The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 28

Page2C Saturday, April 3, 2010 College Football: Drake holding first I is jt i -Mm a Km? Des Moines goalie Eric Mihalik will play for Colgate. "They just liked the fact that I'm really technically sound, I move really well, I'm big and I take up a lot of the said. Lenz, Mihalik play way to college scholarships Boxing Golden Gloves Varied field set to enter the Golden Gloves finals Today's title bouts in Des Moines feature legacies and newbies. ByJAYRICKERTSEN Register Correspondent Steve Greene of New Beginnings Boxing Club of Des Moines was born into the sport. Whit Faas joined the Keswick club and picked up the gloves a month ago.

Friday, winners came from all experience levels in Iowa's Golden Gloves amateur boxing event at AllPlay in Des Moines. Greene and Faas both advanced to today's championship fights. Greene, who had a decisive win in his 165-pound bout, is fighting for family. He said his uncle, Tim Greene, was an Iowa Golden Gloves champion in the 1970s and faced Sugar Ray Leonard at the national level. "My goal was to do better than I did last year and I've already done that," said Greene, who lost in the first round last year.

"My goal is 50 percent done. My other goal is to win Golden Gloves, but really it is all about the experience. This is something I can tell my kids and grandkids about." With a wrestling background in hand, Faas had a jolt of beginner's luck. "This is my first match," Faas said of his 201-plus win against Ottumwa's Bryan Eastlick. "What an adrenaline rush.

I am real competitive, and since I got done wrestling five years ago, I have been looking for something to compete in." While Faas was finding his groove, Greene rolled over Isik Schmidt of Keswick. Still, he wasn't completely satisfied with his technical knockout. "I wasn't too impressed," Greene said. "I've got a lot of work to do for (tonight). I don't know if I was too nervous, but I was overthink- spring scrimmage Drake's spring football practice will be raised a notch when the Bulldogs hold their first spring scrimmage this morning.

It will be the first time that the players will be in full pads. "It's the first chance we've had to tackle and be tackled while finishing plays," coach Chris Creighton said. Drake returns 14 starters from an 8-3 team, including all-Pioneer Football League selections Steve Platek at J-Backand Dain Taylor at defensive end. However, the Bulldogs have three open spots in the offensive line. "We have veterans and we have young guys that will get a live look for the first time," Creighton said.

"Our freshmen who redshirted last fall are very, very excited. We'll Auto Racing RACES CANCELED: The season opener slated for Friday at the Iowa State Fair Speedway in Des Moines was canceled because of bad weather. The season is now slated to open Friday, April 9, for all classes except late models. Hot laps will start at 6 p.m., with racing to follow. KNOXVILLE'S 5050: It's official.

Knoxville Raceway race director Ralph Capitani announced this week the championship A-main at this August's 50th Goodyear Knoxville Nationals will be a 50-lap race up from 30. MORE USAC AT NEWTON: The Casey's General Stores Iowa Scene BASKETBALL: Ames High School senior Harrison Barnes has been named national player of the year by MaxPreps.com. Ames is ranked No. 3 in this week's MaxPreps Xcellent 25. Northern Iowa senior forward Adam Koch played in the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game on Friday night in Indianapolis.

Koch's Hershey's squad lost to the Reese's team 106-101. Koch played 15 minutes and secured five rebounds to go along with one blocked shot. Koch attempted two shots from the floor but did not score. Koch, teammate Jordan Eglseder and Marquis Gilstrap Des Moines' H.T. Lenz, right, chasing the puck with Waterloo's Andrew Panzarella, left, on March 26, will play for Vermont.

He is one of 14 Bucs with Division I commitments. I Buccaneers earn Division I offers Fourteen members of this year's Des Moines Buccaneers have already committed to Division I colleges. A look: today in full pads have 30-some guys from our freshman class that will play for the first time on offense and defense, and not as scout players." The Bulldogs have a new defensive coordinator in Tom Allen, who held that position the past two seasons at Lambuth University in Tennessee. He succeeds Neal Neathery, who accepted a similar position at Texas-San Antonio. "I think there will be more nuances than there will be a different defensive scheme," Creighton said.

Dan Johnson N.D. RECRUIT DIES: Matt James, a Notre Dame football recruit, died Friday after falling from a hotel balcony while vacationing in Panama City, Fla. The 6-foot-8 offensive tackle was rated as a four-star recruit. USAC Triple Crown Pride of Iowa event at Iowa Speedway has been extended to encompass two days, May 21-22. The USAC (United States Auto Club) Silver Crown, National Sprint Car and National Midget series share billing in the only "triple crown" pavement appearance on the 2010 calendar.

A 30-lap Midget feature, 50-lap Sprint feature and 100-lap Silver Crown A-main are scheduled for May 22, in advance of the NASCAR Pro Series EastWest Challenge the following day. Rob Gray of Iowa State are among 64 seniors invited to play in next week's Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational, a showcase for NBA and European scouts. FOOTBALL: Northern Iowa's annual Kick Off Kids Clinic will be held Saturday, April 10 from p.m. in the UNI-Dome. The free clinic is available for girls and boys in second grade through eighth grade.

Walk-up registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. For more information, call (319) 273-6175. The Iowa Threshers will conduct tryouts at 11 a.m. on April 10 at the John R.Grubb YMCA.1611 11th St. Cost is $25.

Call (515) 554-6555 or (515) 865-1019 for more information. HORSE RACING 4:00 Santa Anita Derby (WHO) TENNIS 11:30 a.m. Sony Ericsson Open: Women's final (KCCI) Radio MLB 2:35 Chicago Cubs at Arizona (1350 AM) COLLEGE SOFTBALL 2:00 Central at Coe (92.1 FM) HOCKEY 6:45 Des Moines at Omaha (940 AM) BILL NEIBERGALLREGISTER PHOTOS defense. The Bucs are last in the 14-team USHL with 250 goals allowed heading into Friday's play. "It's such a quicker game.

I got better at moving. I definitely feel like I progressed a lot," said Mihalik, who first impressed college scouts at the USHEs Fall Classic. "They just liked the fact that I'm really technically sound, I move really well, I'm big and I take up a lot of the net." Lenz said it's hard to ignore the fact that the stands at USHL games are littered with scouts, but he used it as motivation. "You can't play anywhere else and have the number of colleges and pro guys watching you every night," he said. "It's tough because you have to be ready to go every time, because you never know who's watching you, but it's a great opportunity for anyone." 1 MJ Name Age Hometown College JackBerger 19 St.

Louis, Mo. Princeton Connor Brickley 18 Everett, Mass. Vermont Mitch Cain 18 Fort Frances, Ontario Bemidji State YasinCisse 18 Westmount, Quebec Boston Univ. Blake Doerring 19 Chanhassen, Minn. Vermont Danny Heath 20 Glendale, Ariz.

EricKnodel 19 West Chester, Pa. New Hampshire Tyler Lapic 19 New Prague, Minn. Wisconsin H.T. Lenz 20 Vienna, Va. Vermont Eric Mihalik 19 Avon Lake, Ohio Colgate Colton Saucerman 17 Colorado Springs, Colo.

Chris Stafne 20 T.J. Tynan 18 Oakland Park, III. Notre Dame Ryan Walters 18 Rosemount, Minn. Minnesota BUCS, FROM PAGE 1C before dozens of college and pro scouts throughout the Midwest all winter. Lenz is one of 14 skaters for this season's Buccaneers who have college commitments.

But he and goaltender Eric Mihalik were the only two who didn't have those scholarships locked in when the season began. As the oldest Buccaneer (he turns 21 Thursday), Lenz said he felt the pres sure to perform throughout last summer. I thought about it a lot more, ne said, i just knew this was my last chance to train hard in the summer and get ready for the entire year. I knew I had to stay healthy. In the summertime, I took it more seriously.

Once the season actually started, it was just get comfortable, get to know your linemates really well. It's easier to think of it that way than, 'Oh, I've got to score every Skating alongside T.J. Tynan and NHL draft prospect Connor Brickley, Lenz had 45 points heading into this weekend's final games. He said he could sense his improvement from a year ago, when he scored just eight goals in 60 games with the Buccaneers. "I felt like I got a lot better," he said.

"Around the midpoint of the season, it started working out with colleges showing interest in me. I kind of feel like colleges started thinking I was more for real, rather than just getting lucky. Being an older guy at the beginning of the season, I felt like I started getting respect." Smaller colleges started pursuing Lenz early in the season, but as the winter wore on, the Division I powers started noticing as well. He chose Vermont because of its recent success (a Frozen Four appearance in 2009) and proximity to his hometown of Vienna, Va. "I've been everywhere the last seven years.

I played high school in Minnesota, and then I played in British Columbia, so it's the closest I've been to my family in a long time," he said. "My parents are really excited. They were kind of wondering whether this would all be worth it. Because there wasn't a lot of interest the last few years. So it was kind of tough going into Big expectations for Anderson Northern Iowa running back Carlos Anderson ran for 541 yards on 114 carries as a redshirt freshman last season, an average of 4.8 yards a tote.

The 5-foot-8, 172-pound runner also showed resilience by missing just one game despite suffering a painful hamstring injury during a 113-yard performance against Youngstown State. "You hope Carlos meets expectations," Panther coach Mark Farley said. "The concern is, you don't want to expect too much." Farley said there's plenty of backfield help for Anderson, including tough-running fan favorite Matt Strathman (6.8 yards per carry). "We've got to make sure it's not a one-back system," Farley said. "It has to be a rotation like we've had in the past." Rob Gray ing my moves.

I've got to learn from my mistakes for (tonight)." Central Iowa boxers: In the 152 novice division, New Beginnings' Jon Ewing won by TKO over Keswick's Marcus Stanley. Ewing came out on the attack, recording two standing eight-counts in the first two rounds. In the other semifinal, Ottumwa's Josh Gridley beat Nathan Hendrickson. At 178, Eric Kirkpatrick of Knoxville defeated Brian Neal in one semifinal. He will face Marc Bickem Jr.

from New Beginnings, who won by TKO against Ottumwa's Cody Hawk. In the open divisions, New Beginnings' Justin Hill defeated Zach Knox of Lee County at 141. At 152, New Beginnings' DeAndre Harris won emphatically in the second round as the referee stopped the bout against Southeast Des Moines Boxing Club's Bryant Houston. At 165, East Side Des Moines' Cruse Stewart won by TKO over Damian Papagni, while Martin Se-huh of Fort Dodge defeated Greg Sykes of the Cedar Valley Boxing Club. Results, Sports Roundup before coming to Iowa.

Cartier Martin, another Energy standout, signed with the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. The Energy (36-13) close out the regular season with a game at Tulsa tonight before beginning a NBA Development League playoff run. The Eastern Conference champion Energy will learn their playoff opponent and schedule on Sunday. Box score, Sports Roundup Corrections In a story in Friday's sports section, Iowa City West boys' soccer coach Brad Stiles was misidentified. An article in Wednesday's Register should have stated that the parents of Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich resided in Iowa when their sons played at Kansas from 1999 to 2003.

your third year in juniors as a 20-year-old, kind of believing that you can get this done. So they were really relieved that it's all been worth it." Mihalik, 19, a USHL rookie from Avon Lake, Ohio, didn't have to sweat it out. He accepted a scholarship offer from Colgate just after Christmas break, and said he'll battle for that team's starting goaltender position next season. "The academic factor at Colgate, it helped a lot, because I want to go somewhere where the degree I get means something," said Mihalik, who plans to study economics and was pursued by Denver, Nebraska-Omaha and Merrimack. Mihalik's statistics weren't eye-popping in Des Moines.

He is 12-22 with a 4.18 goals-against average on a team whose struggles were particularly acute on third period and finished with 39 saves. Only twice this season has he had a higher total. Williams entered the game allowing at least three goals in his last 10 starts. Des Moines held Tri-City's Jaden Schwartz the USHL's top scorer without a point. Now the Bucs most contend with the West Division's top team.

Omaha has clinched the division title with a 41-12-6 record and is 20-7-2 at home. Summary, Sports Roundup Area eventsTVRadio Listings subject to change USHL: Tri-City shuts out Buccaneers D-League: Iowa loses Barron, game 7:30 West Virginia vs. Duke (KCCI) NBA 7:00 Charlotte at Chicago (WGN) BOXING 10:00 Mikey Garcia vs. Tomas Villa (FSM; joined in progress) GOLF Noon PGA: Houston Open (WHO) 6:00 LPGA: Kraft Nabisco Championship (ESPN2) NHL 7:00 Dallas at St. Louis (FSM) Area events None scheduled Television AUTO RACING 3:00 Nationwide: Nashville 300 (ESPN) MLB 3:00 Chicago Cubs at Arizona (WGN) COLLEGE BASEBALL 2:00 Baylor at Missouri (FSM) MEN'S BASKETBALL 1:00 Slam Dunk and 3-Point Championship (ESPN2) 5:00 Michigan State vs.

Butler (KCCI) Kearney, Neb. Radoslav lllo's goal at the 9:25 mark of the first period was all the offense Tri-City needed in a 1-0 win over Des Moines Friday night. The Buccaneers, who conclude the U.S. Hockey League regular season tonight at Omaha, have lost five of their last six games and are 20-33-6. lllo's 23rd goal of the season was assisted by Luke McManus.

Des Moines goalie Charles Williams withstood a barrage of shots including 18 in the Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa walloped the Iowa Energy 125-87 on Friday night before a crowd of 2,822 at the Tulsa Convention Center. Mark Tyndale led the Energy with 21 points. Iowa was without Earl Barron, who signed with the New York Knicks on Friday. Barron had started 47 games for the Energy, averaging 16.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

He had played 82 career games with the Miami Heat.