AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State assistant Matt Abdelmassih is leaving for a similar position at St. John’s. Abdelmassih, the lone remaining member of coach Fred Hoiberg’s original staff from 2010-11, was a student manager at St. John’s from 2004-07. He announced his departure from Iowa State on his Twitter account Tuesday, saying that St. John’s holds a “special place” in his heart.

Abdelmassih will reunite with the Red Storm and former star Chris Mullin. A person with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on Monday that Mullin has agreed to coach the Red Storm.

Abdelmassih was considered Hoiberg’s top recruiter, helping sign Royce White, DeAndre Kane and current starter Jameel McKay. He says Iowa State will be a “ridiculously hard place to leave.”

The Hawkeye 10 Conference will open the track and field season tonight with North and South Division meets held in four locations.

The North division girls meet will be hosted by Atlantic and the boys North division meet is in Denison.  North division schools include:  Atlantic, Harlan, Denison, Kuemper Catholic, Lewis Central and St. Albert.

The South division girls meet will be held in Shenandoah and the boys meet is at Clarinda.  South division schools include:  Clarinda, Glenwood, Red Oak, Shenandoah and Creston.

All four meets begin at 4:30 this evening.

With Jim Field.

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Turkey hunting season starts this next weekend (April 4th) for youth in Iowa and the season opens on April 13th for adults. Jim Coffee, a forest wildlife research technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, based in Chariton, says last year’s turkey season was tremendously popular. “We had about 50,000 people that went out in the woods to hear that spring gobble and over 11,000 of them were successful,” Coffee says. “That’s a pretty good success rate, when you look at the wariness of a species like this.”

Coffee offers a few tips for Iowa turkey hunters. “The biggest thing is to be prepared which begins a lot with the mental aspect of getting ourselves up early, thinking about things, always making sure your weapon is in good shape,” Coffee says. “I always emphasize understanding the biology of the bird. If we understand that animal, what it wants to do and when it wants to do it, it helps increase our success rate.”

Hunters from all over will be in Iowa, trying to bag a turkey. “We’ve got a great reputation for having big, healthy birds in Iowa,” Coffee says. “We’re going to have a lot of people, obviously, from the state of Iowa hunting but we draw from a lot of other states. Some years, we have as many as 38 other states represented in the hunting population out there.”

Turkeys are found in all 99 Iowa counties and they like to forage in forests, agricultural lands and pasture lands. There is a new application for smartphone users that will be helpful for hunters called the D-N-R Atlas.  “Open it up and it’s an aerial photograph of the entire state that you can zoom right down to literally see a tree that you want to sit underneath of, as well as all of the public lands available in every county,” Coffee says, “and do a lot of scouting right from your chair.”

Find more information about turkey hunting season at www.iowadnr.gov.

Single session tickets are now available for next month’s running of the Drake Relays. Assistant A-D Ryan Harris says single session prices range from five to 40 dollars. All-Session packages are still available. They cost 95 dollars. Tickets may be purchased in person, over the phone or on line. Tickets for the Saturday session cost 40 dollars.

The Drake Relays are April 22nd through the 26th.

(Radio Iowa)

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have picked Carlos Martinez as their fifth starter and put pitcher Jaime Garcia on the 15-day disabled list. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny made the announcement about the rotation on Monday. Martinez, Garcia and Marco Gonzales had been competing for the final starting spot.

The 23-year-old Martinez went 2-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 57 games for the NL Central champions last year. The right-hander made seven starts. Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, John Lackey and Michael Wacha are the other starters for the Cardinals.

Garcia is sidelined because of soreness in his surgically repaired left shoulder.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Washington Nationals closer Drew Storen exited early because of a blister on his right big toe Monday in a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Storen issued a two-out walk to Kolten Wong, then left the mound in the sixth inning. The setback is the second of the spring for the right-handed Storen, who missed time after undergoing surgery to remove part of a bone in his left hand.

After the game Nationals manager Matt Williams said there is no timetable for Storen’s return, a fact made more troublesome by the news that an MRI exam of reliever Casey Janssen’s shoulder showed rotator cuff tendinitis. Janssen is expected to be Washington’s primary setup man.

The injury report from Washington’s position players isn’t any more encouraging. Anthony Rendon was scheduled to see Dr. James Andrews for an exam on his ailing left knee.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have told reliever Carlos Villanueva he will be on their 25-man opening-day roster.

“We talked to him about him being a part of our club, so today was a good morning for him,” manager Mike Matheny said Monday.

The 31-year-old right-hander agreed to a minor league contract in February and had the right to request his release if not added to the roster by Monday. He will get a $2 million, one-year contract and the chance to earn $500,000 in performance bonuses: $250,000 each for three and six starts.

Under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, St. Louis had until Tuesday to give Villaneuva written notice he would be on the opening-day roster, pay $100,000 retention bonus or release him.