MANCHESTER— The forecast was supposed to be storms in the Manchester area Monday, May 7.

It wasn’t the weather making the news at the girls’ Tri-Rivers Conference tournament, it was the play of the Anamosa girls golf team as the Raiders stormed to a league championship turning in a whopping five scores in the league top-11 overall while also placing three in the top-6.

“We came out with our best foot forward and showed just how good this group of girls can play the game,” said Anamosa girls golf coach Andrew Buck after his club blizted through the 12-team Tri-Rivers Conference field turning in a phenomenal 396 team-score to win the championship by a whopping 24 strokes. “Five out of our six girls placed in the top-11 out of the entire field of 65 golfers. Our sixth golfer, Lauren Herren, played better than half of the field. This is, by far, the best golf we’ve played all year and we did it on one of the toughest courses in the area.”

The meet was Anamosa’s from the start as the rest of the league field made a mad dash for second with Monticello edging out Starmont for the runner-up conference tournament honor.

The Panthers shot a 420 while the Stars made their way through the 18-hole tournament with a 421 team score.

“I told the girls not to focus on distance on this course but hitting soft, accurate shots at targets around the course,” said Buck. “They executed the shots and played a good all-around game.”

Ryann Pratt, Jordan Bickford and Paige Goetz all earned first-team all-conference honors turning in sensational rounds of golf to lead the Raider team.

“Ryann surprised the field,” said Buck as Pratt carded a phenomenal 96 (47-49) shooting the second-best score of the entire tournament. “She finished third after a two-hole playoff.”

Daily fired a 98 (49-49) and claimed fifth in the conference while Goetz was sixth after also making her way through the course with a 98 (49-49).

DELHI— One of the jewels of the 2007 Anamosa track season has been the performance of the Raiders’ distance medley team.

Thursday, May 3, during the biggest meet to date for Becca Loy, Christy Coons, Kayla Sanborn and Cammy Dole, the foursome put four sensational splits together to not only post a season-best clocking at the Tri-Rivers Conference meet hosted by Maquoketa Valley in Delhi, but also claimed the Anamosa girls track team their lone conference championship.

“Everyone ran great legs and it was that combination that helped us to this championship,” said Anamosa girls track coach Phil Kauder after his distance medley team posted a phenomenal 4:25.80 clocking that bested the league field by a whopping four seconds over runner-up Monticello. “We had personal-bests from a few events at this meet and had some solid times and throws.”

ANAMOSA— It would have been easy for the Anamosa boys soccer team to have gotten a little over-confident Wednesday, May 2, as the Blue Raiders hosted the Red Raiders from Williamsburg.

Anamosa (6-5) completely dominated the match barely giving the visitors a glimpse at their goal, but as opportunity after opportunity began to slip away for the hosts, focus, drive and desire took over as Blue topped Red on the soccer field in a match that was nowhere near as close as the final score indicated.

“We could have gotten frustrated with the way things were going but we never let all those missed scoring opportunities bother us,” said Raider boys soccer coach Dr. Mike Weston after his team blew past Williamsburg in a 3-1 final.“We were on attack-mode from the outset but had so many great looks at their goal just go either wide from one side to another or over the top of the goal. It was disappointing not to score more than we actually did in the first half, but we never let it get us down either and that’s what I was happy to see. We kept attacking and kept putting the pressure on Williamsburg’s defense and eventually, it all paid off.”

The Red Raiders answered the Anamosa goal with one of their own at the 30-minute mark of the first half to knot the score.

The Blue Raiders, reeling after the stunning Williamsburg tally, wasted little time in taking control of the match once again as the team moved quickly and decisively down the field with Mueller firing in a shot past the Red Raider keeper a mere two minutes after the visitors had scored.

“That proved to be a very big goal for us,” said Weston. “I was getting a little worried about our stamina this being our second game in two days but when we answered their goal with one of our own to take the lead back so quickly, that re-energized us right when we needed it.”

Anamosa held that precarious 2-1 lead at the half and continued with their onslaught in the second half as well as keeping the ball on the Williamsburg defensive end almost the entire half.

DELHI— You could almost see it building as they’ve gained more and more confidence finishing high at powerful meets packed with talented teams.

There’s no mistaking what the Anamosa boys track team has accomplished already this year putting one of the most competitive teams on the field in recent memory, but even the Raiders outdid themselves Thursday, May 3 competing at their final Tri-Rivers Conference track meet hosted by Maquoketa Valley in Delhi.

“Everyone knew coming in Monticello was going to be the team to beat,” said Anamosa boys track coach Wes Wilson who has turned the Raider boys track program around in recent years. “The race was going to be for second and that’s pretty much the way it played out. We wanted it and we got it with some pretty good efforts from not only our field events, who have been scoring for us all season long, but all over the roster. We had guys step up and run well. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the Tri-Rivers Conference giving them one of our best league performances in a while.”

Monticello ran away with the Tri-Rivers Conference boys team title scoring an impressive 116 points, but Anamosa impressed as well settling in for a solid second scoring 81 points topping third-place Alburnett by 14 points.

“This team has been gaining more and more confidence as the season has progressed and we kept it going here,” said Wilson.

While the Raider boys claimed no conference championships on the evening, Anamosa did place as league runner-ups in a whopping eight events which keyed the team’s success.

Colten Kelly flew second in the high jump and long jump clearing 6’ 4” and 20’ 11”, respectively while Aaron Beadle was runner-up in the shot put after his 49’ 4 1/2” toss
Nate Vaughn was second in the 3200 meter run (10:43.31) as well as the 1600 (4:46.42) and 800 (2:02.41) earning the rare trifecta in track’s three most brutal distance events.

“Nate is a battler,” said Wilson. “He’s up for every challenge put in front of him and he had some big ones running those three races.”

Anamosa’s sensational 4x800 team also scored a league runner-up showing after Greg Vernon, Mitch Hewitt, Justin Cook and Brady Vaughn together tallied a time of 8:28.43.

Brady Vaughn turned in a stellar final 800 anchor leg posting a 2:01.40 clocking to bring the Raiders home in the event.

Anamosa’s 1600 medley team also finished as Tri-Rivers runners-up after Tucker Vondracek, Jason Breon, Vernon and Brady Vaughn combined to run a 3:48.63.

“That’s doing some serious scoring in quite a few running events against some tough competition,” said Wilson. “And once again we placed in six of eight in the field events too. That’s also getting it done.”

Beadle threw third in the discus after a 131’ 10” effort while Josh English also scored points in the event as his 129’ toss was good enough for fourth in the league.

Breon flew sixth in the high jump clearing the bar at 5’ 10”.

Kelly went back to work for the Raiders in the 400 meter hurdles and though unfamiliar with the event, still placed fifth after a time of 1:00.29.

Anamosa’s 4x200 team of Vondracek, Kaleb Kilburg, Spencer Davis and Breon were fifth after tallying a time of 1:40.47.

Vondracek, Kilburg, Kelly and Breon combined for a 48.00 clocking in the 4x100 race and the effort was good enough for fifth.

Anamosa topped Alburnett (67 points), Maquoketa Valley (59), Center Point-Urbana (51), Starmont (50), North Linn (45), Central City (33), Ed-Co (32), Cascade (13), East Buchanan (8) and Springville (3) at the Tri-Rivers meet.

The Anamosa boys prepped for their conference performance Tuesday, May 1, competing in Marion where the Raiders placed sixth in the 16-team meet scoring 35.3 points overall.

The Indians claimed their own meet title edging Monticello by tallying 95 points to the Panthers’ 90.

“Some very good competition here,” said Wilson. “This will give us a good read as to where we are when districts roll around and if we want to get more than one or two events to state, we’re going to need to step it up and very soon.”

Kelly claimed the lone title on the evening winning the high jump event after flying 6’ 4” while also scoring points for his team in the long jump soaring 20’ 1/2” which was good enough for third in the event.

“The field has been catching up to Colten a bit in the high jump lately,” said Wilson. “He’s got a lot going on and just hasn’t had the time to concentrate on jumping doing golf and basketball as well this spring. Jumping 6’ 4” isn’t what he likes, but it’s is still something pretty special and I know when the big district meet comes around next week, he’ll step up to the big stage and turn in a great performance.”

Nate Vaughn ran to a second-place finish in the 800 meter run after making his way around the Marion track in the event with a time of 2:02.49. He was also third in the 1600 meter run crossing the finish line in 4:41.10.

Beadle unleashed his personal-best throw in the shot put and became the first Anamosa boys track star since Joe Beadle, Aaron’s father, to surpass the 50-foot plateau after his sensational 50’ 5 1/2” effort at Marion.

“Here’s another kid who has really turned it up as the season has been winding down,” said Wilson. “Aaron is now starting to consistently throw 50-foot tosses and if he can get that done and districts and then hopefully, state, he’ll be right there among the very best in class 3A.”

Beadle’s heave, which hasn’t been seen at Anamosa since his dad was throwing 50-plus feet on a regular basis for the Raiders 30 years ago, scored Anamosa fourth-place points in he event.

“That just goes to show how tough the competition was at this meet,” said Wilson. “Aaron’s working hard and improving and that’s what we want to see.”

Breon also scored more field event points for the Raider boys placing sixth in the high jump after his 5’ 8” effort.

The Anamosa 4x800 team of Hewitt, Cook, Brady Vaughn and Nate Vaughn tallied a time of 8:43.53 which was good enough to place sixth.

“We struggled in some events here,” said Wilson. “In others we did alright. We want to save our best though for districts Friday night at Manchester.”

The Raiders defeated Maquoketa (32), Central DeWitt (31), Western Dubuque (25), Center Point-Urbana (24), West Delaware (22.3), North Linn (17), Solon (16), Benton Community (15.3), Vinton-Shellsburg (12) and Maquoketa Valley (3).

ANAMOSA— Playing without one of their team leaders and goal scoring threats hosting their annual tournament Saturday, May 5, the Anamosa girls soccer team entertained Center Point-Urbana and Independence in a round-robin style invitational.

“Independence was the team to beat and they came in and beat us and Center Point-Urbana,” said Raider girls soccer coach Jim Conklin. “They beat us 5-1 to take the title after earlier beating CP-U in a 3-2 final.”

Anamosa (0-5) battled all game long in their opener bright and early Saturday morning falling against Center Point-Urbana in a narrow 2-0 final.

“Both Center Point-Urbana and Independence are are strong teams,” said Conklin. “The Lady Raiders made a good showing on the field, never giving up and taking shots on goal as the opportunity occurred.”

After watching the Mustangs defeat CP-U in a 3-2 final, the Raider girls took the field once again and were handed a 5-1 defeat.

“Indee clearly controlled this game and once they scored their second goal their coaches pulled their top two players off their field,” said Conklin. “That made this a much more pleasant game to watch.”

Aly Budzine, Annie Fangman, Toni Robinson, Jennie Hickey and Ali Breitsprecher all scored goals for the Mustangs while Brittney May ripped a shot past the Independence keeper for the lone Anamosa score on the day.

Katie VonMuenster tallied the assist on May’s goal.

“This was a tough game but I had to thank my team afterwards for holding their heads high,” said Conklin. “They never gave up and had six shots on goal throughout the final game.”

VonMuenster dribbled the ball up the right side of the field and through the Independence defense finding May with a looping pass down the line.

May took control of the ball from there breaking to the Mustang net from the right.

“Brittney turned in from the 18 to shoot and found the upper corner of the net in the game’s 75th minute,” said Conklin. “It was a beautiful play started by our defensive captain leading to one of our top offensive players.”

Grassi also saw a lot of action tending the Anamosa net making 40 saves in the second half alone as the Raiders played both games without the services of Bryn Gerber.

Brittney May and Kula led the Anamosa offense with two shots each at the Independence net while Darrow and Bieber added one more each for the Raider girls.