MOUNT VERNON — Coming into their meet at Mount Vernon Friday, October 6, Anamosa cross country coach Phil Kauder was a little concerned about the mind-set of his girls’ team.

But after a memorable effort on a beautiful night to run at the Hillcrest Country Club, the Raiders put Kauder’s fears to rest taking home the team title with a sensational 30-point performance.

“We came into this meet confident that we could win it and when we learned Solon wouldn’t be running, when we originally thought they were, I was a bit worried we might have been too over-confident coming in,” said Kauder as the Anamosa girls posted their first meet team title for the school in more than 20 years. “I’m not sure exactly when the last time something like this has happened here at Anamosa, but the one thing we do know it’s been quite some time. The girls should be very proud of themselves for what they accomplished. I think they even surprised themselves with this performance.”

Anamosa topped meet runner-up Vinton-Shellsburg was 19 points as the Vikings tallied 49 points with the host Mustangs taking third overall with a 79-point total.

Springville was fifth with 109 points while English Valley and East Buchanan runners also took part in the race.

“This is the kind of running I’d like to see out of the girls on a regular basis,” said Kauder.

“They all went out hard and gave it their all and at the finish, had a little extra sprint and spring in their steps.”

TIFFIN — The similarities just looking at the Anamosa and Clear Creek-Amana football teams were obvious.

For one, both teams had the exact same school colors. Blue and White. Both teams were winless in class 3A district 5 looking for their first win Friday, October 6, as the Clippers hosted the Raiders in Tiffin. Finally, both teams played similar styles on the field, but when it all played out in front of a packed Homecoming Clear Creek-Amana crowd, the hosts tallied a big 21-7 triumph keeping Anamosa frustrated in the district.

“It was pretty easy to figure out looking back at this game what went wrong for us,” said Raider football coach Jeff Kean.

“We just had far too many dropped passes to be able to keep drives going and move closer to their end zone.

CAMANCHE — Playing the best brought out the best in the Olin volleyball team Thursday, October 5, as the Lions gave their all before falling at top Big East Conference foe Camanche.

“This might have been some of the best volleyball we’ve played all season long and you’d never know it by looking at the final score,” said Lion volleyball coach Hilary Sauer after her team was handed a 12-25, 12-25, 19-25 defeat at the hands of the Indians. “Even in those first two games, we were right there giving Camanche all they could ask for and more before late runs pulled them away for the wins. We were talking and moving and keeping each other pumped up and in the match. It was great volleyball to watch and I couldn’t have been more proud of the girls for that. Our court coverage was outstanding all match long.”

Olin (11-11, 5-3) was led by Kalli Hansen and her eight kills at the offensive net converting on 27-of-32 attacks.

ANAMOSA — With the 2006 volleyball season quickly winding to a close, Anamosa volleyball coach Angie Lawrence is working hard with her team looking for a spark hoping to close the Tri-Rivers Conference campaign on a positive note before the class 3A regional battles begin.

“It hasn’t been easy this year but this has been a great group of girls to work with and I do see some improvement from time to time in their play,” said Lawrence after her team hosted a talented Ed-Co team Tuesday, October 3. “We served the volleyball well and had more blocks at the net than we’ve had in a match all season long. That’s the kind of improvement we’re looking for. Things we work on hard in practice coming to play in the matches at night. Even though we lost this match in three straight games, we did some good things and made some progress as a team.”

Anamosa (4-16, 1-6) dropped an 8-25, 22-25, 17-25 final against the visiting Vikings but tallied 11 blocks at the defensive net to go with solid serving and timely offense.

“After that rough first game we really settled down and played much more like a team the rest of the way,” said Lawrence. “Our attack errors were very low for us and we did a nice job of setting up the offense putting our hitters in good positions to score. Ed-Co is just a very good team and dug up a lot of our hits. But we kept coming at them.”

Overall the Raiders tallied 14 kills with Katelyn Jamison pacing the hosts with six converting on 15-of-19 attacks offensively. Jamison also chipped in on the defensive side as well with a pair of blocks.

Bryn Gerber and Maisie Timp each slammed home three kills each for the Anamosa team with both players also blocking three shots.

Dakota Ahrendsen was also busy at the defensive net swatting back three shots at Viking hitters.

“That second game might very well have been the best game we’ve played all year,” said Lawrence. “What we want is that kind of play on a more consistent basis. I know we can do it and now is the time to find it.”

Gerber also set 10 assists and was 10-of-11 serving.

Anamosa traveled to Cascade Thursday, October 5, and were handed a tough 13-25, 17-25, 16-25 loss at the hands of the Cougars.

“Keilani, Kayla and Sammy all played well at the net.”

Kayla Thordsen slammed home four kills for the Eagles on just nine attacks at the net while Sammy Reid added another two making a play on the ball six times.

Walters also led the Midland defense blocking three Lion shots while Kristine Kouba and Kassidy Schroeder each added one stuff for the hosts.

Serving keyed the Midland win with Amanda Hansen drilling eight straight service points in the Eagles’ game-two rout while Reid closed out the game serving seven straight points. In game three Fowler served an amazing 13 straight points sending the packed crowd into a frenzy.

For the match, Hansen connected on 17-of-18 serves with six aces while Fowler was 14-of-14 with seven aces. Reid drilled 13-of-15 at the Lions from the service line with four more aces. Mickki Williams, Emily Kleinsmith and Natasha Yarolem all added one service ace each in the match.

Reid set nine assists while Yarolem added five more. Brandi Larkey chipped in with two assists.

Midland’s final regular season league contest at Preston Thursday, October 5, saw the Eagles swept in a surprising 19-25, 19-25, 18-25 final at the hands of the Trojans.