4 Mustangs picked for IPWA All-State team

Seniors Sydney Huber and Chloe Meester were both first-team picks in Class 3A by the Iowa Press Writers Association All-State girls’ basketball team, released last week.

Freshman Savanna Wright was a second-team pick, and junior Courtney Franck was a third-team selection.

Lisbon moves up to Class 1A in football

The IHSAA announced the 2025 and 2026 football classifications and districts, recently.

Mount Vernon remains in Class 3A and is in District 3. That group includes Center Point-Urbana, Central DeWitt, Davenport Assumption, Dubuque Wahlert and Maquoketa.

(Solon was placed in District 4 with Fairfield, Fort Madison, Keokuk, Mount Pleasant and Washington.)

Lisbon moves up from Class A to Class 1A. They were put in District 5 with Camanche, Cascade, Dyersville Beckman, MFL MarMac and Northeast.

Lisbon is the fourth-smallest 1A team, per the IHSAA classifications.

Mount Vernon is in the middle of the 36 teams in 3A, ranking 16th. Solon is ranked No. 2, just a bit below the 4A cutoff. Grinnell is the smallest 4A school.

Williamsburg coach hired at Cornell

Cornell College hired Curt Ritchie as its new football coach last week.

Ritchie coached his previous 24 years at Williamsburg (after eight years at English Valleys). He owns 245 career wins and 23 playoff appearances over 25 years.

The Rams finished 5-5 last season, including 5-4 in the Midwest Conference.

“This is something I envisioned for a long time,” Ritchie said in a release. “The timing is definitely right.

“From my initial connections on campus, Cornell felt like a perfect fit. I was really awed by the people and the vision.”

Dan Pifer and the Rams parted ways in February. He was 18-22 over five seasons.