(Area) Today kicks off a new KSOM/KS95.7 Sports series designed to illustrate the success historically for immediate coverage area teams in various sports. We begin with baseball and will have a rundown of state softball qualifiers coming up tomorrow. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll highlight all sports in which team qualification info can be tracked through Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union websites.
Baseball State Qualifiers
ACGC: None
(Adair-Casey: 1)
(Guthrie Center: 1)
ACGC has played just three seasons of baseball and has no state tourney appearances in their current form. Adair-Casey qualified for state in 2009 with Wade Anderson as their coach. Guthrie Center, under Rod Robson, qualified for state in 1998.
AHSTW: None
(AHST: 2)
(Walnut: 4)
Two state tourney appearances came as AHST in 2006 and 2007. Jason Holst oversaw each tourney team. Walnut made the state tournament in 1995, 1997, 2004, and 2005 with Bob Gross and Denny Book coaching the Warriors. Walnut has one state tournament win, it came over West Harrison in 2004 by a score of 8-1.
Atlantic: 2 (1948, 1997)
Courtesy of Ryan Muldoon, the 1997 roster featured: Catcher- Jake Anderson (Jr); 1B- Ryan Maley (Sr); 2B- Rick Wilmes (Jr); SS- Travis Lane (So); 3B- Chad Dreyer (Jr); LF- Ryan Muldoon (Sr); CF- Adam Bierbaum (Sr); RF- Nick Glade (Jr); DH- Todd Van Pelt (Sr); Pitching Staff- Travis Garrett (Sr), Adam Christensen (Sr), Erik Sonntag, Ryan Muldoon, Nick Glade; Reserves- Josh McLaren (So), Randy Hespen (Jr), Joe Sullivan (Jr). Muldoon recalls the team going 18-0 at home and 15-3 in the Hawkeye Ten. They beat Harlan 1-0 in a substate matchup at Carroll, “That was a fun season. Harlan had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th & their best hitter up to bat with two outs. Garrett struck him out swinging with an off speed pitch on a full count.” The 1948 team was coached by Jim Corkin and Darrell Wagoner. The 1997 team was coached by Dan Duskin.
Audubon: None
CAM: 1 (2017)
(Cumberland-Massena: 1)
CAM’s run to the state tourney in 2017 featured back-to-back dramatic victories over Lenox and St. Albert behind very strong defense. The group was coached by Dan Daugherty. The starting lineup at state featured Marcus Daugherty, Thomas Hensley, Mitchell Williamson, Austin Chester, Nick Holste, DeShawn Carr, Kolby Nelson, Ben Tibken, Darien Burnison, and Jacob Holste. Prior to Cumberland-Massena joining with Anita there was a state runner-up finish by C&M in 1993. Steve Pelzer’s squad beat Grundy Center 5-3 in the opening round, but fell to Storm Lake St. Mary’s in the finals.
Exira-EHK: None
(Exira: 1)
(EH-K 5)
The Spartans first played together in the summer of 2010. That year they won their first 26 games before being ousted by East Greene in a District Final. Elk Horn-Kimballton was a five time qualifier (1978, 1981, 1982, 1990, and 2000). Exira made the most of their only state tournament appearance by winning the championship in 1951. The Vikings were led to the title by coach Bob Williams. Randy Meester coached the first Dane tourney trip and Tony Petersen took the team there four times.
Griswold: 1 (2004)
Chad Rodgers led the Tigers to their lone state tourney appearance. They lost to Mid-Prairie, Wellman in a Class 2A quarterfinal.
Harlan: 18 (69, 75, 95, 96, 99, 02, 03, 04, 05, 08, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
The Cyclones own state titles in 1996, 2003, and 2016. They were runners-up in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2017, and 2018. They have the 5th most state tournament wins of any program in the state at 23-15. Only seven other schools have appeared in the finals more frequently than Harlan. Current head coach Steve Daeges has 16 state tourney appearances. Dan Hill and Gary Ratigan each took the Cyclones to state once.
Nodaway Valley 1 (2016)
Coach Dan Jameson’s team got hot at the right time and rode the momentum all the way to state in ’16. To get there they had to take down longtime Pride of Iowa juggernaut and state tourney regular Martensdale-St. Mary’s (On a night the lights went out in Creston). A noteworthy feat is the fact that Jackson Lamb was the winning pitcher in the district semifinal, district final, and substate final. Starters at state were Beau Weinheimer, Joe Herr, Jackson Lamb, Sam Marnin, Ryan Jensen, Tyler Vandewater, Spencer Thompson, Brandon Mangles, Spencer Lamb, and Corbin Bond.
Riverside: None
