ANAMOSA - There have been numerous events that have stood out to Anamosa boys basketball fans over the past 25 years.
ANAMOSA - It didn’t take the Anamosa volleyball team very long to get into a winning mentality in the fall of 1997, and thankfully for Raider fans, it lasted all season long during that would prove to be one of the greatest campaigns the program would witness over the next quarter century.
ANAMOSA - Dan Achenbach came into his senior season for the Anamosa football team in 1997 with some pressure placed squarely on his shoulders.
OLIN - Olin boys track coach Rich Ginn brought two athletes with him to the state track and field meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines during the spring of 1998, and both went home with coveted state medals.
ANAMOSA - Today, Thursday, May 14, was supposed to be the day that Anamosa senior Olivia Nebergall, and the rest of her talented Raider girls track and field teammates, would make more memories by battling for berths to Drake Stadium in Des Moines competing at the class 3A state meet qualifier.
ANAMOSA - Anyone who has competed under Anamosa wrestling coach Denny Christenson knows they guy was one of the best motivators in the entire state.
Heck, maybe the country.
WYOMING - There was no sneaking up on anyone for the Midland girls’ sprint medley relay team as they entered the 1997 state track and field meet inside Drake Stadium in Des Moines that May.
I was blessed to have been able to watch some extremely good basketball back in 1995-96, from numerous area teams and at numerous levels.
ANAMOSA - The news hit like a bomb dropping in Anamosa Friday, May 1, and the ripple effects could be felt all the way into Johnson County.
ANAMOSA - If the rules that are in play now would have been allowed back in 1996, the Anamosa football team’s class 2A co-district 5 championship would have earned that Raider team a berth into the playoffs, a place the program had only been one other time in school history at that point.
ANAMOSA - During the entire 1996 Anamosa boys track and field campaign, then Raider senior Nic Weers had his mind set on one thing and one thing only.
It was my first season covering football at the Anamosa Journal-Eureka in the fall of 1996, and I don’t mind telling you, I was a little nervous.
Taking a page from what pretty much all of the major sports television networks have done during this pandemic era, I’ve decided to relive some Anamosa, Olin, Midland and Springville sports history by bringing back some of our area schools’ classic sports moments from the last quarter century.
WAVERLY - There’s a reason why former Springville standout Sam Lorimer was widely considered one of the best distance and middle distance runners in school history when he graduated three years ago.
PLATTEVILLE, WIS. - As one of the top cross country and track runners in school history when he graduated last spring, Caleb Christiansen has made Oriole fans proud for years with numerous state meet berths and memorable performances.
ANAMOSA - Though it was my first full year as sports editor at the Anamosa Journal-Eureka newspaper in 1996, I had actually already covered the Anamosa softball team as a sports correspondent in 1995 for then AJ-E sports editor Dan Digmann, as the Raiders made their first-ever state tournament berth.
DUBUQUE - When former Midland High School four-sport superstar Alex Martens started his athletic career at Loras College three years ago, it was to play basketball.
My how things can change.
PLATTEVILLE, WIS. - When former Midland wrestling standout Brett Schoenherr puts his mind to something, Eagle fans have come to know that he always seems to get it done.
CEDAR RAPIDS - Former Anamosa High School standout Jessie Frasher was on a bus with the rest of her Kirkwood Community College softball teammates heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas, when all of a sudden, the bus they were in turned around and started heading back to Iowa.
ANAMOSA - The doors to the Anamosa Bowling Center (ABC) may be closed right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but even while playing only about three-quarters of their normal regular season schedule before orders came down March 17, that their league campaign was over, bowlers were posting some mind-boggling numbers.
KIRKSVILLE, MO. - Anyone who has watched former Anamosa High School standout Kara Hunt golf during a brilliant four-year career with the Raiders knows she’s talented and blessed with a dizzying array of skills that made her one of the top golfers in the state.
CEDAR RAPIDS - Having already tasted some success with the Cedar Rapids High School hockey program as a mere freshman in 2018-19, Springville sophomore Brendan Shaner took his game to an entirely new level this past season while helping the Roughriders’ program to new heights in the Eastern division of the Midwest High School Hockey League (MHSHL).
The Anamosa community is once again in heartbreak after hearing the news that Raider standout Maggie McQuillen was involved in a serious car accident Thursday, March 19, that has left the senior four-sport star fighting for her life at the University of Iowa Hospital.
MANKATO, MINN. - Making the jump from the class 1A high school girls basketball level in Iowa to the Division-II women’s collegiate level at Minnesota State University (MSU) last winter was a big one for former Springville superstars Mikayla Nachazel and Rylee Menster.
DES MOINES - Completing a run through class 1A substate 4, the Springville boys basketball team defeated Morning Star Academy, Lone Tree, Highland and Pekin on their way to the state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
DES MOINES - He was one of the leaders of one of the best Springville boys basketball teams to take the floor in quite a few years.
DES MOINES - Just by stepping onto the Wells Fargo Arena court Monday, March 9, in Des Moines, the Springville boys’ basketball team was making program hoop history.
DES MOINES - Anyone who has ever watched Springville’s Lauren Wilson play basketball, knows she’s one of the best in the game in the state of Iowa.
DES MOINES - It’s just what fans have come to expect from the Anamosa Schools archery team at the end of each and every season.
DES MOINES - After posting a sensational score of 3,415 competing at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) bullseye state tournament at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines Saturday, March 7, the Springville archery team played the waiting game.
And they played it well.
IOWA CITY - When most sports fans from around the state of Iowa hear the name ‘Springville’, they automatically think amazing girls’ basketball.
And why wouldn’t they?
IOWA CITY - Coming into their class 1A regional championship game at Iowa City West High School Wednesday, Feb. 26, fans knew they were going to be in for a treat as 10th-ranked Springville looked for a sixth-straight state tournament berth facing fifth-ranked Montezuma.
ANAMOSA - Just a week after hosting their annual Machart 300 tournaments, the Anamosa Schools archery team were back at home once again, this time playing hosts for the annual Bowhunters tournament Saturday, Feb. 29.
DES MOINES - Midland junior Damon Huston’s position among the wrestling elite in the state of Iowa is undeniable.
DES MOINES - It had been several years since the Anamosa wrestling program had someone make it all the way to the state level.
DES MOINES - Bursting onto the state scene after posting a stunning class 2A district championship at 152-pounds, Anamosa junior Alex Casey had high hopes heading into his first-ever state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Thursday, Feb. 20.
DAVENPORT - The start of the class 3A regional semi-final contest at 10th-ranked Davenport Assumption Wednesday, Feb. 19, couldn’t have gone any better for the Anamosa girls basketball team than it head coach Doug Arnold had ordered it off a menu.
IOWA CITY - Being in pressure-filled playoff situations has been something the Springville girls basketball program has become very accustomed to over much of the last decade.
CENTER POINT - Anamosa senior Mitch Engelbart and junior Nathan Keating were hoping the third time would be the charm competing at the class 2A district wrestling tournament, held in Center Point Saturday, Feb. 15.
ANAMOSA - If there was any question as to how the Anamosa girls basketball team was going to come out and play in their class 3A regional quarter-final contest against visiting Camanche Saturday, Feb. 15, the Raiders answered it almost immediately.
WILTON - Knowing the chances were pretty good that he would get both of his state-ranked wrestlers through the class 1A district round in Wilton Saturday, Feb. 15, and on to the state tournament, Midland wrestling coach Casey Huston still took nothing for granted.
SPRINGVILLE - It may have been nearly 15-degrees below zero outside the Springville High School gym Thursday, Feb. 13, but inside the Oriole girls basketball team was supplying plenty of heat for their legion of fans who came to witness what they hoped would be a class 1A regional first-round blowout.
CEDAR RAPIDS - For the better part of the last decade, Scott Wheeler has been working tirelessly to build the Anamosa Wrestling Club (AWC) into one that can annually compete with the best AAU teams in the state of Iowa.
IOWA CITY - Anamosa JV boys basketball coach Wayne Lasack had seen this act before.
ANAMOSA - Playing their final game of the 2019-20 campaign, Anamosa JV girls basketball coach Angie Lawrence may have hoped for a better finish for her team against visiting Bellevue-Marquette Tuesday, Feb. 11, but through what has been a challenging year at times this winter, Lawrence still left the court proud of what her Raiders have accomplished.
ANAMOSA - Down by 19 points early in the fourth quarter, the Anamosa fr/so boys basketball team was pretty much left for dead against visiting Tipton Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Then all of a sudden, the Raiders came to life.
ANAMOSA - Back and forth they went trading leads throughout their extremely tight River Valley Conference contest Tuesday, Feb. 4.
MANCHESTER - It wasn’t something Anamosa wrestling coach Trever Greene was necessarily thinking of coming into the class 2A sectional tournament at West Delaware Saturday, Feb. 8, but it was something he did have an idea about based on the teams that were there and the success the Raiders had against many of them earlier this season.
LISBON - There was good news and there was bad news for the Midland wrestling team competing at an absolutely loaded class 1A sectional tournament in Lisbon Saturday, Jan. 8.
The good news?
SPRINGVILLE - Setting the tone with dominating playing off the opening tip Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Springville girls basketball made it clear to visiting Starmont they were here to win the game, and were going to do it in dominating fashion, too.
OELWEIN - It’s tough to maintain the amazingly high level of success that Anamosa junior Lilly Machart has had during what has been an absolutely brilliant high school career, yet somehow, she continues to do it over and over again.