Metro Sports Report

Logan Brown (right foreground) does a squat exercise while Xavier teammate Matt Bouska (left) spots for him and strength coach Tom Ekland observes Tuesday morning at Xavier. Ekland has worked as a volunteer in the weightt room since the school opened in 1998. (Photo by Margaret O'Banion)

Ekland helps Saints get bigger, stronger

Thu - 14 Nov Written by Jim Ecker

Tom Ekland gets up about 5 o'clock every morning, Monday through Friday, and heads to Xavier High School to help supervise the weight room.

He's been doing this for 20 years, first at LaSalle High School and the past 16 years at Xavier since the school opened in 1998.

He loves working with the guys and has played an important role in Xavier's success on the football field - and other sports as well - but there have been times when he's wondered what in the world he's doing so early in the morning.

"There's many times, in the dead of winter, when it's minus 20, pitch dark, and I ask the very same question: Why I am doing this?'"

Ekland, 53, said those words early Tuesday morning in the Xavier weight room with a smile and a chuckle.

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Linn-Mar welcomes Sommer twins to team

Wed - 13 Nov Written by Jim Ecker

Linn-Mar girls basketball coach Michael Brandt knows he's a lucky guy.

The top seven scorers from last year's team graduated, leaving Aryn Jones as the top returning scorer at 1.8 points per game, but a gift came down from heaven and landed in the coach's lap.

Actually it was two gifts - the talented Sommer twins - and they came down from Dubuque Senior as welcome transfers for their senior year in high school.

Their mother changed jobs and her daughters, Kristie and Katie, became Linn-Mar Lions for the 2013-14 school year.

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Kennedy girls could have strong team

Wed - 13 Nov Written by Jim Ecker

Watch out for Kennedy.

When you talk to girls basketball coaches in the Metro area, you hear that refrain more and more as the new season approaches.

Watch out for the Cougars.

Kennedy Coach Tony Vis does not disagree, but he's not without his own concerns and not without praise for other clubs.

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Schenck-Joblinske signs with Aggies

Wed - 13 Nov Written by Jim Ecker

Eric Schenck-Joblinske hopes to prove that a kid from a small town in Iowa can play big-time college baseball at Texas A&M University.

Schenck-Joblinske, an outfielder who hit .362 for the Kirkwood Eagles last season, signed his national letter-of-intent with Texas A&M Wednesday at Johnson Hall on the KCC campus.

"It still hasn't sunk in yet," he said. "I don't think it will set in until I step on campus."

Schenck-Joblinske grew up in New Hartford and attended Dike-New Hartford High School before coming to Kirkwood in 2012.

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Belz will pitch for UNI softball

Wed - 13 Nov Written by Jim Ecker

Samantha Belz was interested in attending the University of Northern Iowa when she was a high school student at Davenport West, but it didn't work out then.

Now it has.

Belz, currently a sophomore at Kirkwood Community College, signed a national letter-of-intent Wednesday to join the UNI softball program for the 2014-15 school year.

"It feels good, knowing where I'm going and that I'm going to a good program," she said.

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