The Iowa High School Athletic Association released its second boys’ basketball rankings of the season Monday afternoon. There is a new No. 1 team in Class 3A in Clear Lake. The other top-ranked teams remain the same in Cedar Rapids Kennedy (4A), West Lyon (2A) and North Linn (1A).
The seven-game MVC-CIML Shootout boys’ basketball event went down Saturday at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids. In one of the marquee games of the inaugural event, defending Class 4A defending champion West Des Moines Valley used a fourth-quarter spurt to down Linn-Mar in a matchup of the second and fourth-ranked teams. Top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy also beat No. 7 Waukee.
Here is The Gazette’s first 2023-24 installment of area high school boys’ wrestling individual rankings.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union is likely to announce its girls’ basketball regional pairings in mid- to late January. Here is The Gazette’s first version of mock pairings ... all five classes, all 346 teams.
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.
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