Metro Sports Report

Prairie jumps to 3rd in volleyball

The Prairie Hawks zoomed seven spots from No. 10 to No. 3 in the new Class 5A volleyball rankings Thursday by the IGHSAU.

Prairie (11-1) won all six of its matches at the Linn-Mar Invitational on Saturday, including four victories over ranked teams. The Hawks returned to Linn-Mar on Tuesday night and beat the Lions again.

Kennedy fell one spot to No. 5 in Class 5A. The Cougars (12-5) knocked off then-No. 1 Cedar Falls on Tuesday night, but the Cougars lost two matches to Cedar Falls at the Osage Tournament on Saturday. Cedar Falls dropped to No. 4 in the poll.

Linn-Mar (12-4) fell two spots to No. 9 this week after its losses to Prairie.

Bettendorf (11-1) is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A. Its only loss was to Prairie in the MVC/MAC Challenge earlier in the season.

The Marion Indians (10-2) stayed No. 2 in Class 4A. West Delaware leads the 4A rankings.

Dralle leads Class 4A in rushing

Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Tyler Dralle is the state’s Class 4A leader in rushing after three weeks of the high school football season, according to QuikStats.

Dralle, buoyed by a 265-yard effort against Iowa City West, has a Metro-leading 465 yards rushing on 88 carries. Among 4A players, he has a two-yard lead over Sioux City North’s Deion Clayborne. Clayborne leads 4A in total offense; Dralle is second.

Prairie’s Jalen Rima is the only player in the state who has scored four different ways – rushing, receiving, kickoff return and punt return.

Linn-Mar quarterback Reese Phillips is second in the state in touchdown passes with eight. His favorite receiver, Daniel Gorsich, is second in 4A with 20 receptions.

Kennedy star Shaun Beyer leads 4A in punting with a 46.3-yard average on four boots. He also has 14 pass receptions and five touchdowns through three games.

Kernels eye first title since 1994

The Cedar Rapids Kernels reeled off three straight wins to start their 2015 playoff season by combining strong pitching with mistake-free defense.

One bad defensive play and some questionable base-running nearly ended that winning streak Sunday, but the Kernels clawed back from a 4-1 deficit to claim a 5-4 win over the Peoria Chiefs for the Midwest League Western Division title.

Cedar Rapids will be seeking its first Midwest League crown since 1994 when the final round begins Wednesday against Lansing or Western Michigan, which are battling for the Eastern Division title. The series between is tied, 1-1, with Game 3 Monday night.

The Eastern Division champ will host Games 1 and 2 Wednesday and Thursday, with Games 3, 4 and 5 at Veterans Memorial Stadium next Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the best-of-5 series.

Game 3 in the MWL finals will begin Saturday at 3:35 p.m. at the stadium.

The Kernels belted out 13 hits Sunday and all four of Peoria’s runs were unearned.

Havertape paces Wash swimmers by LM

Lauren Havertape was a four-time winner Tuesday as the Washington Warriors splashed Linn-Mar, 117-69, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls swimming meet at the Washington pool.

Havertape won the 50 free and 100 fly for Washington. She also swam on the victorious 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

Jenny Hughes was a triple-champ for the Warriors. She captured the 200 free and 500 free and swam on the winning 400 freestyle relay.

Kaitlyn Nemickas, Caitlin Sievers and Emily Nelson were double-winners for Washington. Hannah Gardner was a double-winner for Linn-Mar.