before in the season, 4-0 and 10-3.

“I knew he’d be studying a lot of film from those matches,” Walker commented.

The champion admitted, “I really didn’t study a lot of film. I decided not to worry about him. I only wanted to worry about myself and what I can do.”

While the champion had concentrated on his offense throughout the season, it was defense that won the title. He scored his only point on a second-period escape and held his opponent on the mat through the third period for a 1-0 victory. 

LeVirgil Monroe and his wife, Marie, display with the plaque proclaiming LeVirgil as the newest member of the NFV Wrestling Hall of Fame. A wrestler for North High, Monroe went on to win 275 duals as the head coach at Valley High School. (submitted photo)

Monroe to NFV Wrestling HOF

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

In a special ceremony Sunday, March 4, LeVirgil Monroe became the latest member of the NFV Wrestling Hall of Fame.

According to NFV head wrestling coach Jacob Pedersen, “In addition to his stellar career, Monroe is a great ambassador for the sport. I have great respect for the way that Monroe carries himself and the way he can make kids love wrestling. That is what I am trying to model in my program. He has helped our wrestlers, and has helped me become a better coach, and has helped me find that middle ground with our student-athletes.”

“It’s quite an honor for a country boy who started wrestling for the high school so many years ago,” stated an emotional Hall of Famer.

Monroe wrestled for North High. However, the only way Monroe’s father would sign the paperwork to allow his son to wrestle in eighth grade was to get LeVirgil to agree to allow his brother, Leo, to play baseball in the summer.

“If you know anything about life on a farm, you know the difference in the level of chores from the winter season to the summer season, and who got the better end of that deal!” laughed Monroe.

UIU 197-pounder Nick Baumler works over an opponent during a recent home match. The NFV grad had a memorable weekend, being named to the NSIC Second Team All-Conference squad, then qualifying for the DII National Wrestling Tournament after finishing second at the Super Regional 3 in St. Cloud, Minn. (Kris Van Sickle photo) 

UIU sends 6 to Nationals

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

When Upper Iowa University hosts the 2018 DII National Wrestling Tournament on March 9-10 in Cedar Rapids, it will have six of its wrestlers competing for national titles.

The six Peacocks earned the trip to Cedar Rapids by finishing in the top four at the Super Regional 3 Tournament in St. Cloud, Minn., over the weekend.

Fourth-ranked Josh Walker led UIU with a title at 133. He became the first Upper Iowa grappler to earn the honor since Trevor Franklin in 2012; ironically, Franklin also wrestled at 133.

NFV grad Nick Baumler was the runner-up at 197. The West Union resident moved to 30-9 on the season by winning three of his four matches.

South Winn junior Levi Lukes gets ready to fire a three-pointer during recent Warrior basketball action. In a tight 61-55 loss to Postville Thursday night, Lukes dropped 25 points, including five three-pointers. (Zakary Kriener photo)

SW stumbles in postseason play

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The Warrior boys’ basketball team began the 2017-2018 postseason Thursday night, Feb. 15, on the road against Postville.

After defeating the Pirates in both regular season matchups, the Warriors had high hopes of advancing; however, Postville had a different agenda as it ended SW’s season with a 61-55 loss.

“This was a tough one to swallow,” recapped Warrior coach Blake Moen. “Our guys gave a great effort in the third quarter to get a lead going into the fourth; we just did too many things to hurt ourselves and weren’t able to finish the game.”