Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Brian White named Kennedy boys track coach

Some of the top male athletes at Cedar Rapids Kennedy are going to get a tap on the shoulder from Brian White this year while they're walking the hallways at school.

Then they might get tapped again, because White will be trying his best to convince all the top athletes at Kennedy to join the boys track and field team.

White, 40, was named the new track coach at Kennedy on Thursday, succeeding Dennis Roloff.

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Christensen is Iowa Gatorade Player of Year

Kennedy's power-hitting southpaw pitcher Austin Christensen has been named the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball.

Christensen is batting .684 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs through 13 games. He also  is 3-0 on the mound.

Christensen is Kennedy's career home run leader with 33. His 24 wins as a pitcher are two shy of the Kennedy career record held by Danny Bales.

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Christensen's 2 homers set Kennedy mark

MARSHALLTOWN - It's too soon to anoint Austin Christensen as the greatest all-around player in the history of Kennedy baseball, but he's certainly the most prolific power hitter of all time.

Christensen blasted two more home runs Monday to break the school record as the top-ranked Cougars bounced Marshalltown, 6-1, in a Memorial Day game at Marshalltown.

Christensen tied Tony Booth (1987-90) for the Kennedy record for career homers when he hit his 25th roundtripper Saturday against Burlington, but now he has the all-time mark with 27.

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Roloff retiring as Kennedy boys track coach

Dennis Roloff has decided to retire as the Cedar Rapids Kennedy boys track coach after this season. He'll finish his 15th and final year as Kennedy's head coach at the state meet in Des Moines this week.

Roloff planned to make the announcement at the team's annual banquet Tuesday night.

Roloff, 57, decided in January to take early retirement as a teacher from Cedar Rapids Community Schools. He will continue as Kennedy's girls basketball coach next season, but will step down as boys track coach following the state meet.

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Christianson Iowa Gatorade Player of Year

CHICAGO -- Kennedy junior Gabe Christianson has been chosen the 2011 Gatorade Iowa Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

Christianson is the third Metro prep to earn a Gatorade award this school year. Linn-Mar's Kiah Stokes was the girls basketball player of the year and Jefferson's Jarrod Uthoff the boys basketball player of the year.

Christianson also is the second straight Kennedy athlete to win the award. Erik Boyer won it last year. He is the fourth Cougar to win the award. Adam Zenor won in 2001 and Jake Settle in 2003.

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Cougars mats club cashing in at NAIA tourney

The arrival of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics  wrestling tournament in Cedar Rapids later this week means some extra  work for members of the Kennedy High School Parent Wrestling Support Club,  as well as extra money for the club treasury.

“We’ll have 35 to 40 volunteers per session,“  said club president Mike Sheldon. The workers will be responsible for keeping track of the written scorebook, the score clock and riding time. They also will serve as floor managers and assist as necessary with computer equipment. The tasks are similar to those the club handled for AAU youth tournaments for several years. Those tournaments have since moved to Des Moines.

The NAIA tournament has five sessions spread over Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s the first time the  tournament will be held in Cedar Rapids, but not the first visit to Iowa. It was held in Sioux City from 2005-2008.  The organization expects 5,000 to 8,000 spectators will attend. The tournament’s official host  is Mount Mercy University, but the Kennedy boosters will be working for the event facility.

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Hempstead stuns Cougars boys in tourney

The Dubuque Hempstead boys had Kennedy right where they wanted them for Friday night’s Class 4A substate semifinal in the Kennedy gym.

The underachieving Mustangs (11-12) had lost to the fifth-ranked Cougars (17-5) just last week by a 77-60 margin that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

Kennedy, meanwhile, was coming off of an emotional 63-57 overtime win at Cedar Falls a week ago and was favored to advance to next Tuesday’s substate final.

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Cougar girls bowlers headed to state

MARSHALLTOWN -- Kennedy shake and Bakered its way to the state tournament Saturday.

Down by 32 pins to host Marshalltown after the first round, the Cougars shot a 975 Baker round for a 108-pin victory at the girls Class 2A regional tournament at Totem Bowl.  Kennedy qualified for the state tournament Feb. 25 at Des Moines.

Kennedy tallied a 2640 to win. Marshalltown was second with 2532, Cedar Rapids Washington was third with 2499 and Prairie was fourth with 2394.

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Kennedy girls fall to City High

IOWA CITY –The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball team’s season ended Saturday as the Cougars fell to Iowa City High, 72-47, in the state Class 4A regional semifinals.

Kennedy was led by senior guard Olivia Meier, who had 16 points in the loss. Junior guard Courtney Straight added 14.

The Little Hawks were led by senior forward Virginia Johnson and sophomore guard Mickey Hansche, who had 24 and 19 points, respectively.

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