The (4-2) Exira-EHK Spartans started the year off strong winning their first four games and have recently found themselves on a two-game losing skid. Their two losses were to IKM-Manning 87-64 and Coon Rapids-Bayard 59-52. Exira-EHK Head Coach Tony Santistaben notes that a part of those two losses was his team not being fully locked in throughout the game.

Two bright spots so far in the early season for the Spartans have been the offensive play from seniors Cash Emgarten and Aiden Flathers. Emgarten has understood his role of being able to score to keep Exira-EHK in the game. Emgarten is the leading scorer for the Spartans with 88 and continues to earn credit from Coach Santistaben.

Another player that stands out and contributes in big ways to the Spartan offense is senior Aiden Flathers. Flathers averages over 50 percent from behind the arc, leads the team in assists with 23, and is second in scoring. Coach Santistaben shared how Flathers is one of those players that does not shy away from putting in the work.

Exira-EHK has a good chance to end their modest losing streak Friday night when they go on the road to face the (2-5) West Harrison Hawkeyes. Coach Santistaben knows that if the Spartans continue to persevere and work hard. They will have no problem getting back to their winning ways.

KJAN will have the coverage Friday night beginning with the girl’s game on the double header. The pregame show begins at 5:50 p.m.

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Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger says jugggling finals, the holidays and basketball is a key this time of year. The Cyclones are 8-2 and return from final exams on Sunday by hosting Florida A@M.

Otzelberger says it is his job to keep the players focused.

Otzelberger says there can be a lot of distractions this time of year.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State and coach Jamie Pinkerton have announced the 2024 Cyclone softball schedule. The Cyclones are scheduled to host 19 home games, their most home contests since 2016.

The schedule features four early season tournaments, with the Cyclones traveling to Mexico, Las Vegas, Virginia and Colorado before beginning Big 12 play on March 8. ISU will have five home weekend series as well as four home midweeks, highlighted by the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series on April 16.

The Cyclones will play eight teams who qualified for the NCAA Regionals last season, facing both Duke and Washington in Mexico before Long Beach State in Vegas. The remaining five schools – Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor Texas and UCF – are on the Big 12 schedule.

Iowa State will open the season with 23 consecutive games away from the Cyclone Softball Complex, with 19 contests coming from tournaments. After tournament play ends, Iowa State will open the Big 12 slate on the road at defending national champion Oklahoma before facing Tulsa on the way back to Ames.

A midweek trip to Kansas City on March 20 is sandwiched between home weekend series against Houston and Texas Tech. After back-to-back weekends at the CSC, Iowa State will head to Waco for a trio of matchups against Baylor, with action beginning on Thursday to accommodate the Easter holiday.

After returning from Texas, the Cyclones will face five straight opponents at home, beginning with UNI on April 2. Kansas then visits Ames for the weekend before the DePaul Blue Demons come to town for a midweek matchup. College World Series qualifier Oklahoma State follows DePaul for a weekend series before Iowa caps the homestand with the Cy-Hawk game on April 16.

Iowa State then heads to Big 12 newcomer BYU and will play Utah Valley a second time – the two teams will meet in Mexico – before leaving Utah. A home midweek match against St. Thomas leads into a road trip to Austin for a matchup with the Longhorns to close the month of April.

May begins with a trip to Des Moines to face Drake before the regular season concludes at the Cyclone Sports Complex as ISU will welcome Big 12 newcomer and regional qualifier UCF to Ames.

Big 12 Tournament play starts on May 8 in Oklahoma City.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head softball coach Renee Gillispie released details of the Hawkeyes’ 52-game regular season schedule on Wednesday. The Hawkeye’s 2024 slate features 14 games at Bob Pearl Field. Iowa will begin its season at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, from Feb. 9-11. The Hawkeyes are set to host Wisconsin in their home opener on Friday March 22.

SCHEDULE NOTES 

— The Hawkeyes will travel to the Florida for the first three weekends of the season. They open in Clearwater (Feb. 9-11), the following weekend they will be in Leesburg for The Spring Games (Feb. 16-18) and close out at the UNF-JU Invitational in Jacksonville (Feb. 23-25).

— Iowa will travel to California for an 11-game spring break trip Mar. 8-16. They will travel to San Jose, Santa Clara, Stanford, Moraga and Sacramento.

— The Hawkeyes host Wisconsin (March 22-24), Michigan State (March 29-31), Indiana (April 19-21) and Minnesota (April 26-28) in league play and travel for road conference series at Purdue (April 5-7), Michigan (April 12-14), Nebraska (April 23) and Illinois (May 3-5).

— Iowa hosts two nonconference games at Bob Pearl Field. They welcome Drake on April 2 and Illinois State on April 30.

— The Hawkeyes hit the road for midweek game at Iowa State on April 16.

— Iowa will host the Big Ten Tournament at Bob Pearl Field, from May 8-11. The top eight teams in the Big Ten regular season standings qualify for the single-elimination tournament. This is the first time that Iowa has hosted the conference tournament since 2003.

— The Hawkeyes will face 10 teams that were 2023 NCAA Tournament participants, including Stanford who advanced to the Women’s College World Series.

Iowa is coming off of a 2023 season where they won 35 games and captured the National Invitational Softball Championship title. The Hawkeyes have 26 student-athletes on their roster with nine newcomers. They return Big Ten All-Freshman selection Jalen Adams in the circle.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa junior Cooper DeJean, and senior Tory Taylor are 2023 unanimous consensus All-Americans after being voted to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America First Team. The announcement was made on Thursday by the AFCA.

In addition, senior lineback Jay Higgins was recognized as a second-team All-America honoree by the AFCA. DeJean and Taylor are unanimous consensus All-Americans after each being recognized as first-team All-America by Walter Camp, FWAA, Associated Press, AFCA and Sporting News. Iowa now has 31 consensus All-Americans in program history, including 16 in the Kirk Ferentz era.

DeJean was one of top defensive players in the nation before going down with a season-ending injury on Nov. 15. The Odebolt, Iowa, native finished the season with 41 tackles, two TFL, two interceptions and five pass break-ups in 10 games. DeJean did not allow a touchdown pass in 388 snaps in coverage in 2023. As a punt returner, DeJean was one of the nation’s best. He had a 70-yard punt return for a game-winning score against Michigan State and he had a second touchdown return for the game-winning score negated because of an “invalid fair catch signal” against Minnesota. DeJean is second in the Big Ten and ranks 14th nationally, averaging 11.5 yards per return.

DeJean was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski awards and a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy. He was previously named the Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year and the Rodgers-Dwight Big Ten Return Specialist of the Year last month. DeJean was also a first-team all-conference honoree by the Associated Press and league coaches and media.

Taylor, the 2023 Ray Guy Punter of the Year, broke Iowa’s single season punting yardage record for a third consecutive season. He has an NCAA-best 86 punts for 4,119 yards with his 47.9 average leading the Big Ten and ranking third nationally. Thirty-six of his punts have traveled 50+ yards (six punts of 60+), 27 have been fair caught, 30 have been downed inside the 20, 11 inside the 10 and six inside the 5. The Australia native only has six touchbacks and opponents average just 8.8 yards per return. He has 288 punts for 13,297 yards — both school records — and his 46.2 career average will break Jason Baker’s mark come season’s end.

Taylor (46.2) will finish his collegiate career breaking the NCAA’s career punting average record; currently held by Baylor’s Daniel Sepulveda (42.5). Taylor, who is a two-time FWAA first-team All-America, has averaged 40 or more yards (min. four punts) in an NCAA-best 42 career games. He was named the Eddleman-Fields Big Ten Punter of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media last month.

Higgins has been a tackling machine for Iowa’s defense, racking up 155 tackles — the most in the Big Ten, the third-most nationally (most by a Power 5 player) and the fourth-most in a single season in school history. The Indianapolis native has led the team in tackles in 11 of 13 games with two 15+ tackle games and nine games with 10 or more stops. He has been a leader on an Iowa defense that is fourth nationally, allowing 13.2 points per game.

Higgins was previously recognized as first-team All-America by FWAA and Sports Illustrated, and a second team selection by the AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News and CBS. He is also a first-team All-Big Ten honoree by the AP and league coaches and media.

The No. 17 Hawkeyes will play No. 21 Tennessee on Jan. 1, 2024, in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game will start at 12:06 (CT) and will be televised on ABC.