Kirkwood Community College - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Eagles lead Fighting Scot golf tourney

MONMOUTH, Ill. - Carson Whittington fired a 2-under-par 69 Saturday to help the Kirkwood Eagles grab a 10-shot lead after the first round of the Fighting Scot Invitational at Gibson Woods Golf Course.

Charlie Hartwig shot a 1-over 72 as the Eagles finished the first 18 holes at 294. Hartwig is tied for third place.

Louis Flynn shot a 75, Eddie Doyle and Mitchell Willems submitted 78's and Jordan Even had a 79 for Kirkwood.

Augustana is in second place at 304. The final round is Sunday.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kirkwood 294, 2. Augustana 304, 3. Black Hawk 306, 4. Monmouth Red 306, 5. Grinnell 308, 6. North Central 309, 7. Iowa Wesleyan 320, 8. Illinois College 322, 9. Knox 323, 10. Monmouth White 330, 11. Augustana JV 334, 12. Monmouth Black 340.

Kirkwood's Richards signs with Wilmington

Nick Richards is headed home to Delaware to continue his college basketball career at Wilmington University after helping Kirkwood win the NJCAA Division II national title this season.

Richards, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Eagles, who finished 31-4 this season. He was named to the all-tournament team at the national tournament.

Wilmington is an NCAA Division II school that's located in Richards' home town of New Castle, Del. The Wildcats play in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference against teams from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.

Kirkwood golfers 3rd at NIACC tourney

MASON CITY - The Kirkwood men's golf team finished third out of nine teams at the NIACC Spring Invitational Thursday at the Mason City Country Club.

Matt Bennett of Iowa Lakes took medalist honors with a 68 and led the Lakers to the team championship at 284. The Eagles finished 17 shots behind Iowa Lakes.

Jordan Even tied for eighth for Kirkwood with a 74. Carson Whittington and Eddie Doyle shot 75's for the Eagles. Charlie Hartwig and Mitch Williams carded 77's.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Iowa Lakes 284, 2. DMACC 295, 3. Kirkwood 301, 4. Iowa Central 306, 5. Waldorf 308, 6. Southwestern 309, 7. NIACC 316, 8. Hawkeye 335, 9. Ellsworth 343.

No. 4 Kirkwood softball sweeps NIACC

MASON CITY - The fourth-ranked Kirkwood softball team belted seven home runs Thursday and swept a conference doubleheader from NIACC, 10-5 and 11-0 in five innings.

Maddie Hansen socked her 13th homer of the season and drove in three runs in the first game. Taylor Nearad was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored. Morgan Frost socked her seventh homer and drove in two runs. Nicky Simpson (22-2) was the winning pitcher.

Allie Mengler belted two home runs and drove in five runs in the second game. Payton Mercer was 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs. Nearad went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. It was Nearad's 22nd homer, which leads the nation.

Lexi Ferrari hit her first home run for the Eagles. Hansen went 2-for-3 and scored twice. Teagan Toft had two stolen bases. Lexi Kinnaird (20-2) was the winning pitcher.

Kirkwood raised its records to 45-4 overall and 23-1 in the ICCAC conference. The Eagles have won 32 of their last 33 games.

The Eagles have hit 82 home runs in 49 games. Kirkwood ranks second in the nation in home runs.

NIACC fell to 18-26 overall and 9-15 in the league.

KCC golfers shine at Iowa Lakes invite

PANORA - The Kirkwood men's golf team dominated the Iowa Lakes Spring Preview at the Lake Panorama National course Monday.

The seventh-ranked Eagles won the team championship by 24 shots as Louis Flynn, Carson Whittington and Charles Hartwig finished 1-2-3 in the individual standings.

Kirkwood ended with a two-day total of 589 shots in the 10-team tournament. Waldorf placed second at 613.

Flynn claimed the title with rounds of 74 and 70 for an even-par total of 144. Whittington finished second at 76-70=146 and Hartwig was third at 73-74=147. Flynn and Whittington fired rounds of 2-under Monday.

Eddie Doyle of Kirkwood placed 10th at 77-75=152. Jordan Even tied for 19th at 78-78=156.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kirkwood 589, 2. Walforf 613, 3. (tie) Iowa Lakes 618, Iowa Central 618, 5. DMACC 625, 6. Northeast (Neb.) 640, 7. Buena Vista 658, 8. NIACC 667, 9. Southwestern 673, 10. Ellsworth 733.

Nearad bidding for national Triple Crown

Taylor Nearad led the state in RBIs last season when she helped Solon High School win the Class 3A softball title, but now she's bidding for even bigger honors with the Kirkwood Eagles.

Nearad is enjoying a phenomenal season at Kirkwood and is making a strong bid for the national Triple Crown with a .624 batting average, 21 home runs and 94 RBIs in 47 games.

She currently tops all NJCAA Division II players in all three major categories after enjoying another sensational day at the ballpark Sunday when the fourth-ranked Eagles swept a conference doubleheader from Southwestern, 16-8 and 9-1.

Nearad went 7-for-8 in the twin-bill with two doubles, a triple, a home run and seven RBIs from the leadoff spot in the order.

"Honestly in my 20 years of doing this, she might be the best player I've had the opportunity to work with," said Kirkwood Coach Joe Yegge. "Everything she does is effortless.

"And she's the type of kid that she doesn't even care (about her numbers). She probably doesn't even know what she's hitting. She just goes about her business."

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No. 19 Eagles sweep Iowa Central again

The Kirkwood baseball team swept a doubleheader from Iowa Central Sunday for the second straight day and won all four games in the weekend series against the Tritons.

The 19th-ranked Eagles won the first game, 13-3, and took the nightcap 13-10.

Kirkwood raised its records to 27-13 overall and 13-3 in the ICCAC conference standings. The Eagles lead NIACC and Southeastern by one game in the league race with 12 games remaining.

Kirkwood outscored Iowa Central, 48-20, in the four games. Iowa Central fell to 20-8 overall and 9-7 in the league.

Jack Fitzgerald and Brandon Brittain belted home runs for Kirkwood in the first game. Fitzgerald went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Colin Kreiter, Tyler Butz and General McArthur had two hits. Kreiter, Brittain and McArthur had two RBIs.

Brock Neuhaus pitched a complete game for Kirkwood in the first game, which ended after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. He allowed only one earned run and five hits.

JT Sole and Brittain socked home runs for the Eagles in the second game. Sole and Kreiter had three hits and two RBIs. Fitzgerald, Matt Paciello, Brittain and McArthur had two hits.

Kirkwood took a 13-6 lead into the ninth inning of the nightcap, but Iowa Central rallied for four runs and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Zach Morrissey came in from the bullpen at that point and got the final out for a save.

Kirkwood leads Iowa Lakes golf tourney

PANORA - The Kirkwood Eagles grabbed a six-shot lead after the first round of the Iowa Lakes Invitational golf tournament Sunday at the Lake Panorama National course.

Kirkwood freshman Charlie Hartwig fashioned a 1-over-par 73 to share first place after 18 holes. Louis Flynn, another freshman, submited a 2-over 74 for the Eagles and is tied for third place.

Kirkwood finished with a four-man score of 300 for a six-shot league over Waldorf. Carson Whittington shot a 76 for the seventh-ranked Eagles and Eddie Doyle had a 77.

The final round is scheduled for Monday.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kirkwood 300, 2. Waldorf 306, 3. Iowa Lakes 311, 4. Iowa Central 312, 5. DMACC 361, 6. Northeast 323, 7. NIACC 330, 8. (tie) Southwestern 337, Buena Vista 337, 10. Ellsworth 352, 11. Hawkeye 363.

No. 19 Eagles slam No. 9 Iowa Central

The Kirkwood Eagles enjoyed a grand day at the ballpark Saturday.

Matt Paciello began the doubleheader with a grand slam and JT Sole finished the twin-bill with another four-run homer as the 19th-ranked Eagles swept No. 9 Iowa Central, 11-1 and 11-6, in an ICCAC double-dip at the Kirkwood field.

Nick Drahozal tossed a two-hitter in the first game, Brandon Brittain delivered the game-winning hit in the second game and everybody who played made a contribution to the big victories.

The sweep lifted Kirkwood into sole possession of first place in the ICCAC with an 11-3 record at the mid-point of the conference race, one full game ahead of NIACC and Southeastern and two games ahead of Iowa Central.

The Eagles (25-13) had dropped 5 of 6 games heading into Saturday's action, but Paciello steered them in the right direction when he socked his grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the first inning of the opener.

Kirkwood loaded the bases with nobody out, but the next two batters were retired before Paciello lined a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left field for an early 4-0 lead.

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