The third-ranked Bucs host a competitive Class 1A regional dual at Winthrop, featuring No. 9 Lisbon, Alburnett and West Branch. East Buchanan opens with West Branch, while Lisbon takes on Alburnett in the semifinals, starting at 6 p.m.

Opening round winners then compete for a trip to the state duals Feb. 27 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

East Buchanan Coach Dan Fox said all four teams are competitive and will provide highly-contested duals. Winning is going to be a tough task.

“We have to have our shoes tied and be ready to go, because it’s going to be a battle tomorrow night,” Fox said. “You’re going to see four pretty good teams going at it.”

East Buchanan is making its second regional dual appearance in three years, but have never reached the state duals. Fox said the wrestlers are focused on Saturday’s district tournament and aren’t getting caught up in the excitement tomorrow could bring.

“That’s going to be a huge accomplishment because we’ve never done it,” Fox said. “Their attitude is ‘Coach, we’re going to come to wrestle and we’re going to be OK,’ They said ‘Coach, don’t blow it up. It’s just another dual meet.’ ”

The Bucs have a full lineup, thanks in part to the return of 189-pounder Jordan Gerbracht, who returned for the sectional after missing more than a month after undergoing an appendectomy.

“There’s going to be some interesting match-ups tomorrow,” Fox said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of good wrestling.”

Lisbon, which owns six state duals trophies, has more state duals titles — two — than the other three teams have trips to Cedar Rapids to conclude the season. The Lions (18-4) beat Alburnett, 39-22, earlier this season.

“I like our chances,” Lisbon Coach Jamie Kamberling said. “We’re definitely are going to be ready.”

Three Lions’ seniors, who qualified for districts including Zach West (125), Jesse Jamison (145) and fourth-ranked 215-pounder Mitch Montgomery, have seen Lisbon reach the regional duals all four years, but haven’t advanced.

“I think there’s a little fire in them to make it there,” Kamberling said. “End their season on a good note.”

Both Alburnett (12-11) and West Branch are trying to claim their first state duals appearance and face a daunting task. The Bears (10-5) are excited, according to first-year head coach Marc Juergens.

“Where they’re really solid, We’re fairly solid too,” Juergens said of the Bucs. “Anywhere from 135 to 160 will be some good match-ups … Our team has nothing to lose.”

In other 1A regional duals, South Iowa Cedar League schools Belle Plaine and BGM travel to Pekin. No. 12 Belle Plaine faces No. 7 New London/WMU and BGM wrestles No. 8 Louisa-Muscatine. South Winneshiek will attempt to earn its second state duals berth with a first-round dual against Rockford at Nashua. The winner will take on the winner between Nashua-Plainfield and Sumner-Fredericksburg.

In Class 2A, Mount Vernon, Solon, No. 5 Independence and top-ranked Denver-Tripoli will battle at Manchester. Solon will take on the Titans with Mount Vernon versus Independence in the opening round.

Williamsburg wrestles East Marshall and Benton Community takes on Grinnell at Iowa Valley High School in Marengo.

The Wilton regional duals consists of Monticello vs. Columbus Junction and No. 3 Davenport Assumption vs. Washington (Iowa).

MFL MarMac/Central faces Osage at New Hampton with Clear Lake and Crestwood also in the regional.

Can’t believe the season is beginning its conclusion.

OVERALL      Team W-L Pvs
—- 1. Linn-Mar 16-1 1
—- 2. C.R. Jefferson 14-2 2
—- 3. C.R. Kennedy 12-5 3
—- 4. C.R. Washington 8-8 5
—- 5. Iowa City West 9-8 8
—- 6. Iowa City High 9-7 4
—- 7. Marion 15-3 6
—- 8. Solon 15-2 7
—- 9. Western Dubuque 14-4 -
—- 10. North Cedar 17-2 9

Class 4A — 1. Linn-Mar (16-1), 2. Cedar Rapids Jefferson (14-2), 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (12-5), 4. Cedar Rapids Washington (8-8), 5. Iowa City West (9-8).

Class 3A — 1. Marion (15-3), 2. Western Dubuque (14-4), 3. Washington, Iowa (13-4), 4. Clear Creek-Amana (13-6), 5. Williamsburg (12-6).

Class 2A — 1. Solon (17-2), 2. North Cedar (17-2), 3. Cascade (18-2), 4. Mid-Prairie (14-5), 5. Iowa City Regina (14-5).
Class 1A — 1. Iowa Mennonite (19-1), 2. Keota (17-1), 3. Montezuma (13-7), 4. HLV (12-6), 5. North Tama (12-7).

The teams were ranked 2-3 in last week’s Class 4A poll, though Jefferson surely will drop from No. 3 this week after last Friday night’s loss at Washington. The J-Hawks are 14-2, with both losses to the Warriors.

Linn-Mar (16-1) has won 15 straight after an early loss to Bettendorf.

“It’s a big game for both of us in the race for our division (Valley) in our conference,” said Linn-Mar Coach Chris Robertson. “We’ve played pretty consistently these last few weeks. It’s nice because we’ve got some tough games coming up in the last two weeks of the regular season, and that’s what you want heading into the tournaments.”

Linn-Mar’s schedule down the stretch also includes games at Iowa City West and home against Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Falls. The Lions are fortunate that they have only one regular-season game each against Kennedy, Jefferson and Cedar Falls, probably the three other strongest teams in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

Though you know Jeff would vote for Wash to be included in that list. The Warriors threw junk defenses at the J-Hawks in both games to contain star Jarrod Uthoff.

The 6-foot-8 junior averages 22 points per game and is shooting 56 percent from the field. Jefferson needs someone else to consistently score, which they didn’t get in either Washington game.

“Jarrod Uthoff is, if not the best, one of the best players in the Metro,” Robertson said.

Linn-Mar has two probable Division I recruits in junior wing Matt Bohannon and sophomore point guard Marcus Paige. They lead the Lions in scoring at just over 15 points per game.

Paige is still shooting 60 percent from the field, phenomenal for a point guard. Tipoff tonight will be around 7:45.

Around the hoop
—- Ames broke Linn-Mar’s big-school record for most consecutive victories last week. The Little Cyclones have won 44 straight, surpassing L-M’s previous record of 42, which Cedar Rapids Kennedy ended in 1984.

—- The Waterloo East-Waterloo West game was stopped with 2:42 left last Friday night because of three fan disturbances in the stands at East. The Waterloo Courier said it was unclear if any punches were thrown in the skirmishes, but they were enough for East Athletics Director Brenton Shavers to call the game early, with West leading, 54-42.

—- North Linn head coach Mike Hilmer won his 200th career game last week.

—- Solon has clinched the Wamac Conference’s East Division, the Spartans’ fifth consecutive conference title and the seventh time in 12 years Solon has won a league crown.

Darius Stokes and his Linn-Mar teammates have a big one Tuesday night at Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

That’s a recipe for a 4-and-something season at most schools. But this is Iowa Mennonite, and they really know how to cook — err, play basketball — in Kalona.

“I am a little bit surprised by our season,” said senior forward Truman Shetler. “I thought maybe we’d have one or two more losses. But this doesn’t really surprise me.”

The school with no nickname goes into the final week of its regular season 19-1 and ranked No. 3 in Class 1A. Four victories last week included one over a very good Class 3A team from Washington (Iowa).

The only loss has been to 3A Keokuk.

“It all starts with our coaches,” said junior guard Jackson Brokaw. “They have a great way of explaining what we need to do and how we do it. Our whole program, it starts with defense.”

“I really like this team’s desire to learn and improve,” said IMS Coach Dwight Gingerich. “That loss to Keokuk exposed some areas that we needed to address. The kids have worked hard on addressing them.”

Gingerich lauded the flexibility of this team. Ten guys have started games, and the coach has gone with a five-guard lineup at times.

One of those guards is Chance Miller, the aforementioned ninth-grader. Gingerich said Miller (averaging 11.7 points per game) has begun receiving extra attention from opponents, with Washington putting a box-and-one on him.

“He’s nice to have,” said Shetler, who has started every game and his IMS’ second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. “He can drive, and no one can stop him. And he can shoot it just as well.”

Ethan Gingerich also scores in double figures, with Brokaw and Jacob Yoder chipping in nine points a game each.

“We are getting contributions from everyone,” Dwight Gingerich said. “This is a team that has evolved to a point where you don’t know who is going to be on the floor at the end of the game.”

Gingerich won his 500th game a couple of weeks ago and has a career record at the school of 505-137. He has led Iowa Mennonite to 10 state tournaments, one championship (1992) and four runner-up finishes.

He has been at the school since the 1981-82 season, with the exception of the 2000-01 season when he was interim head coach at Goshen (Ind.) College.

“It was amazing to be a part of that,” Brokaw said. “It’s the way Coach stresses defense. We build our team every year on stopping the other team first.”

“First, 500 wins probably just means I’m getting older,” Gingerich said with a laugh. “I’m really a lucky guy to have so many committed players, so many supportive parents and a great community to be a part of.”

Iowa Mennonite Coach Dwight Gingerich (right, in tie) is congratulated by IMS Principal Anthony Miller after winning his 500th game at the school Jan. 26 against Wapello. (photo from www.iowamennonite.org)

A swimmer warms up during a break in racing at the district swim meet on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010, at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — There are few certainties in this world, but among those you can count on are death, taxes and Cedar Rapids Washington boys’ district swimming titles.

The Warriors roared to their 47th consecutive district crown Saturday, whipping second-place Dubuque Senior by 38 points at the Washington pool.

There were five other district meets Saturday. All district winners and the next 18 fastest times from across the state automatically qualify for this week’s state meet at the Marshalltown YMCA. Another entry could be added if a district winner’s time is the slowest among qualifiers.

Senior is the defending state champion. Washington has won 27 state titles, the last in 2008.

Washington won five individual events, led by sophomore double winner Morgan Barnes. The Warriors’ other victory, the 200-yard medley relay, got the meet off to a roaring start with a 1:37.89 clocking that earns it All-American consideration.

“The medley relay started us out fast and we just kept going,” said Washington Coach Chris Cruise, whose team finished fourth, 12 points behind Senior, at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet two weeks ago at Kennedy.

If beating Senior wasn’t enough motivation for the Warriors, they also got pre-meet pep talks from Tom Proctor and Geoff Mykleby, former swimmers who were inducted into the Washington Hall of Fame Friday night, and former Olympian John Kinsella.

“That was awesome,” said Barnes, who won the 200 and 500 freestyle. “We didn’t want to lose. It was good seeing everyone get up for their races.”

All swimmers were up a little higher for the first five events. The meet was stopped for about five minutes after the 100 butterfly to drain about three inches of water out of the pool.

“The pool was actually too low when we came in this morning, so we were pumping water in. I guess it just got a little too high,” said Cruise, whose Warriors swam the entire meet like they were 3 feet above the waterline. Junior Mo Green shaved 10 seconds off his individual medley seed time and finished sixth. He came back three events later and dropped 3.7 seconds off his butterfly seed time to win that event.

“Those certainly were key swims for us,” Cruise said. “But we had a great overall performance by a lot of kids today.”

Washington sophomore Ian Ford won the 100 backstroke and senior Joseph Gallet the 100 breaststroke.

Decorah senior Nathan Maloney won the 200 IM. The Vikings finished fifth, behind Cedar Rapids Kennedy and ahead of Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Dubuque Hempstead junior Ben Loeffelholz won the 50 and 100 freestyle and was named the meet’s outstanding athlete.

By Mike Koolbeck, Correspondent

The Titans had practice scheduled just hours after they powered their way to a team title in what was considered one of the tougher sectional fields.

Denver prevailed in fine fashion, advancing 10 to next week’s district meet and winning the Class 2A sectional wrestling tournament at Beckman High School. The Titans had eight champions and tallied 265½ points, 41 more than runner-up Independence.

The Titans won the first four weight classes and six of the first seven.

“We’re so talented at the light weights and they just set the tone for us,” Titans Coach Chris Krueger said. “We usually go pin, pin, pin, pin and it gets the crowd going and the rest of the guys it kind of raises their level.”

And pins were common for Denver, which tallied 16 in the abbreviated six-team bracket. Dylan Peters (103), Brandon Sorensen (119), Levin Wolfensperger (125), Blaze Shedenhelm (135), John Even (140), Blake Sorensen (152) and 160-pounder Noah Minikus each won with pins in the championship match.

“We don’t come out here to win by a little bit we come out here to dominate,” Wolfensperger said. “We’re not satisfied with winning by one or two points. We want to make the kid not want to wrestle us again after he steps off the mat.”

Peters and Minikus topped ranked foes in the finals. Top-ranked Peters made short work of No. 6 Austin Evens of Independence, pinning him in 1:16. Minikus, ranked sixth, gave up the opening takedown to Independence’s No. 8 Cam Savage, but came out on top of a scramble with a headlock and a fall in 1:08.

Wolfensperger, who is attempting to win his second state title and become a four-time state finalist, said the Titans effort separates them from other teams. Foregoing celebrations now for practice is OK, if it leads to a bigger one after state.

“It shows on the mat how much time we put in and how much hard work we do,” Wolfensperger said. “The other teams don’t put in as much time as we do.”

The top-ranked Titans are focused on getting all the pieces in place to win a state title in Des Moines.

“Each match is a steppingstone toward that state title,” Krueger said.

Independence just couldn’t keep pace with the Titans, but had a strong showing pulling away from the remaining teams in the field. The Mustangs had nine finalists with nine district qualifiers. Tyler Endres (130), Blaize Cabell (189), 215-pounder Ryan Fank and heavyweight Cameron Hayward all won titles.

“We did as good as we probably could,” Independence Coach Michael Doyle said. “We performed up to our ability for the most part.”

Endres, ranked fourth, edged No. 9 Cory Chapin of Denver, 10-8, in the final. Endres scored a takedown in the last 10 seconds of the second, adding two third-period takedowns for the win. Cabell scored a 21-6 technical fall over West Delaware’s Adam Reth, and No. 6 Fank pinned Denver’s Tanner Klein in 4:28.

“Cabell and Fank did pretty good today,” Doyle said. “They dominated their opponents.”

The day was somewhat disappointing for West Delaware, which was third at 196. The Hawks did advance five to the district meet, including champion Brett Yonkovic at 145 and finalists Matt Wenger (140). Chris Ketchum (152) and Adam Reth (189).

Dyersville Beckman advanced two and the Blazers’ Alex Funke gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about. Funke, who was the fourth seed, went 3-0, including two come-from-behind victories to win the 171-pound crown.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Funke said. “It all could have been over today, but things worked out for me.”

Everything worked out because of his fantastic finishes. Funke was down 3-0 to Denver’s second-seeded Zach Piehl in the final, scoring nine points in the last two minutes to win 9-5.

He advanced to the championship match with a pin of top-seed Sam Lahr of West Delaware. Funke trailed 6-0 in the final period when he scored a reversal and put Lahr on his back. He scored the fall with just five seconds remaining.

“I knew I had to do it,” said Funke, noting he would have lost by one without a pin. “Senior year, this was my last meet at home, I didn’t want to lose at home. It wasn’t in me.”

Denver and Independence will wrestle Tuesday in a regional dual event at Manchester. Denver will face Solon and Independence wrestles Mount Vernon in the opening round. The winners will then wrestle for a state duals berth.

AT DYERSVILLE

(Qualifiers in parentheses)

Teams - 1. Denver-Tripoli (10) 265.5; 2. Independence (9)224.5; 3. West Delaware (5) 196; 4. Oelwein (2), 118; 4. Dyersville Beckman (2) 84, 6. Dubuque Wahlert (0) 44.

DISTRICT QUALIFIERS

103 pounds – 1. Dylan Peters (DT); 2. Austin Evens (I); 112 – 1. Gunnar Wolfensperger (DT); 2. Caleb Studebaker (I); 119 – 1. Brandon Sorensen (DT); 2. Thomas Rigdon (O); 125 – Levin Wolfensperger (DT); 2. Tony Naber (DB); 130 – Tyler Endres (I); 2. Cory Chapin (DT); 135 – 1. Blaze Shedenhelm (DT); 2. Chris Johnson (I); 140 – 1. John Even (DT); 2. Matt Wenger (WD); 145 – 1. Brett Yonkovic (WD); 2. Nick Fuller (I); 152 – 1. Blake Sorensen (DT); 2. Chris Ketchum (WD); 160 – 1. Noah Minikus (DT); 2. Cam Savage (I); 171 – Alex Funke (DB); 2. Sam Lahr (WD); 189 – Blaize Cabell (I); 2. Adam Reth (WD); 215 – Ryan Fank (I); 2. Tanner Klein (DT); 285 – Cameran Hayward (I); 2. Brad Byerly (O

Or at least a hall of fame minute.

It was the junior shooter’s trio of treys in that time midway through the fourth quarter that helped Washington to a 46-38 upset win over Class 4A third-ranked Cedar Rapids Jefferson last night. Hall of fame game, Josh?

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Oglesby said. “We need to come back Monday and work in practice and hopefully get another win Tuesday against Xavier. I’m just worried about keeping our winning going. We worked really hard this week in practice, and I thought it paid off.”

Jefferson's Joby Frey (right) attempts to take a charging foul against Washington's Josh Oglesby (21) in the first half of their boys' basketball game Friday night at Washington.

Washington crept back to the even point (8-8) with two victories this week, though this one was especially sweet. The Warriors swept the season series between the longtime city rivals, following up a late-December win at Jefferson that came while Oglesby was suspended.

They are the only games the J-Hawks (14-2) have lost.

“Our team prepared hard. They paid attention, they had a very disciplined week this week,” said Washington Coach Brad Metzger. “And that’s something that needs to happen every week. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. I give our team credit for maybe figuring out how they should approach games.”

Another low-scoring, defensive affair, Washington was nursing a 34-33 lead when Oglesby got loose and got hot. His 3-pointer in a half-court set was followed by two in transition, as the Warriors suddenly went up by 10 and for good.

“Wes Washpun is a great point guard, and he came down and got me the ball when I needed it, when I was open,” said Oglesby, who hit seven 3s in a 25-point night. “Luckily, I knocked down the shots.”

Jefferson had its issues again against a diamond-and-one defense designed to slow down leading scorer Jarrod Uthoff. The 6-8 big man did work very hard against constant physicality in a 24-point performance, including 12 of 16 free throws.

But the J-Hawks didn’t get anything offensively to complement him. Point guard Teyshawn Campbell was the next highest scorer with six points, as Jeff was limited to nine field goals, three excluding Uthoff.

“I thought we’d be better prepared for their diamond-and-one, their chaser this time,” Jeff Coach Stu Ordman said. “But we had three starters go 3 for 21 from the field. We also missed some free throws, and that was the game.”