Metro Sports Report

Kelsey Drake wins Metro Spotlight Award

Linn-Mar sophomore Kelsey Drake is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Drake is one of the top young swimmers in the state and she began the 2014 season with four victories Tuesday when Linn-Mar defeated Newton in a dual meet. She won the 200 IM and 100 butterfly and swam on the victorious 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

Drake transferred from Cedar Rapids Jefferson to Linn-Mar this year. She was the silver medalist in two events at the 2013 state meet for the J-Hawks, placing second in the 200 IM and second in the 100 butterfly.

Mount Mercy men's soccer: Welcome to the United Nations

The chatter among the players on the Mount Mercy men’s soccer team is like listening to a session of the United Nations.

All speak English, but most with decided accents.

To say the team is a global melting pot is a vast understatement.

Of the 34 men on the squad, 26 hail from a foreign country. They represent 18 different nations from all of the seven continents save Antarctica.

Seven of them are from Iowa, one from Illinois. There are more who call Germany home (five) than those from Cedar Rapids (four).

“Our motto is one team, one world,” says Coach Amir Hadzic, himself a native of Bosnia who escaped his war-torn homeland in 1994 and took over Mount Mercy’s soccer program a year later. “You know it really is a small world.”

Daniel Murphy wins Metro Spotlight Award

Linn-Mar senior Daniel Murphy is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Murphy is one of the top distance runners in the state. He began the 2014 cross country season in style Saturday by winning the Prairie Invitational in 15 minutes, 26 seconds for an 11-second victory over the 5K course.

Murphy led Linn-Mar to the team championship at the Prairie meet.

Murphy placed third in the 3200 meter run at the Class 4A state track meet last May in 9:12.46. He also finished 10th in the 1600 meter run in 4:21.93.

Kernels blanked by Clinton, 1-0

CLINTON - The Clinton LumberKings beat the Cedar Rapids Kernels, 1-0, Sunday afternoon in a Midwest League game before 1,623 fans at Ashford University Field.

Clinton tallied the lone run in the fifth inning.

The Kernels have lost four games in a row and look to avoid a sweep to the LumberKings Monday at 2 p.m. in the final game of the regular season.

Lewis Thorpe started for the Kernels and went four scoreless innings in a no-decision. He allowed three hits while striking out four and walking four.

Clinton scored the game's only run in the bottom of the fifth inning against Kernels reliever Chris Mazza. Martin Peguero led off the frame with a double. He advanced to third base on a one-out groundout by Jeff Zimmerman. Peguero then scored on a wild pitch by Mazza with two outs.