Metro Sports Report

Marion spikers' upset bid falls short

The young but scrappy Marion volleyball team fought and fought all day Saturday before finally falling short to Solon in the championship match of the 20th annual Washington Warrior tournament.

Short was the name of the game as the Indian girls could not match up with the towering Spartan front line, led by spiker supreme Kelsey Cave.

“Size was a huge difference in the match,” said Marion Coach Roxanne Paulson. “You can’t control height. But defensively, I thought the girls really picked it up.”

And in all Class 3A Wamac Conference finale, 10th-ranked Marion put up a tough effort against eight-ranked Solon.

After losing the first game 25-19, the Indians refused to cave-in to their big-hitting opponents and came back with a 25-20 win.

Despite taking a 14-13 lead in the tiebreaker, the Indians lost service and the match 16-14.

Josh Evans wins, Lions 2nd at PV meet

BETTENDORF - Linn-Mar's Josh Evans was the winner and was one of three Lions to place in the top five Saturday at the Spartan Invitational boys cross country meet.

The Lions tied Pleasant Valley for the team title with 68 points, but was awarded second place by criteria.

Linn-Mar's Chase Grabau finished fourth, Daniel Murphy fifth, Keegan Cook 27th and Bryce Poellet 31st. No. 6 runner Tyler Chlystun, whose placing did not count in the team score, fin ished 48th.

Evans ran the course in 16 minutes, 2 seconds. He was 34 seconds ahead of second place finisher Matt Butler of Bettendorf.

Prairie's Jacob Aune finished eighth and led the Hawks to an eighth-place finish. Xavier was 11th and Jefferson 12th.

SPARTAN INVITATIONAL

Teams - 1. Pleasant Valley 68, 2. Linn-Mar 68, 3. Edina, Minn., 72, 4. Dubuque Senior 117, 5. Waukee 122, 6. Bettendorf 158, 7. Iowa City High 185, 8. CR Prairie 206, 9. Burlington 211, 10. Davenport Central 276, 11. CR Xavier 280, 12. CR Jefferson 311, 13. Davenport West 321, 14. North Scott 398, 15. Davenport North 419.

Newhouse 3rd, Lions 2nd at PV Invitational

BETTENDORF - Linn-Mar's Carolyn Newhouse finished third and two teammates placed in the top 10 Saturday at the Spartan Invitational girls cross country meet.

Linn-Mar finished in second place behind Naperville North of suburban Chicago. The Lions beat Iowa City High by one point.

Linn-Mar's Brooklyn Kascel was seventh and Morgan Uridil ninth. Rachel Perry finished 26th and Caitlin Novak 31st.

Bettendorf's Anna Peer won the race in 14 minutes, 45 seconds. Newhouse finished in 15:07, Kascel in 15:22 and Uridil in 15:25.

Prairie was eighth, Xavier ninth and Jefferson 12th.

SPARTAN INVITATIONAL

Teams - 1. Naperville North, Ill., 45, 2. Linn-Mar 76, 3. Iowa City High 77, 4. Pleasant Valley 105, 5. Edina, Minn., 132, 6. Bettendorf 144, 7. Dubuque Senior 167, 8. CR Prairie 209, 9. CR Xavier 260, 10. North Scott 286, 11. Davenport West 342, 12. CR Jefferson 377.

Many thanks to everyone who made this possible

This has been an unusual week for yours truly. Instead of interviewing sports personalities, for a short period of time I became one of them.

There are so many everlasting thank-yous to give, this space or any other could never provide enough space for my gratitutude to the athletes, coaches, administrators, parents, fans and everyone interested in the world of sports who have followed along with us through the years.

To them, I am eternally grateful. It's been a privilege to touch so many lives over a long period of time, and now it will be a great honor to have my name on the press box at Kingston Stadium and to enter the Kingston Hall of Fame.

With that said, I do get asked how I ever got started in this business. I'll start off by saying that my father and my uncle were in the ready-mix concrete and lumber business here in Cedar Rapids.

Nobody in our family had ever been in the radio sports business, but my father was on the baseball board of directors for the local pro team and was an avid sports fan. And I accompanied him to a lot of games at old Hill Park.