Sports

Kevin McKee said the pressure is on for the U.S. sled hockey team to win gold after the wins of the U.S. women’s and men’s teams at the Olympics. The sled hockey team would secure their fifth consecutive gold medal if they win on Sunday’s game.

Iowa State's women's basketball star Audi Crooks is one of the leading scorers in the country. The spotlight on her has also brought criticism, but it has helped Crooks emerge as a role model for young players.

CultureAll is a Des Moines nonprofit that works to introduce Iowans of different cultures to each other with the goal of building community. One of the ways they do that is through their Open Book program — a community project that creates connections and builds social cohesion through story sharing. We learn about that project and new research that shows that Open Book and the act of reciprocal storytelling can cultivate empathy. Later, we talk with Drake University health sciences professor Stacy Gnacinski. When she's not teaching, Gnacinski does mental performance consulting for athletes, from local youth, to the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, where she's a mental performance consultant. She shares about her recent trip to the Winter Olympics.

Tiara Phillips wanted to fill seats for her local hockey team, so she rallied together with a group that had discovered a newfound interest in the sport.

Olympian, activist and entrepreneur, Sol Butler used sports to challenge racial barriers during the Jim Crow era. His life is chronicled in the new book, 'Sol Butler: An Olympian’s Odyssey through Jim Crow America,' written by University of Dubuque professor Brian Hallstoos. Hallstoos joins the program to discuss Butler's upbringing and impact. Plus, a look at the enduring impact of the 'Iowa Bystander,' considered the oldest Black newspaper west of the Mississippi River.

An Iowa Lakes Community College baseball player was killed and 32 other people were injured when the team’s bus overturned Wednesday in northwest Iowa. College leaders pledge to support students through this time.

As the Olympics near, we spotlight curling — a sport often forgotten outside of the winter games, but one that thrives year-round in eastern Iowa. We hear from Emily Nelson, marketing and communications coordinator for Cedar Rapids Curling, on the sport’s history, its Olympic influence and why watching elite curlers inspires local players. Then, Charity Nebbe goes out on the ice with Kari Kozak, a founding member and events coordinator of Cedar Rapids Curling, for a crash course in sweeping and throwing stones. Later, historian Ricki King joins discusses her work preserving Iowa’s Black history amid efforts to rewrite or erase it.

Actor, comedian and writer Tom Arnold is performing for the first time in Iowa in over 15 years this week. He joins the show to talk about his childhood in Iowa, how he made his way to Hollywood, and life as a single dad now. Then, Des Moines native Zach Stoppelmoor is the first Iowan to make the U.S. Olympic speedskating team. He spoke with IPR 'Morning Edition' host Meghan McKinney. Then, host Charity Nebbe talks with hockey players and roommates Samuel Hlavaj and David Spacek. They've been playing the last few years for the Iowa Wild team, and will be competing for Team Slovakia and Team Czechia.

Zach Stoppelmoor is on his way to the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy. The 26-year-old from West Des Moines is the first Iowan to make the U.S. Speedskating team at the Olympics.

The 2018 film, 'The Miracle Season' tells the story of Caroline Found and the Iowa City West High volleyball team. Found tragically died in a moped accident in her senior year, and in the season that followed her team worked together through their grief and won the state championship. Recently, the movie came to Netflix. We revisit our conversation with Kathy Bresnahan, retired volleyball coach; Olivia Mekies, a friend and teammate of Found and screenwriter David Cohen. (This episode was originally produced March 2018)