Sports

MONTICELLO -- Coach Michelle Stepanek's Vinton-Shellburg Vikettes pulled off a huge road win Monday night with a 3-2 victory over powerhouse Monticello in the first round of Regional volleyball.The Vikettes dropped the first [st] 25-20, then roared back to for 25-23 and 25-20 wins to go up 2-1 in the match. The Panthers came back to even things at 2-2 with a 25-20 win in the fourth [st], but the Vikettes finished things off with a solid 15-10 in the fifth and final [st] to advance.

VSU swam at the 6-team invitational in Williamsburg Monday night and came away with a big win - finishing in the team standings 33.5 points ahead of the strong second place home team. VSU won all three relays and three other individual events. But we talk all year about how one or two, or even four or five girls can't win a meet. It takes all hands on deck - every finish counts.

Thursday night the VSU girls swam at Decorah.Decorah is a very strong, very large team - they're always a tough opponent. The girls swam very well last night, placing first place in five events and taking second in another five. In the end, Decorah won (10 points were unanswered point scored in diving in which VSU does not compete).Click to view results.

The Vinton-Shellsburg Vikings will have payback on their minds Friday night as the open the 2020 football playoffs.Coach Jim Womochil's Vikes (2-5) will head back to Mount Vernon to take on the Mustangs (6-1) at Cornell College's Ash Park. It was just three weeks ago that Mount Vernon edges the Vikings 21-13 in game the Black & Gold easily could have won.

VINTON -- For the better part of a quarter and a half, Homecoming Night was a lot of fun for the Vinton-Shellsburg Viking football team. But the last two-and-a-half quarters poured a bucket of very cold water over the proceedings as the Vikes fell to Center Point-Urbana, 32-17.The Vikings (1-5 overall and 0-4 in District play) jumped out to an early 17-0 lead in the game, and looked to be on a major roll against a Stormin' Pointer squad (3-3.

VINTON - Emma Wiley was named Queen and Ethan Rollinger the King of Vinton-Shellsburg Homecoming festivities Thursday Night. The evening included the parade, the pep rally and was capped by the Powder Puff football, won by the seniors by a score of 37-14, featuring a touchdown run by the Homecoming Queen.Homecoming will culminate Friday with the cross-country team's ball run, the football game against Center Point-Urbana and the Homecoming Dance.

The girls swim meet on Tuesday was originally to be held in Grinnell - but with the college closing its facilities to outside competition due to Covid, the high school team is unable to host meets this season. So Boone played the gracious host instead. VSU won the close dual with Grinnell but fell to a powerful and deeply talented Boone squad. Lauren Moore cut 1.

VINTON -- It was a great day to run Tuesday for the Vinton-Shellsburg Invitational cross-country meet on the grounds of the V-S high school.The Vikette varsity finished a season-best fourth in the team race, while the Viking boys were a solid eighth in the 12-team field.Junior Charlee Johnson finished 18th to lead the Vikettes in a time 23:25.8. Molly Haisman was not far off in 24th in 24:17.

VSU Girls Swimming was at LinnMar over the weekend for a double dual with LinnMar and Tipton. High school swimming is a one-class sport - meaning all schools compete against each other, regardless of size classification. This gives athletes the opportunity to compete against the very best in the state no matter location or school size. LinnMar (a 4A school twice the size of VS, CPU & Union combined) provides challenging competition every time we meet them, so we look at this meet as a chance to shake up our lineup and allow girls to swim events outside their usual repertoire.

MOUNT VERNON -- Once again the Vinton-Shellsburg Vikings rolled up a ton of offense, and once again they battled to the end with a highly-regarded opponent, but once again they came up on the short end of things Friday night, dropping a 21-13 decision to 7th-ranked Mount Vernon.Coach Jim Womochil's Vikes (1-3 overall and 0-2 in District play)got an early break and took full advantage of it.