Metro Sports Report

Linn-Mar 8th grader stars at regional race

Stephanie Jenks is just 14 years old and an eighth grader at Oak Ridge Middle School in Marion, but she thought it might be fun to race against high school girls at the Heartland Regional Cross Country Championships Sunday in Sioux Falls, S.D.

She did incredibly well.

Jenks finished second in the girls high school division and earned a free trip to the Nike Cross Nationals that will be held in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, Dec. 3.

Jenks ran the 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 16.49 seconds - a pace of 5:53 per mile. Maria Hauger, a high school junior from Minnesota, won the race in 17:52.67.

Coaching authorization course a timely topic

Larry Lutz of Kirkwood Community College usually appears once a year on The Gym Class to talk about coaching authorization and certification procedures.

But his spot last week entailed a little more relevance than usual.

Lutz’s interview was timely because of the then-breaking scandal at Penn State, in which a former assistant football coach had been accused of 40 counts of sexual abuse against young boys. It has become a tangled mess of a situation in State College, leading to the firing of Penn State legendary coach Joe Paterno, the university president and athletic director, and disciplinary action against a current assistant coach who allegedly witnessed one of the assaults.

Lutz was not on the air to talk about Penn State, but yet his expertise became very useful to the conversation.

Preventing preseason basketball injuries

The high-tops have been laced up for a week for Metro girls, who began practice on Nov. 7. The boys teams start practice Monday.

All 16 Metro basketball coaches will be giving their whistles a workout, and the tell-tale squeaks of shoes twisting on the hardcourt will echo in high school gyms.

It’s preseason high school basketball time, and the emphasis is on conditioning and fundamentals. The real challenge for coaches, players, and athletic trainers is how to prevent the injury bug from infecting their team.

Linn-Mar girls prepare for life after Kiah

Mike Brandt quit eating after Kiah Stokes played her final basketball game at Linn-Mar High School last winter, but it's not like he went on a hunger strike.

He didn't quit eating altogether. He simply quit eating things that weren't good for him. He also started to get more exercise and take better care of his body.

It was simply coincidence that all of this started after Stokes finished her career with the Lions and packed her All-American bags for the University of Connecticut.

Brandt decided he was too heavy and was inviting health problems down the line. "I want to be around for awhile," he said.