Metro Sports Report

Prep football prevues - Sept. 27-28

Has football reached its nadir among the Metro public schools?

Jefferson and Washington share the best record among the Cedar Rapids public schools at 1-4. Kennedy is 0-5.

That is a cumulative record of 2-13. Add in 1-4 Linn-Mar and the record sags to 3-17.

Helms is center of strength for Saints

Xavier senior Ben Helms has taken plenty of hits. After all, he’s the starting center on the Saints’ undefeated football team, and he makes it his business to protect home plate as a catcher on the Xavier baseball team.

But his harshest blow came in an encounter with a serious – and initially mysterious – digestive illness that landed him in the University of Iowa Hospital for 10 days last year. He’ll deal with the condition for the rest of his life.

Helms’ ordeal began during the summer between his sophomore and junior years. “I had bad stomach cramps and was getting really weak and tired,” he recalls. After basic lab tests failed to reveal anything abnormal, he decided he must be suffering from a nasty case of stomach flu.

Remembering Tasha Roundtree

I was shocked and saddened Sunday when I found out the news of the passing of Latasha Roundtree. Tasha, as she was known by friends and teammates, was a guard for the Washington girls basketball team the last three years. She died from gunshot wounds received Saturday night in Cedar Rapids.

Tasha was a team leader for the Warriors during her career, especially her senior campaign. She had an infectious personality that all at Washington High School seemed to enjoy. While she was not the most outgoing person on the team, she was well liked and usually had a smile on her face.

William Penn coach wishes Roundtree had stayed

Tasha Roundtree had gotten off to a good start at William Penn University this year and appeared to be in good spirits as she made the transition to college, but she abruptly quit school a few weeks ago and returned to Cedar Rapids.

"To be quite honest with you, she was here one minute and gone the next," said Mike Brown, the women's basketball coach at William Penn. "She just kind of disappeared."

Roundtree, 19, was shot and killed in Cedar Rapids this past weekend. The Cedar Rapids police department is calling her death a homicide. No arrests have been made.