Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cougars take 4th at state golf

POLK CITY - The Kennedy Cougars climbed one spot on the final day of the Class 4A state golf tournament Saturday and finished in fourth place at the Tournament Club of Iowa in Polk City.

Waukee won the championship with a 36-hole score of 600. Des Moines Roosevelt placed second at 608, followed by Ottumwa (610), Kennedy (621) and West Des Moines Valley (622) in the top five.

The Linn-Mar Lions finished ninth out of 12 teams.

Conner Koberg of Kennedy tied for fifth in the individual standings at 6-over-par 148 with rounds of 76 and 72. Matthew Walker of Ottumwa won his second title in three years at 1-under 141.

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Dralle helps Cougars get 1st win

WATERLOO - Tyler Dralle rushed for 115 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns as Kennedy got its first win of the season Friday night, downing Waterloo East, 46-9.

Dralle scored on a 61-yard pass from Sammy Lizarraga and a 4-yard run. Jay Blank also scored on a pair of short runs for the Cougars, 1-6 overall, 1-2 in District 5 play. East falls to 0-7, 0-3.

Kennedy rushed for 267 yards and passed for 123 more. The Cougar defense limited East to 111 total yards.

Lizarraga had a pair of touchdown passes for Kennedy.

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Cougars 5th, Lions 7th at state golf

POLK CITY - The Kennedy Cougars may have shot themselves out of contention Friday in the opening round of the Class 4A state golf tournament at The Tournament Club of Iowa in Polk City.

The Cougars finished with a four-man score of 313, one of their worst rounds of the year, and trail Waukee by 13 shots heading into the final round Saturday.

Kennedy stands in fifth place in the standings and the Linn-Mar Lions are tied for seventh at 321.

Kennedy placed second at the 2012 and 2013 state meets and was hoping to contend for top honors with a senior-laden club, but only two Cougars broke 80 Friday on the par-71 course.

Conner Koberg and Ross Grekhoff led Kennedy with a 5-over 76's and are tied for 13th in the individual standings. Davis Sutton shot an 80, Cole Murdock 81, Jordan Weiss 82 and Tanner Stewart 87.

Jake Sevcik of Linn-Mar fired a 2-over 73 and is tied for fifth. Trevor McCann shot an 82 for the Lions. Ben Greif, Brent Larson and Max Thrune all had 83's. Jordan Bohannon shot a 93.

Hank Weresh of Dowling took the first-day lead with a 2-under 69.

Team Standings

1. Waukee 300, 2. Ottumwa 303, 3. Des Moines Roosevelt 305, 4. Dowling 310, 5. Kennedy 313, 6. West Des Moines Valley 316, 7. (tie) Linn-Mar 321, Ankeny Centennial 321, 9. Bettendorf 327, 10. (tie) Dubuque Senior 329, Sergeant-Bluff Luton 329, Dubuque Wahlert 329.

VanDraska leads Prairie to MVC crown

Cedar Rapids Prairie junior Tysen VanDraska is built to run.

A compact 5-foot-6 and 125 pounds, he has the endurance to run long distances at a fast clip and the speed to finish a 5-kilometer race with a punishing kick that leaves others behind.

VanDraska put his talents to good use Thursday and captured the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet on his home course at Prairie in 15 minutes, 59 seconds for a seven-second victory.

The Prairie Hawks edged Linn-Mar and Cedar Falls for the team championship in a tight three-school battle with VanDraska in first place, Matt Lorenz in fifth place and Jake Moore seventh for Prairie.

VanDraska and Linn-Mar senior Daniel Murphy ran stride-for-stride for much of the race and Murphy nudged in front at the 10-minute mark, but VanDraska was too fast for everyone else when they finished on the Prairie track.

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Decker races to MVC title

Linn-Mar junior Amber Decker established herself as one of the top distance runners in Iowa a long time ago, but she stands only 19th in the current state cross country rankings and had not done anything truly special this season.

That changed Thursday.

Decker raced to the front of the pack and posted an impressive wire-to-wire victory at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet in 14 minutes, 32 seconds for the 4K course at Prairie.

Decker thinks she may have been sub-consciously waiting for the bigger races to come around - like the MVC Super Meet and the postseason meets that are on the horizon.

"My parents described it a little bit as teen-age procrastination. I don't know," she said, smiling. "It's been kind of a struggle this year, but I'm glad that I pushed through.

"It was a good race. It was a good time to finally push through and do what I needed to do."

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