Metro Sports Report

Jeff grapplers struggle at own meet

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson wrestling team likes to invite the best competition it can find to its own tournament every year.

The J-Hawks paid the price Saturday.

Jefferson finished in sixth place in the team standings and did not crown a single champion in the star-studded field at the Jefferson gym.

Fort Dodge, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, won the team championship with 235.5 points. Alburnett, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A, placed second with 178.5 points. The tournament also featured Dubuque Hempstead, which is ranked No. 4 in Class 3A.

Kyle Briggs, who is ranked No. 2 at 152 pounds for Jefferson, suffered his first loss of the season with a 6-5 setback to Ryan Gorman of New Hampton in the semifinals. Briggs (28-1) bounced back and pinned Clem Butler of Clinton in 3 minutes, 50 seconds for third place.

Mustangs hold off York, 103-99

The Mount Mercy men's basketball team poured in 103 points Saturday afternoon and needed nearly all of them to escape the Hennessey Recreation Center with a victory.

The Mustangs trimmed York, 103-99, in a high-scoring affair that featured nine players scoring in double figures.

Ben Struss came off the bench to pop in four 3-pointers and 22 points to lead Mount Mercy (15-5). Antwain Strong pitched in 14 points, Kyle Lamaak had 12, Derik Gogg 11 and Chris Ford 10.

Ford stuffed the stat line with his 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Zeitler sparks Mustang women to victory

Makenzie Zeitler collected a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds Saturday to help the Mount Mercy women's basketball team dump York, 65-41, in a women's basketball game at the Hennessey Recreation Center.

Chelsey Lampe led the Mustangs with 13 points and Abby Herb netted 12 points in a balanced attack.

Mount Mercy built a commanding 42-12 lead at halftime and cruised to the 24-point victory. The Mustangs raised their record to 9-11 as they push to get over the .500 mark for the campaign.

Mackenzie Eller scored 11 points for York (5-8).

Sellers lifts No. 1 Cougars by J-Hawks

Somebody forgot to tell the girls from Cedar Rapids Jefferson they were supposed to tremble at the sight of the top-ranked Kennedy Cougars on Friday night.

"There was no doubt that we would give them everything we had," Jefferson coach Jason Edwards said.

The Cougars had Lela Sellers, however, and that made all the difference in the world.

Sellers poured in 29 points and snared 14 rebounds as Kennedy slipped away from the J-Hawks in the final 75 seconds, 61-49, in an entertaining Mississippi Valley Conference game at Kennedy.

Jefferson rallied from a 17-point deficit and pulled within four points at 51-47 on a bucket by Erin Kuba with 1:39 remaining, but the Cougars kept their cool and drilled 10 straight free throws to avoid the upset.