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Iowa Games looking for more volunteers

July 5, 2011 By

It takes a large number of volunteers to make the Iowa Games run smoothly and executive director Jim Hallihan says they are always looking for more. The first of three weekends of competition begin this Saturday.

Hallihan says they have more athletes and sports than the Olympics and he says the volunteers are the”backbone” of the Iowa Games.

Haiihan says for anyone still interested in volunteering their time they should contact the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Hallihan says it is also a large chore to find officials for more than 60 sports. He says they send out hundreds of cards to umpires and officials to ask them to volunteer and then they schedule the officials.

More than 15,000 athletes are expected to take part.

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Grand View wins Commissioner’s Cup

June 23, 2011 By

Grand View University has won the Commissioner’s Cup trophy as the all-sports champion of the Midwest Collegiate Conference. The Viking’s swept the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field titles and also captured championships in men’s soccer and men’s golf.

Grand View athletic director Troy Plummer says the award is a reflection of the entire department as he says they try to make sure the athletes have a “really good experience.” He says part of that experience is having success on the field or court.

Plummer says all of the sports programs at Grand View support one another. He says each of the students enjoy the success of the other programs and that’s something they work on among coaches. Plummer says it’s nice to have a good group of coaches who root for each other.

It is the second straight All-Sports title for the school. Plummer says they finished second or third a number of years before winning last year and he says the league is very competitive when it comes to the all-sports champion.

St. Ambrose finished second in the standings. Mount Mercy was third.

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UNI senior ready to run at NCAA championships in Des Moines

June 7, 2011 By

The N.C.A.A. Track and Field Championships open Wednesday in Des Moines, and U.N.I. will have a total of three events competing over the weekend. Holli Hosch qualified in the 800 meter run and has the best chance to earn All-American status of the Panther events.

The senior from Independence says she’s honored to be going back to the national meet. Hosch says it’s really hard to get to the championships and it is a great honor to make it.

Hosch qualified for Nationals by running the 800 in 2:05.16 at the Regional Meet in Oregon last month. That time was more than three tenths of a second better than her preliminary time, and she says she is capable of running even faster. She says prelims usually go out a little slower, and she knew she could do better.

Hosch says she’s looking forward to competing Drake’s blue oval in front of what she says will be a big contingent of fans from her hometown. Hosch says she usually runs well in Des Moines and it will be exciting, although she says it makes her a little more nervous to perform well in front of all of her family and friends.

Hosch’s preliminary race is at 6:00 on Wednesday night. U.N.I.’s men’s 4×100 team will be the first Panther event to run at the Championships. Their race goes off at around 5:45. U.N.I.’s other qualifier is Olimpia Nowak in the heptathlon.

By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls

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Cedar Falls prep weighing college offers in three sports

June 1, 2011 By

Cedar Falls multisport athlete James Harrington has another scholarship offer to consider. Harrington has been offered a scholarship to play football for the U.N.I. Panthers. While he’s not ready to make a decision yet, Harrington says he would have a certain comfort level if he went to U.N.I.

He says he’d be familiar with everything at U.N.I. as he goes to some of their games, but he wants to keep his options open. Harrington is a three-sport star at Cedar Falls, and has Division I offers to play football and basketball.

He’s also been receiving a lot of interest from some top-flight track programs since his four-championship performance at the State track meet. But Harrington says that he won’t decide which sport he wants to play in college until after this summer. He says he is going to go to some AAU tournaments and football camps and hopes to have a better idea by the end of the summer which sport he will participate in.

Harrington says that he’s enjoyed going through the recruiting process of all three sports at the same time, especially since his interest from top track programs has kicked up in the past week. He says it has been more fun to experience them all, and says a lot of big time track schools called him after the state meet. Those schools included: Florida State, Arkansays, Kentucky, Iowa State, Iowa, Wisconsin.

Harrington’s other Division I offers are from North Dakota for football and Indiana State for basketball. He says that many schools have been open to the idea of him playing multiple sports at the college level.

By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls

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Cedar Falls a favorite at the state track meet

May 19, 2011 By

The Cedar Falls boys track team is one of the contenders to win the team championship at the state track meet, which opens today in Des Moines. The Tigers put on a very good showing at the Drake Relays three weeks ago, and Tiger coach Jeff Hartman says that his team has been a favorite to win the Class 4A title since that trip to the capital city.

He says that Drake performance put a target on their back and he says if they do what they are capable of, they have a chance. Hartman says there are a lot of other good teams that will challenge them.

The Tigers are taking twenty events to the state meet, and Hartman says that each of those events will need to perform well for the Tigers to get enough points to compete for a championship. He says it’s part of how many events you score in, but also the quality of the events you perform in, and he likes their depth.

Junior sprinter James Harrington won four championships at the Drake Relays. He says that while the Tigers were excited about their earlier performance in Des Moines, the State Meet has been their focus all season. Harrington says they’ve been focused on the state meet since the start of the season.

Marshal Hill is one of the seniors that will be competing at State for Cedar Falls this weekend. He says winning a state title would be a great way to cap his high school career. Hill says it would be unbelieveable to win the school’s first state track title in his senior year.

The state meet opened this morning with preliminary events in Classes 2A and 3A. Classes 1A and 4A get started this afternoon.

By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls

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Blue oval at Drake will be busy with high school, college competition

May 18, 2011 By

The Drake Relays wrapped up more than two weeks ago but that was only the start of a busy season at a stadium that will host the state high school track meet this week and the NCAA Outdoor Championships beginning June eighth.

Drake Relays director Brian Brown says “there’s no rest for the weary” as they prepare for the high school and NCAA meets after the relays. He says there is a big difference between putting on a meet like the Drake Relays and hosting an event like the NCAA Championships.

Brown says there’s more flexibility with the relays, as they have more participants, but they can make any changes they want because it is their meet. He says any changes for the NCAA meet have to be approved by those officials and they have to be sure they are in compliance.

Drake hosted the NCAA meet back in 2008 and Brown says that is one of the reasons they got it, again. He says they had great attendance then despite the flooding that was going on around Des Moines. Brown says they showed then that they can run an efficient meet and look forward to doing it again.

Hosting one weekend of high school track has given Drake more opportunities to host national meets. He says it opened up more room for the personnel and officials.

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Drake Relays sees 14 records broken

May 2, 2011 By

Fourteen records were broken and one was tied as the 102nd Drake Relays closed out Saturday night in Des Moines. The final two days of the meet played out under sunny skies.

Drake Relays director Brian Brown says there were a lot of highlights for him, including the great weather for the competition.

One record that was tied was the one Brown owns in the high jump. Brown says it was interesting to see the level of talent in the long jump. He says the fans love the high jump, and he says it was bitter sweet because he thought the record would be broken.

Brown says he was impressed with the marks in the high school competition despite the cold weather that has plagued the first half of the season. He says it shows the importance of the Drake Relays to the high school athletes who want to compete at a high level.

By John Martenson KGRN Grinnell

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