Mid-Prairie standout athlete Jack Pennington will continue his athletic and academic career next year in the Iowa Conference with the Cornell Rams basketball program in Mount Vernon. The Mid-Prairie point guard made the announcement earlier this month. Pennington, a senior, was a two-time All-River Valley Conference basketball selection, including making the Elite team his senior year. In the recently completed season, he scored nine points per game, dished out 101 total assists, pulled in 56 rebounds and grabbed 44 steals. Pennington spoke with KCII Sports this week about why Cornell was the right fit for him. “I really enjoyed the coach and campus. The team feels very much like a family atmosphere. Academic-wise they do the one course at a time and that was really appealing to me. They were at a couple of our games this year. The main thing they liked was the leadership on the court as a point guard. I may not do all the scoring that some people may want but I think that being an on-court leader is pretty important for me. I’ve loved playing with this (Mid-Prairie) team for the last eight years and it’s going to be really hard to play with a different group of guys but I think that it will also be really good for me. Getting to know a different scheme at the collegiate level.”

The Golden Hawks put together arguably the best season in program history this year, starting with 24 consecutive wins to set a new school record, winning an undefeated River Valley Conference title for the first time since 2009, and getting their first state tournament bid since 2010. Finishing the year 24-1. During his time at Mid-Prairie, he was also an all-state soccer selection and all-district football pick.

While not entirely settled on his career path, Pennington is leaning toward studying finance once on campus.