Metro Sports Report

To district, or not to district ...

This week, representatives of the Iowa High School Athletic Association will be in Eastern Iowa to talk with administrators from the Mississippi Valley Conference schools about the possibility of district football coming to Class 4A schools starting next school year. The non-4A schools have been playing district football for the last two decades, for the most part with great success. The question is, why should the big schools enter into this plan as well?

District football was much needed by the smaller four classes when it was adopted back in 1992. The football playoff system for those schools in conference play was not a good one. Smaller schools that played larger schools were given more playoff points than schools that actually won games against teams of equal or smaller size. On several occasions you had a school with an undefeated or one-loss record being left out of the playoffs for a school that had two or more losses, but played against bigger schools.

It was not fair, so something had to be done and conferences were disbanded in football in favor of districts. All games within the district count towards the playoffs, those against teams outside the district do not.

She's a Saint in school, but a Warrior in pool

McKenzie Asplund lives in the Linn-Mar district, attends school at Xavier and swims for Washington.

"It's different," she acknowledged Tuesday.

It makes sense, once you know the story.

Xavier High School does not have a swim team this year, so that was not an option, but Xavier has an agreement with Cedar Rapids Community Schools that allows its students to swim for Kennedy, Washington or Jefferson if they want.

Xavier does not have an agreement with Linn-Mar High School, so Asplund could not swim for the Lions. And since she lives closer to Washington than Kennedy or Jefferson, she swims for the Warriors instead of the Cougars or J-Hawks.

Asplund wasn't exactly sure of all the rules and regulations, but her mother figured it out. "My mom told me I was swimming for Wash," she said. "It's good. I love it."

Hutcheson helps Kennedy sweep Warriors

Allie Hutcheson is 6-foot-1 and a superb athlete, so she probably could have become an excellent basketball player if she had stuck with that sport at Kennedy.

She fell in love with volleyball, however, and has developed into one of the top players in the state, good enough to have received a scholarship from the University of Northern Colorado last October when she was only a junior.

Hutcheson and her teammates were in good form Tuesday night as the fifth-ranked Cougars swept Washington, 25-18, 25-12, 25-20, in a Mississippi Valley Conference match at Kennedy.

Hutcheson, a left-handed setter and outside hitter, collected 25 assists and 13 kills. She had several vicious smashes against the Warriors and fed her teammates for others.

Former Metro preps in pro baseball

RYAN SWEENEY (Xavier, Oakland Athletics) -- Started in center field Tuesday and was 0-for-3 in the Athletics' 6-3 loss the Angels.
Year-to-date: Batting avg. -- .267 (70-262), HR -- 1, RBI -- 25, 2B -- 11, 3B -- 3, R -- 34, SB -- 1.

MATT HOLLAND (Marion, GCL Phillies) -- Season completed.
Year-to-date: Batting avg. -- .236 (26-110), HR -- 4, RBI -- 15, 2B -- 7, 3B -- 0, R -- 19, SB -- 1.

SCOTT SCHEBLER (Prairie, Ogden (Dodgers)) -- Started in right field and was 3-for-5 with one run scored in the Raptors' 9-7 loss to Great Falls in the first game of the Pioneer League championship series. Game 2 is Wednesday and Game 3, if necessary. is Thursday at Great Falls.
Year-to-date (regular season): Batting avg. -- .285 (84-295), HR -- 13, RBI -- 58, 2B -- 17, 3B -- 8, R -- 44, SB -- 1.

KELLEN SWEENEY (Jefferson, Bluefield (Blue Jays)) -- Season completed.
Season stats: Batting avg. -- .114 (4-35), HR -- 0, RBI -- 1, 2B -- 1, 3B -- 0, R -- 4, SB -- 0.

NATE WOODS (Xavier, Jupiter (Marlins)) -- Season completed.
Season stats (Total, 3 teams): Batting avg. .266 (47-177), HR -- 4, RBI -- 22, 2B -- 17, 3B -- 1, R -- 23, SB -- 0.