AMES, Iowa – Iowa State finished its 2023 campaign with a 25-30 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the Big 12 for the third consecutive season. The Cyclones placed fifth in the league standings, advancing to the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship before falling to top-seeded Oklahoma.

ISU completed its third straight season with at least 25 wins in 2023, making it just the third time in school history the team has posted three-straight 25+ win seasons. Since 2000, Iowa State has recorded 25+ win seasons just eight times, with four coming under head coach Jamie Pinkerton.

The Cyclones finished the season strong, winning 12 of their final 17 games, which included four top-25 victories (OSU, Baylor 3x). Iowa State’s win over No. 3 Oklahoma State tied the program record for the largest upset in school history and spearheaded the second-half surge for ISU.

Iowa State’s softball fanbase continued to grow this year, as four of the top ten most-attended home games in program history came this season. Of those four games was the Saturday doubleheader against top-ranked Oklahoma, which pulled in a record crowd of 1,715 spectators. Overall, seven of the top ten home attendances have come under Coach Pinkerton.

In six seasons under Pinkerton, Iowa State has recorded three winning seasons. Before his arrival, ISU hadn’t recorded a winning season since 1995. In his five full seasons, Pinkerton’s squads have belted 40+ home runs in each, marking the only five seasons to do so in school history. Pinkerton now owns the third most wins in school history with a 158-151 record, surpassing Ruthe Crowe.

Player Notables  

• Milaysia Ochoa led the team in almost every offensive category, including batting average (.319), runs (44), hits (53), doubles (13), home runs (12), RBI (33), total bases (102), slugging percentage (.614), HBP (9), and at-bats (166).
  • Ochoa was the lone Cyclone to start in and play all 55 games.

Awards 

• Junior outfielder Milaysia Ochoa was named an All-Big 12 Second Team selection. It was the third straight season a Cyclone made the second team. 
• Ochoa was also named to the All-Midwest Region third team, marking the third straight season a Cyclone has made a regional team. 
• Ellie Spelhaug and junior Angelina Allen were each named to the All-Big 12 Tournament team following their performance in Oklahoma City. ISU placed the second-most players on the team and it was the first time in program history ISU had more than one player on the Big 12 Tournament team. 
• Seniors Lea Nelson, Carli Spelhaug and Ellie Spelhaug were each named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. It was Carli’s second time earning the recognition. 

Rankings 

• Iowa State ranked No. 70 in the RPI at the end of the regular season. 
• ISU ranked 18th nationally in double plays turned per game (.45). 
• The Cyclone pitching staff plunked just 23 batters this season, the second lowest in the conference. 
• Milaysia Ochoa ranked second in the Big 12 in HBP per game (.17) and 131st nationally.
  • Ochoa also had the eighth most home runs in the Big 12 (12), which put her tied for 91 in the country.
• Saya Swain recorded the 11th most saves in the country (6), which led the Big 12. Her six saves were the most in a single season in program history.
  • Swain averaged 8.6 Ks per seven innings pitched, ranking 32nd in the country and giving her the fourth-best mark in the Big 12.
• Karlie Charles walked just 1.15 batters per seven innings, good enough for best in the Big 12. That put Charles 31st in the country.

(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Register has announced it’s dropping plans to shoot for a world record number of cyclists during the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa next month. The event is known as RAGBRAI and this is the 50th year bicyclists will make the week long, statewide trek from the Missouri River to the Mississippi. RAGBRAI organizers had hoped to set a Guinness World Record mark for largest parade of bicycles on the day riders bike from Ames to Des Moines. However, the newspaper says new criteria from the publisher of Guinness World Records make it impossible. Planners do expect as many as 100-thousand riders to be on RAGBRAI’s Wednesday, July 26th route from Ames to Des Moines. RAGBRAI will start in Sioux City on Sunday, July 23rd and end 500 miles later in Davenport on Saturday, July 29th.

Axios Des Moines is reporting Gannett, which owns The Register, has sent a cease and desist letter to a former RAGBRAI director and a long-time RAGBRAI rider who’ve posted an alternative route online for riders to make their way from Ames to Des Moines. The man told Axios he’s concerned about having so many riders on the same path on July 26th. The letter from Gannett suggests the alternate route will not be as safe since it will not be staffed by law enforcement.

AMES, Iowa – Fueled by the momentum generated from three-consecutive NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament appearances, including a run to the 2023 Elite Eight, Iowa State Athletics has unveiled plans for an indoor and outdoor tennis complex for the program, Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard announced today.

“It is truly amazing what our women’s tennis program has achieved over the last three seasons, especially in light of the fact that we do not have facilities that are comparable to other peer institutions, but we believe that this plan will allow us to build off our recent successes in a financially responsible manner while quickly addressing the program’s facility shortcomings,” Pollard said.

“We are grateful for Ames Racquet and Fitness Center and the ISU Research Park for agreeing to come alongside us to create a unique partnership that will help the department get this project to the finish line,” he added.

The Iowa State Research Park will purchase an existing four-court indoor tennis bubble, and expand it to six courts, construct six new outdoor courts on the property, and a team building to include amenities including a team room, locker room and training room. Pending Iowa Board of Regents approval in September, the completed facility will be leased to ISU Athletics. The six outdoor courts are scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2023 with the indoor court expansion and team facility slated for a fall 2024 completion.

“The success of our entire Athletics Department, embodied most-recently by the 2023 women’s tennis campaign, is important to all of us who wear Cardinal and Gold.,” said Iowa State Research Park President Rick Sanders. “The ISURP is excited to be the future home of Cyclone Tennis for many years to come.”

Iowa State’s women’s tennis team currently utilizes the Bruce McKee Indoor Tennis Complex, which opened in 2017 adjacent to the Sukup Basketball Complex, features two practice courts for the Cyclones to use as well as a team room and locker room. Once the tennis program vacates the McKee Complex, the facility will be converted into a practice facility for the Cyclone volleyball team.

In the event of inclement weather, the Cyclones currently travel to Urbandale to utilize the indoor facility at Life Time Fitness. ISU has played outdoors at the Ames High School facility for the past several years and hosted the first three rounds of the 2023 NCAA Tournament there.

The Cyclones finished the 2023 season 21-6 overall while going 7-2 in Big 12 action to finish in a tie for third place in the league standings. ISU advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championships and later reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships, both feats that have never been accomplished in program history.

The seven league victories were the most in school history and included the program’s first-ever win against Oklahoma State and the first against Baylor in Waco in the series. Iowa State posted 12 wins against Top 50 opponents with wins against No. 18 UCLA, No. 10 Miami, No. 9 Vanderbilt and No. 1 Texas to reach the semifinals at the ITA National Indoor Championships. The win against the top-ranked Longhorns was the first against UT and the first against a No. 1 team in school history.

In its third-straight NCAA Tournament, Iowa State rolled past Drake (4-0), No. 22 Wisconsin (4-1) and No. 20 UCLA (4-1) to reach the final site. The Cyclones fell in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up, No. 4 NC State, 4-3.

Grinnell College has named Holly Roepke as the school’s new Director of Athletics. Roepke has been the AD at her alma mater Cal-Luthern since January of 2022 and prior to that was an assistant AD at Grinnell.

She takes over a program that is experiencing success. The Grinnell women won the Midwest Conference All-Sports title this past school year. The men finished second.

Roepke says Grinnell’s academic profile is an advantage when it comes to athletics.

The one trouble spot remains football. The Pioneers canceled most of their 2019 season due to lack of numbers and have won a total of four games the past two seasons. Roepke says the program has made strides with roster size and that needs to continue.

Former Iowa star Luka Garza will be back in the state beginning next weekend as he offers a series of camps this summer in Urbandale. It is all part of the second year of the Luka Garza Academy.

It begins Friday with a skills camp for players in third through eighth grade. Saturday and Sunday there is a father and son camp as well as an elite big man camp in July and September. While players are always looking for an AAU team to play on out of season Garza says skill development is also important.

Garza says games are where skill development is polished.

For more information about any of the camps visit LukaGarzaAcademy.com.

Class 1A:

1. Newman Catholic
2. Kingsley-Pierson
3. Remsen St. Mary’s
4. Lynnville-Sully
5. North Linn
6. West Harrison
7. Coon Rapids-Bayard
8. Burlington Notre Dame
9. Lisbon
10. Gehlen Catholic

Others Receiving Votes: Akron-Westfield, Don Bosco, Newell-Fonda, South Winneshiek, Woodbury Central

Class 2A:

1. Van Meter
2. Mid-Prairie
3. Estherville-Lincoln Central
4. Beckman Catholic
5. Underwood
6. Kuemper Catholic
7. Williamsburg
8. Cascade
9. West Marshall
10. New Hampton

Others Receiving Votes: Anamosa, Dike-New Hartford, Pella Christian, Pleasantville, West Lyon

Class 3A:

1. Western Dubuque
2. Lewis Central
3. North Polk
4. Knoxville
5. Marion
6. Bishop Heelan
7. ADM
8. Ballard
9. Wahlert Catholic
10. Davenport Assumption

Others Receiving Votes: Bondurant-Farrar, MOC-Floyd Valley, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, West Delaware, Cedar Rapids Xavier

Class 4A:

1. Ankeny Centennial
2. Cedar Rapids Prairie
3. Johnston
4. Southeast Polk
5. Pleasant Valley
6. Iowa City High
7. Dowling Catholic
8. Cedar Rapids Kennedy
9. Dallas Center-Grimes
10. Indianola

Others Receiving Votes: Ankeny, Bettendorf, Cedar Falls, Urbandale, Waukee Northwest

Rolling Valley Conference:
CAM 8 Ar-We-Va, 2 
Exira-EHK 5 Coon Rapids-Bayard, 0
Woodbine 13 West Harrison, 0
Woodbine 12 West Harrison, 0
Ridge View 12 Whiting, 0 (NC)

Hawkeye Ten Conference:
Atlantic 9 Shenandoah, 1
Atlantic 7 Shenandoah, 1
Glenwood 3 Harlan, 0 (game one)

Harlan 0 at Glenwood 4 DH
Clarinda 6 Denison-Schleswig, 4
Clarinda 7 Denison-Schleswig, 0
Red Oak 4 at St. Albert 12 DH

St Albert 8, Red Oak 4

Sioux City, East at Lewis Central

Western Iowa Conference:
Riverside 7 Audubon, 1 
Tri-Center at AHSTW
Treynor 3 at Logan-Magnolia 9
Missouri Valley 17 at Underwood 2

Pride of Iowa Conference:
Melcher-Dallas 2 at Southeast Warren 15 (NC)
Wayne 10 at Murray 0 (NC)
Bedford 16 at Lamoni 6 (NC)
Central Decatur 14 Moulton-Udel, 1 l (NC)
Lenox at Grand View-Christian (NC)

West Central Activities Conference:
Van Meter 14 at Pleasantville 0
ACGC 10 Woodward-Granger, 0 
West Central Valley 13 Panorama ,2
Madrid 4 at Ogden 7

Corner Conference:
Sidney at East Mills
Essex at Fremont-Mills
Griswold 12 Stanton, 0  

Rolling Valley Conference:
CAM 16 Ar-We-Va, 5 
Exira-EHK at Coon Rapids-Bayard 3 Exira-EHK, 2
West Harrison 16  Woodbine, 1

Hawkeye Ten Conference:
Creston at Kuemper, Catholic DH
Harlan 5 Glenwood, 3
Glenwood 7 Harlan, 6
Atlantic 13 Shenandoah, 12 (game one)
Clarinda at Denison-Schleswig DH
Red Oak 8 at St. Albert 15 DH
Sioux City, East 3 at Lewis Central 10

Western Iowa Conference:
Tri-Center at AHSTW
Treynor  14  Logan-Magnolia, 3
Missouri Valley 0 at Underwood 14
IKM/Manning 1 at Glidden-Ralston 7

Pride of Iowa Conference:
Central Decatur 16 at Moulton-Udell 0 (NC)
Bondurant-Farrar 10 Martensdale-St. Mary’s, 0  (NC)
Bondurant-Farrar 7 Martensdale-St. Mary’s, 1 (NC)
Murray 11 Wayne, 6 (NC)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Iowa State freshman Omaha Biliew has been named one of 18 finalists for the 2023 USA U19 Men’s National Team.

Selected from 30 training camp invitees, the finalists will compete for 12 spots on the team that will compete at the 2023 FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup, scheduled for June 24-July 2 in Debrecen, Hungary. Biliew was one of three Cyclones of the 30 training camp invitees, as Milan Momcilovic and Jackson Paveletzke also joined Biliew in Colorado Springs for the four camp sessions.

Finalists were selected by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee. Athletes eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens, born on or after January 1, 2004.

The finalists are Mark Armstrong (Villanova), Tobe Awaka (Tennessee), Omaha Biliew (Iowa State), Kylan Boswell (Arizona), Kanon Catchings (Purdue), Myles Colvin (Purdue), Eric Dailey Jr. (Oklahoma State), Freddie Dilione (Tennessee), Jeremy Fears Jr. (Michigan State), Trentyn Flowers (Louisville), Dylan Harper (Don Bosco Prep), Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Tre Johnson (Lake Highland Prep), Ven-Allen Lubin (Vanderbilt), Asa Newell (Montverde Academy), Cameron Scott (Lexington High School), Ernest Udeh (TCU) and Cody Williams (Colorado).

The United States will square off with Lebanon, Madagascar and Slovenia in pool play. The U.S. will face off against Lebanon and Madagascar for the first time at a FIBA Men’s U19 World Cup. The U.S. own a 2-0 record against Slovenia at this event.

Leading the 2023 USA Men’s U19 National Team is head coach Tad Boyle (University of Colorado). He is assisted by Mike Boynton Jr. (Oklahoma State University) and Leon Rice (Boise State University).

The United States has won the competition eight times, including three of the last four competitions—in 2015, 2019 and 2021. During the 2019 World Cup, former Cyclone Tyrese Haliburton led the United States to the gold medal.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ten University of Iowa football student-athletes garnered preseason honors from Phil Steele, it was announced Monday.

Senior punter Tory Taylor was named as a Phil Steele first-team All-American, while junior Cooper DeJean was tabbed as a second-team All-America defensive back.

Sophomore kicker Drew Stevens joined Taylor and DeJean as a preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection.  Junior tight end Luke Lachey, junior defensive end Deontae Craig and senior defensive tackle Logan Lee were second-team honorees, senior defensive end Joe Evans and sophomore kick returner Kaleb Johnson were third team selections and junior offensive tackle Mason Richman and senior safety Quinn Schulte were selected to the fourth team.

Taylor (6-foot-4, 230 pounds) was also named a preseason first-team All-American by Athlon Sports in May.  The Australia native garnered first-team All-America honors by FWW, Phil Steele and Pro Football Focus and was a second-team selection by the Associated Press in 2022.  He averaged 45.4 yards on 82 punts a season ago.

DeJean (6-1, 209) garnered his second preseason All-America honor, as he was named a second-team All-American by Athlon Sports.   The Odebolt, Iowa, native was a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the media and second team by the coaches in 2022 after finishing with 75 tackles, five interceptions and eight pass breakups.  He returned three of his interceptions for touchdowns.

Stevens (6-0, 180) received his second preseason first-team All-Big Ten honor as he was also recognized by Athlon Sports.  The Augusta, South Carolina, native set a freshman program record with 16 field goals in 2022 en route to freshman All-America honors.  He made 16-of-18 field goal attempts, including 6-for-8 from 40+.

Lachey (6-6, 252) garnered preseason second team All-Big Ten honors after ranking third on the team in receptions (28) and receiving yards (398) in 2022.  The Columbus, Ohio, native caught a team-best four touchdowns during his sophomore season.

Craig (6-3, 266) received his first preseason honor following a sophomore season where he had 31 tackles and tied for the team lead with 6.5 sacks.  The Fort Wayne, Indiana, native had 10.5 tackles for loss during the season, including a career-high 3.5 against Kentucky in the Music City Bowl win.

Lee (6-5, 275) was tabbed as a second team selection after earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors by both the media and coaches in 2022 to go along with second-team All-Big Ten recognition from Athlon Sports.  The Orion, Illinois, native finished fifth on the team with 54 tackles, including eight tackles for loss.

Evans (6-2, 246) received his second preseason honor (second-team All-Big Ten by Athlon Sports) after starting all 13 games in 2022 en route to second-team All-Big Ten honors by the media and honorable mention honors by the coaches.  The Ames, Iowa, native had 41 tackles, including 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

Johnson (6-0, 212) was tabbed as a preseason third-team All-Big Ten honoree as a kick returner after averaging 25 yards on 13 returns during his true freshman season.  The Ohio native earned freshman All-America honors after rushing for a freshman record 779 yards with six touchdowns in 2022.

Richman (6-6, 308) and Schulte (6-1, 208) garnered preseason fourth team honors.  Richman started all 13 games in 2022 at left tackle en route to honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition.  Schulte started all 13 games at free safety, finishing fourth on the team with 71 tackles, six pass breakups and one interception.

The Hawkeyes open the season against Utah State in Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 11 a.m. (CT).

Fans can purchase football season tickets by visiting hawkeyesports.com/footballtickets. The Fight for Iowa mobile passes are sold out and the mini ticket plans are currently on sale.

Group tickets and Hawkeye Village ticket sales begin July 5, while single game tickets go on sale for donors on July 17 and to the general public on July 20.University of Iowa faculty/staff should contact the University of Iowa Athletics Ticket Office for season tickets. The UI Athletics Ticket Office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office telephone number is 1-800-IA-HAWKS.

PHIL STEELE PRESEASON HONORS

First-Team All-America

P Tory Taylor

Second-Team All-America

DB Cooper DeJean

First-Team All-Big Ten

DB Cooper DeJean

P Tory Taylor

PK Drew Stevens

Second-Team All-Big Ten

TE Luke Lachey

DE Deontae Craig

DT Logan Lee

Third-Team All-Big Ten

DE Joe Evans

KR Kaleb Johnson

Fourth-Team All-Big Ten

OT Mason Richman

S Quinn Schulte