ANAMOSA — So far this season, the only losses the Anamosa girls golf team has suffered has been in tournament action, so when the Raiders hosted Central City for a dual meet and the Wapsi Country Club Friday, April 21, the Wildcats knew they were in for a rough day.

And they were!

“This has been one amazing run we’ve been on this season and hopefully we can just keep this rolling all the way through,” said Raider girls golf coach Trent Jeffrey after his team annihilated Central City by a whopping 30 strokes. “Believe it or not, but the girls were very, very upset with themselves after this performance against Central City. Yes, we won by 30 strokes and were never threatened at all in the match, but this group has some goals set and when they feel they didn’t reach one of those goals or didn’t play to the best of their abilities, they get mad and are willing to put in the work to get things corrected.”

Anamosa outlasted Central City by a 210-240 count at a challenging par-33 Wapsi Country Club on a beautiful day for golf.

“We’ve been shooting more closer to the 200 and below range this season and when the girls came in with that 210 score, they didn’t feel good even though this was a big win,” said Jeffrey. “That says a lot about this group of girls right there.”

Paige Goetz led all golfers on the course firing a medalist round of 48 for the hosts while Kailey Strother, Emily Davis and Anne Daily all tied for meet runner-up medalist honors with cards of 54 each to round out the varsity scoring for the Raiders. Jordan Bickford and Erin Ridgeway added rounds of 56 and 57, respectively for Anamosa.

“Having six scores in the 50’s or lower is something we haven’t had here in a while,” said Jeffrey. “I’m excited to watch what this team can accomplish.”

The Raiders traveled to Williamsburg for an 18-hole tournament Wednesday, April 19, and took second in the four-team invitational firing a 384 team score.

“The girls are totally stepping up when we hit the road,” said Jeffrey.

“They’re really thriving on the challenge of playing away from the comforts of home and had another excellent tournament against some pretty good schools.”

Four of the six Anamosa golfers won medals at the meet that featured medalist and runner-up awards in each group.

ANAMOSA — Nostradamus couldn’t have predicted the sudden rise of the 2006 Anamosa boys soccer season any more accurately that Raider coach Dr. Mike Weston did recently.

Earlier this spring, Weston knew it was going to be just a matter of time before his club broke loose and more exactly, his offense, and did they ever have a school-record breakthrough performance Thursday, April 20!

Anamosa’s offense, which has gradually been building more and more confidence as the season has gone along, grew to record proportions hosting Center Point-Urbana taking a huge 9-0 rout over the Pointers.

“Our passing was aggressive and our offense attacked their defense making life on their keepers pretty tough all game long,” said Weston after the Raiders rolled to the lopsided school-record shutout rout.

“In the first half we had quite a few missed opportunities and we felt like we should have held a much larger lead than we did, but in the second half we made up for that.”

Anamosa (5-3) played sensational soccer all match long against the Pointers piling up an amazing 20 shots overall.

“Earlier this season we were getting some decent looks at the goal but just weren’t able to finish,” said Weston. “We’re doing a much better job of finishing now. We knew our offense was going to come around eventually, but I guess no one ever expects a game like this.”

Even with the ball on the Raiders’ offensive end much of the first 40 minutes of play, the hosts led just 2-0 at the halftime break thanks to a pair of impressive Tyler George goals.

“Tyler took advantage of CP-U’s aggressive goalie by being pretty aggressive himself,” said Weston. “He got us going.”

George ripped his first goal into the left corner just inside the post and inches away from the goalie while his second tally, which came 12 minutes after his first at the 23 minute mark of the first half, came off a beautiful pass from teammate Stefan Watermann.

“Stefan was coming down the side and the CP-U defense closed in on him and he timed his pass perfectly to Tyler in the middle and their goalie had no chance of stopping it,” said Weston. “You couldn’t draw that play up any better than the way Stefan and Tyler executed it.”

The second half saw those missed opportunities in the first 40 minutes come to fruition.

TIPTON — The word is out about Anamosa sophomore high jumper Colten Kelly and even with expectations and hundreds of eyes weighing on him at the Tipton co-ed track meet Tuesday, April 18, the sophomore star still tied a meet record in the event for the Raiders.

“He’s really gotten off to a pretty amazing start to the season setting or tying records wherever he’s been,” said Anamosa boys track coach Wes Wilson after Kelly claimed the Tipton co-ed high jump title flying over the bar set at 6’ 3’’.
“He had 6’ 5’’ cleared several times but kept kicking the bar with his feet as he flew over. We’re still working with him on his form and hopefully will have him jumping his best at the Drake Relays Thursday night. We don’t want to mess with his form too much though. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but there are a few things we can tweak to try and make Colten an even better high jumper.”

CEDAR RAPIDS — An improved effort from an Anamosa girls soccer team gaining more and more in the way of confidence and experience was on display at Cedar Rapids Prairie Monday, April 24, and even in a 4-0 setback against the host Hawks, Raider coach Jim Conklin was more than pleased with his team’s performance.

“We still have to improve our passing and traps, but this was a much better game than ones we’ve had recently on both the offensive and defensive ends,” said Conklin. “We had midfield control and overall I was just pleased with the way the girls went out and competed.”

Anamosa (0-5) trailed 2-0 at the half against the powerful Cedar Rapids Prairie club but did manage an impressive 10 shots offensively led by Bryn Gerber who ripped a whopping eight of her own at the Hawk keeper.

Kandis Bieber added two more shots for the visitors.

Raider goal tenders were busy making a total of 21 saves as Rachelle Bahl tallied six during her tenure as keeper and Anne Daily another 15.

Anamosa hosted Center Point-Urbana Tuesday, April 18, and were handed a rough 7-1 setback.

TIPTON — Throwing events continue to be a strength for the Anamosa girls track team and Tuesday, April 18, at Tipton, the Raiders proved themselves once again as Liz McAtee and Cassie Beadle scored points for Anamosa in both the discus and shot put events.

“Those two have been consistent scorers for us all spring and I don’t see that letting up any time soon,” said Raider girls track coach Wes Wilson after the Anamosa girls competed at the Tipton co-ed meet on a beautiful night for the event. “Both Liz and Cassie placed in the shot and the discus. That’s pretty impressive especially considering the amount of teams that were at this meet.”

Teams from Bellevue, Calamus-Wheatland, Camanche, Monticello, Northeast, North Cedar, Preston/East Central and Tipton competed as the host Tigers ran away with their own meet title.

Beadle came through with a runner-up showing in the shot put event for the Raiders with her 33’ 6’’ effort while McAtee was third in the same event after a solid 33’ 5 3/4’’ toss.

McAtee claimed fifth-place in the discus unleashing a 95’ 6’’ effort and teammate Beadle scored sixth-place points coming through with an 86’ 7’’ toss.

The Raider girls also scored in a pair of running events at the Tipton co-ed meet as Kandis Bieber tallied a time of 13:09 running the challenging 3000 meter run placing fifth in the event.

“That was her first time running that very tough race and she did a pretty nice job,” said Wilson of Bieber’s effort. “Getting fifth in that field was an accomplishment, especially considering it was her first time. She’s got some potential there, that’s for sure.”

Dole also scored points finishing fifth after running the 800 meters for the first time ever posting a solid time of 2:39.62.

“We’re trying Cammy in quite a few events,” said Wilson. “She can do so many things so well, we just need to decide which events suit her best and will give her the best shot once districts come around.”

The Raider girls also competed at the Monticello co-ed meet Thursday, April 20, and were sixth in the nine-team meet scoring 34 points.

McAtee led Anamosa with her championship winning performance in the shot put unleashing a 35’ 6 3/4’’ toss while Beadle was runner-up in the event after her 32’ 8 3/4’’ effort.

MANCHESTER — Typically, the Manchester Country Club is a place where the Anamosa boys golf team has fared very well in the past.

Saturday, April 22, was no different as the Raiders claimed an individual championship as well as a runner-up team showing at the extremely tough West Delaware Invitational.

“Considering our lack of experience, I was very happy with the way this tournament went for us,” said Raider boys golf coach Brad Mangler after his team fired a 326 score at the 18-hole tournament and finished 11 strokes behind team champion West Delaware A. “We had three kids golfing for us who have never teed it up on this course before, or at least in a competitive high school meet anyway, and considering that we did better than I expected we would.”