ANAMOSA — It’s been a work in progress for the Raider football team all fall long, but Friday, September 22, in front of a packed home crowd, Anamosa coach Jeff Kean unleashed a prolific passing attack at Maquoketa that amassed a whopping 347 yards through the air.

“We did exactly what we had hoped to do against them,” said Kean after the Raiders were handed a wild 55-26 setback at the hands of the Cardinals.

“Coming in we thought we could have some success through the air and I thought Mitch and Kyle did a nice job throwing the football. The only thing was, we couldn’t stop their ground game.”

ANAMOSA — Normally, the Raider cross country team plays host to just one invitational a year at beautiful Central Park in rural Jones County.

That regular Anamosa Invitational was Saturday, September 23, as the Raiders played host to some of the top teams in the state.

But more than just hosting their annual meet, Anamosa coach Phil Kauder was doing something else. Making sure his club is ready for the Tri-Rivers Conference meet the team hosts Thursday, October 12, at this very same locale.

“No question the conference meet is the one we really want to be ready for and this race at Central Park hosting our invitational was a nice warm-up for that meet right back here in a few weeks,” said Kauder after his girls’ club finished a solid third at the 12-team meet scoring 106 points and the boys sixth with a 146-point total.

“But for us to be competitive at the conference meet, we’re going to have to be much more competitive as individuals to make our teams better. We need to attack the race like the first meet effort both teams gave.”

Cammy Dole paced the Anamosa girls finishing sixth overall in the 59-runner race posting a time of 17:23 while Kayla Sanborn added a solid 18:06 clocking which was good enough for 17th overall. Katie Grassi also turned in a nice effort after she crossed the finish line with a time of 18:23 that placed her 20th.

Brittney May and sister Chelsea posted near identical times as Brittney was 31st with a 19:16.22 clocking while Chelsea crossed in 19:16.56 as both dashed to the finish.

Katie VonMuenster was 42nd with a 20:02.37 effort.

Monticello claimed the girls’ team title scoring just 36 points to blow past runner-up Solon’s 71-point effort. Mount Vernon (137 points), East Central-Preston (144), Central DeWitt (157), Cedar Rapids Jefferson (159) and Springville (272) rounded out the team scoring. Runners from Andrew, Cascade, Central City and Midland also competed but did not field full teams.

Mitch Kelly paced the Raider boys’ effort placing 16th with a time of 19:18 while Chris Miller added a 19:35 clocking and was 24th overall in the 57-runner event.

Justin Cook crossed the finish line on the wet and overcast day 27th with a time of 19:45 while Ryan Dolan scored with a 20:16 effort that was good enough for 35th at the meet.

Mike Nissen (20:50) and Kenny Beadle (22:20) were 44th and 47th, respectively.

Central DeWitt claimed the boys’ Anamosa team title scoring 65 points to edge past runner-up Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s 68-point total.

Monticello was third with 74 points while Mount Vernon (79) and Solon (146) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Midland (207) and Andrew (241) placed seventh and eighth, respectively.

Leading the Raider JV boys was Jacob Schwaegler after a 21:39 clocking earned him a 14th-place finish while Brice Antons (22:22), James Bowers (23:36), David Koenig (23:48) and Max Etten (24:11) were 26th, 48th, 51st and 54th, respectively.

Rebecca Moyer topped Anamosa JV girls runners with her time of 21:16 that placed her 17th overall with Steph Vernon adding a 21:41 clocking and 23rd place finish.

Ashton Darrow (22:08), Becca Loy (22:40) and Ashley Frasher (22:44) were 28th, 33rd and 34th, respectively.

“We scored team points with five out of the six possible teams here,” said Kauder. “We haven’t had numbers like that to place so many as teams in quite some time. Cammy, Kayla, Katie Grassi and Mitch all earned medals.”

Anamosa’s middle school program continues to excel as Kellie Vaughn claimed the middle school girls’ title with a time of 13:41 in the 44-runner race while teammates Brianne Cook and Rachel Schepanski were third and fourth with times of 14:01 and 14:26, respectively.

Desiree Christiansen also added another top-10 finish for the Anamosa middle school girls posting a time of 14:45 which was good enough for eighth.

Erin Day finished 18th with a time of 15:36 while Courtney Dole (16:13), Jamie Carpenter (19:05) and Jenah Vandersall (19:43) were 24th, 39th and 42nd, respectively.

Tyler Day and Zack Fortune turned in excellent performances for the middle school boys placing second and seventh overall in the 36-runner event.

Day posted a time of 13:22 while Fortune added a solid 14:17 clocking.

“When you score it out for the middle school girls, they win the team title,” said Kauder. “Tyler and Zack ran great races too and if they would have had a few more teammates running with them, would have been a high finish as well. The middle school runners got us off to a great start at our home meet. I’m not sure what happened with the high school runners later in the morning, but we’re going to be working at picking up the pace at these next few meets.”

ANAMOSA — A competitive tournament environment hosting some of the area’s top teams gave a young Anamosa volleyball team all they could handle and more as the Raiders posted a 1-4 record overall and finished sixth in the round-robin six-team invitational.

Anamosa (3-13, 0-3) opened their own tournament Saturday, September 23, early in the morning with a 12-21, 16-21 loss at the hands of Tri-Rivers Conference foe North Linn. “I was happy with how we played in the morning matches,” said Anamosa volleyball coach Angie Lawrence. “We gave a good North Linn team a run for their money and beat Belle Plaine playing our best volleyball of the tournament.”

Katelyn Jamison led the Raider offense with three kills converting on 6-of-9 attacks. Kandis Bieber added a pair of kills while Alison Yanda, Bryn Gerber and Maisie Timp all chipped in with one kill each.

“It’s nice how things can just come together like this,” said Lawrence. “We talked and played some spirited volleyball and beat a team that would wind up placing third overall.”

Against eventual tournament champion Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Anamosa was handed a 16-21, 9-21 defeat.

Jamison was busy at the offensive net with four kills with Timp and Yanda each adding two more.

Gerber set seven assists while Allison Walshire tallied three digs.

Anamosa battled Olin next and were edged in a 18-21, 9-21 final against the Lions.

Yanda led the offense with three kills with Bieber adding two more. Gerber set six assists while Arensdorf and Walshire tallied two service aces each.

The final match of the day for the hosts saw a 12-21, 10-21 loss against Solon.

Bieber tallied the only two kills in the match for the Raiders.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson won the round robin tournament posting a 5-0 record overall while Solon (4-1), Belle Plaine (2-3), Olin (2-3), North Linn (1-4) and Anamosa (1-4) rounded out the standings.

Anamosa traveled to Monticello Tuesday, September 19, and were handed a 12-25, 16-25, 16-25 loss at the hands of the Panthers in Tri-Rivers Conference action.

MILES — After a week of struggles on the volleyball court, Olin coach Hilary Sauer knew exactly how to motivate her team looking to get back in the winning track in the Big East Conference at East Central Tuesday, September 19.

“We got off to a slow start and I told the girls during a time out that if we won, we wouldn’t have practice the next day,” she said as her team grabbed hold of the added incentive and rolled past the Raiders in a 25-16, 25-20, 25-15 final. “I’d say it worked out pretty well. Our communication was excellent and we were moving all over floor and covering so much ground, we made everything tough on East Central all match long.”

Olin (9-9, 3-2) was led by Kalli Hansen’s 11 kills converting on 21-of-26 attacks at the offensive net. She also tallied 17 digs and fired in four service aces. Jackee Butteris added four kills to go with four assists, three service aces drilling 15-of-16 at the Raiders. while Danielle Frederick chipped in with three kills.

Roxanne Stolte played a fine all-around match with two kills, six digs, 15 assists and two solo blocks.

Olin kept the Big East Conference winning ways going Thursday, September 21, rolling to a 25-18, 25-15, 23-23 sweep at Clinton Prince of Peace.

“There’s something about making bus trips that our girls seem to like,” said Sauer. “I think we might start making some bus trips for our home matches too if it helps us win.”