By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Basketball: Uhlenhopp Leads North Butler
North Butler High School in Greene has been in existence for four years, and has played 101 girls basketball games during its short history. The Bearcats have won 98 of them, going into this weekend’s schedule of games.
Senior forward Indy Uhlenhopp has been a standout athlete during all four years of North Butler’s history, and a big reason why they’ve won two straight state championships and are gunning for three in a row this season.
The Northern Iowa recruit is averaging 21.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, four assists and three steals a game this season. This year’s team is ranked fifth and has a 15-1 record.
Coach Kevin Clipperton says Uhlenhopp comes to play every time out, telling the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier newspaper, "She's just a great competitor, wants to win and puts great effort on the floor every night. And she'll fill the stat sheet, every night."
She’s been the face of the North Butler athletic program over the past few years, but also gains attention with her unique first name. Uhlenhopp says the name came from a television program.
“Actually, my mom just saw (the name) on TV once. But everyone thinks (my parents) are big race fans - like the 'Indy 500' - or fans of 'Indiana Jones.”
It’s a name girls basketball fans should be hearing a lot of again at the state tournament in Des Moines come March.
Basketball: North, Heelan Collide
Missouri River Athletic Conference and Sioux City girls basketball bragging rights are on the line tonight at the Heelan High gymnasium.
Top-ranked Sioux City North, the defending Class 4-A state champions, and Sioux City Bishop Heelan, Iowa’s third-rated team in Class 3-A, tangle for the top spot in the MRAC.
Heelan is unbeaten in six conference games, while North is once-beaten (by Heelan) in eight conference contests.
North High’s Stars have won four straight MRAC titles, but they’ll be facing the likes of Michelle Lund, a Heelan senior and Bradley University recruit, who is Sioux City’s all-time scoring leader in five-player girls’ basketball.
Heelan won the first match between the two teams 50-43 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City on Jan. 4. The Crusaders fought back from a 28-13 deficit to get the victory.
Basketball: Cedar Rapids Washington Coach to Resign
The head boys basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Washington, Rick Williams, will resign that position at the end of the current season. Williams says he will continue to work as an associate principal at the school.
Williams is a 1969 graduate of Washington who went on to play collegiate basketball at the University of Iowa. Has been coaching the Warriors since the 2003-04 season.
The Warriors went to two state tournaments during Williams’ time as head coach, but the team is currently 4-10 for the campaign.
Wrestling: Showcase of Dual Meets in Waverly This Weekend
Waverly is hosting a high school dual meet featuring two of the nation’s top five squads, when Waverly-Shell Rock hosts Apple Valley, Minn.
The battle between the Go-Hawks of W-SR and the Apple Valley Eagles takes place at Levick Arena on the Wartburg College campus.
Waverly-Shell Rock is ranked third by an amateur wrestling newspaper for schools in the nation, while Apple Valley is ranked fourth.
The meet will be followed by another dual of national proportions, when NCAA Division III No. 1 Wartburg battles second-ranked Augsburg.
The high school meet is a re-match, after Apple Valley beat W-SR 29-20 during the “The Clash” tournament in Rochester, Minn., back in early January.
Go-Hawk coach Rick Caldwell says it’s significant that a program like Apple Valley would come to Waverly to wrestle, telling the Des Moines Register newspaper, "We've worked very hard to build our program up and get it to a position where a team like Apple Valley would put us on their schedule."
Caldwell added, "They don't travel out of state just to wrestle any team. We feel fortunate that we're worthy of them traveling to our place to compete."