The first order of business for Marcus Paige was obvious.
“Rest for a little bit,” the Linn-Mar sophomore said Saturday after his team’s Class 4A state tournament consolation victory over Sioux City East.
Paige contracted mononucleosis late in the regular season and missed the final game. He sat out Linn-Mar’s first substate game and played noticeably less than 100 percent the rest of the way.
The 6-foot-1 lefty point guard was sure something when he was healthy. He averaged 14 points, shot better than 60 percent from the field most of the season …

Here they are, all the all-staters from the Iowa Newspaper Association. There are eight players per team, three teams per class.
INA All-State Teams
CLASS 1A FIRST TEAM
Front line — Jordan Dykstra (Rock Valley), 6-9, senior; Marcus Heemstra (Rock Valley), 6-9, senior; Eddie Diemer (Cedar Falls NU High), 6-6, senior. Back court — Ryan Powers (Calamus-Wheatland), 6-2, senior; Josh Vander Maten (Boyden-Hull), 6-3, senior; Chris Lindenmeyer (Bedford), 6-4, senior. Utility — Tim Schweitzer (Bedford), 6-7, senior; Brandon Eley (Colo-NESCO), 6-3, junior.
CLASS 1A SECOND TEAM
Front line — Brandon Doughan (Algona Garrigan), 6-2, senior; …

DES MOINES — Instead of dwelling on what could have been, the Linn-Mar Lions chose to think about what could be Saturday afternoon. Metro basketball fans should be doing the same thing.
Linn-Mar beat Sioux City East, 62-57, in the Class 4A consolation game at Wells Fargo Arena to finish its season 24-2. The Lions tied a record held by Cedar Rapids Regis with their seventh consecutive state tournament trip and set a record with their seventh straight finish of fourth or better.
“I didn’t know that,” Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “I …

Here they are:
SICL All Conference Teams

DES MOINES — Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your overwhelming favorite for the Class 2A state basketball championship in 2011. If it’s fair to look a year ahead.
The Western Christian Wolfpack pocketed their sixth title last night, preventing Solon from a 2A repeat with a 58-45 victory at Wells Fargo Arena.
The almost overwhelming thing about this WC team is that there was one senior of any significance. Of course, point guard Bryce Groeneweg was the all-tournament captain, so he’ll be missed.
But everyone else is back, and that includes a lot of …

DES MOINES — The Linn-Mar Lions lived by the line and died by the line. All in two days.
“We just didn’t convert,” summed up Coach Chris Robertson said after his team had its 22-game win streak snapped by Southeast Polk, 41-38, in a Class 4A state tournament semifinal Friday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena. “We kind of shot ourselves out of the game.”
And not just from the free-throw line, though we’ll start there.
Linn-Mar (23-2) was an impressive 24 of 30 in its quarterfinal victory Wednesday night over Clinton, but things …

DES MOINES — Greg McDermott has his own stuff to worry about.
His Iowa State Cyclones just had another frustrating year. Center Craig Brackins announced Friday he’s entering the NBA draft, and forward Marquis Gilstrap’s attempt at an extra season in Ames was nixed by the NCAA.
Still, the ISU head coach took time to voice his support of beleaguered colleague Todd Lickliter. The Iowa Hawkeyes head coach has been the subject of intense fan and media scrutiny about his future.
“It’s tough to do your job when there’s those kind of rumors …

Spring sports have produced athletes, who have participated in more than one sport during the season.
We’ve seen athletes in the past play soccer and golf, and some have played track and golf. Do you know of any athletes planning on playing two high school varsity sports this spring? Let us know.

Linn-Mar junior Kiah Stokes has been selected as the 2010 Gatorade Iowa Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-3 post led Linn-Mar to a 26-0 record and the Class 4A state championship. She averaged 19.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game. She clicked for 20 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks in the Lions’ 38-35 win over Des Moines East in the state final.
“I didn’t know I was going to get this,” she said. “I thought it was an award only for seniors. I was very surprised. I …

DES MOINES — Their top six players from last season graduated. So did 90 percent of their scoring.
But these are the Solon Spartans, and all they do in most sports is win, baby.
“There were a lot of doubters who thought we’d only finish about halfway up our conference,” Tanner Wentzien said after his team out-defensed IKM-Manning, 42-34, in a Class 2A state tournament semifinal Thursday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena. “But we won our conference, and now we’re playing for a state title.”
The Spartans (25-2) go for two 2A titles …