The mother of a Johnston baseball player whose battle with cancer was featured during the Little League World Series has died. Jen Garcia was being interviewed on E-S-P-N about her fight with pancreatic cancer and the bracelets the Johnston Little League team wore to support her as son J.T. came to bat against California in the Little League World Series. The interview was interrupted when J.T. hit a home run and Garcia stood and cheered.

The video of the interview drew national attention. Garcia died Tuesday morning. She was an elementary teacher in Urbandale and the superintendent of schools there sent out an email informing parents of her death. The email called Garcia a “highly valued member” of the school team and someone who “will be deeply missed by all of those who had the pleasure of knowing her.”

(Radio Iowa)

CHICAGO (AP) — Jon Lester will start the Chicago Cubs’ playoff opener. Manager Joe Maddon announced Tuesday he was going with Lester over Kyle Hendricks and 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta in Game 1 of the NLDS against the New York Mets or San Francisco Giants. The series opens at Wrigley Field on Friday, with the Cubs’ sights set on winning their first World Series since 1908 after leading the majors with 103 wins.

Lester (19-5) was second in the majors to Hendricks with a 2.44 ERA. Hendricks (16-8, 2.13) will start Game 2 at home on Saturday. Arrieta (18-8, 3.10) will pitch Game 3 on the road, with John Lackey (11-8, 3.35) starting Game 4 if necessary. Lester was 10-2 with a 1.74 ERA at Wrigley Field. Hendricks also dominated at home, going 9-2 with a 1.32 ERA. Arrieta was shaky down the stretch, going 3-3 with a 4.33 ERA in his last seven starts.

Nodaway Valley Cross Country Invitational
Monday, October 3, 2016
Greenfield

GIRLS

Team Results

1. Griswold 60
2. East Union 100
3. Woodward-Granger 138
4. Earlham 141
5. West Central Valley 156
6. I-35 210
7. Clarinda 217
8. Mount Ayr 219
9. SW Valley 229
10. Pleasantville 298
11. Van Meter 31

Individual Results

1. Reagan Weinheimer, Nodaway Valley 20:52.15
2. Eva Fisk, Earlham 21:34.71
3. Elise Emmick, Southeast Warren
4. Anna Young, Griswold
5. Maddie Lohmann, Diagonal
6. Jena Proffitt, East Union
7. Joanna Topham, Griswold
8. Abbey Harris, West Central Valley
9. Shelby VanFossen, Clarinda
10. Gillian Stanley, West Central Valley

BOYS

Team Results

1. Nodaway Valley 46
2. Lenox 95
3. Diagonal 106
4. Earlham 165
5. Orient-Macksburg 193
6. West Central Valley 239
7. Clarinda Academy 253
8. East Union 253
9. I-35 291
10. Woodward-Granger 295
11. Bedford 309

Individual Results

1. Shane Breheny, Nodaway Valley 17:41.43
2. David Thompson, Griswold 17:51.00
3. Brycen Wallace, Nodaway Valley
4. Rylan Heffernan, West Central Valley
5. Dominic Cresta, I-35
6. Brayten Funke, Nodaway Valley
7. Skyler Rawlings, Nodaway Valley
8. Tyler Breheny, Nodaway Valley
9. Matthew Dickinson, Nodaway Valley
10. Thomas Payne, Earlham

The Woodbine Cross Country Invitational was held on Monday with Rolling Valley Conference teams racing for the conference meet at the same time.

Woodbine Invite

BOYS

Team Results

1. Tri-Center 45
2. Boyer Valley 46
3. Missouri Valley 96
4. Woodbine 98
5. Underwood 109
6. Logan-Magnolia 145
7. St. Albert 168
8. IKM-Manning 175
9. Whiting 269

Individual Results

1. Zach Ambrose, Boyer Valley 17:52.32
2. Gage Graeve, Missouri Valley 18:06.76
3. Joe Weber, Boyer Valley
4. Connor Garrett, Boyer Valley
5. Kade Jendsen, Audubon
6. Justin Ambrose, Boyer Valley
7. Caleb Chmelka, Tri-Center
8. Dalton Fischer, AHSTW
9. Jake Wohlers, Tri-Center
10. Carter Dollen, Tri-Center

GIRLS

Team Results

1. Underwood 32
2. Missouri Valley 91
3. Logan-Magnolia 104
4. IKM-Manning 113
5. AHSTW 117
6. Tri-Center 142
7. West Harrison 165
8. Exira-EHK 165
9. St. Albert 202

Individual Results

1. Karley Larson, Underwood
2. Ryann Portch, Underwood
3. Payton Sporrer, IKM-Manning
4. Taylor Sporrer, Logan-Magnolia
5. Katlyn Holaday, CAM
6. Emily Copic, Exira-EHK
7. Kiley Cook, Underwood
8. Jaycie Schueman, AHSTW
9. Alexis Cook, Missouri Valley
10. Mackenzie Christensen, Logan-Magnolia

Rolling Valley Conference Results

GIRLS

Team Results

1. West Harrison 25
2. Exira-EHK 30

Individual Results

1. Katlyn Holaday, CAM
2. Emily Copic, Exira-EHK
3. Erin Weber, Boyer Valley
4. Katlyn Tremel, Boyer Valley
5. Shelbi Wilson, Exira-EHK

BOYS

Team Results

1. Boyer Valley 20
2. Woodbine 35

Individual Results

1. Zach Ambrose, Boyer Valley
2. Joe Weber, Boyer Valley
3. Connor Garrett, Boyer Valley
4. Justin Ambrose, Boyer Valley
5. Dakota Holaday, CAM

Links for Full Results

woodbine-jv-v-boys-invitational-results
woodbine-jv-v-boys-rvc-results
woodbine-jv-v-girls-invitational-results
woodbine-ms-invitational-results
woodbine-ms-rvc-results

Corner Conference Tournament – 1st Round

(3-1) East Mills 25-12-25-25 Fremont-Mills 9-25-18-22
(3-0) Essex 25-25-25 South Page 8-9-6
(3-0) Sidney 25-25-25 Clarinda Academy 8-5-6
(3-0) Stanton 25-25-25 Heartland Christian 8-5-11

Pride of Iowa Conference

(3-0) Mount Ayr 25-25-25 Murray 12-3-18
(2-0) Southeast Warren 25-25 Clarke 14-14
(2-0) Southeast Warren 25-25 Melcher-Dallas 14-13

Bluegrass Conference

(3-0) Diagonal 25-25-25 Orient-Macksburg 17-16-12

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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AMES, Iowa (AP) — Trever Ryen was sitting in a dorm room at Northern Iowa watching Iowa State playing Texas when he got the itch to play football again. Ryen had given up the game for a track scholarship with the Panthers. But when Ryen saw the Cyclones battle the Longhorns under the lights on national television, he realized he was letting his dream of playing at Iowa State pass him by.

“In my head I was like, ‘Man. It’d be so sweet playing at Jack Trice (Stadium) at night,'” Ryen said. “After watching that game I was like, ‘You know what? Screw it. I’m going to go try to live the dream.'”

The Cyclones are thrilled he did. Ryen, a junior wide receiver, enters this weekend’s game at Oklahoma State as the nation’s leader in punt return average. e is averaging 22.3 yards on seven returns. Four of them have gone at least 25 yards, with a long of 55.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In the aftermath of a lopsided loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith acknowledged that “you own this right now, you wear it and it stinks.” The Chiefs will smell for quite a while.

Their embarrassing 43-14 loss on Sunday night left them 2-2 through their first four games, and with more questions than answers heading into a week off. Their offense was inept, their defense was fileted by Ben Roethlisberger and Co., and even their usually solid special teams were a stumbling mess.

“You’d love to go into it on a better note,” Smith said of the bye, “but who knows? Whether we like it or not, it’s here. We have to use it. Get healthy, regroup and bounce back from this.” Smith was sacked four times by a Steelers defense that had just one through the first three games. And one week after picking off six passes and forcing eight turnovers against the Jets, the Chiefs didn’t force a single turnover against the Steelers. Roethlisberger was 22 of 27 for 300 yards and five scores.

Officials with the Griswold School District late Monday afternoon said in a social media post, “Due to limited numbers and player injuries,” [the district feels] “it is in the best interest of [its] football players and program to cancel this week’s game at Earlham.” Officials added, “The district will continue to evaluate weekly and will make determinations concerning future games at a later time.”

The Earlham School District first posted the change notice on its social media page. The Districts said “This circumstance is especially disappointing as this was supposed to be the Homecoming game. This is an unfortunate situation that is out of the District’s control.” The District said “All other Homecoming activities planned for this week will take place as scheduled.”