Metro Sports Report

'Singing Saint' picks football over music

Harry Daubitz, the Singing Saint, had to make a tough choice this week.

He was selected to perform at the All-State Music Festival in Ames Saturday night, but he also plays football and the Xavier Saints have a date with Dowling in the championship game of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night in Cedar Falls.

He could have practiced for the Music Festival for part of the day Friday in Ames and gone straight to Cedar Falls for the game, but that would have meant missing the bus ride from Xavier to the UNI-Dome with his teammates.

He missed the bus ride last year as a junior when the Saints played in the state finals due to the Music Festival, but he didn't want to do it again.

"I've already been to the Festival twice," he said Monday. "I weighed my options and being a senior, I'm not going to be in the All-State Festival this year. I'm going to play football. I'll just have to forfeit that honor and play football instead."

Luehrsmann anxious to welcome gridders

Seven members of the Xavier boys basketball team are skipping practice this week, but they have a good excuse.

They also play for the Xavier football team, which is practicing this week for the Class 4A championship game against top-ranked Dowling Catholic Friday night in Cedar Falls.

The football players will not join the basketball team until at least next week, and it could be the week after that to give them a chance to catch their breath.

Lions answer early wakeup call on Day 1

Some college basketball teams celebrate the first day of practice each year with "Midnight Madness," holding their initial workout for a new season at 12:01 a.m. and inviting their fans, pep band and cheerleaders to have a good time.

By contrast, the Linn-Mar Lions held their first practice for the 2013-14 high school season at 6 a.m. Monday in an otherwise quiet gym with perhaps a few sleepy players.

"Everybody was on time," said Coach Chris Robertson, happy with the response. "One was close, but he made it."

Jaime Printy returns to Linn-Mar as coach

Jaime Printy set 14 school records during her prep basketball career at Linn-Mar High School and was named the 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year.

Now the former University of Iowa star has returned to Linn-Mar, this time as an assistant coach with the girls basketball team.

"Growing up around basketball, I always thought I wanted to stay around the sport because I love it so much," Printy said last week. "I always had coaches who influenced me in positive ways and I thought it would be awesome some day to give back and be able to have an impact on younger kids. I'm really excited about it."