Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
2024 Year in Review
Union area saw state titles in track and field, golf and cross-country
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
The year 2024 started out with a lot of promise. The Union area was smack dab in the middle of an intense basketball season, where Winfield-Mount Union, Keota and others were rising in the Class 1A ranks. The area's wrestling teams saw plenty of names shoot into the Top-5, and we knew we were in for a busy winter postseason.
On the courts, only one Union area team made it all the way to the soon-to-be-renamed Wells Fargo Arena.
WMU had been one of the top Class 1A teams all year long, and it was the Wolves that represented the area at the boys' state basketball tournament.
The Wolves certainly put on a show, knocking off Lynnville-Sully 54-37 in the quarterfinals before bowing out to eventual state champion North Linn, 67-51 in the semis.
The girls' basketball season saw Washington rise up the ranks in the Southeast Conference, and Columbus do the same in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference's North Division. Neither team could quite grab the conference title, and the area was shut out from the girls basketball state tournament.
State wrestling was quite the different story. The Union area had a handful of state place-winners on the boys' side, and a state champion in the girls' tournament.
The Fairfield wrestling team put five wrestlers into the state brackets, earning Coach Steve Miller our All-Union Coach of the Year honor.
Three area wrestlers made it to the state championship match on Saturday night at the Well. Fairfield's Cael McCabe, WACO's Louden Huisenga and Columbus/WMU's Russel Coil all fell in their first place matches.
That wasn't the case for Sigourney-Keota's Reanah Utterback, who tore through the state tournament in her first year wrestling exclusively on the girls' side. She went a perfect 49-0 in the 2023-24 school year. Mid-Prairie led the area at the girls' state meet, putting three wrestlers through.
Last winter also saw a handful of state bowling qualifiers. Washington’s Caleb Zieglowsky represented the area on the boys’ side, and Mt. Pleasant had three girls make the tournament; Kya Goodrich, Bethany Drury, and Addie McGehearty.
During the spring, the area continued to prove its prowess in track and field. At the 2024 state track meet, Fairfield's Eli Zihlman and Pekin's Anna Hadley took home state individual titles in the boys' high jump and girls' shot put respectively. Mid-Prairie's Jayden Stafford, meanwhile, swept the wheelchair events, going 4-for-4.
The state golf tournament was highlighted by an individual state championship from New London's Taylor Phillips. Phillips won the Class 1A state title by two strokes, leading the Tigers to a fourth-place finish, just behind bronze medalist Highland. In Class 2A, Mid-Prairie placed 5th.
The 2024 boys' state tournament was marred by a Day 2 storm that caused the contest to finish up after just one day.
Defending Class 3A champion Roman Roth of Washington closed out his high school golf career with a third-place individual finish. The Demons finished fifth in Class 3A, and both Keota and WMU tied for sixth in the Class 1A tournament.
The best finish in tennis went to Jana Isanta, a Winfield-Mount Union student from Spain, who played for Mt. Pleasant via a co-op. Isanta was fourth at the 2024 Class 1A state individual tournament.
The Union area was shut out from the 2024 state baseball and state softball tournaments, leaving a little extra time to get everyone excited for fall.
It was the autumn of the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie made the state volleyball tournament, went to the quarterfinals in football and won a title in girls' cross-country.
As the Union coverage area heads into the new year, the Southeast Iowa Union is more ready than ever to follow Southeast Iowa athletes from opening day to the end of each season.
