Tucker Franklin
Special to the Citizen
After an impressive two-year stint at Iowa Western, the No. 1 junior college prospect, according to Rivals.com, is trading in textbooks for paychecks.
Chester Graves, a Park Hill alumnus, had offers on the table from big-time programs such as Alabama, Ole Miss and Miami but instead signed a deal with the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Graves decided to forgo his final two years of college eligibility.
The 6-foot-5-inch defensive end record 8 tackles, seven sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in 22 games for Iowa Western.
IOWA WESTERN ATHLETICS
Iowa Western Community College’s Chester Graves (4) returns a fumble against Iowa Central during a game this past fall.
Graves joins a Roughriders squad that went 12-6 and finished second in the West Division. Saskatchewan lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 23-18.
MIAA Track
The 2019 MIAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place in Warrensburg, Missouri, May 3-5 where Platte County alumnus Kevin Schultz stole the show.
Schultz scored 7,051 en route to a 92 point win in the decathlon. Schultz also finished third in the high jump with a jump of 6-feet-11 ½-inches.
The men’s 4x400 team of Caelon Harkey, Schultz, Dallas Steiner and Omar Austin placed third with a time of 3:12.89. Schultz finishes out his MIAA with six conference championships, 13 all-conference mentions and 98 career conference points.
DiBlasi named D-I Scholar All-American
Park Hill graduate Colston DiBlasi was named a National Wrestling Coaches Association Division I Scholar All-American Award winner in his first year with George Mason.
The 165-pound junior received an at-large bid for the 2019 NCAA Championships as the No. 30 seed. DiBlasi finished 29-14 on the year with 17 pins, second-most in the nation.
DiBlasi transferred to the Patriots after three years with Iowa State where he accumulated 59 wins and 32 pins.
During his first season in Fairfax, Virginia, DiBlasi placed second in three of George Mason’s tournaments.
Norris changes location
Early in her college career, tennis player Abby Norris got a change of scenery. The Park Hill South graduate transferred to Ottawa University after one semester at Texas Wesleyan.
This spring semester, Norris went 9-6 in singles and 8-5 in doubles matches. She went 3-3 in the KCAC singles were she played the No. 4 and No. 5 position. Norris was 3-2 in the KCAC for doubles and played as the No. 3 doubles pair.
In her time at Texas Wesleyan, Norris went 4-1 in the Doc Skogman Invitational and outscored her opponents 44-23 during the competition.
Straubel run in RMAC finals
Colorado Christian women’s track & field teams concluded its season April 29 with the RMAC Outdoor Championships held in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Hosted by Black Hills State University, Platte County graduate Erin Straubel finished 21st in the 5,000-meter race to finish up her freshman season in Lakewood, Colo.
Truvillion headed to S&T
Ryan Truvillion, a graduate of Park Hill, announced via Twitter he will be transferring from Southeastern Missouri State to Missouri S&T for his senior season.
Standing at 6-feet-6-inches, the former Trojan garnered first-team all-conference and all-district defensive end honors along with all-district media honors. Truvillion was an Academic All-State selection while he recorded 85 tackles, five sacks and 25 quarterback hurries in his final year at Park Hill.
Truvillion has not seen any game action during his tenure at SEMO.