Metro Sports Report

Xavier down, Wash looks to Linn-Mar

The 10th-ranked Washington Warriors took care of Xavier in a hurry Tuesday night. Now they can think about top-ranked Linn-Mar, their next opponent Friday night.

"I've been thinking about Linn-Mar this whole year," said Washington senior Josh Oglesby. "We're excited to play them and we're just excited they're still No.1 in the state.

"To be the best you've got to beat the best, and Friday night we get a chance to do that on our home court."

Washington ticked off 18 straight points in the first half Tuesday and cruised to a 55-39 victory over the Saints in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Xavier.

Indians pound Waterloo Columbus

MARION -- Waterloo Columbus Coach John Holmes said he couldn't understand why his team started out so sluggish against the Marion Indians Tuesday night. Then he answered his own question.

"They're a very good team," Holmes said. "They play a real aggressive halfcourt man-to-man defense that caused way too many turnovers for our guys."

Indeed, the Sailors had seven turnovers in the first quarter alone, falling behind 15-3. Then they committed five more before taking a shot in the second quarter, had three others before the half and trailed by 20.

Marion, meanwhile, methodically scored almost at will on steals and layups to take an easy 63-27 Wamac Conference West Division win at Marion.

Warrior swimmers drown Kennedy

It was senior night for Kennedy’s Christian McKee and the Kennedy stands were filled with fans. A line of dyed blonde heads on both teams made swimmers indistinguishable -- until they hit the water. From that point on, eighth-ranked Washington dominated Kennedy, 125-45.

Washington seniors Brian Kopec and Scott Allison, junior Morgan Barnes and sophomore Josh Hughes led the team with two individual wins each. Chandler Heisler was the sole winner for Kennedy, winning the 50 yard freestyle in 22.83.

Despite the one sided result, these in-town meets are something that the athletes look forward to.

“It’s always fun to have in-town meets. We meet at Wash and carpool over here. These are the meets we all truly enjoy,” said Kopec.

Sometimes, the fun comes from getting to compete in events the swimmers don’t normally swim.

Roloff retiring as teacher, not sure if he'll coach

Dennis Roloff has decided to retire as a teacher at Kennedy High School and said Monday he "more than likely" will retire as the girls basketball and boys track coach as well.

Roloff, 57, applied Monday for the early-retirement package being offered by Cedar Rapids Community Schools and said he's leaning "60-40" toward retiring as a coach.

"I'll sit down with my activities director (Aaron Stecker) and talk to him about it," Roloff said Monday after basketball practice. "I've already kind of told him no."

Roloff said he's not comfortable with the idea of being a coach without also being a teacher at Kennedy, but made it clear he has not resigned from coaching at this point.

"I feel like you miss out on a lot when you're not at the school and seeing the girls every day," he said. "I felt all along that if I retired from teaching, I will probably be retiring from coaching also. But I'm having a good time with the coaching part yet."

Roloff has wrestled with his decision to retire from teaching -- and maybe coaching -- for several weeks. Monday was the deadline for applying for early retirement at the school district office, and he beat the deadline by about two hours Monday afternoon.

"I ran it down during sixth period and hand-delivered it," he said.