Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Diggins stars as Cougars top Saints

Derrick Diggins was invited to practice with the Kennedy varsity basketball team last year as a freshman during the holiday break to give the Cougars an extra body for their workouts and drills.

He seized the opportunity, stayed with the varsity the rest of the season and has returned this year as a budding superstar.

Diggins poured in 25 points Friday night with 3-pointers and dazzling drives to the basket as Kennedy topped Xavier, 62-46, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Xavier.

Diggins, 15, averaged 5.8 points last season as a ninth grader and he's already averaging a robust 18.7 points this year after three games.

"He had a specatular performance," Xavier coach Ryan Luehrsmann said. "We didn't have an answer for him. We couldn't defend him man-to-man.

"He's got a bright future," Luehrsmann said. "If he keeps working on things, he's going to have a great high school career and he'll be somebody who can play at the next level."

Read more...

No. 8 Cougars pin Xavier Saints

The eighth-ranked Kennedy Cougars collected seven pins Thursday night and topped Xavier, 48-30, in a Mississippi Valley Conference dual wrestling meet at Kennedy.

Eli Benion (106), Austin McLeod (126), Nolan Hromidko (132), Logen Rodriguez (152), Ben Sarasin (160), Garrett Kubovec (182) and Sam Pape (195) had pins for the Cougars. McLeod, Hromidko, Rodriguez, Sarasin and Kubovec got their pins in less than 60 seconds.

Clint Lembeck (138), Josh Gerke (145) and Alex Francois (220) had pins for Xavier. Lembeck, who is ranked No. 1 at 138, posted his pin in 33 seconds.

Read more...

Sellers, Hayden spark No. 12 Cougars

WATERLOO – The 12th-ranked Kennedy girls basketball team crushed Waterloo East, 77-40, Tuesday in Waterloo.

Lela Sellers scored 20 points for the Cougars, Sydney Hayden had 18 points on six 3-point goals, and Hailey Dolphin and Linden Runels each added 12 points.

Kerris Roberts had 18 points for the Trojans (1-4).

Kennedy improved to 4-1.

KENNEDY (77): Choate 0 0-0 0, Langhurst 0 2-2 2, Hamilton 3 1-2 8, Hayden 6 0-0 18, Sellers 7 6-8 20, Steele 0 0-0 0, Timmerman 0 0-0 0, Vaske 2 1-3 5, Hellweg 0 0-0 0, Dolphin 4 2-2 12, Runels 6 0-0 12, Meier 0 0-0 0, Gallagher 0 0-0 0 Totals 28 12-17 77.

WATERLOO EAST (40): Sisk 2 2-2 6, Clark 4 0-0 9, Roberts 6 4-7 18, Love 2 0-0 6, Sims 0 0-0 0, Campbell 0 0-0 0, Dickens 0 1-2 1, Shannon 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 7-11 40.

Halftime – Kennedy 51, Waterloo East 22. 3-point goals – Kennedy 9 (Hayden 6, Dolphin 2, Hamilton), Waterloo East 5 (Roberts 2, Love 2, Clark).

Schoenauer shines for Kennedy swimmers

CEDAR FALLS - Cade Schoenauer won two individual events and swam on two triumphant relays Tuesday night for the Kennedy Cougars in a double-dual meet in Cedar Falls.

Kennedy topped Decorah, 111-59, and lost to Cedar Falls, 93-77.

Schoenauer captured the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly. He also helped Kennedy take the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

Brady Gibson won the 50 free and swam on the victorious 200 medley relay.

Read more...

Jambois rolls 415 series for Kennedy

DUBUQUE – The Kennedy boys bowling team couldn’t catch Dubuque Hempstead and lost 3,277 pins to 2,908 Tuesday at Cherry Lanes.

James Jambois rolled a 236 game and a 415 series for the Cougars.

Justin Lanser had a 504 series for Dubuque Hempstead.

DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD: Justin Lanser 225-279=504, Cody Scheffert 229-249=478, Kyl Wersinger 257-165=422, Chance Brimeyer 190-211=401, Noah Cheever 181-214=395, Jacob Coohey 187-162=349.

KENNEDY: James Jambois 179-236=415, Nick Green 168-232=400, Bert Goodwin 169-202=371, Dakota Dippel 181-173=354, Max Hiatt 185-167=352, Nathan Lindo 147-148=295.

Dubuque Hempstead: 2,200+1,077=3,277.

Kennedy: 1,892+1,016=2,908.

Milota, Wiedemeyer lead Kennedy girls

DUBUQUE – The Kennedy girls bowling team tumbled to Dubuque Hempstead 2,614 pins to 2,252 Tuesday at Cherry Lanes.

Jamie Milota had a 193 game and Alyssa Wiedemeyer had a 334 series to lead the Cougars.

DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD: Kassidy Gerken 184-192=376, Elisa Schmidt 175-179=354, Natalie Leach 178-154=332, Katlin Weber 155-164=319, Sierra Thurston 168-148=316, Liz Jahn 166-147=313.

KENNEDY: Alyssa Wiedemeier 186-148=334, Jamie Milota 136-193=329, Sydney Helms 143-137=280, Abbie Haller 143-137=280, Sam Eltze 131-134=265, Cate Oliphant 123-118=241.

Dubuque Hempstead: 1,697+917=2,614

Kennedy 1,488+764=2,252.

5 Seasons Duals set for Saturday

The 2015 Five Seasons Dual Team Wrestling Tournament will be held at Kennedy High School this Saturday with a new format.

The tournament has been condensed to 10 teams and all of the matches will be held at Kennedy. Washington High School previously served as co-host, but the Warriors have withdrawn from the event.

Kennedy, Prairie, Linn-Mar, Alburnett, Bettendorf, Iowa City West, Iowa City High, Pleasant Valley, Urbandale and West Delaware are competing this year. The teams have been divided into two pools and each team will have four pool matches.

Bettendorf, Prairie, Iowa City West, Kennedy and Urbandale are in one pool. Pleasant Valley, Alburnett, Linn-Mar, West Delaware and Iowa City High have been assigned to the other pool.

The tournament is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the championship round set for approximately 5 p.m. The two pool champions will meet for the title and there also will be matches for 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th place.

Sellers wins Metro Spotlight Award

Lela Sellers of Cedar Rapids Kennedy is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school girls this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Sellers, a 5-foot-11 senior, is one of the top basketball players in the state and has committed to play college ball at Liberty University, which is an NCAA Division I school.

Sellers had a big weekend for the Cougars in two victories over ranked teams. It began Friday night when she poured in 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 65-61 victory at fifth-ranked Iowa City High.

Read more...

No.12 Kennedy girls trim No.11 PV

The Kennedy girls basketball team used its "A" game to knock off fifth-ranked Iowa City High Friday night, but its "B" game was good enough to handle 11th-ranked Pleasant Valley on Saturday.

The 12th-ranked Cougars struggled for 16 minutes Saturday before finding their legs and overtaking Pleasant Valley, 52-46, in a non-conference game at the Kennedy gym.

That makes two victories over ranked teams in two days, one a masterpiece and the other a paint-by-numbers, but they both went into the victory column for the Cougars.

"It's hard when you go and play the No. 5 team on their floor and you get an emotional win, and you have to turn around and play another really good team the next day," said Kennedy Coach Tony Vis. "We kind of anticipated a little bit of a struggle, but at the same time, I told them the sign of a good team is winning when you don't have your 'A' game.

Read more...