Spring sports kicking off

As the end of the school year draws to a close, many sports seasons are just starting practice, tryouts and starting up tournaments.

Some of these spring and summer sports don’t normally have tryouts and encourage students wanting to become part of the team to come to the first practice of the season.

The sports starting in spring have not started the season yet, except the men’s track and field led by Dirk Homewood, a former UNI athlete and the men’s track and field coach for 14 years. The season starts Feb. 20 and ends May 20. The first meet is Monday, March 13, indoors at UNI. There are no tryouts for men’s track and field, and all were welcomed to sign up for the first practice of the season.

Both men’s soccer, and women’s soccer spring seasons will start Monday, March 13 and will end sometime during or before the month of June.

Aldin Muhamedagic has been a men’s soccer coach for over 22 years and a part-time instructor at Hawkeye Community College.

The men’s soccer season will end late May or the first week of June. The first game is on April 14 at Iowa City West. The tryouts will start on March 13, and that will be the Spring Break practice week.

Alex Place has been a women’s soccer coach for nearly six years. Always loving the sport, Place said she decided to become a women’s soccer coach to stay close to the sport.

Women’s soccer season starts March 13 and ends with the state tournament the first weekend of June with tryouts being held during the first one and half weeks of practice, and the first game being the jamboree which is at Columbus on March 28, though the first actual women’s soccer game doesn’t happen until March 30 at home vs. Independence.

The next spring sports on the list are women’s golf and women’s tennis. Both sports start the Monday after Spring Break, which is March 20.

Megan Youngkent, former health and PE coach for 20 years has been an instructional coach for four years now. She’s been the head coach for women’s golf for 15 years now.

Women’s golf starts March 20 and ends after the state tournament May 26. Women’s golf doesn’t have tryouts, and the first meet is April 4.

Tara Sagers has been the head coach of women’s tennis for nearly 17 years. Sagers said she is looking forward to many things this season, with women’s tennis “in the midst of rebuilding, with two seniors and a junior to lead the team.”

The women’s tennis season will begin the Monday after spring break and “hopefully it will not conclude until after school ends.” The tryouts for the team are “the first week of practice, weather permitting, at the UNI Tennis Complex.

The last spring sport on the list this season is women’s track and field.

The head coach is Chris Wood. Wood is a former CFHS counselor and is now a CAPS teacher; he’s in charge of mid dIstance for women’s track and field.

There are no tryouts for women’s track and field, but there is a sign up sheet. The first practice day of women’s track and field was Monday, Feb. 20. The season ends sometime in June of this year.

Then, there’s baseball and softball.

Samantha Teply is a softball coach and has been a coach since November of 2022. She became interested in coaching after “helping with softball camp as a player at UNI. After our first camp I was absolutely hooked,” she said. “I realized how much fulfillment I get from using my passion to help develop student athletes.”

The softball team’s first day of practice is May 1, and the season will most likely end some time in July with the first game being May 22 vs. Waterloo Columbus at home, and the first regional game is July 6 with the state tournament being held July 17 -21.

Softball doesn’t hold formal tryouts. Athletes that are interested in playing softball should attend the first practice.

Brett Williams has been a special educator at Peet Junior High for 12 years and has been the high school men’s baseball coach since 2008. Williams had played “sports my whole life and knew early on that I wanted to stay involved in sports. That is when I got into coaching.”

The baseball season starts May 2, with no clear date of when the season ends. There are no tryouts for the sport, and the first game of the season is May 16.

To find out more information about these sport’s schedules, click here.