DAVENPORT— Knowing that his team was more than capable of making some serious noise at the class 2A sectional tournament held at Davenport Assumption Saturday, February 6, Anamosa wrestling coach Dean Miller walked away from the tournament with his head held high.
“I was very proud of the way the kids went out and competed,” said Miller as his team advanced four wrestlers to the district round at Solon Saturday, February 13, with shots at the state meet. “Even the guys who didn’t advance through sectionals, wrestled very, very well. The way the guys showed up ready to wrestle and the determination that was displayed all day long, was just great to see. I just wish we could have squeezed through more than four guys, but that’s just the way it goes when we’re in a challenging sectional like this one.”
Jason Bowers claimed his first-ever sectional title topping the field at 125-pounds while Ryan Dolan, Logan Hewitt and Jesse Hansen all earned their way through with sectional runner-up performances.
“Jason just had an amazing tournament,” said Miller as Bowers not only dominated at the meet, but also came through with a pair of thrilling victories along his tourney to the title. “Jason has gotten more and more aggressive all season long and it peaked here at the sectional meet. He was just not going to be denied.”
Bowers opened his meet with a quick 24-second pin win over Monticello’s Clayton Tjaden then followed that with a wild 16-12 decision over No. 2 seeded Central DeWitt’s Jacob Lancaster.
“Jason came in as the three seed and proved that was quite a bit too low,” said Miller. “He proved that in the final two bouts beating higher seeded kids.”
In the 125-pound final, Bowers trailed 6-4 in the third period before scoring a reveral with just 42-seconds remaining turning a 6-5 deficit into a title-winning 7-6 triumph.
“Jason has a great shot to make it to state too,” said Miller. “He’s beaten every kid at his weight that made it to districts.”
Dolan received a first-round bye at 135-pounds, then in the semi-final round used a third period reversal to score a hard-fought 2-0 triumph in a match that saw the Raider senior fight through a bloody lip.

ANAMOSA — Playing their first game without injured star senior Jackie Engelbart, the Anamosa girls basketball team adjusted quickly to their new roles posting an impressive 52-42 victory hosting Solon Tuesday, February 2.
“We came out real focused for our first game without Jackie and looked very, very good,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty as his team shot a solid 47-percent from the field and attacked the Spartan defense relentlessly forcing 20 fouls against the visitors and toeing the free throw line 26 times. “We had a lot of girls step up and play well, and that’s what we’re going to have to have with our bench that much more limited.”
Tristan Camp, Lauren Buck and Kayla Sanborn all scored in double-figures, and while all six girls who stepped onto the court not only scored, but they also brought a defensive intensity that Solon couldn’t match all game long.
“We had everyone score and we had a great effort on the boards too,” said Leighty. “We just played well all the way around and if we can get this kind of effort every night, we might be able to make a deep tournament run.”
Anamosa (13-6, 11-5) took control against the Spartans with several early hoops by Camp, who scored a team-high 16 points contributing 10 first half points that allowed the hosts to take not only an 11-6 first quarter advantage, but a 23-15 halftime edge.
“Tristan looked good and got us going,” said Leighty. “Her teammates got her the ball in a good position to score and she responded.”
The third quarter saw the Raiders pull away for good going on an 18-9 spurt to take a 41-24 lead into the final frame.
Sanborn and Buck added 12 points each for the Raiders while Buck also pulled down 11 boards posting a double-double night. Camp added eight rebounds.
Anamosa bid seniors Sanborn, Engelbart and Makenzie Ginn goodbye Friday, February 6, as the trio hosted No. 9 ranked Central DeWitt playing on their home floor for the final time in the regular season. ““What a great atmosphere it was,” said Leighty as his team was edged in a narrow 28-26 final by the Sabers. “I just wish we could have given the fans a win in this regular season finale. But we’ll be back here again for a regional game against Independence and we’ll need this kind of support again.”
Anamosa struggled to score early on trailing 10-3 at one point, but used a 6-1 run to end the frame to pull to within 11-9 at the horn.
The 20-point combined scoring outburst would be the most offensive explosion seen in any frame as the Raiders led 16-15 at the half before a 9-3 run by the Sabers had them holding a 24-19 lead at the end of three quarters.
“It was a 24-21 game with six minutes left and DeWitt decided to stall,” said Leighty.

SOLON — Struggling to score from all over the floor at class 2A No. 3 ranked Solon Tuesday, February 2, the Anamosa boys basketball team also had a hard time slowing down the Spartan offense as well dropping a rough 62-32 final.
“Turnovers were the key,” said Raider boys basketball coach Wayne Lasack as his team coughed the ball up 25 times which led to numerous fast break points for the hosts. “They hounded us and we didn’t react too well to that pressure and they got off to a real fast start we could never really recover from.”
Anamosa (2-15, 1-14) watched as Solon exploded out of the gate going on a huge 22-3 first quarter run that also saw the hosts roar to a 12-0 lead before the Raiders dented the scoreboard.
“We not only struggled shooting the basketball, we just struggled even getting shots,” said Lasack, as his team launched just six attempts at the basket in the opening eight minutes. “Solon was just smothering us with their defense and we got very frustrated and that’s not a way you can play good basketball.”
The Spartans continued their harassment in the second stanza as well taking a whopping 34-3 lead at one point before the Raiders settled down and went on a 10-7 run over the final three minutes to end the half trailing 41-13.
“Solon is a very, very good ball club and is just so freaky athletic,” said Lasack. “I was happy with the way we came back in the second half and at least kept playing hard and looked to make a dent in their large lead. I think the Spartans relaxed a bit too with their big advantage.”
Lasack emptied the bench playing all 11 players quality minutes in the lopsided loss.
“What I was also happy to see was our turnovers drop almost in half over the final two quarters,” said Lasack. “We had more than 20 shots and only had 10 turnovers. We had some kids show some things too. Some kids who battled and didn’t look at the scoreboard and just played the game.”
Kurt Vavricek led the Anamosa offense scoring nine points while Dalton Ahrendsen added eight more coming off the bench. Eight different Raiders scored in the contest.
“When you don’t shoot it well and don’t get that many good looks, it’ll usually be a long night and that’s the way it was for us,” said Lasack. “We need to try and get the form of playing good solid defense back and taking care of the ball. We had been getting that done, but tonight was not one of times.”
The Raiders shot just 35-percent from the floor, 15-percent from the 3-point line and 50-percent from the free throw line in the 30-point setback.