By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
The National High School Federation (NFHS) of State Activities Associations will soon have an Iowa presence on its board of directors. Iowa High School Activities Association executive director Richard Wulkow has been selected to a four-year term on the NFHS governing council.
Wulkow has been involved in high school athletics at several levels in Iowa for over a quarter-century as an executive in the IHSAA offices in Boone. He was the state association’s assistant executive director for 25 years until taking over the executive director’s position in 2005.
Prior to coming to the IHSAA, Wulkow was active as a teacher, coach and administrator in Iowa schools. He was a high school and collegiate basketball official for 28 years and last year was a member of the NFHS Strategic Planning Committee. Wulkow is also a former chairman of the Federation’s Basketball Rules Committee.
Wulkow will represent Section Four on the Federation’s Board of Directors, which includes Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.
The NFHS is based in Indianapolis, Ind., and is the national leadership organization for high school sports and fine arts activities in the United States.
Baseball: State Tournaments Underway
Des Moines is active with state high school baseball activity over the next week, as the Iowa High School State Baseball Tournaments are beginning at Principal Park, the home of the Pacific Coast League’s Iowa Cubs franchise.
First round action got under way Friday and will continue Saturday, then take Sunday off and continue Monday and go through the week. Championship games in all four classes are set for Saturday, July 26.
Play on Friday featured Class 2-A top-seed Davenport Assumption’s 14-0 victory in five-innings over eighth-seed Pleasantville. The win raised Assumption’s season mark to 33-8, while Pleasantville ended its year at 16-9. Assumption used an 11-run second inning to cruise to the victory and pitcher Adam Gacke threw a two-hitter. It was Assumption’s 11th first-round victory in state tournament play.
Fourth-seed St. Ansgar also advanced to the semifinals with an 11-5 victory over fifth-seeded Interstate-35 of Truro. The loss by I-35 was the team’s first of the season, to the benefit of St. Ansgar, which won at state for the first time. I-35 (now 29-1) and Johnston (37-0) in Class 4-A were the first two undefeated teams to enter state tournament play in the same season.
The Saints meet Assumption in the semifinals on Thursday, July 24.
Saturday’s action in the state tournament will feature the other two Class 2-A semifinal games. Solon meets Waterloo Columbus in the first game, followed by defending state champion Cherokee against Okoboji of Milford.
Class 1-A quarterfinals will start at noon on Monday, Class 3-A on Tuesday at noon and Class 4-A quarterfinals will be contested in Des Moines, beginning at noon on Wednesday.
Softball: State Tournaments Continue Despite Rain Storms
Iowa’s State High School Softball Tournaments continued this week, despite the postponement of six games due to a strong rain storm at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. An inch of rain fell in a 30-minute period Thursday afternoon, joined by pea-sized hail.
The result was the postponement to Friday of four Class 4-A quarterfinal games and both semifinal games in Class 1-A. Tournament officials also cancelled all remaining consolation games, moved the Class 2-A and 3-A semifinals to Friday morning, and moved the Class 4-A semifinals to Saturday morning.
It marked the first time in five years that the championship rounds of the state tournament had been rained out for a day due to rainfall. The game in progress at the time was a consolation game between Western Dubuque and Waverly-Shell Rock, won by Western Dubuque 5-4 in five innings.
Championship games in all four classes kept the Saturday afternoon and evening schedule intact. However, Class 4-A semifinal winners from Saturday morning will now have to play again later the same day in their state championship game.
Softball: WDM Valley Earns Seven All-CIML Picks
Top-ranked (Class 4-A) West Des Moines Valley received seven first-team selections in the Central Iowa Metropolitan League’s (CIML) coaches’ all-conference softball teams.
Unanimous selections for the Tigers were outfielders Johnnie Dowling and Emily Cooper, infielder Erin Johnson, and pitchers Courtney McKelvogue and Emma Remy. Fort Dodge’s Tieryn Potratz was also a unanimous selection.
Southeast Polk’s Katie King was a first-team all-conference choice for the fourth straight year. King was an honorable mention selection as an eighth grader.
Swimming: Legendary Coach Loses Battle With Cancer
Iowa high school swimming and diving lost a legend with the passing of West Des Moines Valley coach Mark Wagner last week. Wagner coached Valley to three state championships, before moving into the college ranks at Simpson College in nearby Indianola.
Wagner passed away last Saturday at the age of 63, after a 16-month fight with cancer.
Known for his barking style of encouragement to his swimmers during meets, Wagner’s coaching resume included two state girls team championships for Valley in 1974 and 1975. He coached Valley’s boys to a state title, also in 1975.
“Mark was the kind of guy that kids gravitated toward; he was a kid magnet,” Valley activities director Steve Duncan told the Des Moines Register. “Our swimming squads would always be 50, 55 kids."
Among Wagner’s students was Craig Oppel, who set a national high school record in the 200-yard freestyle in 1985. Oppel was part of a gold medal-winning Olympic relay team in 1988.
