KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The agent for Brandon Siler says the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker tore his Achilles tendon during practice and will miss the entire season.  David Canter confirmed the injury in a text message to The Associated Press on Wednesday. He did not know which Achilles was hurt on Tuesday, but he said Siler has already had surgery to repair it.  Siler was competing for the middle linebacker spot beside Derrick Johnson after signing with the Chiefs as a free agent. He had looked good throughout fall camp after picking up 44 tackles, one sack and one interception in 12 games with the San Diego Chargers last season.

     IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The corn-themed trophy for the annual Iowa-Iowa State football game is history.  But fans will still see and hear more farming advertising than ever under agreements between two agricultural groups and the two schools.  The Iowa Corn Growers Association will run ads during all 12 radio broadcasts of Iowa games this fall and it is sponsoring Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz’s weekly television show. It will advertise in game-day programs, and get similar publicity through Iowa State.  The Iowa Farm Bureau has signed a five-year agreement with Iowa and plans to sell Iowa-grown food products at Iowa State games this fall.  Some fans are questioning the agreements after the corn growers group helped design the trophy that was scrapped Tuesday after critics said it didn’t have enough to do with football.

By:  Bruce Henderson, Head Coach

Trojanns
The Trojanns will try to reload as they start the season with only 2 of last year’s top 5 runners.  Ali Krogman leads the way and ran a personal best at the recent Atlanticfest road race.  Krogman has finished 5th, 1st, and 7th at the last 3 state meets.  Sophomore Liz Siggins is the other returner from last year’s top 5.  Six other seniors could figure into the varsity battle this year.  The top so far has been 2nd year runner Alex Hartwig. Returning letter winners Katie Blake, Malachi Wickman and Tiara Edelman have all run in the state meet.  Senior Alisha Hinzmann looks likely to grab a varsity spot, as does senior sprinter Melanie Nielsen.  Junior Caroline Trewet and sophomore Megan Plambeck look good and a trio of freshmen have varsity potential.
Practically all of the Trojanns’ competition will come from the Hawkeye 10. Harlan is the favorite, but Glenwood, Shenandoah, and L.C. were all within 6 points of the Trojanns at conference last year.  They all have more returners than the Trojanns, so it will take good performance for the Trojanns to beat these teams.  Griswold should have a very good team in area meets.  DCG and Ballard were tough on the district level last year, but both lose 3 of their 4 top runners

Trojans
It will be an interesting season for the Trojans.  They are filled with depth and potential, but have very few proven varsity runners.  Tian Siggins was our 2nd leading point getter last year and should be improved in 2011. Seniors Delsin Arnold, and Derek Von Seggern and Juniors Sam Bateman and Jake Auerbach have lettered and should figure in the mix this year.  Josiah Williams has looked very good so far in practice and is expected to be a good varsity runner.  Newcomer sophomore Preston Hoye and senior Ryan McDermott could also figure in the mix.  Senior Blake Esbeck, with state track experience, has recently decided to give cross country a try and could have a big impact. With a big squad of 32 the Trojans should be deep on both the varsity and J.V. levels. There is likely to be at least one surprise varsity runner this year.
The Hawkeye 10 was very tough and had seniors galore in 2010.  The Trojans hope to improve considerably on their 7th place finish.  Based on returners Glenwood, Shen-Essex, and L.C. should battle for the conference crown;  Harlan, Kuemper and Atlantic should battle for the next 3 spots. Tee Jay should be strong as well as Boone who could be in our district.  Shen-Essex is in class 3A this year, while DCG graduated its top 7 runners from a state team last year.

w/ Jim Field

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ST. LOUIS (AP) – Clayton Kershaw won his National League-leading 16th game and Rod Barajas homered twice in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-2 victory over the fast-fading St. Louis Cardinals.  Kyle Lohse (11-8) was rocked for a season-worst eight runs in three innings, an impossible deficit against the 23-year-old Kershaw, who struck out eight in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals have lost six of eight and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers.  Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the first and Barajas had a solo homer in the third and three-run shot in the fifth for his 11th multihomer game, also giving him four in five games.

     ST. LOUIS (AP) – The moth that forced Matt Holliday from the outfield is done causing mischief. What remained of the offending bug was tucked inside a sandwich bag,  perfect for TV cameras and for the St. Louis Cardinals’ star to show it off around the clubhouse.  Holliday was joking around Tuesday, one day after the insect flew deep inside his right ear during in the eighth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, of course, it’s a laughing matter, just the latest critter at the ballpark.  After all, midges, mosquitoes and grasshoppers have pestered players in the past.  But this latest call of the wild was something even manager Tony La Russa couldn’t remember seeing before.  It took 10 minutes to get the moth out of Holliday’s ear in the clubhouse. First, the trainers tried turning off all the lights hoping it would come out on its own. Then came the tweezers.

  The new Cy-Hawk trophy that was supposed to be given to the victor of the Iowa State-Iowa football game September 10th is going the way of the state’s touchplay machines. The trophy which features a farm family around a basket of corn, was unveiled by the Iowa Corn Growers Association and representatives of the two schools Saturday. But Corn Growers Association C-E-O Craig Floss says fans were not impressed.  “We have received an overwhelming amount of feedback on the new trophy that was unveiled last week at the Iowa State Fair,” Floss said, “We’ve had both positive and negative comments, but I would be remiss to not mention that the overwhelming amount of feedback has been negative.” Floss appeared with representatives of the two schools today (Tuesday) to pull the plug after five days.  “We are announcing that we are changing the trophy as was unveiled last week, and we are going to open up a process that is going to allow Iowans — the fans — to decide what that trophy should be like,” Floss said. Floss said they had sought to create a trophy that representative of the entire Cy-Hawk series between the schools and not just the football game. He says they “missed the mark.”  He says based on what they have heard, they are going to develop several concepts and then let the fans which concept to use to develop a trophy. Iowa State associate athletic director, Steve Malchow, says the creation of the trophy has been wrongly portrayed as Iowa Corn wanting to design the new trophy in exchange for its sponsorship of the series.  Malchow says each of the schools had received considerable input about changing the trophy, and the change to Iowa Corn as the sponsor of the series simply provided the right time to make the change. He says they are eager to move ahead and create a new trophy that is more representative of the “states marquee sporting event, the Iowa State-Iowa football game.” Iowa associate athletic director, Rick Klatt also said the criticism aimed at the corn growers was unwarranted.  Klatt says “unfortunately our partner in the project, Iowa Corn has shouldered most of the burden of the criticism.” He says both schools and Iowa corn collaborated in the development of the trophy and that story has been told incorrectly. Klatt was asked if there had been any fan input before the new trophy was developed.  Klatt says the answer is “no” as it would have been a greater challenge with more input, “The honest answer is that we didn’t consult with season ticket holders or donors are any particular constituency group.” The new trophy will not be given out at the September 10th game, but Floss says they will develop an interim trophy to hand out to the winning team until the revamped trophy is ready. Floss says you can find out more about giving input for the trophy at the Iowa Corn Growers Association website, or at the websites of the two schools.

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams will use Friday night’s preseason game at Arrowhead Stadium to benefit the tornado recovery efforts in Joplin, Mo.  The city was devastated by a tornado on May 22 that killed more than 150 people and caused an estimated $2 billion in damage.  Joplin is only now finishing debris removal and turning its attention to rebuilding its infrastructure.  The Chiefs and Rams both visited the town to assist in the recovery effort his summer.  They plan to recognize rescue teams and volunteers on Friday night, along with collecting donations from fans. About 500 volunteers and residents of Joplin will attend the game, and the coaching staffs will wear special shirts and hats to raise awareness of the recovery effort.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State’s 2011-2012 wrestling schedule is the Cyclones’ best in memory.  For the first time in years, the Cyclones will grapple with Big 12 opponents Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Missouri at home and on the road. Iowa State will play host to intrastate rival Iowa in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series at 2 p.m. Dec. 4 in Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones will also host a National Duals Regional Feb. 12 that will feature six of the nation’s top teams.

“Our fans know wrestling and this schedule provides them the opportunity to see the nation’s top teams,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Jackson said. “In addition to seeing all of our conference rivals, the schedule includes Iowa and Northern Iowa, Virginia Tech and Cornell. We want to be the nation’s premier wrestling program and you can’t do that if your wrestlers don’t wrestle the best.”

The home season begins Nov. 13 with the Harold Nichols Open in Hilton Coliseum. Big 12 foes Oklahoma State and Oklahoma come to Ames, on Nov. 25 and Nov. 27, respectively. Missouri is in Ames Jan. 8, Virginia Tech comes to Hilton Jan. 13, and on Jan. 29 2011 national runner-up Cornell makes an appearance in Hilton Coliseum. The home schedule will include a NWCA National/Cliff Keen National Duals regional, which includes Iowa, Virginia Tech, Northern Iowa, Oregon State and Wisconsin.

The Cyclones will also be tested on the road, starting with a Nov. 6 triangular against Army and Boston in Boston, Mass. On Nov. 20 the team will travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on Old Dominion before going on a month-long road schedule that includes Minnesota on Dec. 9, Missouri on Dec. 18, the Midlands Championships on the Dec. 29-30, before wrapping up the road stretch Jan. 3 in Tempe, Ariz. against Arizona State.

Iowa State will travel to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners on Jan. 20 and the Cowboys on Jan. 22 before finishing the regular dual season with a short trip to Cedar Falls to take on Northern Iowa.

Post season action begins with the Big 12 Championship March 3 in Columbia, Mo. The 2012 NCAA Championships are March 15-17 in St. Louis.

(ISU press release)