Metro Sports Report

Get ready for Class 4A district football

The athletic directors in the Mississippi Valley Conference acted with compassion this year when they voted to let Dubuque Wahlert remove its football team from the conference and still remain a member of the MVC in all other sports.

But the athletic directors may live to regret that decision, because it appears to have sounded the death knell for Mississippi Valley Conference football as we know it and paved the way for Class 4A district football in our area.

Wahlert, which has struggled at times to compete at the Class 4A level in football, prefers to compete at the Class 3A level against schools of comparable enrollments. An official announcement from the Golden Eagles is expected this week.

Franklin wins Metro Spotlight Award

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Dani Franklin is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award this week for high school girls, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Franklin, a 6-foot-1 forward, is one of the top basketball players in the state and ranks third in Class 5A in scoring this season at 23.8 points per game.

Franklin collected 37 points and 11 rebounds against Dubuque Senior, then had 33 points and 10 rebounds against Dubuque Hempstead in the next  game. She scored 27 points against Iowa City West Friday as the Warriors (4-1) won their fourth straight game.

Thorson wins Metro Spotlight Award

Cedar Rapids Washington junior Jared Thorson is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award this week for high school boys, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Thorson is one of the top swimmers in Iowa and ranks in the top-5 in the state in four different events. He ranks second in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 50 freestyle as an individual, and he ranks first in the 200 medley relay and fourth in the 200 freestyle relay with his teammates.

Thorson placed in four events at the state swimming meet last year. He was fourth in the 100 butterfly, fourth in the 200 medley relay, fourth in the 400 freestyle relay and seventh in the 200 freestyle relay.

Lions nipped for title; Hawks upend No.1

The Linn-Mar Lions came within a whisker of derailing the top-ranked high school wrestling team from Wisconsin on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Prairie Hawks succeeded in knocking off the No.1 team from Iowa.

It was a good day for the two Metro powers at the 22nd Annual Five Seasons Dual Wrestling Tournament.

It was nearly a great day.

Linn-Mar split its 14 matches with Kaukauna (Wis.), but the Galloping Ghosts got enough bonus points to nip the Lions, 33-32, in the championship match of the prestigious 16-team tournament at Cedar Rapids Washington.