Metro Sports Report

Lions are No. 3 in Class 4A grid poll

Linn-Mar remains No. 3 in the Associated Press Class 4A football poll released Monday.

The Lions (8-0) trail West Des Moines Valley (8-0) and Cedar Falls (8-0) in the 4A poll.

Southeast Polk (7-1) and Bettendorf (7-1) round out the top five. Ankeny (7-1), West Des Moines Dowling (7-2), North Scott (7-1), Iowa City High (6-2) and Des Moines Lincoln (7-1) are Nos. 6-10.

Cedar Rapids Washington (5-3), which beat Iowa City West last Friday and knocked the Trojans out of the rankings, are among teams receiving votes.

Linn-Mar closes out the regular season Friday at unranked Xavier (5-3).

Hughes, Berg, Lions capture MVC titles

Jackie Hughes dominated her junior varsity races for the Cedar Rapids Washington swim team last year as a freshman, but it's not what she really wanted to do.

Hughes wanted to swim for the varsity last year, but couldn't due to Cedar Rapids Community School rules. She lives in the Kennedy school district and open-enrolled at Washington, so she had to compete at the sub-varsity level for a year.

Now she's making up for lost time.

Hughes captured the 500-yard freestyle in 5:18.70 at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet at the Jefferson pool Saturday afternoon.

No. 3 Lions whip No. 5 City High for title

The 34 seniors on the Linn-Mar High School football team have stressed one word all year.

Finish.

Finish each game strong, finish the season strong, finish the year in the UNI-Dome with a shot at the state title.

They took a big step Friday night.

The third-ranked Lions whipped No. 5 Iowa City High, 17-12, at Linn-Mar Stadium to clinch the Mississippi Division title in the MVC and defeat the Little Hawks for the first time since 1994.

Warriors wax No. 9 Iowa City West, 66-37

IOWA CITY - There is something about playing in Iowa City that brings out the best in the Cedar Rapids Washington football team.

Two weeks ago, the Warriors traveled to Iowa City High and took down the Little Hawks, who were ranked No. 2 in state at the time.

On Friday night, Washington was at it again and exploded on No. 9 Iowa City West, winning 66-37 at Trojan Field.

After a disappointing 56-7 loss to Linn-Mar last week, the Warriors bounced back in style against the speedy Trojans.

“You know what? Our kids rebounded really well,” said Washington Coach Tony Lombardi. “When I looked at this spot on our schedule and knew we had those three teams in a row, if we were to win two out of the three I would have been thrilled and we did so.”

Washington (5-3, 2-3) clinched a playoff berth with the victory, and Lombardi was excited to see his team come out and play with a chip on its shoulder.