USAPL High School National Championships, March 27-29, 2015

Many of the past Woodward Academy powerlifting championships have relied on the feats of some of the smaller lifters (114 – 148 pound weight classes). This year, it was the bigger guys that came to lift hard and bring the 10th consecutive USAPL National Championship home for the Woodward Academy Knights.

The 2015 USAPL High School National Championships were held in Milwaukee, WI on March 27-29. The lifting was split into two sessions with 6 of the 9 WA lifters competing in the morning. Out of that group, the team gained three 3rd place finishes, and a couple 4th place finishes. The points gained by those lifters were good additions to a team total, but more was needed.

Read more after the jump.

Like us on Facebook!

We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our communications and the Knights are now blowing up the internet through Facebook. If you're active on the site, we would love for you to Like our page and follow all of the daily happenings at Woodward Academy. We plan to bring some amazing content to you and we encourage everyone to interact with us by leaving comments and liking our posts. We just launched the page earlier this week but have already generated a great following and have loaded the page with some good stuff. You can click here for a direct link to our Facebook page.

All the News Reports from State Basketball (March 9, 2015) // Video

On March 9, 2015, the Woodward Academy Knights played in the Iowa High School Boys State Basketball Tournament for the first time in school history. For many Des Moines news outlets, the Knights were the "feel good" story of the tournament and they paid a lot of attention to them. In case you didn't have a chance to see them all (and how could you being they were on at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 on 4 separate stations), we have them all here so you're in luck.

Knowledge Bowl 2015

This year's annual Knowledge Bowl marks the event's 10th anniversary. The all day contest pits dorms against each other in a battle of the minds and is truly one of the best events on campus all year. At stakes is an day trip to Des Moines for the entire dorm. They will spend it at the Science Center of Iowa where they will check out all of the attractions including a sweet IMAX documentary. Afterwards, they will be eating tons of pizza at CC's. In addition to both of those things, the winning dorm gets an additional $100 to spend on it's students. Hosted by teacher Christopher Levi, the morning session saw all of the dorms answer 10 rounds worth of question that provided the seeding for the bracketed afternoon sessions. In the end, Navigator Hall came up just a little short and Victory Hall won the 10th annual Woodward Academy Knowledge Bowl.

Des Moines Register / Iowa Public Radio (March 9, 2015)

In preparation for the start of the Iowa high school boys state tournament, a couple media outlets ran stories on the Woodward Academy Knights basketball team and their unprecedented entrance into the tourney. The Des Moines Register ran a cover story on the Knights with senior guard Preston Brittain on the cover. You can read the article by clicking here or we have posted the entire story after the break. Also, Iowa Public Radio ran a feature story that aired Monday morning. You can listen to that story here. Go Knights!

WOODWARD, Ia. – Woodward Academy's biggest upset has been keeping its team together.

The residential center for delinquent boys is experiencing unprecedented success in high school basketball this season, with players brought together by the happenstance of assigned treatment and a love of sports.

Behavioral programs and basketball playoffs have joined in harmony.

KCCI Channel 8 Story // Behind the Scenes // Video

Mark Tauscheck of the Des Moines news channel, KCCI Channel 8, visited campus on Monday to do a story on the Woodward Academy basketball team that aired on the 6 o'clock news. You can see the news segment in the embedded video along with some behind the scenes shots of the interview. Head coach Dustin Sperling along with players Ivan Johnson and Preston Brittain were interviewed for the segment. Since the news story aired on Monday in Iowa, we have received word that it has also played in other states including Texas, Pennsylvania, and Alabama.

Knights Basketball is State Bound // Video

The Woodward Academy Knights are headed to the Iowa High School Boys Basketball State Tournament for the first time in school history after defeating the Panorama Panthers in the Substate final on Saturday night. The game was tied at halftime but as the third quarter came to a conclusion, the Knights were down 11. Head coach Dustin Sperling preached defense at halftime and the Woodward Academy team dominated the 4th quarter by outscoring Panorama 21-0. You can check out the final moments of the game in the embedded video. Warning: it may give you goosebumps.

In the video, you'll also see the entire team, student body, and staff members reciting the Knights Creed at the end of the game. This has become a tradition all season long and shows the dedication that both staff and students have in being a Woodward Academy Knight.

The Knights are 1 of 8 remaining teams in 2A and play Monday, March 9 at Wells Fargo Arena in the first round of the state tournament.

A Historic Day for Woodward Academy Athletics

This past Saturday (February 28) was the most historic athletic weekend in Woodward Academy history where 3 separate events were taking place across the United States and where Woodward Academy students were performing at the highest level. In Des Moines, the Knights basketball team was playing in a Substate final to qualify for the State tournament for the first time in school history. The Knights of Iron powerlifting team was competing in Nebraska in a meet as they continue to prepare for the USAPL High School National Championships, and a WA alum was long jumping in Boston, MA at the USATF Indoor National Championships.

The specifics to each event are absolutely amazing and you can read more about each one after the break. If you just want the details, Cal Lane (WA alum) finished in the top 10 in the long jump event, the powerlifting team won the competition and Julius Walker continued to break his own American Record by squatting 625 pounds in this meet, and the basketball team made a historic comeback to qualify for the state tournament.