Metro Sports Report

Prairie's Stocker 2nd in 800 at Wartburg

WAVERLY -- Prairie's Kyle Stocker was second in the 800 meters and Jefferson's Timauntay Jones was fourth at Tuesday's Wartburg Invitational indoor high school track meet.

Prairie and Jefferson were the only Metro teams competing on the boys side of the co-ed meet. Jefferson's girls also competed. There were no team scores kept.

Stocker, a key part of Prairie's state champion cross country team last fall, ran the 800 in 2:02.66. He was .4 seconds behind winner Conner Smock of Lisbon.  Jones ran a 2:05.45.

Prairie's Jordan Burns, another cross country runner, was fifth in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:04.06.  Prairie's 1,600 sprint medley of Austin Dellamuth, Josh Rundall, Robbie Kohl and Justin Burns finished sixth in 3:52.19.

The Jefferson girls had several top five finishes. J-Hawk soph Taylor Jacobson ran the second fastest time in qualifying for the 55-meter hurdles, but slipped to fifth in the finals, just behind teammate Summer Carber. 

Jacobson, Carber, Rachel Sedlacek and Ashley Madsen ran on the J-Hawks' fifth-place 4x400 relay. Emma Edelen was fourth in the shot put.

Wartburg Invitational

(Winners and Top 10 Metro finishers)

Girls

55 meters -- 1. Cassie Crotty (Cedar Falls), 7.49; 8. Madison Ranschau (CR Jeff), 7.96; 200 -- 1. Marisa Evers (Hudson), 26.88; 7. Summer Carber (CR Jeff), 28.33; 400 -- Hillary Garvey (Hudson), 1:02.46; 800 -- Brianna King (Cedar Falls), 2:22.40; 1,500 -- 1. Karissa Schweizer (WDM Dowling), 4:56.89; 3,000 -- 1. Bailey Eppard (Johnston), 11:09.07; 55 hurdles -- 1. Kaitlyn Gillett (Cedar Falls), 9.26; 4. Carber (CR Jeff), 9.47; 5. Taylor Jacobson (CR Jeff), 9.58; 4x200 relay -- 1. Hudson, 1:49.31; 9. CR Jefferson (Lauren Hovey, Jamie Robertson, Courtney Cahalan, Ranschau), 2:02.12; 4x400 relay -- 1. Cedar Falls, 4:14.02; 5. CR Jefferson (Jacobson, Ashley Madsen, Rachel Sedlacek, Carber), 4:27.59; 4x800 relay -- 1. Cedar Falls, 10:10.79; 10. CR Jefferson (Sedlacek, Kylie Steimer, Molly Miller, Anna Bruns), 11:08.23; Sprint medley relay -- 1. Cedar Falls, 4:26.08; High jump -- 1. Alex Hawks (Johnston), 5-2; Long jump -- 1. Erika Massner (Wapello), 16-2.25; Shot put -- 1. Jadyn Spencer (Waterloo West), 40-8; 4. Emma Edelen (CR Jeff), 33-2.25.

Indians brace for No. 1 Waverly-SR

Marion thought it would have a good basketball team this season with Kasey Semler and Dusty Albaugh, but the Indians finished January with a wobbly 9-7 record and their hopes appeared to fade.

They haven't lost since.

The Indians (17-7) will be riding an eight-game winning streak when they face No.1 Waverly-Shell Rock (24-0) in the first round of the Class 3A state tournament Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Marion posted a 4-5 record in January, hardly the mark of champions, but Coach Mike Manderscheid told his guys to wipe January from their minds and get ready for February.

"It was a new month," he said. "We knew going into the season, when you play seven of nine games on the road in January, it's tough. Even if you're in the Wamac (Conference), it's still tough to go in there and beat teams on the road.

"We got out of January and we said, 'Hey, it's a new month, a new beginning, let's just start over and work hard and see what we can do and make a little bit of a run here.' "

Waverly-Shell Rock began its "run" in November and never stopped. Waverly-Shell Rock has won 24 straight games by an average margin of 23.6 points, and the Class 3A club has pocketed wins over such Class 4A teams as Cedar Falls, Waterloo West, Waterloo East and Xavier along the way.

Marion is seeded No.8 for the eight-team tournament and Waverly-Shell Rock is seeded No.1. The Indians know they are big underdogs, but that hasn't dimmed their enthusiasm for making their second trip to the state tournament in three years.

Coaches pick Stokes, Dawson 1st team all state

Kiah Stokes from Linn-Mar and Tia Dawson from Washington have been named to the Class 4A first team all-state girls basketball team announced Monday by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA).

Stokes and Dawson led their respective teams to the state tournament. Stokes' team lost in the semifinals, Dawson's in the first round.

Stokes led the state in scoring with a 25.0 average, and was second in rebounding (14.9) and blocked shots (141). She set the career state record for blocked shots with 515. Stokes is a top candidate for the Miss Basketball Award that will be announced Tuesday.  She also has signed to play college basketball at two-time defending NCAA champion Connecticut.

Dawson saved her best game for last. She scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Warriors' 67-58 first round tournament loss to Iowa City West. She averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and blocked 91 shots. Dawson is bound for Dartmouth.

State champion Des Moines East had two members of the first team -- Markisha Wright and Shronda Butts.  Virginia Johnson of Iowa City High and Ally Disterhoft of Iowa City West, Sioux City North's Brittni Donaldson and Southeast Polk's Caitlin Ingle also were named to the first team.

Des Moines East's Sam Powell was named coach of the Year. The Scarlets finished 26-0.

Iowa prep baseball needs changes

The signs are there. A brilliant Sunday of sunshine. The first sighting of robins chirping in the trees. Snow evaporating. One week remaining in the “winter’’ high school sports season.

As the calendar flips to March each year, the anticipation of spring and summer begins. Certain events bring the favored seasons closer – Daylight Savings Time, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and so on. Weather in the next couple months can be unpredictable but is largely tolerable. Knowing what’s around the corner this time of year is a good thing.

Soon after the boys state basketball tournament concludes this week, the focus of Metro area athletes will turn in earnest to the spring sports seasons of track and field, soccer, tennis and golf. Athletes are finally back outside ... running, throwing, and competing.

For all that is good about that, the step-child of Iowa high school sports still is two months away from surfacing. Iowa high school baseball doesn’t begin competition until late May and is gone seemingly before it gets rolling. Iowa is unique in that regard, which isn’t a good thing in my mind.

Whereas football and basketball have continued to be strong in involvement and fan participation over the years, baseball in many places has taken a back seat. Most of the baseball season takes place when school is not in session, which lessens student body support. Many baseball players also find themselves torn between being on the diamond or training for another sport or finding a job.

I would like to see a couple changes in Iowa high school baseball, but I’m not about to hold my breath waiting for them to happen.