Knoxville Boys Tennis 4th at 1A District
The Knoxville Boys Tennis Squad finished just one point out of 3rd place which would have advanced the Panthers to the Preliminary Sub State. Knoxville scored eight points and finished 4th while Oskaloosa had nine. Pella won the district while Pella Christian was 2nd. The Panthers lone individual placement was the doubles team of Grant Liston and Joe Ferguson, who finished in 4th.
Panthers Boys Golf Wins South Central Conference For A 2nd Straight Season
On the golf links the Knoxville boys left no doubt at the South Central Conference breezing to a team championship carding a 309, 28 shots ahead of runner-up Clarke. Evan Smith was conference individual champion with a 73. Other scores were Kail Arkema with a 76, Carson Uitermarkt with a 79, Beau Leisure with an 81, Noah Keefer shot an 89, and George Gilbert had a 96.
Knoxville Track Squads 8th At Pella Invitational
In track and field, the Panthers headed across the river to Pella for the final regular season meet of the year and both placed 8th. For the boys, T.J. DeJong won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, Kaiden Smith took 3rd in the high jump and the 4×400 meter relay team was also 3rd. On the girls side, the two Panthers throwers brought home 2nd place medals with Ciara Heffron in the discus and Ashlyn Finarty in the shot put.
Knoxville Soccer Both Lose 3-2 In Respective Matches
Both Knoxville Soccer Squads endured tough 3-2 losses in their respective matches. The girls fell behind Ballard in the first half, but opened the second just :31 in to tie on a Hanna Linsley goal. The Bombers did not wait long to respond, just a little over 5:00 later to make it 2-1. Ava VanDonsselaar got Knoxville’s final goal with just over 20:00 left, but :17 later Ballard got what would be the game winner. In Osceola, the boys also trailed early but tied it with a Tyler Kearney goal off an assist from Emmett Schmidt, but the Indians countered early in the 2nd half. With 13:00 left, the Schmidt to Schmidt connection worked as Ezra scored on an Emmett assist to even the score at two. The Panthers got a great look with ten seconds left in regulation but could not find the net and Clarke put it away in overtime. The girls are 8-6 while the boys are 6-7. The girls will host Newton on Friday while the boys head to West Marshall to play Central Iowa United on Thursday.