CEDAR RAPIDS — Like countless other kids all over the country, Jon Swisher grew up pretending he was a sports announcer broadcasting the Chicago Cubs winning a World Series title.

While the dream remains for his beloved Cubs to win a championship, broadcasting on the airwaves has become a reality for the former Anamosa High School graduate as he and former Midland High school grad Andy Petersen have become familiar voices to thousands in eastern Iowa on News Radio 600 WMT-AM in Cedar Rapids.

“I’ve wanted to get into radio as long as I can remember,” said Swisher who after graduating from Anamosa in 2001 attended Kirkwood Community College where he majored in media communications.

ANAMOSA— Even with holding a lead for most of the night hosting a talented Center Point-Urbana team Friday, January 26, the Anamosa boys basketball team couldn’t shake the pesky Pointers, but in the end, made the plays necessary to win.

“They beat us in their place and they are a tough match-up problem for us with their size,” said Raider boys basketball coach Kevin Barnes after his team pulled out a narrow 44-42 triumph over a CP-U team who had beaten Anamosa on their home floor last month in yet another tight contest that could have gone either way. “I always tell our kids stats are for losers. If we lose a game we tend to look at the stats and try and figure out why. I will tell you though, one stat was the reason we won this game.”

Anamosa (7-5, 7-4) limited the Pointers to seven offensive rebounds and with CP-U’s tremendous size advantage, the number played a big role in the home Tri-Rivers Conference triumph.

“Seven is still not a great number,” said Barnes. “We want it to be lower than that, but it is better than the 14 offensive rebounds they got on us the first time we played them. Add to it that we had 12 offensive rebounds ourselves, and this time stats are for winners.”

The fourth quarter played out much like the first three, with the two teams battling back and forth and trading big basket after big basket before the Raiders made the big plays in the closing seconds to win.

Trailing 36-34 early in the fourth quarter, Andrew Peters connected on a jumper to knot the score and then after a Tony Lueken field goal, Anamosa had a 38-36 lead with 5:40 remaining.

CP-U’s Kris Reed hit two free throws to tie the score up once again but after a two-minute scoring dry spell, Mitch Kelly gave the hosts a huge lift drilling a jumper that put the hosts ahead in a 40-38 score.

“Mitch hit two big three’s in the first half and hit that huge shot in the fourth quarter giving us the lead,” said Barnes. “CP-U ran a junk defense on us to try and take Colten and Tony out of the game and in an effort to do that, left other guys open, but you still have to hit the shots.”

Colten Kelly added two free throws at the 2:59 mark of the final frame and the Raiders had their biggest lead of the final frame, 42-38.

Micah Kulish hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Pointers with 2:46 left and after the two teams traded missed opportunities, it was the Pointers getting a huge shot from Aaron Zuck, who swished home a long 3-pointer to tie the score at 42-42 with just 36.5 ticks left on the clock.

Anamosa held for the final shot and Colten Kelly attacked the rim and was fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining.

The star Raider junior swished home both charity stripe shots and after a Reed 3-point heave rimmed off at the buzzer, Anamosa had their revenge win.“I’m really proud of our kids,” said Barnes. “I thought this was the best we’ve looked as a team all season long. We had some great passing and moved the ball very well doing and good job of finding the open man. We had 13 assists and only seven turnovers. I also thought this was our best defensive effort of the season so far. CP-U’s two big kids combined for 34 of their 42 points the first time we played them, this time we held them to 20.”

Colten Kelly led a balanced Raider attacked offensively scoring 14 points, 10 coming in the second half when his team needed him the most.

Lueken and Mitch Kelly chipped in with eight points each while Adam Andreesen and Drew Carrier tallied six points each for the hosts.

“As always it was a team effort, but tonight two seniors really stood out,” said Barnes. “Mitch and Drew came up big. Mitch with his three’s and big second half basket and Drew hitting three buckets in the first half. Those two kids made plays tonight that were just big.”

DAVENPORT— It wasn’t too long ago when trips home from the Davenport North Dual tournament seemed extra long after a long day of wrestling saw the Raiders leave without a dual triumph.

Not anymore!

The Anamosa wrestling team made their annual trek to Davenport North Saturday, January 27, and this time left town with three wins in four duals on the day.

“It wasn’t just the fact that we were able to win three duals over some pretty good teams at this tournament, but we won in the clutch too as most of the day saw some pretty tight wrestling and for the most part, we stepped up and met the challenge.”

The Raiders tallied wins over perennial power Davenport Assumption as well as Davenport North and Dubuque Senior.

Only Muscatine was able to get the best of the Anamosa wrestlers at the dual tournament.

“Muscatine was the class of the meet,” said Timp.

ANAMOSA — The gym was jumping at Anamosa High School Saturday, January 27, as the Raider Dance/Cheer teams hosted the first annual A-Town Showdown to a overflowing and enthusiastic crowd who enjoyed the many different dance and cheer teams who made their way from all over the state to compete.

“The first-ever A-Town Showdown was a huge success,” said Anamosa High School cheer coach Christina Ditch who with Raider dance coach Amanda Gile organized the event. “Many teams participated and it was a great turnout. There were so many kind people speaking kind words about the event and the campers were just the icing on the cake.”

The Anamosa dance and cheer teams hosted a camp for youth competitors earlier in the day and the dozens who took part also were able to strut their stuff on the big stage.

ANAMOSA— It may not have earned the Raider girls basketball team any points for style, but coach Jack Leighty didn’t mind one bit that his team scored a miniscule 23 points in four brutal quarters of play Friday, January 26.

All the Anamosa bench boss cared about was that his team scored more than visiting Center Point-Urbana to take a big Tri-Rivers Conference triumph.

“This was a defensive battle all game long,” said Leighty as his team won the slugfest with the Pointers in a wild 23-19 final. “I don’t care if we win 4-2, a win is a win any way you can get it and while this one may have been pretty ugly to some, it was a win and that’s all that matters.”

Anamosa (8-10, 7-6) moved a game above the .500 mark in league play with the triumph over CP-U and it was stellar defense by the hosts that keyed the victory according to Leighty.

“It’s not easy to hold a team to just 23 points,” he said. “CP-U did a great job on the defensive end of the floor as well, but we were just a little bit better. We needed to be too. This was a very, very physical game and the refs were really letting the girls play out there and instead of getting frustrated with the lack of calls going our way or with getting shoved around by a physical team trying to take us out of our game, we responded and I am very proud of the girls for doing just that.”

The scoring troubles started immediately after the opening tip and continued all game long as the Raiders went scoreless for the game’s first five minutes before Traci Dirks finally broke the lid that seemed to be covering the Anamosa hoop.

“It was a struggle, that’s for sure,” said Leighty. “But thankfully, CP-U struggled even more than we did and I think the way we played defense had something to do with those shooting struggles.”

The game went scoreless until the four minutes remained in the first frame when the visitors finally put the basketball through the hoop.

Anamosa answered with Dirks scoring a three-point play and at the first quarter horn, the hosts led 5-4.

“I think I could tell right then and there this was going to be a very low scoring game,” said Leighty. “It was just one of those nights. I’d much rather look ugly and win than look pretty and lose.”