COLUMN: This week in sports

     Kentucky Derby. Was it just me? Am I the only sports loving person that had no idea the Kentucky Derby was this past weekend? I don’t pretend to be a horse racing fan, I leave that up to Pete. But for goodness sakes, you would think somehow I would have known the 145^th running of this great horse race was Saturday. Pete, did you not once bring up the derby at work last week? And for the record, when I did realize it was a couple hours away, I still did not tune in.

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     NFL Draft. The NFL draft is over and done with. I’m still on the fence on how my team (Green Bay) did. I’m not happy they passed on Iowa TE Noah Fant. The Packers first round pick, DE Rashan Gary out of Michigan, has the measurables but not the stats to warrant the number twelve pick.

     Pick number two is a speedy but undersized safety, Darnell Savage Jr. out of Maryland. Both these picks may end up being excellent picks. Time will tell.

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     MLB predictions. Before baseball kicks off, I usually pick my playoff teams, and the World Series winner. I did not do that this season. So, 30-some games into the season, let’s see how good I can predict the post season teams.

     AL East: New York Yankees. AL Central: Cleveland Indians. AL West: Houston Astros. NL East: Philadelphia Phillies. NL Central: Chicago Cubs. NL West: LA Dodgers.

     AL Wildcard teams: Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

     NL Wildcard teams: St Louis and Arizona.

     World Series: Phillies verses Twins. Phillies win.

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     Freestyle wrestling. Congratulations to Panther senior wrestler Chase Luensman. This past weekend he won the 152 lb. bracket of the Iowa/USA Freestyle State Championships.

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     Iowa Hawkeye track. Former Panther track athlete Matt Manternach is lighting up the black and gold oval. (Is it black/gold?) I see Matt ran a 1:46.93 800m, his fastest time ever and the second fastest 800 in the country this year up to that point.

     The NCAA 800m record is 1:43.25 held by USC sprinter Michael Norman. The USA 800m is held by Johnny Gray at 1:42.60. The Olympic 800m record is 1:40.91 held by Kenyan David Rudisha.