By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Girls Basketball: Hovden Resigns After Dunkerton Revival
The small town of Dunkerton, outside of Waterloo, has experienced a meteoric rise in its basketball visibility in the past few years. Most notably has been the Raiders' move to prominence in Class 1-A girls' basketball, where they were ranked No. 1 in the state for much of the season and reached the state semifinals in the school's first-ever appearance.
Not bad for a program that was 0-22 in the 2003-04 season and in the year before that didn't even have a varsity team due to lack of interest.
The man who led the revival for Dunkerton was Virgil Hovden, who took over the team in 2003 and suffered through the winless campaign in his first season.
But from there, Hovden's teams posted 86 wins, including 69 in the last three years alone.
Hovden is now passing the torch on to someone else, as he has resigned as coach of the Raiders. He will remain as girls' track coach and physical education instructor at the school.
The Dunkerton revival was not his first project of this type, as he's also been involved in resurrection efforts at Oelwein, New Hampton, Jackson Junction-Turkey Valley, Cresco-Crestwood, and at Luther College in Decorah.
The 40-year old Hovden told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier newspaper it was time to spend more time with his family.
“It’s just time to do some other things. All those hours that a person puts into a season ... it gets very time-consuming. But it’s all been great."
Girls Basketball: Hall Resigns at Davenport North
Davenport North girls basketball coach Chris Hall is hanging up his whistle after four seasons with the program.
Hall's Wildcats posted just a 5-15 record this season, led by a two-time All-Metro Quad Cities player in Amber Harrington. But, the 5-15 record is an improvement for a team that won just one game the previous year.
This year's victories included two wins over Pleasant Valley, a team that finished fourth in the Mississippi Athletic Conference, and victories over the teams that tied for fifth place in the conference, Muscatine and North Scott.
Hall will remain at the school as a social studies instructor.
Girls Basketball: SE Warren Coach Suspended
The Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union has suspended Southeast Warren basketball coach Ron Smith for the first 10 games of next season for an altercation involving the parent of one of his players.
The incident occurred following Southeast Warren's 65-31 district tournament loss to Martensdale-St. Mary’s. The girls' athletic program was also placed on probation for the 2008-09 season.
According to newspaper reports, Smith was approached by Kenneth Earl Wright of Chariton following the game and Smith allegedly struck Wright. No charges were filed by local law enforcement in connection with the incident.
Smith has not commented about the incident. The school appealed the suspension, saying Smith had already been suspended by the district and Wright had been barred from attending district activities. However, the Union's board of directors upheld the decision.
IGHSAU executive director Troy Dannen told the Des Moines Register newspaper, "The parent crossed the line by confronting the coach. But the coach's response to it was wholly inappropriate."
The altercation at Southeast Warren was the first one in Iowa involving girls basketball in over eight years. Hubbard-Radcliffe coach Mike Mallas was suspended after a postgame confrontation with a referee. The Union suspended Mallas for the remainder of the season and the school was put on program. Mallas returned to coach the following season.
Gymnastics: Johnson Earns Legislative Proclamation
Iowa gymnast Shawn Johnson, a 16-year old high school student from West Des Moines, has received a legislative proclamation from the Iowa House of Representatives, as she continues preparations for the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team tryouts.
Johnson was crowned the world all-around champion last fall and is one of the favorites to make the American Olympic team for the Summer Games in Beijing, China this coming August.
West Des Moines lawmaker Libby Jacobs submitted the proclamation that honors "a remarkable young athlete whose dedication, skills, poise and grace have taken her to the world stage and will take her farther still in the future."
A similar proclamation also passed the Iowa Senate. Johnson leaves in the next month for the Olympic team's training camp.
