Washington High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Wash swimmers climb to 2nd in ratings

The Cedar Rapids Washington swimming team jumped from No.6 to No.2 in the state power ratings Sunday after their strong performance at the district meet on Saturday.

Coach Chris Cruise's confidence level also jumped several notches heading into the state meet this Saturday at the Marshalltown YMCA.

"Without a doubt," he said Sunday night. "We did some amazing things yesterday.

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Warriors claim 50th district title in a row

IOWA CITY – The last time the Cedar Rapids Washington boys did not win the district swimming championship John F. Kennedy was the President, a first class stamp had just been raised a penny to five cents and the Beatles were still an unknown British bar band.

They’ve captured the title for 50 years straight since 1964, capping the milestone Saturday afternoon with a decisive 114-point victory at the Mercer Park Aquatic Center.

“It’s quite an accomplishment,” said Warrior Coach Chris Cruise, who swam on four on those teams as a record-holder in the breaststroke and now has coached 15 of them. “And I’m just tickled to death for these kids. They swam an absolutely fantastic meet today.

“Each one of them came in with goals they wanted to meet. Not many missed them. And if they did, their times were off only by a very, very  small margin.”

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Prairie girls dump Wash, tie for MVC lead

Washington girls basketball coach Frank Howell said Prairie didn’t do anything unexpected to pull off a mild but convincing 75-61 upset Friday night on the Warriors’ home court.

“They just did what I feared,” he noted. “They pushed the ball hard. They have a lot of people who can hit 3-point shots, so they spread your defense out.

“They can beat you off the dribble, make open passes and then knock down their shots. When they had the ball, we just couldn’t stop them.”

As a result, there’s now a logjam atop the MVC Valley division standings. Washington (14-5 overall and ranked ninth in Class 5A) and Prairie (13-6) are both 8-3 in conference play, as is Waterloo West (14-5).

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Rosenthal helps Warriors nip Prairie

With 7.3 seconds left Friday night at home and his team ahead of Prairie, 43-41, Washington senior David Rosenthal was sent to the foul line for two shots.

Just nine seconds before that, he’d made one free throw and missed the second.

“This time,” said Warrior Coach Adam Sanchez during a timeout, “Rosey’s gonna knocked down both of ‘em ... unless there’s a breeze.”

The big lefty then went out and swished both shots.

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