Metro Sports Report

Kelley snaps state mark in 500 free

MARSHALLTOWN  – Washington’s Cameron Kelley and Nick Saulnier entered Saturday’s state swimming meet seeded first in two individual events each.

Pretty lofty expectations since neither had ever won a state title.

And both would be racing against two super swimmers from Iowa City West who are the among the few Iowa preps (male or female) who have qualified for this summer’s Olympic trials.

But by turning in what their coach called “absolutely awesome” performances, the two Warriors came through under pressure.

In what might be termed mild upsets despite his high seeding, junior Kelley won the 200 yard freestyle, in 1:39.50, and then set a new state record in claiming the grueling 500 freestyle in 4:29.96. His times in both events were fast enough for All-American consideration.

Baker leads Metro parade to state

Brenden Baker might cut his shoulder-length blond hair after the state wrestling tournament next week, but he's got bigger concerns right now than trimming his flowing locks.

Baker is wrestling with a broken finger and a sore back, so getting a haircut can wait. And he's certainly not going to cut it before the state tournament, because that might be bad luck.

"No, we're going to leave it alone," the Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior said Saturday after winning the 120-pound title at the Class 3A district meet at Jefferson. "I've lasted this long. It's been almost a year."

Baker had fairly short hair last year, but his last haircut was about 362 days ago.

"It was actually the day before we left for state last year. So on Wednesday it will be a full year," he said.

He kind of likes his hairstyle - "It's different" - so he's not sure if he'll visit a barbershop or stylist in the near future.

Klostermann stars as Lions bop Hawks

The Linn-Mar Lions put on the "Beau & Bo" show Friday night, and it was bye-bye Prairie.

Beau Klostermann pumped in a career-high 26 points and Jordan Bohannon notched 23 after a slow start as the Lions knocked off the Prairie Hawks, 81-63, in an entertaining Mississippi Valley Conference game at the Prairie gym.

Bohannon did not score in the first 15 minutes of the game and had two personal fouls at that point, but he got hot after that and finished with five 3-pointers and slick drives to the hoop.

The Lions are accustomed to getting big nights from Bohannon, who leads Class 4A in scoring, but Klostermann more than doubled his pre-game norm of 11.7 points per outing. Klosterman pumped in four 3-pointers in the first half and had 18 points at intermission, helping the Lions take a 47-38 lead.

Klostermann, a 6-foot-4 senior, added eight more points in the second half. He's technically the starting center for the smallish Lions, but he's a versatile player who can score from all spots.

"That was a big game for him," Linn-Mar coach Chris Robertson said. "He was really in the groove and really shot it well. He's a tough match-up."

Prairie saves day for Metro grapplers

Thank goodness for Prairie.

The Prairie Hawks won their regional dual meet tournament Wednesday night with a convincing 51-21 victory over North Scott, but none of the other Metro wrestling teams qualified for the state tournament.

The seventh-ranked Kennedy Cougars got punched by No. 13 Clinton, 44-26, in the regional finals at Kennedy.

The ninth-ranked Jefferson J-Hawks were stunned by No. 24 Dowling Catholic in the regional semifinals at Johnston and never got a chance to wrestle for a regional title.

The 18th-ranked Linn-Mar Lions lost to No. 4 Dubuque Hempstead, 49-27, in the regional finals after sticking No. 16 Bettendorf in the semifinals, 45-24.

The sixth-ranked Prairie Hawks (19-3) will face fifth-ranked Johnston (21-2) in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state dual meet tournament next Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.