Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cougars jump to 3rd in rankings

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy baseball team jumped into the No.3 spot in the Class 4A rankings Monday by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.

The Cougars were not ranked in the preseason, but they won the Metro Tournament and took a 6-1 record into Monday night's home game against Prairie.

The Xavier Saints claimed the No.9 spot in the Class 3A rankings with a 5-4 record. The Saints were not ranked in the preseason poll.

Mitch Keller wins Metro Spotlight Award

Cedar Rapids Xavier senior Mitch Keller is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Keller, a right-handed pitcher, was selected in the second round of the 2014 Major League draft Thursday by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 64th pick overall.

Keller is very interested in signing with the Pirates, which would officially end his prep baseball career at Xavier. He's pitched twice for the Saints this season and played shortstop, but does not plan to play for Xavier anymore.

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17 Metro boys make all-state soccer

The overall strength of boys soccer in the Metro area was demonstrated by the all-state teams announced Saturday by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association.

Seventeen Metro players were honored on the squad, including six players who were named first team all-state.

The first-team selections are Killian Magee of Kennedy, Jacob Bjornsen of Washington, Mike Eken of Washington and Jared Belin of Linn-Mar in Class 3A. Connor Ramlo of Xavier and Enoch Duval of Marion made the top unit in Class 2A.

Andrew Sheeley of Kennedy, Ben Johnson of Linn-Mar, Logan Rinderknecht of Prairie, Alexy Boehm of Linn-Mar, Ian Karr of Jefferson, Jack Ramsey of Linn-Mar, Jesse Vizzini of Prairie and Gunnar Lenzen of Washington were named second team all-state in Class 3A. Stephen Jones of Xavier and Matthew Minks of Marion were named second team all-state in Class 2A.

Nathan Althoff of Kennedy received honorable mention in Class 3A.

Metro teams climb in softball rankings

Jefferson, Xavier and Prairie all moved in the right direction in the prep softball rankings Friday, according to the IGHSAU.

Jefferson climbed two spots to No.3 in Class 5A, Xavier jumped one spot to No.6 in Class 4A, and Prairie jumped one spot to No.8 in Class 5A.

Johnston is ranked No.1 in Class 5A. Dallas Center-Grimes is No.1 in Class 4A.

CLASS 5A

1. Johnston (4-0), 2. West Des Moines Valley (6-0), 3. Jefferson (10-0), 4. Waukee (7-0), 5. Ankeny Centennial (2-2), 6. Dowling Catholic (3-1), 7. Southeast Polk (3-1), 8. Prairie (4-2), 9. Bettendorf (4-2), 10. Ottumwa (7-1).

CLASS 4A

1. Dallas Center-Grimes (6-0), 2. Norwalk (6-0), 3. Solon (10-0), 4. Fort Dodge (7-0), 5. Carlisle (7-1), 6. Xavier (6-0), 7. Davenport Assumption (8-0), 8. Ballard (5-2), 9. Fairfield (5-1), 10. Oskaloosa (7-0).