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Kennedy grapples pin Waterloo West

The Kennedy wrestling team clobbered Waterloo West, 59-18, in a Mississippi Valley Conference meet Tuesday at Kennedy.

Logen Rodriguez had a 31-second pin at 152 pounds and Dylan Ironside had a 43-second pin for the Cougars at 138. Ben Sarasin collected a technical fall at 160.

KENNEDY 59, WATERLOO WEST 18
145 – Kale Crawford (K) major dec. Jaydon Bartz 10-2.
152 – Logen Rodriguez (K) pinned Jovontay Burris :31.
160 – Ben Sarasin (K) tech. fall over John Ramirez 16-0 1:58.
170 – Cody Rodebush (WW) pinned Todd Gusta 1:47.
182 – Dylan Meyer (WW) pinned Cameron Jones :47.
195 – Sam Pape (K) dec. Sam Gerst 6-5.
220 – Dalles Jacobus (K) major dec. Daniel Calzadillas 9-1.
285 – Matt Murphy (K) dec. Danny Alcott 3-1.
106 – Cam Shaver (K) major dec. Yashad Dufauchard 16-6.
113 – Teme Larson (WW) pinned Gabe Long 1:51.
120 – Luke Foster (K) won by forfeit.
126 – Nolan Hromidko (K) won by forfeit.
132 – Austin McLeod (K) dec. Cameren Happel 18-14.
138 – Dylan Ironside (K) pinned Jacob McKnight :43.

Kennedy girls climb to No. 1 in poll

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball team has followed its 13-game winning streak all the way to the top of the Class 5A rankings this week.

The Cougars climbed from No. 2 to No. 1 in the latest poll released Thursday by the IGHSAU. The Johnston Dragons, who were ranked No. 1 last week, fell all the way to No. 5 with an 8-3 record.

Kennedy (13-1) has won 13 straight games since losing its season opener at Waukee. Indianola is second in the Class 5A rankings, followed by Ankeny Centennial, Waukee and Johnston.

Kennedy hosts Jefferson at 6 p.m. Friday in the first game of a girl/boy doubleheader with the J-Hawks.

The Linn-Mar Lions (8-3) dropped one spot to No. 12 in Class 5A this week.

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Sellers shines like an All-American

Lela Sellers remembers as a little girl her mom saying that someday she might be on the McDonald’s All-American high school basketball team.

“I thought then, ‘Oh, that’s only for really good players,’” she said Tuesday night after it was announced to Kennedy fans that she has indeed been nominated for the prestigious national honor.

The smooth and unselfish 6-foot senior turned in an All-American performance on her home court with 30 seemingly effortless points to lead the Class 5A second-ranked Cougars to a 68-49 romp over the young but gritty Prairie Hawks.

“My real dream has always been to play in the WNBA (pro league),” said Sellers, who turned down major Big 10 and SEC schools to play next year at smaller but perennial Division I NCAA tournament qualifier Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

In addition to tying her career-best on 12-of-17 shooting with her future college coach in the crowd, she also led her team with 11 rebounds and four assists.

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Balanced Cougars knock off Prairie

Two boys basketball teams in desperate search of a victory clashed Tuesday night at Cedar Rapids Prairie.

The Kennedy Cougars found what they were looking for, but the Prairie Hawks are still searching.

Drake Brewster led a balanced attack with 18 points as the Cougars bounced the Hawks, 69-51, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Kennedy entered the game with five losses in its last six games, while Prairie arrived for tipoff with a four-game losing streak and a bunch of lopsided defeats by 37, 24, 19 and 33 points.

The night ended with both clubs sitting at 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference, but the Cougars felt pretty good about themselves and the Hawks went back to the drawing board.

"I think we played a lot better than we have in recent games," said Brewster, a versatile 6-foot-5 junior. "One of our main goals with the struggles we've had was to have some fun.

"We started having some fun and started smiling a little bit and got more confidence about ourselves."

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