Metro Sports Report

No. 1 Warriors eye District 6 title

The top-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington football team can make a little history Thursday night with a victory over Iowa City High at Kingston Stadium.

A triumph would give the Warriors the District 6 title in Class 4A, no matter what happens in the regular-season finale next Friday night at Burlington. This is the first year for district football in Class 4A, so this would be the first district title in school history for Washington.

The game will be broadcast by KGYM 1600 AM/107.5 FM with kickoff scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

Washington enters the game at 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the district. If the Warriors win, the worst they could do is finish in a tie for first place in the district with Muscatine at 4-1, but Washington has already defeated Muscatine and would have the tiebreaker and a No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

Iowa City High enters Thursday night's contest with a 2-5 overall record, but the Little Hawks are 2-1 in district games. If the Little Hawks upset the Warriors, the district could be thrown into a three-way tie for first place with Washington, City High and Muscatine at 3-1 if the Muskies defeat Prairie Friday night.

Grichuk was the 'other' Kernel in 2010

The Los Angeles Angels selected two outfielders in the first round of the 2009 Major League draft and assigned them to Cedar Rapids for the start of the 2010 campaign.

One of them was Mike Trout, who has quickly developed into one of the best players in the game. The other guy was Randal Grichuk, who got hurt and overlooked a bit.

Here we are in the playoffs and Trout is home, perhaps counting his $144.5 million contract. Meanwhile Grichuk is playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League championship series against Baltimore, hoping to get the Cardinals into the World Series.

The Angels traded Grichuk and Peter Bourjos to the Cardinals last November for David Freese and Fernando Salas. Bourjos was the big name in that trade for St. Louis, but Grichuk has impressed enough folks to get in the postseason lineup after hitting .245 with three homers and eight RBIs in 47 games during the regular season.

The Angels drafted Grichuck BEFORE they picked Trout in 2009. They went back-to-back, with Grichuk the 24th overall pick in the first round and Trout the 25th.

The two young players were born just six days apart in 1991, Trout on Aug. 7 and Grichuk on Aug. 13. Now they're both in the Major Leagues, Trout as an all-star and Grichuk as an important player in the national spotlight.

Trout has been on the fast track since Day 1. The Angels sent him to Cedar Rapids at the tail end of the 2009 season and less than two years later he was in the big leagues, leaping over fences to steal home runs and making a name for himself as a 19-year-old kid.

Amber Decker wins Metro Spotlight Award

Linn-Mar junior Amber Decker is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Decker, one of the top runners in Iowa, posted a convincing wire-to-wire victory in the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet Thursday on the Prairie High School cross country course. She defeated runners from all 14 MVC schools, showing she's ready to compete for high honors at the state meet this year.

Decker finished ninth at the state cross country meet as a freshman in 2012 and placed eighth last year as a sophomore. Now she appears ready to take another step this season.

Decker also has excelled at the Class 4A state track meets the past two years. She has collected seven top-10 finishes in individual events and relays for Linn-Mar.

Tysen VanDraska wins Metro Spotlight Award

Cedar Rapids Prairie junior Tysen VanDraska is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

VanDraska collected an impressive victory at the Mississippi Valley Conference cross country meet Thursday and led Prairie to the team championship with a strong finishing kick.

VanDraska is ranked third among Class 4A cross country runners and has stamped himself as a serious threat to contend for the state title in Fort Dodge this fall. He finished 11th in the individual standings last year as a sophomore when Prairie won the Class 4A state title.

VanDraska measures only 5-foot-6 and 125 pounds, but he has a rare combination of speed and endurance. He had a neck-and-neck race with Daniel Murphy of Linn-Mar at the Super Meet Thursday, then left everyone behind with a punishing kick at the end.