Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Kennedy boys fall at Hempstead

DUBUQUE - The 13th-ranked Kennedy boys soccer team was trimmed by No. 3 Dubuque Hempstead, 2-1, in the finals of the Class 3A substate tournament in Dubuque Saturday.

Kennedy took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute on a goal by Skyler Showalter on an assist from Nick Newcamp.

Hempstead tied the game, 1-1, in the 22nd minute. It stayed tied until Hempstead scored midway through the second half.

Kennedy applied pressure on offense in the final minutes but was unable to get on the board again.

The Cougars finished the season with a 9-9 record. Hempstead (15-2) will face Linn-Mar (17-3) in the opening round of the state tournament Thursday in Des Moines.

Kennedy softball team sweeps twinbill

The Kennedy softball team captured both ends of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader with Waterloo West on Friday at Kennedy, 7-2 and 8-3.

Jenna Schwartzhoff tossed a complete game with six strikeouts in the first contest. Peyton Baskerville had three hits in the ballgame, with two doubles and two RBIs. Camryn Jeffords collected three singles.

Andrea McEachran pitched a complete game in the nightcap with seven strikeouts. Ashley Hamilton had a single, double and four RBIs. Megan Weber had two hits.

Paulson, McCann eye state doubles title

Tim Paulson and Trevor McCann met when they were eight years old at Bowman Woods Elementary School and have been tennis buddies ever since.

Now the Linn-Mar High School seniors hope to finish their prep careers by capturing the Class 2A state doubles title at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

Paulson and McCann won both of their matches Friday in convincing style and will face Jackson Hoyt and Oliver Hammond of Cedar Rapids Washington in the semifinals at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"This is it. The last hurrah, I guess," McCann said Friday.

Paulson and McCann, the No. 2 seeds, clipped Tyler Kruzan and Sandeep Yeturu of Waukee in the first round, 6-2, 6-1, and they cruised past Cole Schneider and Ryan Smith of Iowa City West in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-0.

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Paulson tops all-Metro tennis team

Linn-Mar senior Tim Paulson has been named the Athlete of the Year on the 2015 All-Metro Tennis Team, it was announced Friday.

Chris Wundram of Linn-Mar was named the Metro Coach of the Year. The Lions are undefeated this season and ranked No. 1 in the state.

Jackson Hoyt of Washington, Trevor McCann of Linn-Mar, Ben Curley of Xavier, Rami Hemaiden of Kennedy and Caleb Scott of Marion joined Paulson on the first team.

SECOND TEAM

Parker Muller (Washington), Oliver Hammond (Washington), Ben Myers (Linn-Mar), Jon Lansing (Xavier), Alex Tvedte (Jefferson), Evan Gaskill (Prairie).

HONORABLE MENTION

PRAIRIE: Jason Niccolls, Jake Crumbo

XAVIER: Charlie Esker, Jack VanKampen

KENNEDY: Corey Duncan, Kyle Butler

WASHINGTON: Dane Van Antwerp, Will Rizer

LINN-MAR: Kyle Brendes, Shane Skvor

JEFFERSON: Chris Weisbein, Kellen Brown

MARION: Nate Meister, Peter Ward

Olejniczak will coach Kennedy sophs

Lon Olejniczak has been recommended as the new sophomore boys basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, head coach Jon McKowen confirmed Friday.

His official hiring is pending board approval.

Olejniczak, originally from Decorah, played football and baseball at the University of Iowa from 1979 to 1983. He is an executive at Transamerica and his family lives in the Kennedy school district.

Larry Williams, Jeff Hrubes and Ben Ethier will be varsity assistants for the Kennedy basketball team next season. Drew Heitland, a 2014 Kennedy grad who plays football at Coe, will be the assistant coach for the sophomore basketball team.

Mike Green and Chris Gehrls will serve as freshman coaches.

Schulz has fresher legs now for Cougars

Mark Schulz had to scoot Thursday evening.

He had just helped the Kennedy soccer team blank Dubuque Senior, 4-0, in the semifinals of the Class 3A substate tournament at Kingston Stadium and his high school graduation ceremony at the U.S. Cellular Center was less than an hour away.

But being in a hurry is nothing new for Schulz, a multi-talented athlete who successfully juggled his time with the Kennedy track and soccer teams this spring.

He placed sixth in the 800 meter dash at the Class 4A state meet in Des Moines last Saturday and he's the leading scorer for the 13th-ranked soccer team with 12 goals.

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No. 1 Cougars nip J-Hawks for Metro title

If the Kennedy Cougars are truly the No. 1 baseball team in Class 4A this year, then the Jefferson J-Hawks must by No. 1A.

Round 1 went to the Cougars Wednesday night, by a whisker.

Sammy Lizarraga ripped a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Kennedy a dramatic 5-4 victory over Jefferson in the championship game of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament.

Lizarraga said he's never had a bigger hit in his career, not even when the Junior Cougars won the USSSA World Series a few years ago.

"That was a big one," he said after his walk-off screamer to right-center. "Senior year, Metro tournament. That was a lot of fun."

Kennedy and Jefferson are now tied for the most titles in Metro Tournament history with 13 apiece.

The J-Hawks scored four runs against Kennedy ace Zach Daniels in the early going and it was tied, 4-4, after three innings. But it stayed that way for a long, long time.

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No. 3 Kennedy girls nipped by Hempstead

The third-ranked Kennedy girls soccer team lost to eighth-ranked Dubuque Hempstead, 2-1, in a Mississippi Valley Conference match at Kennedy Wednesday.

Sydney Hayden scored Kennedy's goal on an assist from Olivia Hellweg.

Jessica Mendenhall and Alesha Duccini scored for Hempstead.

Kennedy softball team sweeps opener

The Kennedy softball team began the 2015 season by sweeping a doubleheader from Davenport North, 8-2 and 10-0 in six innings, Wednesday at Kennedy.

Peyton Baskerville had two hits and drove in four runs for Kennedy in the opener. Jenna Schwartzhoff was the winning pitcher.

Sydney Kinney had three hits, two doubles and three RBIs for Kennedy in the second game. Tianna also had three hits and three RBIs. Andrea McEachran struck out eight batters and was the winning pitcher.