Metro Sports Report

Hegarty left his mark on prep athletes

John Hegarty Jr. never spent a day as a varsity head coach but he may have had as much impact on high school athletes as anyone.

Hegarty, 54, will retire at the end of the school year after nearly three decades as an assistant coach and science teacher at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. He has accepted the School District’s incentive on early retirement.

The son of a grade-school principal, Hegarty was a J-Hawk wrestling assistant for 28 years and a football aide for 11. Jefferson named its junior varsity wrestling tournament the John Hegarty Jr. JV Duals a couple years ago.

Warriors slam Kennedy in boys tennis

On paper, at least, the boys tennis match Tuesday between Washington and Kennedy looked to be a toss-up.

Both 9-3 in MVC dual conference play behind once-beaten Linn-Mar in the Mississippi Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference, they seemed similarly matched.

Instead, it turned out to be a rout as the Warriors won all but one singles pairing while coasting to an 8-1 victory in the regular season finale at Kennedy.

Furnish glad she gave golf a second look

DUBUQUE - Megan Furnish began playing golf when she was about 8 years old, but it didn't stick as her favorite sport the first time around.

"I actually quit for a couple of years to play softball," she said Monday with a smile.

Furnish picked up the golf clubs again when she was about 12 and hasn't put them down since. "I figured this is something I want to keep doing and stick to it and get good at it," she said.

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior has become very, very good at it.

She's developed into the top high school golfer in the Metro area and ranks as one of the top in the state, and next year she'll begin playing in college at Missouri State University.

Furnish won another major championship Monday when she claimed top honors at the Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet at Bunker Hill in Dubuque on a delightful day for golf.

Lombardi faces Kennedy in Metro tourney

Tony Lombardi's first game as the new baseball coach at Cedar Rapids Washington will come against Kennedy in the opening round of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament on Monday, May 21.

The game is scheduled to begin at the Linn-Mar High School field at 5 p.m.

The first two rounds of the tournament will be played at Marion High School and Linn-Mar on May 21 and May 22. The finals and consolation game for third place will be played at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, May 23. The fifth and seventh place games are at Marion.

The Marion Indians and Prairie Hawks will clash in an intriguing first-round game at Marion. The Indians reached the semifinals of the Class 3A state tournament for the first time in school history last season and the Hawks enjoyed one of the best seasons in school history.

Xavier will face Mount Vernon in the other opening-round game at Marion. Jefferson will meet Linn-Mar in the other first-round game at Linn-Mar.