Metro Sports Report

Green grass, showers and Drake Relays

Driving into work the last several days I noticed, despite the constant dreary weather, how the flowering trees are suddenly springing into their annual bloom.

The grass is an emerald shade of green (and very long at my house) and the birds are out in full force. Yes, even though we need some sun and warmer temperatures, spring is here!

And along with spring comes one of the great classic sporting events not only in the state, but also throughout the country, the Drake Relays.

How big is it? This answers it perfectly.

Last Saturday morning on the KGYM Coaches Corner Show, Jefferson girls track and field coach Bill Calloway explained it perfectly. When asked about Drake his face lit up and he said, “It’s everyone’s ambition to get to Drake!”

New baseball/softball complex for Linn-Mar

Baseball and softball will be taking a big step up at Linn-Mar High School in the next year or two, with construction of a new complex featuring four diamonds and all the related facilities.

The school board voted Monday night to invite bids for the project, which will include competition and practice fields for both sports at Oak Ridge Middle School on Alburnett Road. There will be two baseball fields and two softball fields.

The competition fields will feature lights, press boxes, concession stands, public address systems and everything needed to make a complete package, all in one spot. At present, the softball and baseball fields are about a third of a mile apart on North 10th Street.

Use of the facilities, estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $2 million, will not be limited to the high school.

Washington pressure too much for Lions

The seventh-ranked Washington boys soccer team controlled the action all night, and finally punched in a goal midway through the second half to break a scoreless tie en route to a 2-0 victory over No. 12 Linn-Mar Tuesday night at Kingston Stadium.

“I’m happy,” said Washington Coach J.P. Graham. “I never felt like the game was out of our control, but still, when it is 0-0 most of the time, you are just waiting for that one time when somebody makes a mistake. The soccer gods can be brutal sometimes when you are dominating a game and it is 0-0.”

Washington (9-1, 6-0 MVC) dominated the possession and created chances all night against the Linn-Mar defense. But the Lions (5-3, 3-3) often held Washington to long shots, or no shots at all, for the first 60 minutes of the contest.

Linn-Mar receives national honors

MaxPreps.com and the National Guard made a stop Tuesday at Linn-Mar High School to make presentations honoring the Lions boys basketball team.

The national prep sports website ranked the Lions as the No.8 team in the country in its final ratings and also named Marcus Paige to its 2010-11 Boys Basketball Junior All-American Team.

The Linn-Mar stop is part of MaxPreps.com's national "Tour of Champions" that is being co-sponsored by the National Guard. Members of the Guard and MaxPreps.com representatives were on hand for a trophy ceremony.

The Lions won the Class 4A state title this year with a spotless 26-0 record.

Paige averaged 17 points and has been named a fourth-team Junior All-American by MaxPreps.com. The 6-foot-1 point guard has committed to North Carolina.