Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Mustangs shock Kennedy girls, 53-47

DUBUQUE – The eighth-ranked Kennedy girls basketball team ended the regular season on a down note, giving up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and losing to unranked Dubuque Hempstead 53-47 Friday at Hempstead.

The Cougars led 41-31 entering the fourth quarter. The Mustangs ended the game with a 22-6 run.

Lela Sellers led Kennedy (15-5) with 15 points and Stephanie Botkin added 14 points.

Dubuque Hempstead is 9-11.

KENNEDY (47): Dye 0 2-2 2, Hamilton 2 0-0 6, Hayden 1 0-0 3, Sellers 6 2-3 15, Timmerman 0 0-0 0, Hellweg 0 0-0 0, Milbrath 0 0-0 0, Runels 2 1-2 5, Dolphin 1 0-0 2, Botkin 5 3-4 14. Totals 17 8-11 47.

DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD (53): Not available.

Halftime – Kennedy 31, Dubuque Hempstead 22. 3-point goals – Kennedy 5 (Hamilton 2, Hayden, Sellers, Botkin), Dubuque Hempstead – N/A.

Wiedemeier rolls 367 for Cougars in loss

Alyssa Wiedemeier led all scorers with a 367 series, but it wasn’t enough for the Kennedy girls bowling team as the Cougars lost to Cedar Falls 2,470 to 2,371 Friday at the Cedar Rapids Bowling Center.

Rachael Sears led the Tigers (5-6) with a 346 series.

Kennedy fell to 4-7.

Cedar Falls (2,470): Rachael Sears 125-221=346, Emily Barth 158-181=339, Liz Gerstenkorn 193-142=335, Rabia Afzal 157-126=283, Jayden Robe 145-157=302, Andrea Wilson 124-104=228.

Kennedy (2,371): Alyssa Wiedemeier 174-193=367, Jamie Milota 173-150=323, Jill Zaiser 176-136=312, Abbie Haller 137-170=307, Katie Slota 109-130=239, Kayla Sickles 125-118=243.

Cedar Falls – 1,605+865=2,470.
Kennedy – 1,552+819=2,371.

Kennedy boys edge Tigers by 34 pins

George (Bert) Goodwin rolled two 243 games for a 486 series to lead the Kennedy boys bowling team to a close 3,038 to 3,004 win over Cedar Falls on Friday at the Cedar Rapids Bowling Center.

Brandon Jerome had a 416 series to lead the Tigers (8-4).

The Cougars improved to 6-4-1.

Cedar Falls (3,004): Brandon Jerome 200-216=416, Dylan Swatek-Briggs 201-201=402, Dalton Swatek-Briggs 184-209=393, Jackson Reynolds 189-202=391, Nick Hanson 225-165=390, Avery Bauer 178-172=350.

Kennedy (3,038): George (Bert) Goodwin 243-243=486, Alec White 215-191=406, James Jambois 204-193=397, Davis Sutton 209-159=368, Doug Svoboda 180-171=351, Aaron Smith 150-198=348.

Cedar Falls – 1,992-1,012=3,004.
Kennedy – 2,008-1,030=3,038.

Konigsmark, J-Hawks push No. 9 Cougars

Tyler Konigsmark and the Jefferson J-Hawks could have quit on themselves a long time ago in the midst of a grueling campaign, but they proved Tuesday night against Kennedy that they're alive and kicking.

Unfortunately for the J-Hawks, their best effort of the season was not good enough.

The Kennedy Cougars took Jefferson's best punch and escaped with a 79-69 victory in an entertaining Mississippi Valley Conference game at Kennedy.

Konigsmark poured in 22 points in the first half alone and finished with a career-best 27 points in a sterling performance. The J-Hawks have a dismal 1-and-17 record and have lost 12 games by lopsided scores, but they trailed the No. 9 team in the state by only two points at 62-60 midway through the fourth quarter.

Kennedy scored 12 straight points for a 74-60 lead to put the game away, but it was a terrific effort by the visitors from the southwest side of town.

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Botkin joins 1,000/500 club for Cougars

Stephanie Botkin missed her first two shots Tuesday night and had only five points for the Kennedy Cougars in their home game against Jefferson.

She didn't miss a whole lot after that and ended up becoming only the ninth player in Metro history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career.

Botkin popped in 24 points and Lela Sellers had 26 as No. 8 Kennedy recovered from a sluggish first half and pounded the J-Hawks, 65-26, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Botkin, a lanky 6-foot senior, began the game with 981 points and knew exactly what she needed to reach 1,000 in her four-year varsity career.

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Wash swimmers win 52nd title in row

Cedar Rapids Washington’s dominance at the boys district swimming meet has to end sooner or later.

But not for now.

A bunch of pool records were set Saturday at the first-ever district meet at the luxurious new Linn-Mar Aquatic Center, most of them by a small fleet of fast swimmers from Iowa City West.

Still, for the 52nd year in a row, the team championship was claimed by a gutsy gang of Washington Warriors who refused to see the magical streak stopped on their watch.

It wasn’t until the last race of the day in the 400 yard freestyle relay that they knew they had the title in the bag. Even if they were disqualified, they would have won by a half-point.

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Hot Kennedy boys surge by Warriors

The Kennedy Cougars and Washington Warriors rose to the occasion on Hall of Fame Night at Washington on Friday.

The hot-shooting Cougars rose a little higher.

Kennedy nailed 61.4 percent of its shots and canned eight 3-pointers in an exciting 75-64 victory over the Warriors in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball game before a lively crowd at Washington.

Zach Daniels and Brendon Manning scored 19 points apiece for Kennedy. Manning also grabbed 10 rebounds against the taller Warriors for an impressive double-double.

Bryton Heisler contributed 11 points and fearless freshman Derrick Diggins also popped in 11 points for the winners (12-5, 9-3).

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Kennedy girls get revenge against Wash

As soon as the Kennedy girls figured out early Friday night that they could handle Washington’s pressing defense, well, there was no stopping them.

The Cougars finished off the first quarter on a 10-0 run and just kept pouring it on in a 67-35 rout on the Warriors’ home court.

“We were really pumped tonight,’’ said heady Kennedy forward Linden Runels. “Wash is a good team, but we wanted to get them back for the last game at our place.”

Washington won that one 53-46 back in mid-December when the Cougars suffered one of their rare poor shooting performances. This time around they were running on all cylinders.

“We were really good on the boards,” Runels noted.

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Wahlert bowlers nip Kennedy boys

DUBUQUE – Aaron Smith rolled a 233 game and Nicholas Green had a 409 series as the Kennedy boys bowling team lost to Dubuque Wahlert 2,937 to 2,909 Friday.

Matt Bahl had a 465 series to lead the Golden Eagles (1-10) to their first win of the season.

The Cougars fell to 5-4-1.

Kennedy (2,909): Nicholas Green 204-205=409, Aaron Smith 233-175=408, Doug Svoboda 214-185=399, James Jambois 197-185=382, Alec White 194-174=368, George Goodwin 173-166=339.

Dubuque Wahlert (2,937): Matt Bahl 197-268=465, Chris Hanson 252-204=456, Colton Hoover 186-186=372, Lyle Klein 170-192=362, Blake Derby 167-188=355, Dillon Watters 156-179=335.