Earlham Echo

November 28, 2023

Wrestling

When you walk into the Earlham wrestling room during practice, you’re almost overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. Part of that is certainly the subpar circulation in the room. But after watching the Cardinals work for a while, you realize that the heaviness of the air might be from the collective vapor of the blood, sweat, and tears pouring out of them right in front of your eyes. The whirling non-stop activity, endless hustle, and a battle level that would have pleased Genghis Kahn—in only the second week of practice—leads you to believe that these kids are just built a little differently. 

“There aren’t a lot of complaints,” said head coach Ben Strandberg about his athletes’ work ethic. “Earlham kids show up. In addition to afternoon practice, we’re also here at 6 a.m. twice a week; 3 times this week. And we’re all here. I’m going through my attendance and we’re all here across the board. They’re here to work and they show up in number—and I think they like spending time with each other, even when it’s in a hot, damp room.”

Two years ago when the Earlham wrestling program was ‘reborn,’ there was only a handful of kids out. This year, the room is nearly bursting with over 20 kids competing. And while the quantity is on the upswing, so is the quality. The Cardinals will return four boys’ state qualifiers from last year—Ryan Stiles, Payton Harger, Dallas Canoyer, and Josh Winey. Haley Glade qualified for the girls’ state tournament. Individually, Stiles, Harger, Canoyer, and Glade are all ranked in the top ten, per IAwrestle. And with a handful of other kids that are poised to make their mark, the Cardinals are ranked #11.

“Pre-season rankings are what they are,” said Coach Strandberg. “My dad always used to say, ‘Oh you’re ranked number 1? Now you can go downtown and it’s still going to cost $1.50 for a cup of coffee.’ It doesn’t really do anything for you, except it’s kind of a pat on the back. But it is nice to see those names and our school in those rankings right out of the gate. Where we had to earn it throughout the season the last couple of years, now people are kind of giving us our due.”

As hard as the team has been working, there is still a way to go before everyone is in ‘game shape.’

“This time of year, we’re trying to get that shape in check,” said the coach. “Some of these guys, they’re pushing themselves hard, but their lungs aren’t quite ready for what’s coming here in a few weeks. We pride ourselves on being able to wrestle for six minutes and we try to make sure we can do that right out of the gate.”

The kids on the team have a range of skill sets, of course, but most of them have experience at various levels of wrestling. Many of those that are new to the varsity program have competed at a high level in youth programs. That quickens the pace at which a coach can teach new things—but Coach Strandberg is still a fan of wrestling basics for everybody.

“Basics win matches. I’ve said that for years,” he said. “I went through a handful of different things tonight, and those three to four things are usually broken up into a couple practices. We can show them quickly, and with the number of coaches we have, we can run over and help the new kids—kind of individualize it. But the kids that have been doing it for years, you want to get them through the drill. You don’t have to break it down quite as detailed.”

While Stiles, Harger, Canoyer, and Josh Winey form the backbone of the boy’s team, the Cardinals are not top heavy. There are plenty of other returners that will be improved this year. Among those are Malachi Hruska, Jackson Berkley, Nathan Hansen, Ty Willem, and Ethan Winey. The great work that the Earlham youth program has been doing in the past few years should bear fruit at the varsity level this season. Several freshmen, including Keegan Long, Cole Eitel, and Max Millage—should be impactful.

The Cardinals could not fill out a complete lineup for dual meets last year, but they’ll do that this season. Coach Strandberg is certainly pleased with the team’s depth.

“Those are the kids that are going to win duals for you,” he said. “You expect that state qualifiers to go out there and win most of their matches. It’s the other guys that are going to have to step up if we’re going to actually make a run at something special here.”

Glade will anchor the girls’ team again this season—but this year she has some company. She’ll be joined by the coach’s daughter, Lily. Another girl has been attending practice and is considering competing.

“It’s kind of like pulling teeth to get girls out,” said Coach Strandberg. “We might have a dedicated coach for them next year, and they deserve that. We’re building those numbers. We have them at the youth level, so they’re coming.”

The Cardinals will host four matches this season—three quadrangulars and one triangular—so local fans will get plenty of opportunities to see the team in action. Still a relatively new program, the Cards certainly aren’t scheduling ‘light.’ They’ll be taking on all comers, including bigger, established programs like Atlantic, Winterset, Ballard, Creston, and Carroll.

“It’s all about getting better and getting matches,” said Coach Strandberg. “I think everyone is going to have a different philosophy. There are going to be some 1A teams out there trying to find easy matches so they get ranked. Us, we’re not afraid to lose, because obviously we’ve done it when it comes to duals. To me, it’s all about sharpening the kids up, getting them the matches they deserve. We’re going after some pretty big 2A teams. It might not make us look good in the final score, but I honestly think we can compete. Maybe we win a few of those.”

Girls’ Basketball­­

Last season, the Cards won 18 of 23 games and had a close playoff loss to an eventual state tournament qualifier. With the core of that Cardinal team back this season, Earlham finds themselves ranked #9 in Class A in the first IGHSAU poll.

Getting ranked this early may be a bit of a surprise—especially considering the Cardinals graduated their top scorer and rebounder from last season—but there are plenty of good players left for head coach Dion Braet and his staff. With seven upperclassmen and eight underclassmen on the roster, the team is still technically ‘young.’ But most of the girls that will get the bulk of the playing time this season have already competed at the varsity level. That will be critical once the games start—and it’s been advantageous during pre-season practices the past couple of weeks, as well.

“We have plenty of experience and a lot of kids that have just played basketball,” said Coach Braet. “So in terms of doing a drill, you usually only have to go through it once or twice. Most of them pick up on it.”

Three solid senior starters return, along with a group of sophomores that were impactful as freshmen and should be ready to take the next step this year.

“(The sophomores) are off and running already,” said Coach Braet. “They’re good at both ends of the floor and they understand the game. We say, ‘Move to open spots,’ and they know what that means. They usually have pretty good spacing when they’re out there together.”

This year’s seniors include Lily Conry, Rowen Fisk, Olivia Spurling, and Reagan Ridout.

Conry was 2^nd on the team in scoring last season with 10 ppg and she led the team in 3-pointers with 38. She had several nights last season when she couldn’t miss—she just needs to develop more consistency with her jumper. She’s a good slasher, able to drive to the basket through and around defenses. Conry also led the team with 66 assists.

Fisk is a good leader, hustles incessantly, and plays rugged defense. At 5’11”, Spurling is the tallest player on the team. She improved a lot last year on both ends of the floor and was second on the team in rebounds with 115. Reagan Ridout is in her first year with Cardinal basketball after transferring to Earlham last spring.

The sophomores that got significant playing time last year are Olivia Nixt, Kenna Harskamp, Avrie Fagan, and Darby Moore. Mackenzie Harger should get into the lineup more this season. All of them are excellent athletes.

Nixt just has a knack for scoring—inside or outside. Last season, she scored just over 6 ppg and made over 40% of her shots, which was second among the Cardinals that played a lot. Harskamp is super quick and strong with the ball.  She’s a classic point guard that can also shoot well. Fagan is a fluid athlete brimming with potential. She has the ability to shoot from deep and drive to the basket. Moore is a solid, all-around player that knows the game and is an excellent teammate. All of the sophomores will have more opportunities to contribute this season and how they develop will be critical to the success of the team.

Presley Koberg, Taylor Rodgers, and Kenady Ridout are the Cardinal juniors this season. Koberg and Rodgers were good JV players last year and will get a chance to contribute to the varsity this year. Like her sister Reagan, Kenady Ridout will be in her first season with the Cards. She’s been nursing a knee injury, but should provide a much-needed presence in the paint.

With eight girls that are potential starters and 10 or 11 that are deserving of playing time, Coach Braet will have plenty of options to mix and match his lineup this season. Whoever is on the floor, he wants the team to play fast and hard on both ends, so on most nights, everybody could get plenty of playing time.

“We definitely have to play a little more pressure defense because we don’t have the post defense we’ve had in the past,” said the coach. “We have to pressure the ball to make it harder to get it to the post. We have to double team a lot more, and we have to create a lot more easy shots for ourselves. We’re going to try and play faster; try to push the ball up the floor with the pass more.”

‘Easy shots’ will be welcome. The Cardinals’ set offense wasn’t a particular strength last year. They made just 34.7% of their field goals and scored just under 50 ppg. Those statistics were within the top 1/3 of Class A teams last season—so, not terrible—but the Cards will need to improve both numbers to be a serious contender come playoff time this year.

In recent years, the Cardinal defense has been outstanding—and not just against the weaker teams on the schedule. Even the talented, high-scoring teams don’t look forward to playing the Cardinals. Last year, Earlham held opponents to under 38 ppg. With good athletes that share a killer instinct, the defense could be even better this year.

“Even in the half-court defense, we’re going to put more pressure on the ball,” said Coach Braet. “In the past, we’ve been able to just kind of stand back, be in good help position, and react and go after a rebound. If we do that now, with our lack of height, the tall teams can just dump it in and we’re at a disadvantage on the blocks. So, we’re going to put more pressure up on the ball.”

As always, the schedule is dotted with tough games—and perhaps a few more this year than in the past. This team can handle it—and they should be battle tested and ready once the post-season begins.

Boys’ Basketball

There’s an old proverb that suggests that ‘experience is the best teacher.’ While head coach Kevin Williamson and his staff are pretty good teachers, he would probably even subscribe to that sentiment. He is certainly pleased to have a top-heavy roster filled with upperclassmen that have been in his system for a few years going into the 2023-24 season.

“The first night of practice, we ran through some zone offense and all I said was, ‘Do you guys remember (the play) ‘Simpson?’ And they ran in and got a good look out of it,” said the coach. “Just having them know what they’re doing, we’ve been able to hit the ground running. There’s less instruction and more getting things done.”

Combine experience with a strong work ethic and you have a team that doesn’t mind getting after it every night, baseline to baseline, whether it’s a practice or game.

“They work hard, and that’s a mindset,” said Coach Williamson. “At this point in the year, they’ve put in some good practices. We haven’t had that one bad practice that you have a lot of times after your first couple days.”

Earlham’s strength last year was their defense. Playing in a conference full of high-scoring teams, the Cards allowed just under 53 points per game. The Cardinals made up for their lack of size with continuous effort and strong defensive mechanics. The philosophy on that end of the floor won’t change this season.

“We want to pressure people defensively,” said Coach Williamson. “We’re trying to keep the other team out of the paint—force them out. If they’re on a wing we’re trying to force them back where they came from or force them to the sideline. Our help defense has been really good. It’s an attitude.”

The good news on offense is that the Cardinals return 83% of their scoring from last year. The bad news is that Cards struggled to score at times, averaging just over 50 points per game in ’22-’23—which was 9^th in the conference. But with everyone another year older and wiser—and several guys look much bigger and stronger—the offense should be much improved. 

“We want to create offense before the defense has a chance to get back,” said the coach. “The nice thing is that they’re starting to read each other pretty well and just play basketball. It’s not a whole lot of set offense as far as ‘go from this point to this point.’ They’re flowing together pretty good.”

Last season, almost 40% of the Cardinals shots from the field came from 3-point range, but they made only 27% of those. This year, the coaches are not discouraging 3-pointers—the Cards have a handful of good shooters—but they are urging their guys to drive to the paint when they can.

“We’re trying to convince them to get to the free throw line more,” said Coach Williamson. “And to do that, you have to get to the basket more. We’re trying to encourage less of those outside jumpers, especially early in the offense. Last year we would throw up shots—one pass in and we’re shooting a 3. And that’s not saying it’s not going to happen, but we’re trying to get them to attack more and go to what their strengths are instead of settling.”

The Cardinal offense—and defense—looked good last week at a scrimmage in Madrid against GMG. After practicing in Earlham for an hour beforehand, the Cards played two quarters against the Wolverines, running the floor well and scoring 42 points. On defense, they forced a lot of turnovers.

“I think we’re more confident at the offensive end of the floor,” said the coach. “So, hopefully we can put the two together—keep that defensive attitude and be a little more offensive minded, too.”

Junior Blake Reynolds, a two-year starter, led the Cards in scoring last year with 10.3 ppg. He’s one of the Cardinals that is in the bigger/stronger camp. He led the Cards with 45 3-pointers last year and should be a more consistent shooter this season. He’s a solid point guard and a good leader.

“He’s very levelheaded,” said Coach Williamson. “I think that’s the quarterback in him. He doesn’t let a whole lot get to him. If he makes a mistake he just goes on. He’s played enough basketball that he knows he can’t let it get to him.”

The Cardinals don’t have much size in the paint, but they do have 6’3” senior Jeret Petersen. The senior made huge strides as last season progressed and he developed into a legit—though a little undersized—post player. He scored 8.4 ppg and averaged just under 5 rebounds per game.

Senior Kalin Nicholson averaged just over 8 points per game. He’s a guard, but at a solid 6’2” with some good post moves, he can play in the paint. He’s a streaky shooter that was deadly when he was on.

Senior guard Tanner Morrison fought his way into the starting lineup toward the middle of last season with his hustle and scrappy defense. After scoring 5.5 ppg last year, he worked on his shot in the off season and should contribute even more on offense this year.

Senior Walker Hale and sophomore Blaine Tiedemann are forwards that should see their point totals going up if they heed the coach’s ‘take it to the hole’ philosophy.

Senior guard Ty Forcht provides an infusion of energy up and down the floor, while junior guard Blake Tiemeyer is solid on both ends of court. Junior guard Carter Hohertz, who has sprung up to 6’2”, is athletic and a good shooter.

Finishing in the top echelon of a conference with the likes of Madrid, Des Moines Christian, Van Meter, and AC/GC won’t be easy. But, this year the Cards should improve on their ’22-’23 record of 10-13, move up the conference ranks a bit, and be a factor once the Class A playoffs begin.