Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Saints have big sneakers to fill

Adam McDermott, Calvin Winker and Michael Mims helped the Xavier Saints win 18 games last season and place third at the Class 3A state basketball tournament, but now all three of them are playing ball in college.

McDermott scored 17 points and hit five 3-pointers the other day for North Dakota in a victory against Bowling Green. Winker is playing as a freshman at Missouri Western. And Mims has started a game already at Loras.

Connor Ramlo, a fourth member of the stating lineup for the Saints last year, is a member of the men's soccer team at Creighton, leaving Xavier Coach Ryan Luehrsmann with a rebuilding job this year.

He welcomes the challenge.

"We're trying to figure out how we're going to replace the four senior starters that moved on," Luehrsmann said this week. "We've got some young talent and this group is real competitive.

"They're really getting after one another in practice, so I like what I've seen so far in terms of effort and their coachability."

Mitchell Burger, the fifth member of the starting lineup, is back for his senior year after enjoying an impressive campaign with the Saints in their backcourt. He averged 13.5 points, the second-best on the club behind McDermott, and impressed fans with his speed, agility and fierce desire.

Read more...

Beyer named captain of INA football team

Cedar Rapids Kennedy senior Shaun Beyer has been named the captain of the Class 4A all-state football team by the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Beyer starred as a receiver, running back, punter and linebacker for the Cougars, who reached the championship game of the state playoffs for the first time in school history and finished with a 13-1 record.

A total of 19 players from Metro teams were saluted on the INA honors squads.

Kennedy had five first-team selections with Mason Jacobs (offensive line), Tyler Dralle (running back), Beyer (utility), Dalles Jacobus (defensive line) and Austin Coates (defensive back). O'Rien Vance of Washington was named a first-team linebacker.

The Washington Warriors had four second-team choices with Isaiah Nimmers (wide receiver), Aries Davis (offensive line), Tavian Patrick (running back) and Dallas Hobbs (defensive line). Kennedy had two second-team picks with Jackson Coker (offensive line) and Johnson Mator (linebacker). Valentino Green of Jefferson was named second team all-state as a defensive back.

Read more...

Andersen helps Saints top Decorah

DECORAH - McKenna Andersen scored 11 points Tuesday night as the Xavier Saints topped Decorah, 41-21, in a low-scoring girls basketball game to begin the season in Decorah.

Lexi Noonan had eight points for the Saints, who are ranked No. 11 in Class 4A.

Decorah made only nine field goals in the game.

XAVIER (41): Bastian 0 1-2 1, Andersen 4 2-4 11, Noonan 4 0-0 8, Joens 3 0-0 6, Ivester 1 0-0 2, Dickes 2 1-2 5, Stanek 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 2-2 4, Steffen 0 0-0 0, Callahan 1 0-0 2, Kadlec 1 0-0 2, Stovie 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-10 41.

DECORAH (21): McEnaney 0 0-0 2, Schuning 4 0-4 10, Iverson 0 0-0 0, Hudson 0 0-2 0 Zidlicky 1 1-2 3, Hartman 1 0-0 2, Zidlicky 3 0-0 6. Totals 9 1-8 21.

Halftime - Xavier 20, Decorah 7. 3-point goals - Xavier 1 (Andersen 1), Decorah 2 (Schuning 2).

Xavier falls in boys bowling meet

The Xavier boys bowling team lost to Iowa City West 2,864 pins to 2,614 Tuesday at May City Bowl.

Michael Buenzow led the Saints with 203 game and a 364 series.

Patrick Wood led the Trojans with a 497 series.

Iowa City West: Patrick Wood 295-202=497; Nick Rohm 215-179=394; Jordan Tiegs 200-162=362; Ryan Stark 174-176=350; Corey Roth 167-167=334; Josh Pelland 152-132=284.

Xavier: Michael Buenzow 161-203=364; Jacob Fulton 169-190=359; Charlie Hart 176-174=350; David Weaver 170-147=317; Jackson Schuster 169-140=309; Nic Peters 114-165=279.

Iowa City West: 1,937-927=2,864.

Xavier: 1,699-915=2,614.