Metro Sports Report

Paige assists West in McDonald's game

CHICAGO --  Marcus Paige is a humble young man who would never dare compare himself to the great Michael Jordan, but there are a few similarities.

Both of them have been saluted as McDonald's All Americans, Jordan in 1981 and Paige this year.

Both of them have played at the United Center in Chicago, Jordan during his Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bulls and Paige on Wednesday night in the 35th Annual McDonald's All American Games.

Will Griffin speeding his way into form

Will Griffin can feel the 100 meter dash coming together.

The explosion, the speed, the fury. It's all there now except the finish, and he's working on it after being slowed since last August with a bad ankle.

Griffin ran stride for stride with three speed merchants from Waterloo West on Tuesday before finishing fourth in the 100 meter dash in a swift 10.83 seconds at the Early Bird Quad at Kingston Stadium on a warm, windy day.

"It was pretty good, but I felt like I kind of went on cruise control for the last 20 meters," he said. "I just didn't finish my race."

The 10.83 was an excellent time for the Cedar Rapids Washington senior, but the three sprinters from Waterloo ran three of the fastest times in the state this year with the breeze at their backs. Haris Nuhanovic won the race in 10.62, which makes him a threat to challenge James Harrington of Cedar Falls for the state title this year.

Griffin finished second in the Class 4A 100 meter dash last year behind Harrington and had a qualifying time in the preliminaries at state of 10.81 seconds. His clocking Tuesday was only two-hundredths of a second slower than his best time in Des Moines last year.

"I can feel it coming together," he said. "I'm encouraged with the progress I'm making. I'm a little disappointed with the way I finished, but other than that it was OK."

Aune picks D-3 hoops over D-1 races

WASHINGTON, Iowa - Cedar Rapids Prairie senior Jacob Aune is a talented distance runner who drew interest from the track and cross country coaches at Nebraska, Iowa State and Northern Iowa, but even though he likes running and enjoys the sport, he absolutely loves basketball.

That's why he's decided to pass on the opportunity to run in the Big Ten, Big 12 or Missouri Valley Conference in order to play basketball at Coe College in the Iowa Conference. He'll skip the glamour of being an NCAA Division I athlete and compete at the D-3 level instead.

He's entirely comfortable with his decision.

"Both sports take a huge level of commitment, whether it's the D-3, D-2 or D-1 level," Aune said Monday between races at the 53rd Annual Washington Relays. "My passion is in basketball. Running has been good to me, but I've always loved playing basketball.

"I love going to practice every day, I love shooting. I mean, I just love the game."

Aune was flattered that several of the premier Division I track and cross country programs in the Midwest were interested in his services, but he had to decline the opportunity.

ACL injuries sidelining more girls

Feb. 21 was the best of times and the worst of times for two local basketball players.

Cedar Rapids Washington High School point guard Tasha Roundtree was having “the game of her life,” according to Warriors Coach Frank Howell. She had scored 19 points and grabbed three rebounds and two steals in pacing her team to a 44-41 third-period lead over Iowa City High in a Class 4A regional final.

Running the court on defense, she leapt to intercept a pass at midcourt, landed awkwardly, and fell to the floor.

“My knee gave a little pop sound. When it popped, I knew what I had done,” says Roundtree, who had just torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee. It was the second ACL tear for Roundtree, who had injured the ACL in her right knee two years earlier during a sophomore game.

“I tore it all the way through this time, so I didn’t have as much pain,” says Roundtree, offering an excruciating bit of bad news-good news detail. But she cried into her jersey the rest of the game as her No. 13 Warriors fell 65-59 to the seventh-ranked Little Hawks.

“It’s just really devastating when it happens,” says Howell. “The thing is, we were in a pretty good spot late in the third quarter. She said, ‘Coach, I think I tore my ACL.’ I didn’t want her to think about the worst-case scenario. But the trainer knew.”

The same evening, in a regional final across town at Linn-Mar High School, the Prairie girls had hopes of extending their turnaround winning season by upsetting fifth-ranked Xavier. Thirty seconds into the contest, disaster struck, as the Hawks’ All-MVC and All-Metro first-team point guard Madison Dellamuth grimaced and fell to the floor.

“I took a girl baseline and planted wrong,” she recalls. “I felt something go over and something go under (my kneecap) at the same time, and I knew that wasn’t good. It was pretty painful at first.”