Kirkwood Community College - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Kirkwood golfers lead Blue Boy Invy

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Charles Hartwig and Niall Powell of Kirkwood fired  rounds of 1-under-par 71 Friday to help the Eagles grab an eight shot lead after the first round of the Blue Boy Invitational at The Rail  Golf Course in Springfield, Ill.

Hartwig and Powell own a one-shot lead heading into the final round Saturday.The Eagles finished the day with a four-man score of 293. Lewis &  Clark is second at 301.

Jordan Even shot a 1-over 73 for Kirkwood.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kirkwood 293, 2. Lewis & Clark 301, 3. Illinois College 309, 4.  Blackburn 317, 5. Monmouth 319, 6. Lake Forest 322, 7. Knox 330, 8. North Central Missouri 353, 9. Concordia 364, 10. Westminster 371, 11.  Greenville 440.

KIRKWOOD TEAM: Charles Hartwig 71, Niall Powell 71, Jordan Even 73,  Louis Flynn 78, Max Thrune 82.

KIRKWOOD INDIVIDUALS: Jake Sevcik 74, JD Goodfellow 77.

No. 1 Eagles split with No. 5 DMACC

BOONE - The Kirkwood Eagles have the top-ranked softball team in the country, but they'll probably finish as the No. 2 team in their own league.

The Eagles split a doubleheader at DMACC Friday, winning the opener  2-1 and dropping the nightcap 8-5.

The split left DMACC with a 21-1 record in the ICCAC conference with  four games left in the race. Kirkwood is 20-2 and will need help from  another team to win the title.

Kirkwood trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the sixth inning in the  opener when it broke through with two runs.

Maddie Hansen collected a one-out single and was replaced by  pinch-runner Amanda Pipolo, who stole second to get into scoring position. Morgan Frost delivered a two-out double to tie the game 1-1, then Angie McBeain hit another double to drive in Frost and give the  Eagles a 2-1 edge.

Lexi Kinnaird (22-2, 1.25 ERA) kept DMACC off the board in the bottom  of the sixth and seventh to finish the victory. Kinnaird tossed a five-hitter for the victory.

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Wilson commits to Kirkwood men's basketball

The Kirkwood men's basketball team has landed another top high school senior from Iowa.

Doug Wilson, a 6-foot-6 forward from Des Moines Hoover, has committed to the Eagles for the 2017-18 campaign.

Wilson averaged 17.9 points, 14.0 rebounds and 3.4 blocks for Hoover last season and made 58.2 percent of his shots from the field.

Kyle Arrington, a 6-foot-10 center from Council Bluffs Lewis Central, also has committed to Kirkwood for next season. Arrington averaged 15.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks this past year.

Muhl named Spalding National Coach of Year

Kirkwood women's basketball coach Kim Muhl has been named the 2017 Spalding Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to the NJCAA  Division II national title this season.

The honor was bestowed by the Division II women's basketball committee.

Muhl guided Kirkwood to an unblemished 37-0 record en route to the program's seventh national title under his direction. He has won 829 games during his 28 years at Kirkwood.

Hansen making bid for JUCO Triple Crown

OTTUMWA - Taylor Nearad made a serious bid for the Triple Crown in junior college softball last year.

Now it's Maddie Hansen's turn for Kirkwood.

Hansen went 4-for-5 and belted two home runs Wednesday as the  top-ranked Eagles swept a doubleheader from Indian Hills, 9-2 and 5-1, in Ottumwa.

Hansen is batting .557 with 15 home runs and 72 RBIs. She leads all NJCAA Division II players in RBIs, is tied for second in home runs and  is third in batting average.

Nearad is not far behind her teammate. She went 4-for-8 with two home runs and four RBIs Wednesday and is hitting .527 with 15 homers and 63  RBIs.

Nearad has socked 45 home runs in two years at Kirkwood, tying the school mark set by Kayla Tatge in 2012 and 2013. Nearad hit 30 homers  last year to break the single-season record.

Kirkwood originally was scheduled to play DMACC Wednesday in a showdown for the conference lead, but that doubleheader has been switched to Friday in Boone.

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Kirkwood Eagles land 6-foot-10 center

COUNCIL BLUFFS - Council Bluffs Lewis Central senior Kyle Arrington has a dream to play Division I basketball, and he believes Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids can help him achieve that dream.

The 6-foot-10 Titan star went between dominant and unstoppable  during the course of his senior season when he averaged 15.3 points,  grabbed 12.2 boards and blocked 58 shots, helping the team to a 16-6 record.

However, he was under-recruited by four-year schools possibly due to  a pair of knee injuries sustained during his junior and senior seasons. In order to build his profile and game, he recently committed to Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen.

The Eagles won the NJCAA Division II national championship in 2016 and finished 25-7 last season, losing to eventual national champ Southwestern, 98-90, in Region XI title game.

"I worked out with one of their assistant coaches," Arrington told KMA Sports, "and I just liked the way he knew how to work out a big. He actually knew what he was talking about. That obviously intrigued me to want to get better with him."

Arrington said he was also impressed with the school.

"Usually community colleges are one or two buildings," he said. "Kirkwood has a four-year feel to it. The facilities and the team and everybody on campus is second to none. It's going to be a fun experience."

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Kirkwood softball climbs to No. 1 in poll

The Kirkwood Community College softball team jumped into the top spot in the new NJCAA Division II rankings Tuesday.

Kirkwood and Jones County traded places in the poll, with Kirkwood moving from No. 1 to No. 2 and Jones County dropping from No. 1 to No.  2.

Kirkwood lost to Jones County, 5-0, at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Georgia March 11, but Kirkwood has a better overall record now. The Eagles are 41-2 and Jones County is 38-2.

Kirkwood is headed for a showdown at fifth-ranked DMACC Wednesday for the ICCAC conference lead. DMACC is 20-0 in the league and the Eagles are 19-1.

This will be the only doubleheader between the two conference powers this season. An earlier doubleheader was postponed several times and finally canceled.

No matter what happens in their doubleheader today, Kirkwood and DMACC will participate in different regional and district tournaments and both of them can advance to the national tournament.

Kinnaird, McBeain shine for No. 2 Eagles

Angie McBeain is technically the No. 2 pitcher for the Kirkwood softball team, but that's more of a designation than a true ranking.

The truth is, the second-ranked Eagles have two star pitchers.

Lexi Kinnaird, a sophomore and one of the most successful pitchers in school history, pitches the first game of Kirkwood doubleheaders and thus is listed as the No. 1 pitcher.

McBeain, a freshman and a rising star, normally pitches the second game of doubleheaders and thus is the No. 2 pitcher, but only because she has to wait her turn.

Kinnaird, who leads the nation in victories and strikeouts, has a 20-2 record and 1.27 earned run average, with 204 strikeouts and only nine walks in 132 innings.

McBeain, who has never lost a game in college, is 16-0 with a 1.48 ERA, with 93 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 80 1/3 innings.

The dynamic duo worked their magic again Monday.

Kinnaird tossed a four-hit shutout as the Eagles blanked 16th-ranked Iowa Lakes, 7-0, in the first game of their twinbill at the Kirkwood field.

McBeain, who pitched a perfect game in her last outing, tossed a one-hitter this time as the Eagles won the nightcap, 12-0, in five innings.

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Kirkwood baseball splits with Iowa Central

FORT DODGE - Another day, same result.

The Kirkwood baseball team split another doubleheader with Iowa  Central Monday, dropping the opener 3-2 and taking the nightcap 10-6  in 10 innings.

The Eagles and Tritons also split their doubleheader Sunday in the  four-game series.

Lorenzo Elion belted two home runs for Kirkwood in the 10-6 victory.  Colin Kreiter and Ellison Hanna also hit homers to help power the  Eagles.

Kreiter went 4-for-4 with his home run, three RBIs and three runs  scored in the triumph. Korry Howell was 3-for-6 in the leadoff spot.  Elion finished with three RBIs and Hanna had two RBIs.

Kaden Wadle picked up the victory with 3 1/3 strong innings in relief.  He did not allow any hits or runs during his stint on the mound and  walked only one batter while finishing the game.

Kirkwood scored three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game,  6-6. It stayed tied until the Eagles scored four times in the 10th.

Peyton Long was the hard-luck loser for Kirkwood in the 3-2 setback in  the opener. He allowed three runs in six innings, with nine strikeouts  and only one walk.

Kreiter homered in the first game, giving him two round-trippers for  the afternoon. Spencer Wiskus had two hits, but the Eagles had only  four hits in the game.

Kirkwood has a 25-12 overall record, and seven of those losses have  been by one run. The Eagles are 7-5 in the conference, two games out  of first place.

Iowa Central is 24-13 overall and 10-6 in the league, just one game  behind Southeastern.

GAME 1

Kirkwood       011 000 0 - 2 4 1
Iowa Central   100 200 x - 3 6 0

W - Steffens. L - Long

GAME 2

Kirkwood       000 120 300 4 - 10 14 3
Iowa Central   003 102 000 0 - 6 10 0

W - Wadle. L - Kearns.