Conference News

Hughes, Berg, Lions capture MVC swim 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 High School pool Saturday afternoon.

That was the varsity title, not the JV title.

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Evans, Linn-Mar win boys Mississippi Division titles

DUBUQUE - Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans kept his unbeaten streak against Iowa preps alive Thursday, winning the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division boys cross country title at the Dubuque Soccer Complex.

Evans ran the 5k course in 15 minutes, 50 seconds and beat second-place Robert Hogg from Cedar Rapids Washington by 32 seconds. Washington's Etienne Nzoyisaba was third.

Evans led Linn-Mar to the division title. Teammates Chase Grabau finished sixth, Daniel Murphy ninth, Tanner Rathje 12th and Bryce Poellet 19th. The Lions scored 47 points.

Washington was second, 20 points behind Linn-Mar. Joe Berry was 11th, Jon Rockwell 21st and Trevor Luebe 30th.

Iowa City High (72) was third, followed by Dubuque Senior (87), Dubuque Wahlert (121), Waterloo West (148) and Kennedy (156).

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Lions roar to girls Mississippi Division title

DUBUQUE - All five Linn-Mar girls finished in the top seven, led by Carolyn Newhouse, Morgan Uridil and Rachel Perry, and the Lions breezed the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division cross country meet title Thursday at the Dubuque Soccer Complex.

Newhouse, Uridil and Perry finished 1-2-3. Brooklynn Kascel was fifth and Maddie Saville seventh for the Lions. Newhouse ran the 4k course in 14 minutes, 52 seconds and was chased across the line by her teammates. Uridil and Perry both were timed in 15:01, Kascel finished in 15:07 and Saville recorded a 15:16.

Linn-Mar had 18 points. Iowa City High finished second with 54 and Kennedy was third with 76. Dubuque Senior (114), Dubuque Wahlert (116), Washington (139) and Waterloo West (210) rounded out the scoring.

Linn-Mar came into the meet ranked second in the state in Class 4A. The Lions won the MVC Super Meet a week earlier.

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Wagner ignores pain, wins MVC diving title

Linn-Mar senior Sam Wagner settled into a routine Thursday night at the Mississippi Valley Conference diving meet.

She'd stretch, perform her dive, cover herself with towels, slip into her ankle-length Linn-Mar cape and apply a heating pad to the lower part of her back.

Stretch, dive, bundle up, heating pad. Stretch, dive, bundle up, heating pad.

It worked.

Wagner won the MVC title with a season-high score of 388.35 points for 11 dives, nudging Betsy Osterberger of Dubuque Wahlert by 11.15 points in a slight upset at the Jefferson pool.

Osterberger was ranked second in the state in 11-dive competition when the night began and Wagner was ranked fifth. Both girls showed why they are considered two of the premier divers in Iowa.

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