Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Murdock's ace sparks Cougars to district title

The free drinks are on Cole Murdock.

Murdock fired a hole-in-one and claimed medalist honors Tuesday at Hunters Ridge as the Kennedy Cougars won their eighth straight district golf title.

Kennedy will compete for the state title this Friday and Saturday at the Tournament Club of Iowa in Polk City.

Murdock aced the 16th hole at Hunters Ridge with a pitching wedge. The ball hit the bottom of the flag and dropped into the cup.

Murdock knew he hit a good shot, but did not realize the ball was in the hole.

"I've never had a hole-in-one, so I guess I've never really seen what it looks like going in from the distance," he said. "When I heard it hit the flag I was kind of looking around to see where it went."

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Daniels will play ball at Iowa

Cedar Rapids Kennedy senior Zach Daniels has been a big fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes all his life. Now he'll be a Hawkeye himself and he couldn't be happier.

Daniels has accepted an offer to play baseball for UI Coach Rick Heller after he finishes his career with the Cougars next season.

Daniels made the Elite All-State team this past season with a remarkable year as a pitcher, hitter and second baseman for the Cougars.

Now he'll be taking his talents to Iowa.

"Some of my family have gone there and I grew up being a Hawkeye, so it just felt like the right fit," he said Monday night. "I just really liked the coaching staff at Iowa and their facilities and the resources they have. I just really liked what they have to offer.

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Winless Cougars can still make playoffs

The Kennedy Cougars have stumbled to an 0-6 record this season with a couple of near-misses and blown leads along the way, but all is not lost in Cougar Town.

Kennedy actually has a decent shot at making the Class 4A playoffs with victories over the Waterloo schools this month. You can thank - or blame - the Iowa High School Athletic Association and district football for that.

Four of the six teams in Kennedy's district will make the playoffs. Cedar Falls and Linn-Mar, which meet in a showdown Friday night, are in good shape with 2-0 district records. Jefferson looks like a good bet at 1-1, which leaves one more playoff berth up for grabs.

Kennedy could grab that spot by beating Waterloo East in Waterloo this Friday night and topping Waterloo West in the last game of the regular season Oct. 24 at Kingston. Under that scenario, the Cougars can lose at Cedar Falls Oct. 17.

Yes, that's right. Kennedy can make the playoffs this year with a 2-7 overall record.

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Cougars take 3rd at CF swim meet

CEDAR FALLS - The Kennedy Cougars gave Cedar Falls and Waukesha South a good battle at the Marcussen Invitational swimming meet in Cedar Falls Saturday before settling for third place in the 11-team tournament.

Cedar Falls won the title with 458 points, following closely by Waukesha South (446) and Kennedy (444.5).

Washington finished in ninth place and Jefferson was 11th.

Kennedy piled up points in the diving competition with Courtney Fisher winning the event, Jayden Lovell placing second and Carolyn Simon taking fourth.

Kirsten Siebenga placed second in the 50 free and Sam Jacobsen took second in the 100 backstroke for Kennedy. The Cougars placed third in the 400 freestyle relay with Jacobsen, Maddie Bagby, Darby Manternach and Lydia Yang.

Washington and Jefferson did not have anyone finish in the top-six in any event.

Team Standings

1. Cedar Falls 458, 2. Waukesha South 446, 3. Kennedy 444.5, 4. Decorah 187, 5. Dubuque Senior 162, 6. Lewis central 157, 7. Mason City 138.5, 8. Wahlert 120, 9. Washington 98, 10. Waterloo West 74.5, 11. Jefferson 18.5.

Lions overcome slow start to top Kennedy

Linn-Mar had to fight two tough opponents Thursday night at Kingston Stadium.

The first foe was no surprise. Despite coming in winless, Kennedy came out strong, grabbing a 14-0 second quarter lead.

Not only did the Lions have to overcome the Cougars, they had to overcome themselves. Linn-Mar was called for six penalties in the first quarter alone.

"The penalties killed us early," admitted Linn-Mar senior Trevor Noble. "Our defense was playing great, but once we got that turnover just before halftime, we knew we had to score."

Kennedy fumbled in the final 40 seconds of the half and Noble caught a 23-yard scoring strike from Ryan Schmidt, getting the Lions on the board. The second half was all Linn-Mar as the defense forced a pair of turnovers and the offense came alive. The No. 10 Lions ended up scoring 29 unanswered points en route to a 29-14 victory.

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Kennedy tops Jeff in volleyball

The Kennedy Cougars defeated the Jefferson J-Hawks, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 25-16, in a Mississippi Valley Conference volleyball match at Jefferson Tuesday night.

Amanda Ollinger led Jefferson with 18 kills, 15 digs and five blocks. Makenzie Tomkins had 12 kills and three blocks for the J-Hawks. Avery Guy finished with 20 assists and 10 digs.

VanDraska sparks Prairie to title

IOWA CITY - Tysen VanDraska of Prairie sped to victory in 15 minutes, 54.97 seconds Tuesday as the Hawks captured top honors at the Iowa City West Invitational at the University of Iowa cross country course.

Jake Moore placed third for Prairie and Matt Lorenz finished sixth as the Hawks won the title with 57 points. Iowa City West was second at 75.

Finbar Berry of Washington finished seventh in the race. Colton Forster of Marion was eighth.

IOWA CITY WEST INVITATIONAL

UI Course

BOYS 5K RESULTS

Team Standings

1. Prairie 57, 2. Iowa City West 75, 3. Mount Vernon 83, 4. Washington 113, 5. Bettendorf 132, 6. Muscatine 148, 7. Marion 150, 8. Ankeny Centennial 207, 9. Kennedy 219, 10. Pekin 252, 11. Xavier 280, 12. Marshalltown 319, 13. Iowa City Regina 327.

Top 5 Individuals

1. Tysen VanDraska, Prairie    15:54.97

2. Akash Borde, IC West        16:02.77

3. Jake Moore, Prairie         16:09.12

4. Brandon Cooley, Bettendorf  16:10.09

5. Nick Feeley, IC West        16:14.07

Prairie - 1. Tysen VanDraska 15:54.97, 3. Jake Moore 16:09.12, 6. Matt Lorenz 16:19.49, 13. Chris Oehlert 16:34.98, 34. Robert Laue 17:04.18.

Washington - 7. Finbar Berry 16:20.00, 15. Sam Eck 16:38.55, 25. Sam Werner 16:52.52, 28. Wyatt Forster 16:57.04, 38. Ryan Miller 17:19.00.

Marion - 8. Colton Forster 16:22.24, 23. Jeremy Fopma 16:48.46, 30. Myles Bach 16:58.77, 36. Jacob Manderscheid 17:14.79, 53. Hunter Reifschneider 17:45.03.

Kennedy - 24. Addison Furry 16:51.82, 29. Andrew Solsrud 16:57.56, 46. Derek Girling 17:34.42, 59. Tim Zange 17:58.92, 61. Reece Linder 18:02.11.

Xavier - 19. Steven Culpepper 16:42.69, 60. Evan Gradoville 17:59.78, 63. Jonathan Francois 18:05.07, 67. Nick Koechner 18:11.68, 71. Nolan Pithan 18:19.00.

GIRLS 4K RESULTS

Team Standings

1. Johnston 44, 2. Iowa City West 87, 3. Muscatine 114, 4. Bettendorf 116, 5. Ankeny Centennial 130, 6. Southeast Polk 175, 7. Davenport Assumption 197, 8. Pekin 234, 9. Iowa City Regina 235, 10. Kennedy 268, 11. Mount Vernon/Lisbon 269, 12. Xavier 340, 13. Washington 340, 14. Marion 343.

Kennedy - 25. Hannah Fusselman 15:06.93, 49. Lauren Meyer 15;50.98, 55. Laura Feld 16:02.56, 61. Kate Nus 16:15.85, 78. Peyton Borgeois 16:48.37.

Xavier - 29. Jenny Dickes 15:13.58, 59. Emiko Coffey 16:13.16, 77. Kiana Stanek 16:47.06, 87. Sydney Oakley 17:17.43, 88. Lydia Brown 17:22.15.

Washington - 21. Sarah Altemeier 15:03.09, 70. Serena Eck 16:33.85, 74. Joi Johnson 16:37.72, 85. Sierra Sheets 17:02.36, 90. Anne Visser 17:33.71.

Marion - 22. Madison Bach 15:04.48, 76. Skylar Dede 16:41.57, 79. Sam Livingston 16:50.91, 80. Sydney Brase 16:51.47, 86. Ellie Conzett 17:03.80.

Top 5 Individuals

1. Jordyn Kleve, Johnston      13:46.94

2. Brina Kraft, Muscatine      14:08.51

3. Emmie Skopec, IC West       14:13.09

4. Jessica McKee, Johnston     14:16.61

5. Gwynne Wright, Pekin        14:23.50.

Kennedy swimmers sweep Williamsburg

The Kennedy girls swim team won all 12 events Tuesday night and dunked Williamsburg, 149-31, at the Kennedy pool.

Brooke Harris and Maddie Bagby were triple-winners for the Cougars. Harris captured the 50 freestyle and swam on two relay teams. Bagby took the 100 fly and 100 back and swam on the 200 freestyle relay.

Brooke Timmerman claimed the 200 free and 500 free. Taylor Golden won the 200 IM and 100 breastroke.

KENNEDY 149, WILLIAMSBURG 31

200 medley relay - Kennedy (Jessica Williams, Raquel Green, Kelsey Lempka, Brooke Harris) 2:02.58

200 free - Brooke Timmerman, Kennedy, 2:08.52

200 IM - Taylor Golden, Kennedy, 2:26.82

50 free - Brooke Harris, Kennedy, 26.81

Diving - Carolyn Simon, Kennedy, 218.60

100 fly - Maddie Bagby, Kennedy, 1:07.38

100 free - Sam Jacobsen, Kennedy, 58.69

500 free - Brooke Timmerman, Kennedy, 5:41.59

200 free relay - Kennedy (Darby Manternach, Maddie Bagby, Raquel Green, MacKinzee Macho) 1:46.15

100 back - Maddie Bagby, Kennedy, 1:08.01

100 breast - Taylor Golden, Kennedy, 1:16.38

400 free relay - Kennedy (Lydia Yang, Brooke Harris, Sam Jacobsen, Alicia Miltner) 3:57.21

Cougars eye state title in final shot

The old gang of Kennedy golfers are all seniors now, heading down their final fairway together as high school athletes.

There are six of them - Davis Sutton, Conner Koberg, Cole Murdock, Tanner Stewart, Ross Grekoff and Seth Nutt - and they've accomplished some impressive things during their prep careers with major championships, conference titles and a pair of second-place showings at the state tournament the last two years.

The Cougars added another Mississippi Valley Conference title to their resume Monday, winning the Valley Division crown by a whopping 52 shots in the final round of the 54-hole event at Ellis Golf Course.

Sutton won the overall Valley championship with a 54-hole score of 217 with rounds of 65, 77 and 75 on three different courses. Koberg took medalist honors Monday with an even-par 72 and placed second overall at 225. Murdock placed third at 227, giving Kennedy a 1-2-3 sweep of the top honors.

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