Prairie High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

No. 8 Prairie nipped by No. 4 Hempstead

DUBUQUE – The eighth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie wrestling team was trimmed by No. 4 Dubuque Hempstead, 34-33, Thursday night in a premier Mississippi Valley Conference meet that was decided by a criteria point.

Prairie and Hempstead split their 14 matches and the team score was tied 33-33 at that point, but Hempstead was awarded an extra point for having more pins than the Hawks.

Prairie rolled by Waterloo East, 62-18, in its other meet in the double-dual.

Chase St. John (138), Morgan Hood (160) and Taylor Mehmen (195) won both of their matches on the mat for Prairie. St. John and Mehmen both had a pin and technical fall. Hood had a major decision and regular decision.

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Sellers shines like an All-American

Lela Sellers remembers as a little girl her mom saying that someday she might be on the McDonald’s All-American high school basketball team.

“I thought then, ‘Oh, that’s only for really good players,’” she said Tuesday night after it was announced to Kennedy fans that she has indeed been nominated for the prestigious national honor.

The smooth and unselfish 6-foot senior turned in an All-American performance on her home court with 30 seemingly effortless points to lead the Class 5A second-ranked Cougars to a 68-49 romp over the young but gritty Prairie Hawks.

“My real dream has always been to play in the WNBA (pro league),” said Sellers, who turned down major Big 10 and SEC schools to play next year at smaller but perennial Division I NCAA tournament qualifier Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

In addition to tying her career-best on 12-of-17 shooting with her future college coach in the crowd, she also led her team with 11 rebounds and four assists.

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Balanced Cougars knock off Prairie

Two boys basketball teams in desperate search of a victory clashed Tuesday night at Cedar Rapids Prairie.

The Kennedy Cougars found what they were looking for, but the Prairie Hawks are still searching.

Drake Brewster led a balanced attack with 18 points as the Cougars bounced the Hawks, 69-51, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Kennedy entered the game with five losses in its last six games, while Prairie arrived for tipoff with a four-game losing streak and a bunch of lopsided defeats by 37, 24, 19 and 33 points.

The night ended with both clubs sitting at 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference, but the Cougars felt pretty good about themselves and the Hawks went back to the drawing board.

"I think we played a lot better than we have in recent games," said Brewster, a versatile 6-foot-5 junior. "One of our main goals with the struggles we've had was to have some fun.

"We started having some fun and started smiling a little bit and got more confidence about ourselves."

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Uthoff, Mehmen win titles for Prairie

AMES - Sam Uthoff and Taylor Mehmen of Cedar Rapids Prairie captured individual titles at the Jack Mendenhall Invitational wrestling tournament in Ames Saturday.

Uthoff raised his record to 20-0 by taking top honors at 132 pounds with a 10-2 victory over Grant Stotts of West Des Moines Valley in the finals. Uthoff collected two quick pins in the tournament in 40 and 59 seconds.

Mehmen raised his record to 22-1 by winning the 195-pound class with a 10-5 verdict over Brenden Wheeler of Omaha Skutt Catholic in the finals. Mehmen also had two pins in the tournament and won another match by injury default.

West Des Moines Valley won the tournament with 211 points. Prairie finished second with 174 points and Cedar Rapids Kennedy was third with 149 points.

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