Metro Sports Report

No. 7 Eagles raise record to 11-1

Some colleges invite a bunch of weak teams to their tournament and call it a Classic, but that's not how it works for the Kirkwood volleyball program.

The Eagles invited the very best Division II teams in the midwest to their tournament this weekend and got a good idea of where they stand against quality competition.

As it turns out, the Eagles are in good shape.

The tournament featured No. 1 Parkland, No. 2 Cowley, No. 3 Johnson County, No. 4 Illinois Central and No. 17 Iowa Central, along with Lincoln Land and Central (Neb.).

Kirkwood compiled a 3-1 record in the tournament with victories over Cowley, Iowa Central and Lincoln Land, with the lone loss to Illinois Central.

"What a great tournament," said KCC Coach Jill Williams. "Everybody was battling it out."

English helps Kernels in playoff loss

Tanner English was back home in South Carolina Friday when he got an unexpected phone call from the Minnesota Twins.

A day later, he was the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Cedar Rapids Kernels in their 5-2 loss to Kane County in the semifinals of the Midwest League playoffs at Veterans Memorial Stadium before 973 fans.

English sparkled with his new team with three hits, a triple, an RBI and arun scored. He thought his season was over when Elizabethton lost in the Appalachian League playoffs last week, but the Kernels needed a new player and he was it.

"I got called about 2 o'clock yesterday," he said. "I was going to Subway and they said if Cedar Rapids wins, get on a plane in the morning. So I'm here now."

English had to wait and see how the Kernels did Friday night in the decisive game of their opening-round series against Burlington. When the Kernels won the series, he hopped on planes from Columbia, S.C., to Chicago to Cedar Rapids.

Coe falls at No.24 Wheaton, 36-28

WHEATON, Ill. - The Coe College football team fell behind by 31 points in the first half Saturday and dropped its season opener at No.24 Wheaton College, 36-28, before 2,232 fans at McCully Stadium.

The Kohawks rallied behind quarterback Josh Rekers and pulled within 31-20 in the fourth quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Heitland, but the PAT was blocked and returned by Wheaton College for two points to make it 33-20.

Wheatland kicked a field goal for a 36-20 advantage.

Rekers connected with Nicholas Lenstra with a four-yard touchdown pass with 39 seconds left in the game to make it 36-26, then Rekers found Dan Kopp for a two-point conversion pass for the final scoring.

Lions run away with Linn-Mar Invy

The Linn-Mar High School cross country teams dominated their own invitational at Lowe Park in Marion Saturday morning.

The Linn-Mar girls swept the top five spots in their race for a perfect score of 15 points to easily outdistance the six-team field. The Linn-Mar boys nearly duplicated the feat by sweeping the top four spots in their race.

Amber Decker sped to victory over the 4K girls course in 15 minutes, 18 seconds for a 13-second victory over teammate Maddie Saville.

Dalton Gosch claimed top honors in the 5K boys race in 16 minutes, 27 seconds for a 19-second victory over teammate Ryan Murphy.