SWIMMING

Junior Jays stay among nation’s best

In the most competitive swimming season in at least a decade, Omaha Creighton Prep again was ranked as one of the nation’s best teams. Prep earned its highest finishes in school history in the national dual meet team rankings annually prepared by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. There’s nothing subjective about these ratings, which are based on each team’s best performances through the course of their seasons.

TRACK & FIELD

Hirsch, Gochenour star at Region 8 event

Two local athletes set Nebraska Association records Sunday during the final day of qualifying at the Region 8 USA Track and Field Junior Olympics at Hamline University. Seth Hirsch of the Omaha Racers, who earlier this season set the national record...

BASEBALL

Albert Survives, reaches district semifinals

BASKETBALL

Programs join forces, find niches

SOFTBALL

Lewis Central's season ends in regional

One tough inning turned into an early season finale for the Council Bluffs Lewis Central softball team. The Titans had little trouble with the early portion of Des Moines Roosevelt's lineup. But the lower third combined to go 6 for 9 while driving in every run in the Roughriders' 5-1 victory Saturday evening in an Iowa Class 4-A regional quarterfinal at Lewis Central High School. Recent trends seemed to favor L.C. The Titans (23-12) had won five of their last eight coming in while Roosevelt...

SOCCER

Columbus boys, girls ready to have a ball in spotlight

The Columbus girls soccer squad has been one of the boys team's biggest supporters at the state tournament the past few seasons. This year, though, the Discoverers' girls won't attend the boys' opening-round matchup with Lincoln East at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Creighton's Morrison Stadium. They'll be home preparing for their own trip to state, to take on second-seeded Millard North at 1 p.m. Thursday. “It's kind of a neat experience that both teams get to make it down there,” boys...

SOCCER

Rams top Titans, gain edge in Hawk-10

Glenwood can unofficially call itself the Council Bluffs city champion. The Iowa Class 2-A No. 10 Rams continued their season-long dominance Tuesday by blanking 2-A No. 4 Council Bluffs Lewis Central 2-0 in a battle of girls soccer teams unbeaten in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. They also completed a four-game sweep against Council Bluffs schools for the first time in school history. “We’re just trying to work and build and become a better team,” Glenwood coach Caitlin McIntosh...

SOCCER

Creighton Prep's Linden named top soccer player

Omaha Creighton Prep's Jake Linden was named Nebraska's Gatorade boys soccer player of the year Tuesday. Linden is Prep's sixth Gatorade player of the year selection. The senior scored 14 goals and added 10 assists for Class A's top-ranked teams. Linden, a Xavier recruit, has been a major reason that Prep is 17-0 entering its 9 a.m. game Wednesday against Lincoln Southwest in the first round of the state soccer tournament.

SOFTBALL

Lewis Central's season ends in regional

One tough inning turned into an early season finale for the Council Bluffs Lewis Central softball team. The Titans had little trouble with the early portion of Des Moines Roosevelt's lineup. But the lower third combined to go 6 for 9 while driving in every run in the Roughriders' 5-1 victory Saturday evening in an Iowa Class 4-A regional quarterfinal at Lewis Central High School. Recent trends seemed to favor L.C. The Titans (23-12) had won five of their last eight coming in while Roosevelt...

SOFTBALL

Missouri Valley rally keeps season alive

Tiffani Housh admitted it. Her high school softball career was flashing before her eyes. Favored Missouri Valley trailed OA-BCIG 4-2 Friday with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh. But freshman Rachelle Housh, as any dutiful little sister would, picked up her sibling and her team. The younger Housh belted her first varsity home run to pull the Lady Reds within one. Junior Maggie Hawley's sacrifice fly later in the inning sent it into extra innings, and Hawley's RBI single in the...

SOFTBALL

Lewis Central's season ends in regional

One tough inning turned into an early season finale for the Council Bluffs Lewis Central softball team. The Titans had little trouble with the early portion of Des Moines Roosevelt's lineup. But the lower third combined to go 6 for 9 while driving in every run in the Roughriders' 5-1 victory Saturday evening in an Iowa Class 4-A regional quarterfinal at Lewis Central High School. Recent trends seemed to favor L.C. The Titans (23-12) had won five of their last eight coming in while Roosevelt...

SOFTBALL

Missouri Valley rally keeps season alive

Tiffani Housh admitted it. Her high school softball career was flashing before her eyes. Favored Missouri Valley trailed OA-BCIG 4-2 Friday with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh. But freshman Rachelle Housh, as any dutiful little sister would, picked up her sibling and her team. The younger Housh belted her first varsity home run to pull the Lady Reds within one. Junior Maggie Hawley's sacrifice fly later in the inning sent it into extra innings, and Hawley's RBI single in the...

BASKETBALL

Notes: Programs join forces, find niches

Three summer girls basketball programs — Pinnacle Bank, the Omaha Crusaders and the Omaha Sports Academy — are operating under the same umbrella for the first time. The groups held tryouts on the same day and then placed girls on the teams according to their ability, Bellevue West coach Matt Fritsche said. Pinnacle Bank remains a statewide under-17 team that competes nationally, with trips scheduled to the U.S. Junior National Top 100 tournament in Indianapolis and the Battle of the...