This is New Years Eve and on this last day of 2009, we would like to remember some of the big sports stories from around the area.
-First in basketball, IMS met Prince of Peace in the sub-state round and earned a trip to Des Moines where they beat Ventura in the opening round but lost to Rocky Valley in the semis 61-54. Rock Valley went on to win the title going away in the final.
-The Washington Demon girls basketball team used wins over Mount Pleasant and Mount Vernon to reach the regional final coming one game short of making the state tournament in a loss to Keokuk.
– In track and field, Washington’s Cassey Negrete running at the state meet finished fourth in the 400 meter dash and took 3rd in the 400 meter hurdles. The Demon 4×4 team finished third at state. Mid-Prairie’s Tanner Miller took third in the 110 high hurdles and won the 400 meter hurdles for Class 2A. Mid-Prairie took second in the boys 4×8.
-In golf the Demon boys and girls both returned to the state tournament. The Demon boys ended the first round at state one stroke off the lead after the first day but ended up finishing third at the tournament. On the girls side, senior Shelby Marie finished 13th at state as an individual.
-In softball with wins over Williamsburg and Grinnell, the Washington Demons qualified for the regional final round and got to play for the right to go to the state tournament, the only thing was they ended up hitting a top ranked Clear Creek Amana team that ended up breaking the record for most wins in a season and didn’t lose during the season on their way to the 3A state championship.
-In the fall, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks looked pretty dominate throughout the season tying for the district title with Davis County. The Golden Hawks ended up having to face what some believe is the greatest 2A high school football team in Iowa high school football history in Solon. The Spartans eliminated the Golden Hawks in the first round of the playoffs on their way to their third straight state championship. The Washington Demons were back in the football postseason for the first time since 2006, and lost to a senior dominated Centerville team in Centerville. The WACO Warriors went the furthest in the post season of the area schools reaching the quarterfinals. The Warriors beat HLV then North Mahaska, but lost to number one ranked North Tama in the UNI-Dome.
-Also in the fall IMS boys won the state cross country state championship. IMS had the individual champion with junior Bill Spencer running 16:26 to win. Truman Shetler took sixth. IMS won with 71 team points the second place team ended up 98.
-Finally towards the end of the year the Washington Demon girls basketball team entered the season ranked number nine in 3A. An overtime loss to Williamsburg moved them down to 15th. In the last month of the year, senior Cassey Sobaski became only the third Demon girl to score 1,000 career points. The other two were Mary Berdo who played at the University of Iowa, and Stephanie Rich who played at the University of Wisconsin.