West Des Moines Valley’s Zach Cutkomp has been named to USA Football’s Junior National Team, a squad that is playing in an eight-nation tournament this summer.
A running back, Cutkomp will be one of 45 team members in the International Federation of American Football Junior World Championships. The event will be played in Canton, Ohio, from June 27 to July 5.
The Valley Tiger has committed to play college football for the University of Northern Iowa and will be under the direction of his high school coach, Gary Swenson, who is the national team’s offensive coordinator.
Track and Field: 2008 champs back to defend at Drake Relays
When competition begins Thursday in the high school division of the Drake Relays in Des Moines, there will be a handful of high school champions back to defend their titles.
The group includes boys’ champions Jordan Mullen of Atlantic in the 110 high hurdles and Ethan Holmes of Clinton in the 400 hurdles. Mullen will be attempting to win his third consecutive championship in the 110 hurdles.
On the girls side, returning winners Katie Flood of West Des Moines Dowling in the 3,000 meter run, Waukee’s Colette Gnade in the 800 meters and Hannah Willms of Dike-New Hartford in the high jump will be back to defend their crowns won last spring in the blue oval at Drake Stadium.
The 2007 boys’ high jump winner, Noah Kittelson of Indianola, will also be competing again this year.
Golf: First spring rankings released
The Iowa High School Golf Coaches Association has announced its first rankings for the spring.
The top Class 1A boys team is Treynor with junior Andrew King being the top individual player with a nine-hole average of 36.00.
In Class 2A, the top team is Orange City Unity Christian with PCM junior Matt Jennings leading the individual scores at 37.30 for nine holes.
Meanwhile in Class 3A, the top team is Washington with Oelwein senior Ben Kerns leading the individuals at 36.60 for nine holes of play.
Hinton tops the Class 1A girls rankings with Morgan McWillians of Waukon as the top nine-hole score among 1-A players at 43.
South Hamilton is the top-rated Class 2A girls golf team and South Hamilton junior Katie Gustafson has the best nine-hole average at 41.4.
Washington has the best team score average among girls teams in Class 3A and Knoxville senior Kaurie Kincaid sports the best nine-hole average in 3A at 42.6.
Waterloo West has put together the best team average in Class 4A girls golf, led by top individual golfer Sarah Boss, who has a 36.5 average for nine holes.
Class 4A boys compete in the fall.
Sioux City coaching positions available
It’s been a busy week in the wrong direction for Sioux City high school coaches. Three head coaches at Sioux City high schools have announced their resignations.
Bishop Heelan girls basketball coach Doug Moody, East High football coach Steve Zediker, and North High boys basketball coach John Vanderloo all announced their departures.
Zediker joined the Black Raider staff in 1992 and took over the head coaching reins in 2004, replacing long time coach Walt Fiegel when Fiegel died suddenly. His overall record was 23-25 with two Class 4A playoff appearances.
Vanderloo has been at North for the past six seasons and left for family reasons as his son is about to play freshman basketball next year at East.
Vanderloo earned a 65-50 record for the Stars, taking them to the state quarterfinals in 2007 and 2008.
Both Zediker and Vanderloo say they will continue teaching in Sioux City.
However, Moody is moving to suburban Omaha, Neb., and will be the girls basketball coach at Millard South.
He has coached both boys and girls basketball for the Crusaders, earning an impressive 312-161 record in 21 seasons on the bench. His record includes one season of coaching six-player girls’ basketball at Sioux City East, before taking the Heelan reins the next season.
The Crusader boys earned four state tournament trips under his tutelage, and then he took over the girls program in 2005. His girls team won the state Class 3A title in 2008 with a 25-2 record.
He takes over a Millard South program that was 14-8 last season in Nebraska’s Class A.
