Each Aplington-Parkersburg spring sports team will be in action Thursday.
The tennis teams will make their first of two trips to Byrnes Park this season for duals against Waterloo Columbus. The Falcon boys are off to a 2-3 start, but senior Grant Wedeking, who plays #2 singles and #1 doubles, says the intense early season schedule provided key growth opportunities.
“We knew coming in we were going to return a lot of talent, and we thought we could win a lot of meets this year,” Wedeking says. “We started off with a stronger schedule than we’ve had in years past, but that’s only going to help us. So our record got off to kind of a slow start, but we’ve competed in all those matches with better teams. And I think by playing them, we’re going to be better built for postseason. And so we’re going to look to start to get some more wins on our record before then, and then hopefully send some individuals as well as hopefully a team state appearance.”
The early portion of the schedule included duals against ranked teams North Polk, Ballard and Decorah, all of which have returning state qualifiers. Wedeking on Thursday’s dual.
“They were down last year, but I know they bring in a freshman that’s going to play #1 singles who’s very talented. So Tate will have him tough at the top and then he plays with their two seed at one doubles most every night. And so he’s going to be tough to compete against. We’re going to have to find a weakness in his game or find something we can attack. But I think overall as a team, we’ll get the W there.”
At 2-4, the Falcon girls have won their last two duals, but will face a tall task against the #3 (1A) Sailors, which are 4-1 so far. The meets will begin at 4:00 p.m.
The track & field teams will be in action in different locations. The boys will compete at the Penick Relays at BCLUW and the girls will compete at the Norsemen Relays at Roland-Story. It’s the last opportunity to qualify for the Drake Relays. Both meets will start at 4:30.
The golf teams will compete for the first time in nearly a week due to the cancellation of Tuesday’s meets. The boys will play at Union and the DNH/AP girls will be at Columbus Catholic at 4:15.
The girls soccer team, having been idle since Friday, April 12, will travel to #8 (1A) Denver. The Falcons are 4-3 and the Cyclones are 7-1, winners of seven straight. It’ll start at 4:30. The #7 (2A) United boys will play the second game of the doubleheader at 6:00. AP/DNH is 7-1, and has won seven straight. A potent offense, their 47 goals ranks first in Class 2A and second overall. Denver is 2-3, coming off a 4-0 win at Waterloo Columbus Monday.
