Metro Sports Report

Koberg paces Cougars to CRANDIC title

The Kennedy golf team has split vision these days.

The Cougars are keeping one eye on the courses they keep conquering and one eye on the calendar.

The Cougars captured another title Monday when they won the CRANDIC championship in the searing heat at the Gardner Golf Course, but they can't help thinking about the district meet Oct. 8 and the state meet Oct. 11-12.

Steman ready for Year 2 with RoughRiders

Dylan Steman put on his first pair of ice skates when he was 3 years old. He began playing in a midget league when he was 4 and has never stopped playing the game he loves.

"Coming from Minnesota, everybody plays hockey and I latched onto it at a really young age," he said. "It was always my No.1 sport."

Steman, now 19, is beginning his second year as a forward with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the United States Hockey League. He collected 11 goals and 21 assists in 58 games last season and is hoping to contribute more this year.

Local players in pro baseball

RYAN SWEENEY (Xavier, Chicago Cubs) - Started in center field Monday and was 1-for-3 with a solo home run in the Cubs' 2-0 win over the Reds. Season stats: G - 52, Avg. - .289, AB - 135, H - 39, HR - 6, RBI - 18, SB - 1.

Van Oort wants J-Hawks to enjoy competing

First-year Jefferson volleyball coach Mary Kay Van Oort knows what it’s like to be a star and what it’s like to be the kid who barely made the cut, and she wants to make sure both kinds of girls feel at home on her team.

“I really care about everybody in the gym,” she says. “The star player is no more important than the 12th player on the team. They all contribute to what we’re doing. I worry about everybody’s experience.”

She also wants to make sure a team that struggled through a 4-32 season last year knows the heady, confidence-building feeling of getting a key win. A sweep of Dubuque Senior in the team’s first outing this past Tuesday — including a come-from-behind triumph after a deep deficit in the third game — set a nice stage for accomplishing both goals.

It was an early boost for the team and for Van Oort, an accomplished former volleyball player and coach who is returning to the head coaching role after a lengthy hiatus during which she turned her attention to family and career.