Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Wash boots Cougars in intense battle

The Washington and Kennedy boys soccer teams enjoy an intense rivalry that features coaches, players and fans at a feverish pitch.

This time, even one of the Washington ballboys got into the act and was ejected for firing two balls at a Kennedy player.

When the smoke cleared Saturday, the fifth-ranked Warriors claimed a 1-0 victory over the sixth-ranked Cougars at Kingston Stadium for a cherished spot in the Class 3A state tournament.

Washington (14-4) will face Sioux City West (18-1) in the quarterfinals of the state meet Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines.

The Warriors were clinging to a 1-0 lead in the second half when a Kennedy player, needing the ball for a throw-in, was startled when the Washington ballboy fired one at him from close range. The Cougar could not handle the hot toss, so the ballboy tried again with another fastball that also was too hot to handle.

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Anderson honored on All-Metro tennis

Linn-Mar senior Brady Anderson has been named the Player of the Year on the all-Metro boys tennis team for 2014.

Chris Wundram of Linn-Mar was named the Coach of the year.

Anderson won the Class 2A state title in singles last year and has reached the semifinals of the state doubles tournament this year with Trevor McCann.

Tim Paulson of Linn-Mar, Jackson Hoyt of Washington, Kyle D'mello of Xavier, Caleb Scott of Marion and Jacob Donald of Jefferson joined Anderson on the all-Metro first team.

SECOND TEAM

Quinn Jamrock (Kennedy), Aaron Smith (Marion), Trevor McCann (Linn-Mar), Ben Myers (Linn-Mar), Ian Schweiger (Washington), Parker Muller (Washington).

HONORABLE MENTION

Prairie: Connor Anthony, Blake Larsson

Jefferson: Alex Tvedte, Jason Chung

Linn-Mar: Kyle Brendes, Shane Skvor

Washington: Oliver Hammond, Dane Van Antwerp

Marion: Jeremy Ellerby, Seth Tuetken

Kennedy: Jimmy Cunningham, Kyle Butler

Xavier: Ben Curley, Chris Schirm

No. 6 Cougars earn date with Wash

Mark Schulz set the tone early for the Kennedy soccer team Thursday when he scored a goal in the opening 35 seconds of the match.

The sixth-ranked Cougars proceeded to dump Waterloo West, 7-0, in the Class 3A substate semifinals at Kingston Stadium.

Kennedy will face No.5 Washington in the substate finals Saturday at noon at Kingston, with the winner claiming a spot in the state tournament.

Ryan Walker scored twice in less than two minutes in the first half as the Cougars grabbed a 3-0 advantage. They led 4-0 at halftime on a goal by Tanner Stewart.

Sameeullah Jung, JJ Reinhart and Josh Warder tallied in the second half for Kennedy.

Killian Magee collected four assists and Andrew Sheeley had three. Reid Botkin, Schulz, Warder, Nikolas Newcamp, Mitch Bobbin, Stewart and Michael Leventhal also had assists.

Kennedy raised its record to 14-4.

Johnston, Waverly top boys soccer polls

Everybody will be chasing Johnston and Waverly-Shell Rock in the boys postseason soccer tournaments.

Johnston is the unanimous No. 1 pick in Class 3A and Waverly-Shell Rock was voted No. 1 in Class 2A in the final poll of the season by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association.

Five Metro teams are ranked again this week.

Linn-Mar is No. 4 in Class 3A, Washington No. 5 and Kennedy No. 6. Xavier is ranked No. 4 in Class 2A and Marion No. 14.

CLASS 3A

1. Johnston (17-0), 2. Iowa City High (13-2), 3. Iowa City West (16-1), 4. Linn-Mar (15-3), 5. Washington (12-4), 6. Kennedy (13-4), 7. Pleasant Valley (13-2), 8. Waukee (13-4), 9. Bettendorf (13-4), 10. West Des Moines Valley (16-4), 11. Ankeny Centennial (14-3), 12. Sioux City West (16-1), 13. Ames (11-4), 14. Southeast Polk (13-5-1), 15. Muscatine (12-5), 16. Dubuque Hempstead (10-5).

CLASS 2A

1. Waverly-Shell Rock (13-1), 2. Norwalk (10-6), 3. Spencer (17-1), 4. Xavier (7-9), 5. Glenwood (14-3), 6. Pella (13-5-1), 7. Perry (12-3), 8. Dallas Center-Grimes (9-5), 9. ADM (12-5-1), 10. DeWitt Central (12-3), 11. Clear Creek Amana (10-4-2), 12. Heelan (10-3), 13. Webster City (14-4), 14. Marion (10-3), 15. Creston (11-4), 16. Davenport Assumption (8-9).

Daniels tames Keller and Saints

The Major League scouts came to watch Mitch Keller Monday, but Zach Daniels stole the show.

Daniels tossed a superb one-hitter as Kennedy topped Keller and the Saints, 5-0, in the semifinals of the Metro Baseball Tournament at Ken Charipar Field.

Linn-Mar will face Jefferson in the other rain-delayed semifinal Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with Kennedy facing the winner at 7 p.m.

Keller has been assured by Major League teams he'll be selected in the early rounds of the draft June 5 and scouts flocked to Xavier High School for another look at his 95 mph fastball and sharp-breaking curve.

Keller did not disappoint, but the Cougars scored a run against him in the top of the sixth inning for a 1-0 lead and he moved to shortstop in the seventh inning after having thrown 101 pitches.

Kennedy scored four more runs in the top of the seventh to bust it open, and meanwhile Daniels was unhittable with a steady diet of fastballs and breaking balls at the knees.

Daniels carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh with a 5-0 lead. He struck out the first batter, but Matt Clarahan hit a high chopper that Kennedy shortstop Derek Jacobus charged and tried to field on a short hop on a do-or-die play.

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Metro Spotlight honors track athletes

Athletes from the Metro area enjoyed a fabulous weekend at the state track meets in Des Moines with 10 gold medals, 11 silver medals, seven bronze medals and two handsome trophies.

As a result, the Metro Sports Report is honoring all of these track stars as the Metro Spotlight Athletes of the Week.

Josh Evans of Linn-Mar collected four gold medals in the 800, 1600, 3200 and distance medley with Austin Fielder, Tim Wolfe and Duggan Trenary.

Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar claimed two gold medals in the 1500 and 3000. Curtis McCrary of Linn-Mar won the long jump, giving the Lions seven titles overall.

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson girls captured the 4x200 relay and sprint medley relay. And the Cedar Rapids Prairie boys won the 4x800 relay as part of the Metro's golden haul.

In addition to all that gold, Evans ran the fastest 1600 in state history (4:06.32) and set a Class 4A state meet record in the 3200 (9:00.97). The Lions also set a 4A state meet record in the distance medley in 3:24.39 with Evans on the anchor.

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Wash girls win regional tennis title

The Cedar Rapids Washington girls tennis team won the Class 2A regional title Saturday with a 5-0 conquest of Iowa City West at the Kennedy courts.

The Warriors reached the finals by blanking Kennedy in the semifinals, 5-0.

Washington did not lose a set the entire day.

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Evans called 'The Greatest' with 4 golds

DES MOINES - Josh Evans sat in the stands at the state track meet as a scrawny freshman in 2011 and loved seeing the crowd rise to its feet as Shelby Houlihan of Sioux City East set a batch of records in the girls distance races.

He remembers the Public Address announcer kept everyone informed that day as one record after another fell by the wayside.

"I remember thinking, that would be so cool if I could get that some day," Evans said Saturday afternoon. "It's really a dream come true that this happened."

Evans got his share of standing ovations Saturday as he completed one of the most remarkable performances in state meet history with four gold medals, three meet records and an all-time Iowa best in the 1600.

Mike Jay, the Public Address announcer, told the sun-splashed crowd of 8,744 that it was "The best distance performance in Iowa state meet history."

Evans wasn't sure about that, praising some of the other record-setting performances at this year's state meet, but he was the Star of Stars in the distance races with four golds.

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J-Hawks, Jenks win more gold medals

DES MOINES - Jasmine Blue runs fast for a reason.

"I hate getting second," she said with a sweet, determined smile. "I love first."

Blue had that loving feeling Saturday afternoon with a gutsy anchor to help Jefferson win the sprint medley at the Class 4A state track meet in Des Moines.

Ashley Norem of Urbandale made a spirited bid to pull ahead of Blue on the 400 leg of the medley, but Blue refused to concede.

"I felt her the whole time, but I knew I had to do it," said Blue. "I already knew how it was going to feel if I was going to get second."

And as she said before, "I hate second."

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