The Iowa High School Athletic Association released its first official boys’ basketball rankings of the 2023-24 season Friday. No. 1 teams include Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Decorah and North Linn.
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The Iowa High School Athletic Association released its first official boys’ basketball rankings of the 2023-24 season Friday. No. 1 teams include Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Decorah and North Linn.
Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Cael Smithhart has dealt with adversity, battling major hip injuries the last two years. He showed his resolve, yet again, overcoming an excessively bleeding nose to record a fall in the Cougars’ 43-24 loss to North Scott.
The MVC-CIML Crossover Shootout event is January 6 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids. It features seven games, most of them pitting a school from the Central Iowa Metro League against one from either the Mississippi Valley Conference or Mississippi Athletic Conference
The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the first installment of its dual rankings for all classes. The poll is used to determined regional dual qualifiers and are considered in pairings. Eight regional dual champions advance to the State Duals tournament Feb. 3 at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
Spencer Lee is back to being Spencer Lee with another freestyle title. Upper Iowa with a strong showing at the Midwest Classic. Linn-Mar leads a good local performance at the Battle of Waterloo. Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ and West Branch boys’ win team titles. This is the Wrestling Weekend That Was.
Girls’ basketball: Bench accounts for 32 points in Cedar Rapids Prairie’s 75-36 romp over Cedar Rapids Kennedy.
Calling it both ways, Jeff Johnson and Jeff Linder talk area high school basketball and current rankings for girls and boys basketball.
Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s boys’ basketball team swept through last regular season, playing only one game decided by single digits. That came against Cedar Falls, which played the Cougars even tougher Tuesday night at Kennedy, this one a 51-47 game.
In addition to overall co-players of the year Derek Weisskopf of Williamsburg and Preston Ries of Monticello, The Gazette’s 2023 all-area football team is led by offensive player of the year Grant Glausser of Western Dubuque and defensive player of the year Rayce Heitman of Williamsburg. Curt Ritchie of Williamsburg is the area coach of the year.
Class 4A No. 11 Cedar Rapids Xavier beat Cedar Rapids Kennedy 56-43 in a girls’ basketball game Friday night at Xavier.
Class 4A 11th-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier built an 11-1 lead before Libby Fandel dented the scoring column and went on to defeat Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 56-43, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls’ basketball game Friday night at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.
Isabelle Gasper may be a freshman at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, but she’s no new kid on the block when it comes to wrestling.
Here are 18 Gazette-area individuals to keep an eye on during the 2023-24 Iowa high school boys’ wrestling season.
Kyle DeBarge played shortstop, left field and center field for the Cedar Rapids Kernels during the 2025 season. But his exceptional defensive play at second base has earned the Minnesota Twins prospect a Rawlings Gold Glove, one of nine in Minor League Baseball to get one.
Scenes from the Iowa City West and Ankeny Centennial State Volleyball match on November 3, 2025. Iowa City West lost the match 23-25, 17-25, and 23-25.
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