Metro Sports Report

State duals unlikely to change in 2013

Coaches, wrestlers and many fans thoroughly disliked the state dual meet tournament in Des Moines last week, but it's unlikely there will be any significant changes for next year.

Linn-Mar Coach Doug Streicher and Prairie Coach Blake Williams are strongly opposed to the new format of holding the state duals a day before the individual state tournament begins, because they feel it puts some wrestlers at a disadvantage.

Alan Beste, the Iowa High School Athletic Association official who ran the state dual meet tournament, said the IHSAA will consider moving the dual meet tournament to an earlier date in future years, but he doubts it could happen as quickly as 2013.

Strait named top player in MVC & Metro

Cedar Rapids Kennedy senior Courtney Strait collected a pair of big honors Wednesday.

Strait was named the Athlete of the Year for girls basketball in the Mississippi Valley Conference (Mississippi Division) and in the Metro area, based on voting by coaches.

Strait, a 5-foot-9 guard, leads all Class 4A scorers this season with an average of 20.9 points per game.

Danielle Franklin of Washington, Madison Dellamuth of Prairie and Maddie Koolbeck of Jefferson joined Strait as first-team selections on the all-MVC and all-Metro teams.

Nominations wanted for Coach of the Year

Nominations for an award honoring high school coaches and assistant coaches in Linn, Johnson or Jones County are being accepted by the Iowa Children of Promise organization.

The Children of Promise - Coach of the Year award will be presented by Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz at the Coaches for Kids banquet on April 10 at the Marriott Hotel in Cedar Rapids.The winner will receive a plaque and $500 cash award to be given to their school or booster club in their name.

A nomination form is available at iowachildrenofpromise.org. Nominations close on March 2.

The funds raised from the Coaches for Kids event will be used to support the Children of Promise mentoring programs that serve more than 420 youths facing multiple life challenges, including those with parents involved in the correctional system. It serves youths in Linn, Johnson, and Jones County. Children of Promise is a program of the Community Corrections Improvement Association (CCIA), a 501(c) (3) non-profit foundation.

Saints top wounded Hawks; off to state

It's nothing new for the Xavier girls to go to the state basketball tournament.

They've been there eight times in the past 14 years under Coach Tom Lilly. But not since 2008.

So for the six seniors on the Saints roster (four of them starters), the 50-43 victory over Prairie in the regional final Tuesday night at Linn-Mar means their first trip to Des Moines.

"These senior girls and the younger players on the team, too, now know what all that summer work was about," Lilly said. "All the practices, all the workouts. This is what it was for. To make it back to the state tournament."

As the lone Metro representative in the tournament, Class 4A fifth-ranked Xavier (18-5) will face fourth-ranked Ankeny (20-3) next Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.