Linn-Mar High School - Marion, Iowa

Havertape tops all-Metro swim team

Cedar Rapids Washington sophomore Lauren Havertape has been named the Athlete of the Year on the all-Metro girls swimming team.

John Ross of Kennedy and his assistants were named the Coach of the Year.

The Kennedy Cougars claimed 10 spots on the all-Metro first team with Maddie Bagby, Taylor Golden, Jayden Lovell, Kassidy Lovig, Mackinzee Macho, Darby Manternach, Kirsten Siebenga, Kennedy Smith, Jessica Williams and Lydia Yang.

Washington claimed five spots on the first team with Logan Eckhardt, Havertape, Jenny Hughes, Jill Hughes and Amara Taylor. Josie Thompson of Jefferson also made the first team.

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Boehm leaving L-M early for college

Linn-Mar senior Alexy Boehm got an early start in soccer when he began playing the game when he was just 4 years old.

Now he plans to get an early start on his college soccer career as well.

Boehm plans to graduate from Linn-Mar High School in December and enroll at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in January for the start of the new semester as a college freshman.

An excellent student with a 3.57 GPA, Boehm said he will be getting financial aid from George Washington for athletics and academics. He committed to GWU in August and decided it would be a good idea to get an early start in college.

"I committed to a college pretty far away from home and going there early will give me a head-start above the other freshmen to get my classes settled, knowing the layout of the campus, getting to know the team early," he said.

Linn-Mar won the Class 3A state title last season with Boehm playing a prominent role on defense. He would have enjoyed trying to win another state crown with the Lions, but the tug for college was too strong.

"I was thinking about that," he said. "I think we have a good chance of winning it again this year, but I feel like I'd like to pursue the next step in my soccer career.

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Jenks wins Wendy's High School Heisman

Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar is the winner of the 2015 Wendy's High School Heisman Award for Iowa.

The award has been presented since 1994 in partnership with the Heisman Memorial Trophy in college football and honors learning, performing and leading in the classroom, athletics and community.

Jenks is the top distance runner in Iowa. She swept the 800, 1,500 and 3,000-meter runs at the 2015 Drake Relays and the 2015 state meet. She has won eight titles at Drake during her career and eight at state.

Jenks, a senior, is a 4.0 student and has committed to Cal-Berkeley for college.

Linn-Mar denied in regional final

In the end, Iowa City West was a little more "in sync" than Linn-Mar.

Lions volleyball coach Teresa Kehe's description told the story of Tuesday night's Class 5A regional final at a loud Linn-Mar gym.

The No. 11 Women of Troy (27-11) avenged a pair of regular-season losses to the No. 10 Lions, earning a trip to the U.S. Cellular Center for the state tournament with a 25-23, 29-27, 26-24 victory.

"We really struggled tonight," Kehe said. "Again, our youth caught up with us. We just weren't in sync all night long and they were."

West coach Randy Dolson said the difference between the two teams was razor-thin all year.

"I thought we were evenly matched every time we played them," he said. "Earlier in the year, we had them a couple times. They are a great team, but I always felt like we hurt ourselves and they ended up winning."

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