MONTICELLO - It’s what good teams do to win when not all facets of the game are working seamlessly at the same time.
ANAMOSA - Coming off a tough loss hosting class 3A eighth-ranked West Liberty in a playoff-like atmosphere Thursday, June 18, the fourth-ranked Anamosa softball team needed to quickly get back on track hosting rival Monticello 24-hours later Friday, June 19.
ANAMOSA - Heading into the 2001 girls track and field campaign, Anamosa’s Ashley Lerch had made trips to the state meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines each of the previous two seasons in the wheelchair 100-and-400-meter dash events.
ANAMOSA - During an amazing month-long stretch in the summer of 1999, Anamosa graduate Matt Schirm, then a Coe College junior, would have a life-altering experience playing baseball in El Salvador and Nicaragua for Athletes in Action.
ANAMOSA - It was a run of success unlike anything the Anamosa boys track and field program had seen in a number of years.
ANAMOSA - There was no question that if there was actually going to be an Anamosa softball season, the Raider girls were going to do something to honor senior teammate Maggie McQuillen, who has been making a remarkable recovery following a horrific car accident March 19, that left her fighting for her very life.
ANAMOSA - Just take a look at the sign at the bottom of the hill leading up to the high school.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 - 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.
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.
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.
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.
TIPTON - Having already produced one of the greatest dual meet campaigns in school history this winter, Anamosa wrestling coach Trever Greene wanted to see his team continue to rise up the ladder competing at the River Valley Conference tournament Saturday, Feb. 1, in Tipton.
Mission accomplished.
SPRINGVILLE - Coming off their first tournament triumph of the season at Bellevue just a week earlier, the Anamosa Schools archery team looked to keep the good times and high scores going in Springville Saturday, Feb. 1.
WAVERLY - Members of the Anamosa girls wrestling team had high hopes as they entered their first-ever state wrestling tournament held inside the Waverly-Shell Rock gym Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.
But when they walked off the mat after the second day and headed home, even the Raider girls themselves were surprised by their amazing success.
ANAMOSA - The Anamosa wrestling team hasn’t had too many opportunities to wrestle on the home mat this season.
Amazingly, that hasn’t seemed to hinder the Raiders as they continue to produce dual triumphs at a dizzying, dare I say school-record pace.
CENTRAL CITY - There was a time when the Anamosa Schools archery team rarely left any tournament without a championship.
ANAMOSA - For three of the game’s four quarters, the Anamosa JV boys basketball team more than competed with visiting Camanche, one of the top JV teams in the River Valley Conference.
ANAMOSA - A solid start by the Anamosa JV girls basketball team hosting Camanche Monday, Jan. 20, didn’t end the way the Raiders had hoped it would.
BELLEVUE - The start was exactly what Anamosa fr/so boys basketball coach Caleb Huss wanted in Bellevue Tuesday, Jan. 21.
ANAMOSA - There’s no doubting the Anamosa boys are a good basketball team.
They’ve shown that ability on numerous occasions already this winter. Just watch them, and you can see for yourself.
ANAMOSA - Through the first three minutes of their contest hosting class 2A No. 1 ranked Cascade Thursday, Jan. 16, it looked as though the Anamosa girls basketball team might be able to hang with the extremely talented Cougars in their River Valley Conference contest.
ANAMOSA - It’s been the chance the first-year Anamosa girls’ wrestling team has been waiting for since the 2019-20 schedule was first released a little over two months ago.
CLARENCE - Coming into their game at North Cedar Tuesday, Jan. 6, the Anamosa boys basketball team was riding high with on two-game winning streak and everything looked good to make it three straight as the Raiders play against the host Knights.
ANAMOSA - After spending much of the last month traveling all over eastern Iowa competing at tournaments, the Anamosa Schools archery team felt good to be back at home Saturday, Jan. 4.
DELHI - It was a night where fans had to stay in their seats at Maquoketa Valley Friday, Jan. 3, because if they left to get a popcorn, they’d miss a ton of action on the mat as the Anamosa and Dubuque Wahlert girls put on a wrestling show.
SOLON - Over much of the past two decades, the Anamosa wrestling team has been known more for its individual talent rather than team accolades and dual meet triumphs.
CEDAR RAPIDS - Never let it be said Anamosa wrestling coach Trever Greene has ever backed down from a challenge.