IOWA CITY — Bad weather couldn’t stop Kyle Dunn last week.
And a full day’s work couldn’t slow him last night.
Dunn continued to chip away at his 400-meter hurdles time, motoring through a 51.51-second lap at a Class 4A state-qualifying track and field meet last night at Trojan Field.
That ranks No. 4 all-time in Iowa. And he did it in his fourth race of the evening.
The junior credited a teammate.
“My buddy (Nick) Lucas goes really hard for the first 200, and that pushes me a lot,” said Dunn, who had run …

CEDAR RAPIDS — This is the time prep tennis coaches are put to the test.
With rosters due Monday for Thursday’s Class 1A and 2A district meets, boys’ tennis coaches are challenged to find their best possible lineup.
It turns out that determining lineups for district competition is more complex than filling out a sheet with names. Coaches implore strategy to try to advance as many athletes to the state meet as well as improving the team’s chances to reach team substate.
Coaches and players have to decide whether to compete in singles …

Linn-Mar’s Chelsea Burkle has signed to play volleyball at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, an NCAA Division II program.
Burkle averaged 4.36 kills per game as a senior as the Lions advanced to the state tournament.
Here is more from the UMSL website.

(From Iowa men’s basketball writer Scott Dochtermann)
MARION – Two of Iowa’s three most prolific scorers in school history will boast sons on next year’s men’s basketball team.
Darius Stokes, a 6-foot-8 forward from Linn-Mar, will join the Hawkeyes as a walk-on this fall. Stokes’ father, Greg Stokes, ranks third all-time in scoring at Iowa with 1,768 career points. Darius Stokes will join Devyn Marble, son of Iowa’s all-time leading scorer Roy Marble, on next year’s team.
The thought of following his dad’s Iowa legacy was pivotal for Darius Stokes in deciding to walk on …

The Class 2A district assignments were released by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. They begin May 13. The top two in each districts, in both singles and doubles, advance to the state meets May 28 and 29 in Waterloo (Class 1A) and Cedar Rapids’ Veterans Memorial Tennis Complex (2A).
Cedar Rapids Jefferson hosts a district with Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Cedar Rapids Washington, Cedar Rapids Xavier and Marshalltown. Iowa City High also hosts a district with Iowa City West, Burlington, Davenport West, Muscatine and Ottumwa. Linn-Mar heads to Dubuque …

There’s a first time for everything and the Linn-Mar boys’ tennis team proved it Saturday.
None of the current Lions, including fifth-year head coach Chris Wundram, had ever notched a team victory over Cedar Rapids Kennedy. That changed.
Linn-Mar punctuated a solid season with a 6-3 win over the host Cougars, snapping Kennedy’s 23-match Mississippi Valley Conference win streak over the weekend.
“It was really great,” Lions senior T.J. McCann said. “We haven’t beaten them in the four years I’ve been on varsity. It was finally nice to beat that team. I think …

DES MOINES — Ryan Dusil explained the euphoria of a victory lap at the Drake Relays.
“People you don’t even know, they’re cheering for you,” he said. “Somebody said, ‘Way to bring it back to Cedar Rapids.’ “
Cedar Rapids Kennedy buried the Relays record with a winning 56.09-second effort in the boys’ shuttle hurdle relay Saturday afternoon.
Jake Losch held off Linn-Mar star Kyle Dunn at the end. As it turned out, it didn’t matter — the Lions were disqualified. Linn-Mar’s time would have been 56.17.
“I could feel (Dunn) coming,” Losch said. …

DES MOINES – Matt Stocker’s emotions did a 180-degree turn in one day.
Stocker anchored Cedar Rapids Prairie’s 1,600-meter medley relay to a Drake Relays championship Friday.
The Hawks’ quartet of Andy Erenberger, Tom Frieden, Demetrius Harper and Stocker was clocked in 3 minutes, 30.83 seconds.
Prairie competed in the second of three heats, and won it behind Stocker’s 800-meter anchor of 1:53.4. Then it was a matter of waiting and watching as the teams in the so-called fast heat battled it out.
Nobody was faster than the Hawks.
“It looked like the Indianola kid (Brennan …

DES MOINES — Amanda Piche changed her technique.
“I’ve been trying to get lower in my throw,” she said.
Getting lower got Piche higher. All the way to the top.
A sophomore at Linn-Mar High School, Piche won the girls’ discus competition at the Drake Relays Friday morning.
Piche’s winning toss of 136 feet, 9 inches, came on her first throw of the day.
“That was probably the best grip I had all day,” she said. “I made sure I had a lot of chalk.”
The event was contested in a steady rain. Piche’s best throw …

MARION — One more year at Armstrong Field.
Scott Mahmens, athletics director at Linn-Mar High School, said Tuesday that construction on the school’s new stadium is on schedule and should be completed in December.
“Unless we have another spring and summer with excessive rain, that’s the target,” Mahmens said. “I think we’re going to see a lot more done now that the weather is dry.”
Mahmens said that the Lions will play a final football season at what he called “historic Armstrong” Field. Linn-Mar enjoyed a football renaissance last season, going 9-2, winning …