MOUNT VERNON — The tempo and timing for the Anamosa volleyball team was a little off Monday, October 23, as the Raiders had their 2006 season come to a close after a rough 4-25, 8-25, 10-25 setback at Mount Vernon in a class 3A regional quarter-final contest against the host Mustangs.

“There was a reason for that too,” said Anamosa volleyball coach Angie Lawrence after the three-game sweep closed the fall campaign for the Raiders with a 4-21 mark overall. “We had a couple of girls break team policy and they had to sit.”

The Raiders struggled from the opening serve against a tall and talented Mount Vernon team as the hosts built a huge 18-1 lead in the opening game setting an early tone for the visitors.

“We knew it was going to be a struggle coming in,” said Lawrence. “Even with our full roster this was going to be a challenging match against Mount Vernon but we were hoping for a bit of a better start than what we had.”

Mount Vernon’s tall front line hammered home points though the Raiders did dig up several hard hits and force points into longer rallies.

“I didn’t think we played as well as we could have,” said Lawrence. “But we did have our moments during this match. For the most part we really struggled, but we had so many new faces out on the floor we battled as much as our experience would let us.”

FAIRFIELD — Coming so close to a class 3A state cross country berth it actually hurt Thursday, October 19, competing at the regional meet in Fairfield, the Anamosa girls, while disappointed missing a trip to Fort Dodge by a mere 13 points, should be very proud of their effort.

“There were a lot of tears after the race, but these girls have nothing to be upset about,” said Raider cross country coach Phil Kauder after his girls’ team placed fourth at the loaded class 3A regional race scoring 119 points against some of the state’s top teams. “I think we proved to a lot of other teams and maybe even ourselves too that we are a pretty good team and deserve to be up there with the best in the state after this effort.”

Cedar Rapids Xavier, the No. 1 ranked team in class 3A, claimed the regional title running away from the field with a sensational 49-point total while No. 14 ranked Marion ran second and also secured a state team berth after the Indians tallied 71 points.

The battle was for the final coveted trip to Fort Dodge with the Raiders and host Fairfield, the No. 13 ranked team in the state.

“Fairfield is a state ranked team running on their home course and we were right there with them the whole way,” said Kauder as the Trojans edged Anamosa for the final berth to state tallying 106 points overall.

“What made me very proud was 13 of our 14 runners in the girls and boys races all set season-best times. That’s stepping up and meeting the challenge in the biggest race of the season and against some of the best competition we’ve seen as well. This was huge for our teams and huge for our program to make this kind of statement by our Raider girls at this kind of meet.”

Anamosa topped teams from Central DeWitt (180 points), Clear Creek-Amana (184), Mount Vernon-Lisbon (194), West Liberty (219), Maquoketa (220), Washington (229), Mount Pleasant (234), Fort Madison (258) and Keokuk (275).

“This was pretty much a four-team race for the top three spots to state and we came up just short,” said Kauder. “But that’s nothing to be disappointed about. We gave it our all.”

Leading the Raider charge as she has all fall long was Cammy Dole crossing the finish line at the regional race with a time of 16:21.

“She’s been the one everyone else has chased all season long and she turned in a great effort in what turned out to be our last meet of the year,” said Kauder as he started five freshmen, a sophomore and a senior at the regional. “We’re very young and becoming very good and we grew up a little more after this one.”

Sanborn ran second on the team and 19th overall at the 89-runner race posting a time of 16:44 while Grassi was 25th after finishing in 17:00.

“Our freshmen stepped up and ran great races,” said Kauder. “I guess I can’t complain when everyone but one runs a season-best.”

Chelsea and Brittney May were next to cross the finish line tallying times of 17:11 and 17:16 which were good enough for 29th and 32nd overall as the final two counting scores for the Raider girls.

“When we looked back at it and broke down the places and the times, if each girl could have passed two runners apiece, we’d be at state,” said Kauder. “It was just that close.”

Loy and Vernon crossed the finish line in Fairfield 74th and 77th with times of 19:27 and 19:38, respectively.

“Becca stepped in and ran very well for us in a tough spot filling in for Katie VonMuenster,” said Kauder. “She was sixth on the team and that’s where Katie has been most of this season too.
Steph was just three seconds off her best time too.”

Not only did the Anamosa girls’ team miss a trip to state by just 13 points, but Dole missed an individual trip to Fort Dodge by just 30 seconds as the top-10 individuals also are invited to the state race.

“Our 1-5 runner spread was the best it’s been all year and our average time of 16:55 was also the best we’ve had this season,” said Kauder. “Last year at the regional race we were 11th and this year moved all the way up to fourth. We plan on making it even higher next year.”

The Anamosa boys’ team placed ninth in the 13-team district scoring 241 points and topping Keokuk (278), Clear Creek-Amana (297), Washington (315) and Fort Madison (332).

Cedar Rapids Xavier claimed the boys’ district team title tallying 51 points while Mount Pleasant (86) and Mount Vernon-Lisbon (89) secured the final two team berths to the class 3A state meet.

“This district was just loaded with extremely talented teams,” said Kauder. “If we were running up in Oelwein at the other 3A district meet on this side of the state, we would have fared munch better.”

Mitch Kelly closed out his brilliant high school cross country career finishing 34th in Fairfield after a time of 17:42 while Justin Cook also ended his career in fine style crossing 39th with a 17:46 clocking.

Chris Miller was 49th closing out his cross country career with a time of 18:23 while Ryan Dolan was 54th finishing in 18:39.

Mike Nissen ran his final high school race in 19:13 and was 65th overall.

“We’ve got four seniors to try and replace next year and that’s going to be tough to do,” said Kauder. “Our four-horsemen have been good to us all season and they closed out their careers in style.”

Jacob Schwaegler ran 76th overall posting a time of 20:00 while Brice Antons added a 78th-place showing after his 20:04 effort.

“Once again, you can’t complain too much when every guy on the team runs a season-best time,” said Kauder. “The boys went out strong and ran well but just got tired as the race went along. What made he happy though was seeing them all tired at the end. They gave it their all and that’s all I can ask for.”

Marion (98) finished fourth at the district while Fairfield (117) was fifth, Central DeWitt (118) sixth, Maquoketa (204) seventh and West Liberty (209) eighth.

ANAMOSA — The road wasn’t kind to the Anamosa football team Friday, October 20, as the Raiders made the short trip down Highway 151 to face No. 5 ranked Marion.

“We knew coming in we were going to have to play more than a perfect game for us to even be able to compete in this one,” said Raider football coach Jeff Kean after his club was handed a 60-0 setback at the hands of the Indians. “We had a good week of practice and felt like we could at least give them a game. That never happened either.”

Anamosa (1-7, 0-6) struggled from the outset on the offensive and defensive sides of the football.

“You name it, we struggled with it,” said Kean as the Raiders managed just two first downs and 12 yards of total offense in the game. “Marion’s team speed was just too much for us to handle and they exposed that early on and never let up.”

The Indians wasted no time scoring on their first possession of the contest when Marion quarterback Josh Busenbark hit Alec Kiburz on a six-yard scoring strike at the 8:52 mark of the opening frame.

“They just made it look all too easy,” said Kean of the Indians’ performance. “They are the best team in the district without question.”

Four minutes later Marion was back at it again, when Allen Reisner hauled in a beautiful Busenbark pass on a play covering 37 yards.

“Defensively, we did some good things and had our kids in good positions to make plays,” said Kean. “But Marion is just so much bigger, faster and stronger than we are and that made the difference in a lot of their big plays.”

The Indians weren’t done with their first quarter scoring, taking the football and marching into the end zone for a third time in the opening 12 minutes when Busenbark hit Michael D’Hooge on a 20-yard pass that grew the Marion lead to 21-0.

“The kids were getting pretty frustrated with the way things were going,” said Kean. “We as coaches were too. We tried some trick plays offensively to get anything going and those didn’t work out for us either. We pulled out all the stops and Marion had the answers time and again.”

The second quarter wasn’t any more kind to the visitors as the Indians, playing their final regular season home game of the 2006 slate, ran up 26 points and led 47-0 at the half.

“It got to the point that we took this game and looked at it as a glorified practice,” said Kean. “We worked on some things and we got a lot of younger guys on the field to see what they could do. It turned out to be a pretty good thing in that respect but we’re not going to take much else away from this game.”

Cory Vacek ran 43rd at districts with a personal-best time of 19:28 that topped his old mark by 40 seconds.

Jason Vacek was 48th after a 19:33 clocking while Ryan Smith tallied a 21:10 effort and was 79th overall.

Jake Reilly posted a career-best time after finishing in 21:36 which was good enough for 85th overall while Alex Petersen and Zach Krotz rounded out the Eagle boys’ district effort finishing 101st and 103rd with times of 23:12 and 23:47, respectively.

Mary Burmeister led the Midland girls closing out her Midland cross country career running at Starmont posting a time of 17:48 which was good enough for 44th-place.

“Mary showed consistency with most of her meets compared to times from last year,” said Hagerman. “She ran hard and was a good leader showing her experience.”

Lindsay Eichhorn added a 20:29 clocking at the district race and finished 89th overall.

“Lindsay was close to beating her best time of the year,” said Hagerman. “She finished strong.”

Ashley Fecht took to the district course for the Midland girls and placed 97th overall after crossing the finish line with a time of 23:01.

“This was a great team to coach,” said Hagerman. “I enjoyed it very much and look forward to next season already. They are a good group of kids and it’s nice to have athletes who care and are excited about running.”

Gaining ground
Midland’s Alex Petersen (right) and Zach Krotz make their way through the 1A district course at Starmont High School finishing with times of 23:12 and 23:47, respectively. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski)