Sports, Tuesday, May 19th

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Wesleyan Picks Up In-State Commit:

The Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball team picked up an in-state reinforcement last week when Murray High School’s Reece Held committed to play for Coach Alex Huisman.

The 1,000-point scorer, Held averaged 17.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game for the Mustangs last year, who finished with a record of 16-7.

Iowa Wesleyan finished last season 8-17, but were 6th in the conference in scoring offense averaging over 83 points per game.

Iowa Tailback to Enter Transfer Portal:

Iowa’s running back depth took a hit yesterday when Samson Evans announced that he has entered the transfer portal.

Evans saw time in Iowa City at both running back and wide receiver but still did not see any snaps.

The Illinois’ Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018, Evans’ 111 career rushing touchdowns still ranks third-best all-time in Illinois High School football history.

Evans originally picked Iowa over other offers from Illinois, Iowa State, Minnesota and Syracuse.

Three Star Defensive Tackle Makes Iowa City Home:

The top-10 class of 2021 continued to get stronger for the University of Iowa football team as Arlington Heights, Illinois prepster Jeremiah Pittman announced his intentions to play for the Hawkeyes, yesterday.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 255 pounds, Pittman, a three-star recruit, picked Iowa over offers from Boston College, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa State.

Pittman is the 15th commitment for the Hawkeyes in 2021, which is currently ranked as the third best haul in the Big Ten.

Three Iowa Men’s Golfers Honored by Big Ten:

Three University of Iowa men’s golfers — seniors Alex Schaake and Benton Weinberg, and sophomore Gonzalo Leal Montero — earned Big Ten Conference recognition, the conference announced Monday.

Schaake, last year’s Big Ten Player of the Year, earned his second straight unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team. Schaake is the first Hawkeye since Steven Ihm in 2013 and 2014 to earn two consecutive first-team All-Big Ten honors.

Schaake also joins Ihm as one of only two Hawkeyes to earn three career All-Big Ten awards.

Sophomore Gonzalo Leal Montero was second-team All-Big Ten selection, while senior Benton Weinberg was a recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

It is Montero’s first career All-Big Ten postseason honor.