By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

State championships roundup

I know you have seen plenty of coverage of the golf and track and field state championships, so I won’t go on for too long, but a recap of both school’s performances is certainly fitting. Follow the links below to more comprehensive coverage of their performances. After the Panorama girls finished fifth at the state meet in 2024, it was the ACGC boys’ turn to represent Guthrie County high up on the leader board. Let’s hope we see both of these programs on the blue track in Des Moines in 2026.

ACGC boys track and field – Second place with 44 points

ACGC girls track and field – Tied for 25^th with 11 points

Panorama boys track and field – Syler Shaffer places 13^th in 400-meter hurdles

Panorama girls track and field – Tied for 31^st with 7 points

Panorama boys golf – Seventh place shooting +75

Baseball and softball begin

Panorama and ACGC baseball and softball seasons have begun. I spoke with each of these team’s head coaches for our soon-to-publish Summer Sports Guide.

ACGC has new head coaches for both teams this year. Nick McCool takes over the Chargers baseball team. He spent several years as an assistant and volunteer. From our conversation, he knows his players well and is excited to get the season going.

Tyler Merical is in charge of the softball team. ACGC softball production was dominated by a talented group of seniors. The team’s 13-13 season is one the coach hopes to build off of. The 2025 group is young, but Merical seems primed for the challenge.

“I’m just hoping we bring an exciting brand to softball that the community can get behind and enjoy. We want to be something that not only the school, but the community, can be proud of,” Merical told me.

As for Panorama, Brian Bahrenfuss returns to coach the baseball team, and Ismael Galvan remains in charge of the softball program. Panorama won 10 games last season, a big improvement over the three it won the year prior. He says the Panthers are focused on getting 1% better each day.

Galvan is tasked with replacing Jaidyn Sellers’ 10 home runs from a year ago and Lindy Nelson’s .312 average. The good news for Galvan is that the Panthers return a majority of their team from last season. That is especially good news for a team that relied heavily on production from sophomores, freshman and eighth-graders.

“I think the girls have bought in and have done such a great job so far this season in stacking great practices and working hard. It’s a testament to them and how hard they work every practice, and Coach Thompson and I could not be prouder,” Galvan shared with me.

Brothers meet in final

The state tennis meet provided a truly fantastic occurrence this season. According to Owen Siebring, a sports anchor in Cedar Rapids, a pair of brothers had never met in the title game since IHSAA began tracking state tennis champions in 1929. That is, until now. Prairie’s Anthony and Dylan Schulte met in the 2A state singles final. Older brother Anthony ended up winning, but younger brother Dlyan is only a freshman, giving him plenty of chances to return to the final. Everyone likes to tout bragging rights over their siblings, but I’m not sure it gets much better than beating them in a state championship.

Hoover qualifies for state tournament

I mentioned the trouble Hoover High School’s soccer program got into in a previous column. The team had to forfeit all of its wins due to playing an ineligible player. But this did not eliminate them from post season play. The Huskies defeated Glenwood, 6-0, to advance to the state tournament, with a 5-11-2 record. As the seven seed, they face second seed Liberty (11-5-2). This is a tough draw for Liberty as Hoover is still a solid program, and much better than a seven seed. The Huskies have lost three games since their forfeits: Roosevelt, Ames and Valley. All of them are 4A state qualifiers.

Reach out with your thoughts, comments and ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

Panthers and Chargers compete at state track and field

The Iowa High School boys and girls state track meet started yesterday, Thursday, May 22, and will run (literally) today, May 23, and tomorrow, May 24. I have not yet had the pleasure of attending the state track tournament. That’s not the case for several Panorama and ACGC athletes this week. If you are unable to attend, a free live stream of the events is available HERE.

Panorama’s Kylie Rochholz ran in the 3,000-meter run yesterday and the distance medley team of Faith Recker, Gracie Recker, Maddy Lutz and Rochholz placed fifth in 4:13.21. Rochholz competes again in the 1,500-meter run tomorrow, May 24 at 2:15 p.m. On the boys side, Syler Shaffer will be leaping in the 400-meter hurdles at noon, today, May 23.

ACGC boys track has dominated this season and is well-represented at the state meet. The 4×100-meter shuttle hurdle team placed first in the qualifier, Mike Fuller placed fifth in the shot put, and Eli Madsen placed sixth in the 400-meter dash yesterday.

Plenty more will compete today, May 23:

• Brexton Schneider and Tate Fever in the 110-meter hurdles at 4:20 p.m.
• Mike Fuller in discus at 4:30 p.m.
• Tate Fever in the 400-meter hurdles at 6 p.m.
• 4×200-meter relay at 5:10 p.m.
• 4×100-meter relay at 6:40 p.m.
• 4×400-meter relay at 7:40 p.m.

And tomorrow, Saturday, May 24

• Sprint medley relay team at 9:50 a.m.

On the ACGC girls side, the distance medley team of Nora Langgaard, Meranda Gruber, Cadence Petersen and Ava Campbell at 2:40 p.m. and Cadence Petersen at 5:40 p.m. compete today. Ava Campbell then competes in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs on Saturday, May 24.

I wish the best of luck to all of these incredible ACGC and Panorama athletes in their remaining races and events. It has been a pleasure covering these programs throughout the season.

Record-breakers

Panorama and ACGC make frequent appearances at the state track and field meet. They also appear in the all-time record books. One thing Cody Matthewson told me when I interviewed him for our Spring Sports Guide was about program legend, Austin Kunkle. The IAHSAA shows the state and all-time records on the heat and lane assignments page. Kunkle’s name appears twice as the state record holder in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, both set in 2023. 

Panorama’s girls track and field legend Jaidyn Sellers holds several state records of her own and across different classes. She just had one of them broken yesterday. Her 2A 100-meter dash record set In 2023 was broken by Rachel Kacmarynski of Pella Christian. I was able to cover Sellers’ dominance in her senior season in 2024 when she broke the 1A 100-meter and 400-meter dash state records. All in all, Sellers won 10 state titles in her time at Panorama.

What are the odds that two of Iowa’s best all-time sprinters would be going to school at the same time, 10 minutes away from each other, in Guthrie County? I won’t (and can’t) do the math on that one. Let’s hope the rest of these records stand until another Panther or Charger comes along to break them.

Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.

A friendly grandparent pointed out to me after my column last week that Panorama has a Shooting Sports Club. The only shooting sport I have been personally familiar with is basketball, and trap shooting, admittedly, has been out of my depth of knowledge. It is still an interesting sport, nonetheless, as I am learning.

Trap shooting originated sometime during the late 18^th century, according to Britannica, when marksmen were trying to improve their hunting skills. The British opted to shoot live pigeons released from cages or boxes instead of clay disc. Luckily, that practice, and British cuisine, didn’t translate over to the Panorama Trap Shooting Team. Apparently, the group has served pulled pork lunches at events. I think I’m becoming a trap shooting fan. If anyone reading this has information on ACGC’s club program to pass along, please let me know.

Club competitions can be difficult to acquire results for. There are many of them, and they do not all have the same governing body as school sports do with the IHSAA and IGHSAU. I have started to keep up with the Panorama team on its Facebook page. Yesterday, the team hosted its third annual Panorama Panthers Trap Team Club Champion Competition at Fin and Feather Shooters.

Incorrect placement

Panorama and ACGC golfers have been competing at sectionals this week. Let’s hope none of them ran into the problem many golfers experienced at the NAIA Women’s Nationals on Wednesday, May 14. The NAIA released a statement saying the pin on hole 5 was “incorrectly placed in a challenging position.” Watch the video HERE. It reminds me of what happened at the Iowa State Girls Golf Championship that went viral in 2022. Watch that video HERE.  

Dekkers makes headlines

Former Iowa State starting quarterback and Iowa native Hunter Dekkers made headlines this week when it was announced he was signing with the New Orleans Saints. Dekkers’ stint in Ames was brief after being caught up in the university’s sports betting scandal a few years ago.

Dekkers has completed quite the comeback after losing his NCAA eligibility during the ordeal. The West Sioux High School grad took his medicine. He sat out the 2023 season and had his appeal for reinstatement denied by the NCAA. He enrolled at Iowa Western Community College, leading the team to an appearance in the NJCAA national title game. Recently, Dekkers appeared on former NFL Head Coach Jon Gruden’s Inside the FFCA series. The Saints have a murky QB situation after Derek Carr’s retirement, meaning, there’s a chance Dekkers may see an NFL field just a few short years after his NCAA dismissal.

NBA draft

NBA fans were treated, or tortured, during the draft lottery on Monday, May 11. Cries of “rigged,” “unfair” and “how can this be” echoed in and around league spheres. Back in early February, the Dallas Mavericks became public enemy No. 1 in the Lone Star State after trading their superstar, Luka Doncic, for pennies on the dollar to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mav’s were 26-23 at the time, eighth in the Western Conference. After trading their star, and a few injuries later, the Mavericks finished the season 39-43 — just bad enough to get them into the draft lottery. The Mavericks had a 1.8% chance to land the No. 1 overall pick— and that’s exactly what happened. It is the fourth-lowest odds in league history. Orlando had a 1.52% chance in 1993, Cleveland had a 1.7% chance in 2014, and Chicago also had a 1.8% chance in 2008.

Duke University standout, Cooper Flagg, is one of the best prospects of the past 20 years and is most certainly going to be a Maverick. Did the NBA brass reward the Mavs for sending the future face of the league to one of its biggest markets? Probably not. But what is for certain is that Flagg will be wearing blue and white again next season.

Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette 

In my introductory column, I wrote in the last paragraph that I was approaching it the only way I knew how — with 100% effort and a willingness to fail. I just didn’t think the failing part would come so soon.

I wrote roughly 80% of the column about how the ACGC and Panorama track teams had been dominating their respective school record books in recent weeks. And, while I was correct to some degree, I was wrong to an even greater degree. I misattributed some records to athletes, and, somehow, even missed a few.

The column can be found HERE, with the corrections. Thank you to Panorama’s AD and head boys track and field coach, Bruce Dahlhauser, who corrected me. Oddly enough, I mentioned him in the same column as someone who has helped be accurate in my sports reporting. It was only fitting that he be the one who pointed out my mistake. Another thanks to Panorama girls track and field coach, Greg Thompson, and ACGC’s girls and boys track coaches, Jacob Lacey and Cody Matthewson (great first name), who helped me square down the correct records and resources for future school records.

Betty Cooper, who does an incredible job photographing local sports, broke her foot recently. Yet, Betty still managed to wheel around to capture some great soccer and track photos. Roll on, Betty, and get better soon!

The West Central Activities Conference meets and competitions have been the focus of ACGC and Panorama this week. When interviewing coaches for our sports guides, I ask each of them what the competition level is like in the WCAC. I ask this because it is something a sports fan reading about their team would want to know, plus, I was curious — since my knowledge of Iowa high school sports resides around the Des Moines metro.

These coaches all give the same answer, for every sport, boys and girls. It’s tough. One thing you might not find in a lot of conferences throughout Iowa is the size discrepancies you see in the WCAC. Schools like Des Moines Christian and Van Meter reach 3A in some sports, and there are teams in the WCAC who compete in class A. The most important factor here is that none of these coaches use that as an excuse. They all essentially tell me, “This is the level, this is the competition, and this is where we need to be at.”

Here’s how ACGC and Panorama performed at their conference meets this week.

Panorama

• Boys track and field: 10^th
• Girls track and field: 7^th
• Boys golf: 3^rd
• Girls golf: 7^th

ACGC

• Boys track and field: 1^st
• Girls track and field: 10^th
• Boys golf: 6^th
• Girls golf: 8^th

Expect talent from these programs to compete in the state-qualifying and district competitions coming soon. I know I will be watching. Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.

What a few weeks it has been for Panorama and ACGC track and field. Athletes from both programs are keeping recordkeepers busy.

On Saturday, April 26, the ACGC boys track and field team of Joe Crawford, Brexton Schneider, Kade Sorensen and Eli Madsen set a school record in the 4×100-meter relay at 43.25 while running at the Drake Relays. Then, just a few days later, the group broke that record AGAIN at the Bob Clark Relays on Tuesday, April 29, running a 43.16. That time also set a meet record. Three records were set in the space of four days for that group. Bravo.

Speaking of the Bob Clark Relays, Crawford, Sorensen, Dean Vela and Madsen set the meet and school record for the sprint medley relay in 1:34.92. This broke the record set by Crawford, Anthony Solorzano, Madsen and Lance Bunde one year ago by nearly 4 full seconds.

It wasn’t just the boys breaking records. Ava Campbell set the meet record for the 800-meter run in 2:21.34. This was just shy of her own school record in the 800-meter run she set last year at 2:21.27. The distance medley team of Nora Langgaard, Brooklyn Schafer, Cadence Petersen and Campbell set a meet record in 4:21.59, the fifth-fastest in program history. Bravo, again.

For Panorama track and field, Kylie Rochholz has been running blazing distance times and rewriting the record books. Rochholz set a meet record at the Bob Clark Relays in the 3,000-meter run in 10:51.45. Just a few weeks ago, she broke the school, meet and stadium record in the 3,000-meter run in 10:46.75. The previous school record was held by Ella Waddle, set in 2018. Bravo, again.

If you were keeping track of how many records that is — I was certainly having trouble — it is 10 set across the two programs in just two weeks. A massive congratulations goes out to both of these teams. The state tournament is right around the corner. Let’s see if they can keep this up.

In keeping up with our own archives and records, (these are less impressive, just a lot more words,) it has officially been one year since it was announced that Bruce Dahlhauser, Panorama boys track and field coach, would take over as the school’s activities director. Bruce has been a tremendous help to me in providing accurate and timely results for our sports coverage. Thank you, Bruce. Keep up the great work.

Around the state, Des Moines Hoover High School was playing an ineligible player for most of its season. The Huskies were the No. 1 team in 3A with an 8-0-1 record. That all came crashing down after they self-reported the findings that a student’s birth certificate was inaccurate, placing the player’s age at 20, and not 19. The team forfeited all of its wins during the games he played, bringing their record to 0-8-1, bouncing them from the IHSAA’s most recent rankings. Since all soccer teams, regardless of record, make the playoffs, Hoover will still play. The Huskies have dominated since their move to 3A. They made the state final in 2024 and were the No. 1 overall seed in 2023 before losing in the semi-finals. Meaning, it is entirely possible we could see a team with a losing record make a deep run in those playoffs

Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

If you have kept up on Guthrie County sports for the past year and some change, specifically Panorama and ACGC, you have likely seen my name. It’s equally as likely that you have mispronounced it. I take no offense to that, as teachers, employers, friends and even family members have called me coyote for as long as I can remember. I go by “Cody,” but those who call me coyote, sigh-oat, kie-oat and everything in between receive the same response from me. “Yep, that’s me.”

As the sports reporter for the Guthrie County Times Vedette, I have brought you sports coverage on stats, scores, coaching changes and more. It has been a pleasure to do so. Now, I’m being challenged by our publisher, Shane Goodman, with writing a sports column. I accept that challenge.

I figured I would start (per Shane’s advice) this column off with an introduction of myself. I grew up on the southside of Des Moines. If you are wondering why which side of town matters, spend a few years in our state capital, and you will learn. Each area has its ups and downs; I just prefer mine. (The abundance of Italian restaurants certainly helps.)

I have played sports all of my life. Soccer, basketball and football have been my favorites. Those preferences have made covering sports in this area even more joyful, seeing the Panorama girls basketball team state final run last year; Morgan Crees scoring goals at a rate I would only dream of; and ACGC’s football program winning game after game running the same style of offense I grew up watching my Lincoln Railsplitters run. Ground and pound, baby.

I attended Des Moines Area Community College. During my time there, I wrote for Banner News, a school blog. It helped me start to realize that my dream of becoming a writer could become reality. I wrote for Wide Right & Natty Lite, an Iowa State sports fan blog, and spent some time at the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle on the other side of the state. That is where I got my first “real world” taste covering sports. As a kid who instantly turned on ESPN when I got home from school and listened to sports talk radio as I fell asleep, I knew this is what I was meant to do.

Our sports coverage is resigned to quick reads on stats and results. Here, in my den, I will dig a little deeper. I plan on highlighting what some of the area’s athletes are excelling at, how alumni are faring at their respective colleges and universities, bringing news about how other high school athletes are making waves around the state, and giving my take on some national sporting news, too.

All this to say, I’m approaching this challenge the only way I know how, with 100% effort — and the willingness to fail. Here’s to the next step in my sports-writing journey, and I hope you, the reader, enjoys it. If you don’t, I’m always happy to hear from you. Reach out with comments, complaints, ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.