Track & Field Poster 2016

The track and field season is officially underway for the Knights and this is the first look at the team. The poster is a composite image of all of the athletes (captains up top), with Drake Stadium, home of the Iowa High School State Track & Field Meet, serving as the background. Iowa has had a fairly mild spring, which has allowed the team to spend more time on the track and less time in the gymnasium. Head Coach Shaun Mohon is feeling good about the season so far and feels as though it can be a special year for the Knights. "Right now, they are about 2 weeks ahead of where we were last year."

More indoor meets were added to this season's early schedule. The team has already competed at the Wartburg Indoor meet in Waverly, Iowa and at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, in addition to the Iowa State meet that the team has traditionally run at. These meets are always good tests for the team as they often compete against larger schools on non-traditional ovals. Now that the season is underway, the coaches are prepping the team to peak mid-May, just in time for Districts and the State Meet, which is scheduled for May 19-21. Go Knights!

Knowledge and Academic Bowls 2016

This year’s Woodward Academy Knowledge Bowl took place on March 11 in the Knight’s gymnasium. The decade long (est. 2006), dorm versus dorm, bracketed competition, tests the students academic prowess. At stakes this year was an all day trip to Kansas City for the entire dorm.

The morning rapid fire session consisted of 10 rounds of six questions that were used to seed the dorms for the afternoon. Once the bracket was created, the dorms battled each other with their minds. What makes Woodward Academy’s knowledge bowl unique is that many of the questions were offered by teachers and taken straight from their classes. In a close final round match, Delta Company beat out Pathfinder Hall to claim the championship.

The campus event took place on the heels of the West Central Activities Conference (WCAC) Academic Bowl. Woodward Academy brought a team of 5 to the event, this year held on Ogden.

Knights Basketball 2015-2016

Every season starts the same: teaching the offensive and defensive fundamentals that the coaches want to see, and then letting the players respond to the coaching. The goal is that by the middle part of the season, things start to register with the players and the team peaks at the end to make a run in the post season.

Head coach Dustin Sperling was really proud of this team. “They had a good work ethic, and that made the coaching effective every practice. At the beginning of the year, it wasn’t possible to play man [defense], zone is generally the safer route. But the last two weeks of the year, we were switching back and forth and everything was sinking in.”

Sperling was fortunate to have two returning players from last year’s State team, and he placed a lot of expectations on them. Delonquay Richardson and Marcus Riley were the pulse of the team. As co-captains, they had a lot already invested in the team and knew they would be called upon to led the other athletes. “I think I was the hardest on Marcus all season. He responded and would always fix it and be a leader on the team. Delonquay naturally has a strong work ethic, but he was perhaps the most selfless person on the team. He never concerned himself with points and other stats. He wanted to play defense, set screens, and get rebounds all game.” And that is exactly what he did, leading the conference in rebounds with 11.1 RPG. Other statistical highlights include Marcus’ 103 assists, 2nd in the conference. Sophomore Ammari Johnson led the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game.
   
The Knight’s season came to a close in the second round of the district playoffs. After an impressive win against Ogden in the first round, the Knights had to travel to Des Moines Christian’s home court, where they were defeated. Sperling’s lasting image of this team is not the wins and losses, but rather how they grew. “More than anything else, this team’s character grew just as much as their basketball  knowledge.”