The Heart of America Conference kicks off with Iowa State at Iowa on Friday, but there’s plenty more to come.
Defending champs Iowa State return a substantial part of the squad that made the CRAA final this past spring. The Cyclones weren’t happy about their performance in that final—that’s an understatement; they were gutted. It was not their best game and U. San Diego took them apart. So ISU has a plan to get back there and put that memory to rest.
The Cyclones graduated just five players from last year’s roster, and of those only three were regularly on the A side. In that final against USD they lost Alex Geisert to an injury early, which derailed Iowa State cause a bit. The big, powerful lock and main carrier is back for another year. So are CRAA D1AA All Americans Ian Klein, Justin Johnson, Ryan Snide, and Zach English.
So Iowa State should expect to be as good as last year, perhaps better, but they also have that extra motivation which will guard against any complacency that could creep in.
Kansas seems nicely set to have a solid year. The Jayhawks enjoyed a successful tour of Australia in May and they have somewhat opened their eyes to how valuable that is. So next week they will be hosting members of Souths Rugby in Adelaide, Australia. Those tourists, whose men and women are coming to Lawrence, Kans. as a direct result of the Jayhawks’ tour of Australia, will play and train with the Kansas played, capping it off with a game on September 14.
