Sports, Wednesday, April 29th

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Mount Pleasant’s Magnani Honored:

Former Mount Pleasant High School standout Jordan Magnani has been named recipient of the Coaches’ Appreciation Award at Cornell College this year.

Magnani started all 26 games for the Rams, averaging 14.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

He was also the Team Newcomer of the Year in his freshman season, along with being named to the All-Academic Midwest Conference team.

Cornell finished this season with a record of 14-12.

Iowa’s Wirfs Anxious to Begin Career in Tampa:

Former Mount Vernon star and Hawkeye offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs is anxious to get to Tampa Bay and begin workouts.

Wirfs was taken by the Buccaneers after they traded up for the 13th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Wirfs will be limited to working out in the Iowa City area.

I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been the past six weeks. I go to a privately owned gym in Iowa City. Some things I have to improvise, it’s a CrossFit gym, so they don’t have as much as the Iowa gym, but it’s been good” Wirfs said.

Wirfs will join former Iowa teammate Anthony Nelson in Tampa.

He taught me so much about pass rushers, he and I did a player report on each other. He gave me a scouting report on what I can do better and I did one on him. It’s going to be blast” Wirfs remarked.

The mammoth tackle joins a Tampa Bay team that has had a surreal offseason, inking first-ballot Hall-of-Fame quarterback Tom Brady.

The Bucs finished last season 7-9.

IHSAA Board of Control Approves Wrestling Changes:

Five recommendations from the regular April meeting of the IHSAA’s wrestling advisory committee were approved unanimously by the Board of Control last week. The changes, effective in the 2020-21 season:

  • To allow schools to opt out of dual team postseason events by the first competition date.
  • To qualify the 16 sectional champions and the next eight highest-ranked teams (by the IWCOA) for the regional dual team tournament in Class 2A and Class 1A.
  • If a sectional champion opted out of dual team postseason, the next highest-ranked team would qualify.
  • To reduce the state traditional tournament seeding criteria regarding common opponents from two points back to one point.
  • To seed all 16 wrestlers in each bracket for the state traditional tournament.
  • To allow host tournament directors to determine the length of sub varsity matches at local regular season events.

The wrestling advisory committee previously met in February to discuss the State Dual Tournament and wrestling postseason dates.

No changes were recommended by the advisory committee at that time.

Red Hot Hawkeyes Pick Up Another Commit:

The Iowa Hawkeye football team picked up another commitment from Kansas prep Arland Bruce IV.

Bruce, who played his prep ball at Olathe North, chose Iowa over Iowa State, Tulsa and FCS Western Illinois.

Listed as an athlete, Bruce rushed for 2,487 yards and a video game-esque 43 touchdowns last season.

Bruce is the 13th commit in the class of 2021, which is now up to second in the Big Ten and is currently the sixth-ranked class in the country.