Thursday May 21st Local Sports

JOHNSTON — Iowa governor Kim Reynolds on Wednesday gave the green light for high school baseball and softball to start on June 1st. Both seasons were in doubt due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

(as said)”Effective June first, Iowa schools will be permitted to resume school-sponsored activities and learning. According to the appropriate public health precautions — this will include high school baseball and softball activities,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says parents and athletes have been anxious to get playing again.

(as said)”High school athletics was the logical place to start the process of bringing athletics back in season. We are working closely with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and others to make this possible,” she says. She says they are also looking to get other sports back too.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Board of Directors met on Wednesday afternoon and both groups voted to approve resuming the 2020 summer seasons under the guidelines set out by the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Department of Public Health. Practices for teams can start on June 1st, with the first contests to be held as early as June 15th. Fans will be permitted to attend the games.

 

 

MASON CITY — NIACC women’s basketball player Autam Mendez has been named the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference’s female athlete of the year. Mendez, who was selected as the conference women’s basketball player of the week three times in 2019-20, helped guide the Lady Trojans to the top of the national rankings in February and the conference regular season and Region XI Tournament titles. She was the conference’s women’s basketball player of the year and was an all-Region XI Tournament selection. Mendez was also a first-team NJCAA Division II all-American and was selected as the NJCAA Division II national player of the year – a first for a NIACC women’s basketball player. Mendez, who will play next season at San Jose State University, averaged 16.9 points per game. She ranks third on the school’s career scoring list, third on the school’s career three-point field goal list, and third on the school’s career rebounding list.

 

 

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa women’s volleyball program was placed on probation for one year and must vacate 33 wins over two seasons as part of its penalties for violations committed by former coach Bond Shymansky.

The university’s athletic department also will pay a $5,000 fine to the NCAA under terms of the negotiated resolution announced Wednesday.

Shymansky, who was fired in June 2019, admitted making two cash payments totaling $2,000 to a prospective player during the summer of 2017.

The player transferred to Iowa after her sophomore year and arrived on campus in May 2017. She could not receive a scholarship immediately because she was academically ineligible.

She obtained a loan to pay for summer classes and asked the volleyball staff about getting a part-time job to assist with her living expenses.

Shymansky, according to the negotiated resolution, encouraged the player to focus on getting eligible by the fall instead of finding a job. Shymansky later went to the player’s apartment and handed her an envelope containing $1,500. On another occasion, the coach gave her an envelope containing $500.

Shymansky told investigators he intended the money to be an advance for wages the player would earn working at his volleyball camp later that summer. However, all parties agreed the player was also paid for working the camp and the advance was not paid back.

In addition to vacating 33 wins in which the player appeared in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, Iowa will reduce its number of recruiting evaluation days in volleyball by 3.75%.

 

 

IOWA CITY — Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery says the Hawkeyes are a self motivated team and that will help them make progress even while the campus is closed. If Luka Garza removes his name from the NBA Draft the Hawkeyes will return nearly the entire roster from last year’s club that finished 20-11.

McCaffery says it is a team that is driven to improve.

McCaffery says they are trying to keep a normal routine, even though they are working from home.