Josef Newgarden will try to keep his winning streak alive at the Iowa Speedway this weekend. The back-to-back Indy 500 champion has won six times at the Iowa Speedway, including both ends of an IndyCar twinbill last year. The first of two races this weekend is Saturday night’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250. Newgarden says the Iowa Speedway is a uniqiue oval track in terms of the physical challenge it offers.

Newgarden says the partial repaving in both sets of turns will make it a different track this weekend.

Newgarden says Friday afternoon practice runs will be even more important.

The weekend concludes with Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Craig Ballard has been named an assistant coach for the University of Iowa gymnastics team, head coach Jen Llewellyn announced Thursday.

“I am thrilled to welcome Craig to our coaching staff,” said Llewellyn. “I have known Craig for over a decade and have high respect for the career he has built for himself. Craig brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience for our sport. He has had many great accomplishments in his 17-year coaching career, and I am confident he will have an immediate impact on our program through his passion, work-ethic and vision for greatness.”

Ballard joins the Hawkeyes after 13 seasons at Kent State where he served as an assistant coach for 12 seasons before being named associate head coach in 2024. Prior to Kent State, Ballard served as an assistant coach at Bowling Green and Rhode Island.

In his time with the Golden Flashes he helped lead them to six regular season Mid-American Conference championships and nine NCAA postseason appearances. During his tenure, he coached six MAC Gymnast of the Year, three MAC Senior Gymnast of the Year, three MAC Specialist of the Year, and two MAC Freshmen of the Year. Ballard was instrumental in having eight individual MAC champions and two WCGA All-Americans. In the classroom the Golden Flashes had 153 student-athletes recognized as WCGA Academic All-Americans.

Prior to his arrival at Kent State, Ballard spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Bowling Green. There, Ballard helped spearhead a turnaround that saw the Falcons go from last place in the MAC to fourth and improve seven positions in the final national rankings. He guided six gymnasts to NCAA Central Regional berths in three years.
Ballard spent the 2008 season as the assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Rhode Island, earning Eastern College Athletic Conference Assistant Coach of the Year honors as the Rams took second place at the conference championships.

Ballard got his start in collegiate coaching as a team manager/student coach at West Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies in 2006.
A native of Morgantown, W.V., Ballard and his wife, Allyson, have two sons, Reed and Carter Thomas.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s wrestling program led the nation in attendance for the 17th straight year, it was announced Thursday by the National Wrestling Media Association.

The Hawkeyes drew an average of 14,847 fans per home date during the 2023-24 season with 89,082 fans entering the doors of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa drew capacity crowds of 14,847 in all six of its home duals.

Along with having the top home attendance figures, Iowa was the top draw for seven opponents in 2023-24 – Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Penn, California Baptist, Illinois and Northwestern.

The 14,847 average is the third-highest average attendance in college wrestling history, second only to the Hawkeyes’ 14,905 average in 2021-22 and 14,858 average in 2022-23.

Iowa has led the nation in attendance in each season of head coach Tom Brands’ tenure (attendance totals weren’t tracked during the 2020-21 season due to most venues having no-spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This was the 15th straight year the Hawkeyes have averaged more than 8,000 fans.

Iowa has led the nation in home attendance in 21 of the 22 seasons it has been tracked. Penn State was second (51,360/7,337 avg.) in 2023-24, while Iowa State (40,150/6,691 avg.) ranked third.

First Team

Pitcher (Brody Holmes*) Stanton-Senior
Catcher (Jacob Martin*) Stanton-Junior
Utility (Bode Wyman*) Griswold-Junior
Utility (Gabe Johnson) Sidney-Senior
IF (Gavin Ford*) Stanton-Junior
IF (Dylan Reynolds) Stanton-Sophomore
IF (Zane Johnson) Griswold-Junior
IF (Lincoln Palmer) East Mills-Senior
OF (Zach Thornburg*) East Mills-Senor
OF (Michael Hensley) Sidney-Junior
OF (Nolan Grebin) Stanton-Senior
*Elite Team

Second Team

Pitcher (Ryan Sayers) East Mills-Junior
Catcher (Dylan Linkenhoker) Fremont-Mills-Senior
Utility (Tony Racine) Essex-Senior
Utility (Brayden Lockwood) Griswold-Sophomore
IF (Rowen Howe) Fremont-Mills Sophomore
IF (Seth Ettleman) Sidney-Senior
IF (Sheldon Vandenberg) East Mills-Junior
IF (Kaden Buick) Essex-Junior
OF (Qwintyn Vanatta) Essex-Senior
OF (Fletcher Proctor) East Mills-Junior
OF (Devon Taylor) Stanton-Junior

Honorable Mention

(Landon Baker) Fremont-Mills-Junior
(Nollan Smith) Griswold-Sophomore
(Bradley Franks) Essex-Senior
(Max Yeager) Stanton-Junior
(Broden Zimmerman) Fremont-Mills-8th Grade
(Kolby Klindt) Griswold-Sophomore
(Gavin Crom) Fremont-Mills-8th Grade

Iowa junior Xavier Nwanpka is using summer drills to try and elevate his game. The former Southeast Polk star started 12 games at strong safety and is part of a standout defense that will return eight starters from a 10 win team.

Nwankpa had 42 tackles and an interception last season and as he enters his third season is looking to become more of a leader.

He is part of an experienced safety corps that saw Quinn Schulte and Sebastian Castro return for their final season.

The Hawkeyes open the season at home on August 31st against Illinois State.

Summer workouts are underway for a new-look Iowa women’s basketball team. Caitlin Clark is one of several key players gone from a team that made it to back-to-back national title games and long-time assistant Jan Jensen took over after the retirement of Lisa Bluder. Jensen says even without the coaching change this would be a new era.

Jensen says the Hawkeyes are focused on the future.

Jensen says an incoming recruiting class of six players that stuck with the program despite the coaching change has made an immediate impact.

Jensen says it is a vocal group of newcomers.

Hawkeye Ten 

Lewis Central 10, LeMars 2
Harlan Community 3, Council Bluffs Lincoln 0

Raccoon River Conference

Boone 11, Nevada 8

Other Scores

Valley 6, Dowling Catholic 2

Class 1A

Region 3 

Collins-Maxwell 12, Glidden-Ralston 0
Ankeny Christian 9, Coon Rapids-Bayard 8
Earlham 15, CAM 1
Riverside 2, Woodbine 1

Region 4 

Martensdale-St Marys 10, Lenox 0
Orient-Macksburg 11, Stanton 1
Griswold 6, St. Albert 0
Essex 13, Fremont-Mills 11

Class 2A

Region 2

Audubon 9, East Sac County 0
Emmetsburg 13, Sioux Central 10
MVAOCOU 12, Pocahontas Area 4

Region 3

Van Meter 11, ACGC 0
Logan-Magnolia 9, AHSTW 1
Treynor 10, Underwood 0
Missouri Valley 4, Shenandoah 0

Region 4

Regina Catholic 12, Woodward-Granger 0
Ogden 6, Madrid 3
Kuemper Catholic 4, Manson-NW Webster 2

Region 5

Cardinal 3, Grand View Christian 0
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 12, Van Buren County 1
Interstate-35  8, Southwest Valley 0
Pleasantville 10, Nodaway Valley 0

The Audubon Wheeler softball team had another impressive win on the year beating the East Sac County Raiders 9-0 in the Class 2A Region 2 quarterfinal round on Wednesday night. A massive part of the Wheelers success was the steadfast pitching from freshman Riley Miller. The ball game started off hitless in the first inning, but a tough tone was set by Miller early on striking out the first 3 Raiders batters she faced. In the bottom of the second inning Audubon managed to score 2 quick runs from two RBI singles one by Addie Hocker and the other by Anna Larsen. Then with two outs in the bottom of the second, Mattie Nielsen hit a 2-run homer to have Audubon up 4-0. The Wheelers added on to their lead in the bottom of the third with a bunt and dropped catch at home to make the game 5-0.

East Sac County continued to struggle at the plate only managing to get their first hit in the top of the fifth from Kamryn Ross. Up until the fifth inning Miller had collected 9 strikeouts. Ross’s hit could not create a rally and the next Raider hit a line fly towards left for out number three. In the bottom of the sixth inning Audubon produced 4 more runs starting with 3 straight base hits, including a Jordan Porsch 2 RBI single to build a 7-0 score.  The Wheelers wouldn’t stop there as Larsen had another big swing aimed at right field to bring in 2 more runs. Making the score 9-0 for Audubon. The top of the 7th showed some life for East Sac County as they garnered 2 base hits to put 2 runners on, but Miller would put away the final two batters with a strikeout and pop fly.

When looking back on the Wheelers strong win against the Raiders, Head Coach Amanda Schwery acknowledged the effort from her team on the night.

Miller had another impactful evening with 7 innings pitched, no runs, 13 strikeouts, and giving up only 4 hits. Nielsen swung well in the box going 2-4 with 2 RBI’s. Larsen also stuck out with her 2 hits and 3 RBI’s. Coach Schwery believes that her team’s confidence, needs to be a focus in their next round of post season play.

Audubon’s next game will be at home for the third round of regional play against the Ridge View Raptors. Coach Schwery will be preaching to her team to never underestimate an opponent.

East Sac County finishes the year with a record of 10-15.