Marion High School - Marion, Iowa

7 Indians honored in Wamac volleyball

Seven members of the Marion High School volleyball team have been named to the Wamac Conference all-star volleyball squad from the West Division.

Abby Phillips, Amanda Sahm and Alyssa Thomas were named to the first team. Olivia Frazier and Isabella Sade were selected for the second team. Tanea Westhoff and Johanna Stegall of Marion received honorable mention.

Roxanne Paulsen of Marion was named the West Division Coach of the Year. Marion won the West Division title with a 7-0 record.

Paulsen named Metro Coach of Year

Roxanne Paulsen of Marion High School has been named the Metro Coach of the Year in girls volleyball, as selected by the Metro coaches.

Marion earned a spot in the Class 4A state tournament with a 3-0 victory over DeWitt Central in the regional finals Tuesday night. This will be Paulsen's fifth trip to the state tournament with the Indians and the first since 2009. Marion won a state title in 2008.

Abby Phillips and Amanda Sahm of Marion were named to the top all-Metro squad with their coach. They were joined by Kayla Torson of Xavier, Amanda Ollinger of Jefferson, Kate Busswitz of Prairie, Sarah Renner of Linn-Mar, Anna Fluent of Kennedy and Macy Anderson of Kennedy.

SECOND TEAM

Alyssa Thomas (Marion), Olivia Frazier (Marion), Ellie Anderson (Linn-Mar), Sami Boekhoff (Linn-Mar), Caiti Peterson (Washington), Mallory Jones (Prairie), Madsy Richards (Xavier), Brinley Milbrath (Kennedy).

HONORABLE MENTION

Jefferson - Maddie Slagle, Kristen Naber
Kennedy - Paige Franck, Kendal Meier
Prairie - Jennifer Lockhart, Megan Sprengeler
Washington - Sophie Smith, Rumer Weiland
Xavier - Mel Wertzberger, Olivia Krapfl
Linn-Mar - Emilee McGowan, Meg Gostonczik
Marion - Isabella Sade, Johanna Steggall

Marion cruises to 4A state tourney

MAQUOKETA - Roxanne Paulsen has been operating a successful volleyball program at Marion High School for many years and won a state title in 2008, but none of the players on this year's team had ever played in the state tournament when the season began.

That changed Tuesday night.

The third-ranked Indians dominated DeWitt Central, 25-13, 25-13, 25-18, in the Class 4A regional finals and claimed the school's first trip to the state tournament since 2009.

Marion (33-7) will face Charles City (41-4) in the quarterfinals of the state meet next Tuesday, Nov. 11 at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Cedar Rapids at 4 p.m. on Court 2.

"It's been five years," Paulsen noted. "None of these girls were part of the high school squad the last time we went, so it was nice to be able to do it tonight.

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Linn-Mar claims 4A state title

FORT DODGE - Daniel Murphy has lived with a nightmare the past year after collapsing at the state cross country meet in 2013 and needing medical attention.

Now he's living a dream.

Murphy and the Linn-Mar Lions raced to the first state title in school history Saturday when they captured top honors at the Class 4A meet in Fort Dodge.

The Lions nudged Cedar Rapids Prairie, 85-98, in the team standings. Prairie won the state title last year, making it back-to-back crowns for Metro schools.

Murphy finished dead-last in 2013 after he collapsed several times and staggered to the finish line, due to dehydration and a possible virus. Linn-Mar might have challenged Prairie for the state title last year if Murphy had been in top form.

"I felt like I let the team down," he said Saturday.

That's all in the past now. Linn-Mar came home with the top prize this time thanks to Daniel Murphy, Michael Mather, Ryan Murphy, Bryan Fogerty, Jay Halverson and the entire program of coaches, runners, trainers and managers.

"It's amazing," said Murphy, who finished sixth. "That's all you can say. Amazing."

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