Indianola Basketball Sweeps Newton, Prepares for Championship Saturday
The Indianola girls and boys basketball squads swept Newton Friday night on the road in their last regular season road trip of the season, with the girls winning 63-54 and the boys winning another blowout 70-47. AJ Toigo nearly outscored Newton himself in the boys contest, as he dropped 38 points as the Indians continued their rampage through the back half of the Little Hawkeye Conference. The Indians got ahead early and stayed ahead, leading 38-22 at the half with Toigo earning 27 first half points, then grew the lead to 26 at the end of the third 56-30 before the benches emptied in the fourth. It was a foul-heavy girls game, as the Indians were plagued with foul trouble throughout the contest. Newton got out to an early lead as the Indians shooting touch went cold trailing 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, but the Indians hit seven second quarter three point shots to take a 29-23 halftime lead. After a quiet third quarter from both squads, the Indians rotation began to grow thin as three starters fouled out of the game with several minutes to play, but several role players including freshman Brynn Ortlund came off the bench to hit clutch free throws and secure the victory. Head coach Jeff Janssen tells KNIA News Ortlund scored 6 clutch fourth quarter points, and he thinks the team culture really showed in the win.
“For her to come in and do what she did, I’m ridiculously proud of her and other girls who came in and did well. Emma Kluver, Emily Naughton, haven’t been in that situation much before, Alley May came off the bench after taking a knock in the third quarter to close out the game and make some plays at the end. So girls that aren’t typically in that situation came on and did some great things, and I was really pleased.”
The Indians boys are now on a seven game winning streak and sit at 16-3 and 11-2 in conference play, while the girls are 14-6 and 11-2. Both teams will play Grinnell today, and with a win would be Little Hawkeye Conference Champions. The games can be heard live on 94.3 KNIA, with Andrew Swadner and Rick Wilson on the play-by-play. Pregame coverage begins at 1:45pm, with tip-off at 2.
Indianola Wrestling to Compete for State Meet Spots at District Meet
The Indianola wrestling team, fresh off of qualifying for a spot at the state dual meet, will head to Des Moines East High School today for the district tournament. Grapplers Ryder Downey, Brennan Meacham, Nick Bonnano, and Miles Berg are all looking for a return trip to Wells Fargo Arena, and a top two finish in their weight class will be enough to qualify them in class 3A. Action starts today at noon, with full results on KNIAKRLS.com.
Indianola Swimming Competes at State
After qualifying seven events to the state meet, the Indianola swimming squad will compete in Iowa City today in hopes of reaching the podium. The seven events the Indians qualified:
200 Medley Relay – 21st
200 Freestyle Relay – 18th
400 Freestyle Relay – 14th
Collin Guerts 200 Freestyle – 13th
Collin Guerts 100 Freestyle – 15th
Nathan Pollard 100 Butterfly – 22nd
Nathan Pollard 100 Breaststroke – 6th
Full results can be found on KNIAKRLS.com after the event is complete.