Linn-Mar High School - Marion, Iowa

Greve, 2 relays qualify for state swim

Washington qualified swimmers in every event for next week's state meet during Saturday's district meet, according to unofficial results released Saturday night by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

The Warriors will be bidding for their 28th state title and their first since 2008. Washington won its 48th straight district title Saturday.

None of Washington's swimmers earned top seeds. Mo Green is seeded third in the 100 butterfly and Ian Ford third in the 100 back. The Warriors' 200 medley relay also is seeded third.

Ford is seeded fourth in the 200 individual medley, and Morgan Barnes fourth in the 200 free and 500 free.

Other qualifiers are Brian Kopec (12th in 500 free, 15th in 200 free), Josh Hughes (fifth in 500 free, 15th in 200 IM), Scott Allison (15th in 50 free, 17th in 100 free) and Nick Durin (23rd in 100 breast). The 200 free relay is seeded 14th and 400 free relay 15th.

Linn-Mar's Nathan Greve qualified in the 11th in the breaststroke and 24th in the IM. The Lions also qualified their 200 medley and 200 free relays.

Jefferson's Kristian Anderson qualified 24th in the 50 free. The J-Hawks also qualified their 400 free relay.

Kennedy did not qualify any swimmers.

Sluggish Lions beat hard-working Saints

It wasn’t a real pretty game.

Linn-Mar’s Lions, the state’s top-ranked boys team, weren’t as sharp as usual.

The gritty Xavier Saints, meanwhile, played tough as always. They tested the visitors in their home gym Friday night but fell to the better team, 52-33.

“The thing about Linn-Mar is that they always seem to be in control,” said Xavier Coach Matt Jenkins.

“Even when they’re having an off night like tonight, you never get the feeling that they’re going to lose. They’re just a great team.”

Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson saw some good things from his squad despite the sub-par overall performance.

“Defensively, we played really well,” he said. “We were aggressive and made them work for their shots. But we were a little stagnant on offense.”

Neither team shot well to start the game, and Linn-Mar (16-0, 11-0 Mississippi Valley Conference) led by only 10-5 at the end the first quarter.

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No. 2 Lions keep Xavier in a skid

No one could have blamed No. 14 Xavier for wishing for a little breather in its schedule after the Saints lost three consecutive heartbreakers to ranked teams in the last two weeks, dropping games to No. 3 Iowa City West, No. 4 Waterloo West and No. 11 Dowling Catholic by a combined eight points.

Instead, the road only got steeper on Friday night as the Saints played No. 2 Linn-Mar on its home court, losing 50-31 to the Metro’s top team.

A stiff defensive effort kept the Saints in the game early, as they held 6-foot-3 Linn-Mar standout Kiah Stokes to four baskets in the first half and got 12 points from their bench to stay within five points, 23-18.

But the Lions (18-1, 13-1) had too many weapons, nailing five 3-pointers in the game to go with Stokes’ pestering presence under the basket on both ends of the court. 

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Lions win division title despite poor outings

The last pair of dual meets for a wrestling team are usually the best and brightest of the season, if not a mini-preview of what’s to come.

Doug Streicher, the Linn-Mar coach, hopes that is definitely not the case for his 2011 team.

Linn-Mar struggled to top Iowa City High, 33-28, then crushed Washington, 61-12, in a double-dual at Washington Thursday night.

"That first dual of ours was not good at all," he said. "We were not intense, not sharp, not focused, they tied us up, they slowed us down, and wrestlers not as good as us were either close to us or beat us."

Despite clinching the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division title, Striecher cited several of the usual suspects for his team’s subpar performance, including poor pre-match preparation, not being ready to go, and a lackluster intensity level.

“True champions think I’m going to go out and I’m going to destroy you, I don’t care who you are, and if you’re not that good, maybe you’re going to really feel the pressure of my attacks,” he said.

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