Wednesday April 20th Local Sports

TONIGHT:
AM-1300 KGLO — Minnesota Twins at Kansas City — pre-game 6:30, first pitch 7:10

CLEAR LAKE — The new NIACC women’s wrestling program signed their first two wrestlers on Tuesday with Clear Lake’s Haley Jackson and Chloe Williamson. Jackson didn’t start wrestling until her senior year of high school and ended up being a state tournament qualifier.

Jackson says she was thrilled when NIACC announced they were starting a women’s wrestling program.

Jackson says she’s looking forward to seeing the expansion of girls wrestling at the high school level now that it has been sanctioned by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Williamson was a two-time state qualifier for Clear Lake who went out after one of her teachers, boys head wrestling coach Evan Johnson, encouraged her to give the sport a try.

Williamson has enjoyed adding wrestling to her athletic endeavors.

Williamson says being one of NIACC’s first two women wrestlers will hopefully show other female athletes the possibilities of wrestling beyond high school.

NIACC women’s wrestling coach Basil Minto is happy to get the program’s first two commitments.

NIACC announced in February that they were adding women’s wrestling as a sport and is one of four Iowa Community College Athletic Conference schools, along with Indian Hills, Iowa Western and Iowa Central, to recently announce they were adding a women’s program. Women’s wrestling will become a sanctioned sport by the National Junior College Athletic Association starting with the 2022-23 season.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez homered twice and Hunter Dozier hit another go-ahead home run to lift the Kansas City Royals over the Minnesota Twins 4-3. Perez homered in the fourth off Chrs Archer and tied the score 3-3 in the sixth when he went deep against Tyler Duffey (0-2). One out later, Dozier hit a tiebreaking home run for the second straight game, following up on his two-run drive in the sixth off Detroit’s Will Vest in a 3-1 win Saturday, Amir Garrett pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Ja Morant scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies looked much more like the team that posted the NBA’s second-best record, routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-96 to even up their first-round Western Conference series at 1 apiece. Morant went to the bench with 4:40 left to a huge ovation. He finished a rebound shy of a triple-double. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. each added 16 with Jackson hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range as the Grizzlies finished with seven in double figures. Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 20. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

MONTREAL (AP) — Cam Talbot had his third shutout of the season to help the Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Talbot made 26 saves as Minnesota (48-21-7) swept the season series between the teams. Kevin Fiala scored and assisted on Matt Boldy’s goal in the third period. In his second start of the season, Carey Price made 28 saves.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has opened its quarterback competition after its offense ranked near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Spencer Petras has started 19 of the last 20 in which he’s appeared. Alex Padilla started three times last season. The Hawkeyes went 10-4 last season and won the Big Ten West. Iowa was 121st out of 130 FBS teams in total offense, 101st in rushing an 109th in passing. Iowa finishes spring practice Saturday.

MASON CITY — NIACC hosted their Spring Invitational golf tournament on Tuesday at the Mason City Country Club. The men’s team placed fifth with a season-best 305. Iowa Central and Hawkeye Community College both shot 285, with Iowa Central winning the team title on the strength of their fifth golfer. Kai Nelles and Jack Barragy both shot a 74 to lead the Trojans and tied for 10th in the medalist competition. The NIACC women finished fourth with a 357, with Waldorf University being the team champion with a 325. MaKenna Hanson shot a career-best round of 86, tying for 10th overall, to lead NIACC, with teammate Kirsten Boerjan tying for 12th with an 88. The NIACC men return to action tomorrow at the Mount Mercy Spring Shootout in Cedar Rapids, while the NIACC women prepare for the NJCAA Plains Regional Tournament on April 25th and 26th in Milford Kansas.