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ANAMOSA — Playing two sports at the high school level is a daunting task all on its own merits.

But trying to fathom what Anamosa High School senior Mitch Kelly accomplished this past fall as a member of the Raider football and cross country teams is almost unthinkable!

“I really don’t know how he did it,” said Anamosa cross country coach Phil Kauder. “It takes a pretty special athlete to be able to do what he did this past fall playing quarterback on the varsity football team and being our top cross country runner all season long. Maybe it’s all the talent he was blessed with. Maybe he’s just a little crazy. Whatever the case, Mitch put his body through some amazing demands and came through it all without any major injury. That in itself is another incredible feat.”

Kelly took over the reigns as the Raiders’ top cross country runner last fall and never let go just missing a trip to state in the sport by mere hundredths of a seconds.

But last season was also the first Kelly played without football on his mind, and looking back, he just missed the gridiron game too much to say goodbye to his high school career without giving the varsity game at least a try.

“I love cross country, but I really wanted to play football too my senior year and I know I would have regretted it the rest of my life not playing this fall and only doing cross country again like last year,” said Kelly who played football and ran cross country as a freshman and sophomore before running cross country exclusively as a junior. ““A lot of things had to fall together just right for this to work out and they all did. Both coaches agreed on a practice schedule for me and I just worked as hard as I could to give my best to both sports.”

Kelly’s parents Scott and Holly Kelly, who were also outstanding high school athletes in their day, were also concerned about the demands Mitch was placing upon himself playing two such physically demanding sports.

“In one aspect we were very proud of Mitch for wanting to give this a shot,” said Scott. “But in another were were concerned for his well being and would he be able to give enough of a commitment to football and cross country to make this worthwhile.”

Holly felt the coordination by the coaches was the key to Mitch’s dual-sport success.

“Both coach Kauder and coach Kean were very workable and both were so willing to bend to allow Mitch to do this,” she said. “I know this couldn’t have been very easy on either of them having a player not exclusively out for their sport. But they made it work.”

It’s was Mitch’s talent as a quarterback that changed Kean’s mind of two-sport players.

“In a perfect world, I would only want my football players to concentrate on football in the fall,” said Kean. “But I told Mitch this year that if he took me up on my offer to play football and made a commitment to the team, we could work it out and I think he upheld his part of the bargain.”

Not only did Kelly flourish for the Anamosa football team, passing for almost 300 yards in a wild contest hosting Maquoketa this past season, but stayed as the leader for the Raider cross country team as well.

“As the season went along I could feel myself losing ground in cross country though,” said Mitch. “That bothered me too. I wanted to be at state this year after coming so close last year, but doing both sports was just taking its toll.”

Kelly knew there was going to be a price playing both sports.

“Of all the sports I do, football has always been my favorite and to not do it, even with me not having the cross country season I had hoped, I would have looked back and regretted not playing football,” he said. “I have no regrets about playing both sports. What I do have is plenty of great memories.”

For the football season, Kelly finished with 666 passing yards overall and was third in class 3A district 5 with 649 passing yards and was second with 60 completions while claiming a district all-academic honor.

“I didn’t want Mitch taking up a spot on either roster that could have gone to someone else,” said Scott. “But that wasn’t the case with football or cross country. I know I appreciate the sacrifices the coaches made for him. Not a lot of schools would allow this but everyone here made it work for Mitch.”

Three times during the course of the fall, Kelly competed in a cross country meet followed by a football game on the same evening.
“That was tough,” said Mitch who ra
n meets at Cascade, Mount Vernon and Monticello while playing football the same night at Anamosa, Clear Creek-Amana and DeWitt, respectively. “Getting my legs back for the football games were the toughest part, but I was so jacked up to play, it didn’t bother me at the time.
Then next mornings I usually felt it though.”

Mitch credits his brothers Josh and Colten for making him the athlete he is today.

“They’ve beaten up on me a lot over the years,” said Mitch. “We compete at just about everything. I’ve always felt I was the third-best athlete in the family behind my two brothers.”

Mitch’s parents admit Josh and Colten are also very proud of what their brother has accomplished in his senior year at Anamosa.

“There’s no question about that,” said Holly. “It’s been a pretty amazing year.”

Mitch helped the football team rebound from an 0-9 campaign in 2005 to a 2-7 mark this past fall while also guiding the Raider cross country team to a runner-up finish in the Tri-Rivers Conference.

“Doing both sports is pretty much what I expected it would be like,” said Mitch. “I would go from cross country practice to football or sometimes go from football to cross country practice and run on my own. It wasn’t any more work than I expected, it actually was a lot of fun.”

Following his brother Colten, a two-sport star last spring in golf and track, Mitch has made his own mark on Raider athletics, one no one will soon forget.

Colten Kelly only Anamosa athlete ever to compete at state track and golf

ANAMOSA — It takes a pretty special athlete to be able to compete at a state level of high school athletics, but when descibing Anamosa’s Colten Kelly, the word special doesn’t quite cover what the Raider junior was able to accomplish this past spring.

Incredible, amazing, astonishing, mind boggling!

Those words might come a little closer to describing Kelly’s brilliant spring becoming the first Anamosa High School athlete ever to play at the state level in track and golf in the same season.

“It was a great ride,” said Colten who set Anamosa High School high jump records coming out of nowhere to compete at the state’s highest level all while keeping his obligation to the Raider boys’ golf team helping them to the state level as well. “I started the season playing only golf but my friends and track coach Wes Wilson thought I should give high jump a try just to see how it goes.”

Kelly showed up at a track practice last April and immediately set a school record jumping 6’5’’. The old school reocrd of 6’4’’ had last 22 years until Kelly showed up at a track practice last April and immediately set a school record jumping 6’5’’. The old school record of 6’4’’ had lasted 22 years until Kelly showed up.

“I saw him in middle school and saw him in basketball and saw how he’d grown and just put two and two together and asked him if he was interested in at least giving the high jump a try,” said Wilson, who was amazed by Colten’s quick success in the track event. “After he cleared 6’5’’ at practice, I knew right then we had to talk to his golf coach and work this out. There aren’t many kids in the entire state who can do what he did that night and he just got better and better too.”

Kelly won every high jump event he entered and splashed onto the state scene with his sensational performance at the Drake Relays last April.

“That was kind of his coming out party,” said Wilson. “He jumped third at Drake clearing 6’7’’ and all of a sudden, everyone knew everything about him.”

Drake and state were the only events Kelly didn’t win, but he plans on changing that this spring.
“I came close last year and this year I want to win Drake and state as well as every other high jump event I get in,” he said. “That’s my goal anyway. Hopefully I can get that done.”

As Kelly’s high jump success soared last spring, his golf game began to suffer, by his standards.

“That frustrated me too,” he said. “That’s actually why I even gave track a try. My golf game was making me so mad, I was about ready to give it up.”

But Anamosa boys golf coach Brad Mangler assured Kelly he had a spot reserved on the team even with his demanding high jump schedule.

“The key to the whole thing was Colten’s dedication to both sports,” said Mangler. “He was dedicated to working on his golf game when he had to miss practice and it was the same when he couldn’t make track practice and he’d the find time on his own to jump. He took both sports very seriously and that’s what, in my mind, made this work.”

Colten’s high jump success also surprised his parents, Scott and Holly Kelly.

“He had a little success at middle school, but nothing that could compare to what he did last spring,” said Holly, who herself was a standout track star in high school at Waterloo Columbus helping her 4x800 team to a state title in 1982 while also helping the Sailor girls basketball team to a state tournament berth. “His success just blew us away.”

As the spring season went along, Colten began to slowly gain more and more confidence in his golf game while also balancing his high jump duties.

“By the end he was practicing more golf and it helped him a lot,” said Mangler. “By the time he was with us at the state meet, he was back on his game and counted for a third-place state team. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

By the end of the high jump season, Colten was also at his peak jumping 6’9’’ at the state meet in Des Moines, setting yet another school record and captivated a Drake Stadium crowd with his one-on-one battle against eventual 3A state champion senior Marc Meierotto, of Fort Madison.

“Watching Colten jump at state was incredible,” said Scott. “It gave us chills watching the whole stadium get into the battle he was having trying to win a state title.”

Colten had little time to enjoy the state track experience, leaving Des Moines Thursday, May 18, traveling to Marion the very next morning where he competed in a pressure-filled 3A district golf meet with state berths on the line.

“That was a wild couple of days,” said Colten. “I’m not sure how much I helped my team at districts, but I was there doing my best. I did a little better at state. That was a blast.”

Colten’s high jump success has also garnered him plenty of attention from college track coaches.

“I’ve received a lot of letters from college programs from all over the country expressing interest in Colten and his high jumping ability,” said Wilson. “With what he’s jumping already as a sophomore, he would do well at the college level. And he’s still got two more years to go.”

Colten has received letters from Iowa, Iowa State, Florida, Notre Dame, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Purdue, Duke, Harvard and Princeton, just to name a few.

“I haven’t thought too much about college just yet,” said Colten. “I’m flattered by all the attention, but I have another year yet before I really need to figure out what I’m going to do and where I’m going to go.”

Not to be lost in all the track and golf success, Colten is also an accomplished basketball player having spent the summer playing on the Iowa 16-under select team that toured the midwest and even traveled to a huge tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Basketball has always been my favorite sport,” said Colten. “But it might not be what I do at the college level. We’ll just have to see how everything plays out.”

Anamosa sports fans can’t wait to watch as things play out as well!