The Gazette’s Jeff Linder ranks North Tama tenth in his all-class power rankings of regional volleyball teams. It’s the only small-school team on the list. NT is first in his Class 1A list.
It could be an interesting season, or it could be a massive jinx.
Wonder if any of these will show up tomorrow…
It’s been 50 years since the largest senior class in North Tama school history graduated. At nearly 100 strong (95), much of this particular group has shared a lot in the decades since. They had unofficial reunions at 20 and 30 years, in addition to the official 25th and now 50th.
(Pity the classes that will have to share the Memorial Building tomorrow night. But hey, they’re all probably used to being crowded out by Boomers.)
More than half of the Class 1A state baseball titles in the 21st century have been won by private schools. Six of those, including the most recent three, are Mason City Newman’s. Three private schools were in this year’s semifinals.
The Class 1A state football final has been private school against private school four times since 2012, and private schools won five in a row from 2012-17. Last fall was the first time in a decade that Iowa City Regina, bouncing between Class 1A and Class 2A, wasn’t in a final.
The Class 1A boys’ state basketball tournament has been half private schools two years in a row, and a private school (Grand View Christian) is on a three-year championship streak.
Of the 24 spots in the last three Class 2A state volleyball tournaments, 11 have gone to private schools. In 2015, all three of North Linn’s state opponents were private schools.
(And yes, Newman has ended North Tama’s football season three times in the past 11 years. The one time it didn’t, NT won the state title. Three of North Tama’s six state baseball games this century have been against private schools, including a 2002 pasting from Newman in the championship.)
Discuss proposed study of U.S. 30 from L Avenue west of Boone to the Lincoln Way/X Avenue interchange west of Ames in Boone County.
The handout made available before tomorrow’s meeting (PDF) shows crash data for US 30 from the R18 intersection west of Boone to the Lincoln Way exit.
I’d say it would be super-hard to make the Story Street intersection an interchange, but now that it happened at IA 58 and Viking Road, I’m sure they could find a way. The United school intersection, on the other hand, would be sure to cost them their baseball diamond.
It’s no secret that I disdain to an extreme degree what has happened to Iowa State football’s uniforms outfits in the Campbell regime. However, it does look like something neat is coming to the backs of the helmets.
NEW BUMPERS
— Cyclone Equipment (@CycloneEQUIP) July 30, 2019
Having the flag of your home state on the back of the helmet is an awesome idea. (I would probably spend a second too long looking, right before I got pancaked by someone twice my size.) The decals look large enough that they run up into the air vent, but maybe they have to be that big to be seen at any distance. Good luck trying to tell apart the state-seal-on-blue flags, though.
My other wonder is how long that raised “Cyclones” lettering above the neck is going to last in gameplay. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grounds crew finds little letters scattered across the field the next morning.
It’s a kind of thing you don’t really know about unless you played them on a regular basis, but until now, Iowa Mennonite School hasn’t had a team name. It’s been around since 1945, but the second reference was simply “IMS”.
But now, the school has a new name, Hillcrest Academy, and a nickname, the Ravens. (Autoplay video only: KCRG) As far as I am aware, this is only the third private school in Iowa to have “Academy” in its name, following Morningstar Academy and Ankeny Christian Academy. Those are very different in character from both Clarinda Academy and Woodward Academy, which are, uh, not religious schools.
As referenced in passing before, the school is typically billed as in Kalona but is about 5 miles northwest of the IA 1/22 intersection, and may be why the village of Joetown is on the state highway map.
To the presidential candidates: Do you support mandatory minimums and/or the death penalty for robocall operators, and if not, why not?
(EIGHT IN ONE DAY. SIX BETWEEN 9 AND 10:30 AM.)
Three paragraphs and a handful of photos from the Emmetsburg Democrat about the last pep rally at the Mallard school back in June. The stately building is going to be demolished.
Our food scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
Starting at 2:45: SIX meat patties, SIX strips of bacon, slathered with macaroni and cheese. God bless America.
(But I actually might go for the Cookies and Cream Wonder Bar, which appears to be a regular Wonder Bar rolled in Oreo crumbles instead of nuts. Pity I’m only planning for one day this year.)
August 16, 2016: At least one architectural feature of Villisca’s old school building was incorporated into its new one. At the time, though, Villisca had already lost its high school.
Radio Iowa (actually KMA) reports that Corning and Villisca are ready to finalize their merger of school districts. The two towns, in two separate counties, have been operating as Southwest Valley since 2013. (I ranted about the name at the time; little did I know what was to come.)
Corning, the county seat of Iowa’s smallest county by population, will retain the high school. Adams County itself will be part of three school districts, now that Prescott hopped over to Creston instead of staying closer to home.
The Radio Iowa/KMA story says the earliest consolidation could take place is 2022. A decade before that, the total final size would have made it the fourth-largest district in Iowa, but today, it can’t crack the top ten.
