Washington High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

No. 7 Cougars top No. 15 Warriors

Their No. 1 ranking is only a fond memory now, but the Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball team is still enjoying one of the best seasons in school history despite losing a pair of games recently.

The Cougars added another victory to their impressive resume Friday night when they knocked off 15th-ranked Washington, 64-58, in a foul-plagued Mississippi Valley Conference game at Kennedy.

The Cougars have dropped from No. 1 to No. 7 in the Class 5A rankings following losses to Cedar Falls and Iowa City West, two MVC opponents that are ranked by the IGHSAU as well, but they are still a dangerous club at 16-3 overall and 9-2 in the league.

"It's been a solid year for us," Kennedy coach Tony Vis said. "We have to try and peak here the last couple of weeks going into the tournament."

Lela Sellers led a balanced attack for the Cougars with 20 points and more good work off the defensive backboards. Sydney Hayden scored 13 points, Hailey Dolphin had 12 points and Ashley Hamilton came off the bench to pop in 11.

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Xavier grapplers knock off Washington

The Dubuque Hempstead wrestling team beat Xavier 55-21 and Washington 64-12, and Xavier also beat Washington 52-21 in a Mississippi Valley Conference double-dual Thursday at Washington.

Clint Lembeck had two pins for Xavier at 138 pounds. Eric Rodriguez (195), Alex Francois (220), Peter Kennedy (106), Jaxson Konzen (113) and Josh Gerke (152) also had pins against Washington. Keegan Schultschik (120) had a pin against Hempstead.

Will Foreman had a pin at 126 against Hempstead for the Warriors.

DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD 55, XAVIER 21
170 – Brandon Haas (DH) pinned Sam Lampe :24.
182 – Henry Tran (DH) dec. Kyle Krezec 5-4.
195 – Adam Rang (DH) pinned Eric Rodriguez 1:59.
220 – Alex Freiburger (DH) pinned Alex Francois 1:12.
285 – Gannon Gremmel (DH) won by forfeit.
106 – Dillon Gottschalk (DH) pinned Peter Kennedy :28.
113 – Jeff Vipond (X) dec. Joe Pins 5-2.
120 – Keegan Schultschik (X) pinned Hunter Foht 4:55.
126 – Jacob Faber (DH) won by forfeit.
132 – Nathan Feldman (DH) major dec. Garrett Ries 12-0.
138 – Clint Lembeck (X) pinned Landin Kramer 1:46.
145 – Alex Ward (DH) won by forfeit.
152 – Josh Gerke (X) won by forfeit.

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James 'retiring' at Washington, but wants to coach

Paul James announced Wednesday that he plans to retire as the activities director and football coach at Cedar Rapids Washington after the 2015-16 school year, but he plans to re-apply for the football job.

Due to state rules, James has to completely retire from Washington before he can re-apply for the football job in order to keep all of his retirement benefits.

"I'll have to sit out a period of time and re-apply," he said. "I don't know exactly how it will go, but there's a possibility.

"I'd like to continue, but IPERS rules force you to resign everything and then there's a rule you have to follow as far as coming back.

"You have to be real careful. Nothing can be pre-arranged. I would stand to lose my entire retirement benefits. I'll have to wait until it's posted and re-apply and see what happens."

James thinks there will be enough time to "retire" and then be re-hired as the football coach for the 2016 campaign. "Yeah, that possibility exists," he remarked.

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3 Warriors headed for college football

Washington High School football players Isaiah Nimmers, Ross Kennedy and Matt Ackerman will be saluted in a signing ceremony in the school cafeteria Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Nimmers is signing with the University of Northern Iowa, Kennedy plans to play at Drake and Ackerman is headed to Coe.

Nimmers, a wide receiver and defensive back, was named second team all-state on defense in 2015 and was named first team all-district on offense and defense.

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