Iowa City West used eight pins and a forfeit to roll to a 57-17 regional dual victory over North Scott last night in Iowa City, advancing to Saturday’s state duals tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.
Gradey Gambrall, Tracy Bowers and Justin Koethe recorded consecutive pins to get things going for West.
Dylan Carew, Nick Moore, Dexter Cuurry, Matt Behnami, and Brandon Kuehl added pins for the Trojans.
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 55, C.R. JEFFERSON 14 — Waverly-Shell Rock won the first eight matches and used nine pins in a regional …

Cedar Rapids Xavier opened Class 4A substate play last night with a 61-43 victory over Dubuque Hempstead in boys’ basketball at Xavier.
Xavier improved to 8-14 overall and advances to play second-ranked Linn-Mar at 7 p.m. Friday at Linn-Mar.
Joe Sayre scored 17 points for the Saints, John Keller 13 and Nathan Joens 12.
Josh Lenz scored 15 points for Hempstead, which bowed out at 6-16.SOLON 78, NORTH CEDAR 40 — Matt Morrison scored 19 points for Class 2A top-ranked Solon in a substate semifinal at Maquoketa.
Tucker Wentzien added 17 points and 10 …

Rheanna Egli scored 22 points for Ankeny in a 56-37 victory over Iowa City West last night in a Class 4A girls’ basketball regional final at Newton.
Maddie Manning added 12 points for Ankeny, which advanced to the Class 4A state tournament with an 18-4 record.
Emma Krieger-Kittle led Iowa City West (16-7) with 14 points, and Mackenzie Reed tossed in 10 points.
WAUKON 44, CRESTWOOD 33 — Mary Halverson led Waukon (20-2) with 16 points and Carissa Berger added 12 in a Class 3A regional final at Decorah.
Waukon will play Keokuk next …

By Jason Brummond
News correspondent

TIPTON — Mariah Duke jumped up and down to celebrate at midcourt, wearing a wide smile on her face as she tightly gripped the banner signifying Cedar Rapid Kennedy’s pass to Des Moines.
Who else could it have been?
Duke’s fourth-quarter heroics and game-clinching free throws in overtime capped the Cougars’ improbable comeback in a 56-53 win over Iowa City High last night in a 4A girls’ basketball regional final.
“They never gave up,” Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff said. “They knew they could do it.”
Kennedy trailed 51-44 with 44.6 seconds …

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CEDAR RAPIDS – Western Dubuque Coach Tom Danner had a strange feeling before his wrestling team’s match against Cedar Rapids Prairie.
The weight drawn to start the meet was 160, the same as their first meeting exactly one month ago, and his team provided a similar sensation during warm-ups.
Danner’s vibes turned into a full-blown case of deja vu as the Bobcats beat the No. 8 Hawks for the second time this season, claiming a 42-20 win, last night in a Class 3A regional dual at Prairie High School.
“It was …

By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — The massive jubilation can wait.
“This was just another step,” said Mike Brandt, girls’ basketball coach at Linn-Mar. “It was our 23rd step. We want to go 26 steps.”
Kiah Stokes registered 23 points and 20 rebounds and top-ranked Linn-Mar led from start to finish in a 53-30 defeat of Cedar Rapids Jefferson in a Class 4A regional final last night at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“We’re going to go out, eat and celebrate,” said Linn-Mar’s D.J. Norman. “Then we’ll get back at it Thursday and get …

By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — Kaylee Gibney clutched the royal blue state-qualifier banner and said to nobody in particular:
“What do I do with this thing?”
Hold it tight. Treasure it.
Cedar Rapids Xavier advanced to state for the fifth consecutive year by defeating Cedar Rapids Washington, 53-45, in a Class 4A regional final girls’ basketball game last night at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“It feels marvelous to move up to 4A, still be competitive and still be successful,” said Xavier Coach Tom Lilly.
Xavier qualified the last four years as a 3A school.
As …

Here’s a link to the Union’s page for tonight’s 3A and 4A girls’ basketball regional finals:
http://www.ighsau.org/hoops/2009/0224rscores.htm

The Iowa Athletic Associations, both boys and girls, have in the past couple years begun to reinstitute an emphasis on sportsmanship, and I for one, am glad to see it.

As the parent of 6 children, I spend a lot of time in the bleachers, at a lot of different events. I also played some sports back in the paleozoic era, and I attended those I didn’t play. With those credentials in hand, it seems reasonable to view myself as something of an expert in the area of sportsmanship.
Over the years, the …

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Former Cedar Rapids RoughRider Teddy Purcell was recalled from the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs to the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. He’s playing in L.A.’s game tonight at Minnesota.
It sounds like it’s only a temporary recall, however, as he is replacing standout winger Dustin Brown in the lineup because Brown’s wife just delivered a child.
“Brownie is a special kind of player with his skill and grit and physical play he has, so you’re not going to have one guy step in and fill that,” Purcell said on the …