Metro Sports Report

Prairie jumps to 5th in volleyball

The Cedar Rapids Prairie volleyball team jumped seven spots to No. 5 in the new Class 5A rankings Thursday by the IGHSAU.

The Hawks are now the highest-ranked Metro team in Class 5A after getting off to a 4-0 start. Kennedy is ranked No. 7 in Class 5A and Linn-Mar is ranked No. 8.

The Marion Indians, who open their season Thursday night against Vinton-Shellsburg, stayed in the No. 2 spot in Class 4A.

Iowa City High is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A and West Delaware is No. 1 in Class 4A.

Kernels fall to Peoria in 9th

PEORIA, Ill. - Nick Thompson's walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Peoria a 5-4 victory over the Kernels on Tuesday night at Dozer Park in the rubber game of their series.

The Chiefs scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game after the Kernels had worked for a 4-2 edge.

Harrison Bader singled to right field with two outs in the ninth inning for Peoria. He advanced to second on Brian O'Keefe's base on balls. Thompson's liner to left scored Bader for the game-winning run. It was Thompson's third hit of the game.

Zack Tillery (5-5) took the loss, allowing one run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The Kernels pushed a run across in the first inning. Sean Miller began the game with a double into right-center and scored on a one-out single to left by T.J. White.

General McArthur enlists with Kirkwood baseball

The Kirkwood baseball team could have a new commander on the field next season.

His named is General McArthur, a shortstop from Crete-Monee High School in Illinois who has joined the Eagles as a freshman for the 2016 campaign. General McArthur is his legal given name and not a nickname based on the famous World War II commander.

Gorman wins Metro Spotlight Award

Reagan Gorman of Washington is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Gorman, a freshman, finished in second place at the 31st Prairie Invitational cross country meet Saturday morning. She covered the 5 kilometer course in 19 minutes, 38 seconds in her first varsity race for the Warriors. She trailed Iowa City West junior Gabby Skopec by 12 seconds.

Gorman stands only 5-foot-2 and weighs about 85 pounds, but she proved that size does not matter in distance running. She dominated her middle school races and has already stamped herself as one of the top runners in the state.