Washington High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Puk says leaving Washington football was hard

A.J. Puk has received letters from such prestigious college baseball programs as Florida, LSU, Miami, Arizona State and Arkansas, top schools that are always on the prowl for talent.

He performed well at a major showcase in California last week for many of the top juniors-to-be in the nation, and when it ended he spoke with assistant coaches from Missouri and San Diego about his future in baseball.

On top of that, he's accepted an invitation to play four or five events this fall with the Canes North, an elite travel team that's based in Virginia and plays in major events all over the country.

Given all that, it probably comes as no surprise that Puk decided to leave the Cedar Rapids Washington football program and concentrate on his blooming baseball career.

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Puk quits Warriors; Griffin out 4-6 weeks

The Cedar Rapids Washington football team has suffered two serious setbacks this week with the loss of quarterback A.J. Puk and tailback Will Griffin.

Puk quit the team Monday to concentrate on his promising baseball career. Griffin had surgery on Tuesday to repair his ankle and will be sidelined four to six weeks.

"It's a whole different team than I had 48 hours ago," Washington Coach Tony Lombardi said Tuesday after practice.

Puk was Washington's starting quarterback last year as a sophomore when he completed 43 of 89 passes for 599 yards and four touchdowns. Lombardi kept him mostly under wraps as a sophomore, but planned to turn him loose this year.

Griffin rushed for 452 yards and six TDs last season as the No.2 tailback behind Alex Carr. An outstanding sprinter, Griffin appeared on the verge of becoming the next star tailback at Washington.

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Lions, Warriors and Hawks took shots at title

DES MOINES -- The Linn-Mar, Washington and Prairie boys track teams all made a run for the Class 4A state title Saturday, but one by one they all fell short.

It wasn't for lack of effort.

The drama began early Saturday when Prairie moved to the top of the team standings at the state track meet when Kyle Stocker finished second in the 800 meter run.

In the very next race, Linn-Mar grabbed the lead in the tight standings when it placed second in the shuttle hurdle relay to score eight big points.

And on the next race after that, Washington tied Linn-Mar for the top when Will Griffin and Alex Carr finished 2-3 in the 100 meter dash to collect 14 points.

That tie was quickly broken when Kyle Dunn won the 110 high hurdles for Linn-Mar and Brandon Ophoff finished fifth, giving the Lions 14 points in one race and 48 overall.

Linn-Mar held the lead for two more races, but Cedar Falls nudged ahead by winning the 4x100 relay in the next-to-last event of the day, leaving the Lions out of bullets and ending the drama.

Cedar Falls won the Class 4A title, but the Metro was well represented in the boys standings. Linn-Mar finished third, Washington placed fourth, Prairie came in sixth and Kennedy was 10th in Dennis Roloff's final season as head coach.

The Washington girls placed eighth in their Class 4A meet, putting five Metro teams in the top-10 overall at the coed meet.

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'Burundi kids' add depth - and perspective - to Wash teams

Like their classmates on the Washington High School track team, they’re teenagers trying to balance the obligations of home, school and athletics. Beyond that, their early lives could hardly be more different from that of their American-born teammates.

The “Burundi kids” – five boys and four girls currently running for Wash – were all born in that African country during a civil war that has been described as genocide. They have few memories of their native land, having spent most of their lives growing up in refugee camps in Tanzania – some of them for more than 10 years.

Their families came to Cedar Rapids at various times under the auspices of Lutheran Family Services, and they quickly began the process of learning a new language and integrating into the Cedar Rapids school system.

“Wash has a directed program for ELL [English Language Learner] students so that they are able to receive the best possible education they could get in this country,” says Will Harte, the boys’ team long-distance running coach and an ELL math teacher.

As the students improve their language skills through ELL classes, they progress into mainstream courses, he explains. “It depends on the kid and how outgoing they are. Some can speak and read and write English proficiently. Others struggle more.”

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