Metro Sports Report

Washington 7th in 1st girls basketball poll

Cedar Rapids Washington is ranked seventh and Xavier and Kennedy are 11th and 12th, respectively, in the Class 4A preseason girls basketball poll released Friday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Washington lost four starters from last year's state tournament qualifier, but the Warriors return their second-leading scorer, Jazz Royster.

Kennedy is the only team ranked in the top 15 that had a losing record last year. The Cougars were 9-14, but return third team all-stater Courtney Strait, who averaged 15.7 points per game.

Xavier returns two starters -- seniors Annie Dale and Emily Walvoord -- from last year's team that lost to Linn-Mar in the regional final.

Lombardi will energize Washington baseball

Let's start this column with a few notes on the high school scene.

It was great to see that Washington hired Tony Lombardi as its new head baseball coach to go along with his other coaching duties, not incidentally the football team.

Tony will bring a lot of energy to a baseball program that certainly needs to be energized. With all of those duties, a large family and a wife who is the volleyball coach at Washington, he has enough on his plate to keep the Washington program rolling. We wish him well.

Wash reloads after shipping 4 to college

Cedar Rapids Washington Coach Frank Howell is paying closer attention to women's college basketball these days.

Four of the girls who played for the Warriors last season are now freshmen on college basketball teams with Tia Dawson at Dartmouth, Ashley Piper at Colorado Christian, Alissa Oney at Maryville and Janay Pritchett at Iowa Wesleyan.

They were four of the reasons the Warriors reached the Class 4A state tournament last season and finished with a 19-4 record, but the cupboard is not bare at Washington. Howell routinely plays as many girls as he can each year, to create depth and make sure he has experienced players the next season.

Fab 4 lead Washington swimmers

Cedar Rapids Washington Coach Chris Cruise used the word "struggle" a few times while talking about his boys swimming team.

He talked about how the Warriors "struggled" last year and might continue to "struggle" again this season if they don't improve in a couple of key events.

Keep in mind, Washington finished fourth at the state meet last year and has an excellent chance of competing for high honors again this season.