Sports

Regular season openers at four IMCA sanctioned tracks have been rescheduled due to postponed Frostbuster specials. First local point races of the season at Southern Iowa Speedway will be Wednesday, April 16. Marshalltown Speedway opens on Friday, April 18, Boone Speedway on Saturday, April 19 and Benton County Speedway in Vinton on Sunday, April 20.

Area soccer, track, golf and trap shooting fans can see the complete Vinton-Shellsburg athletic schedule, which includes high school and middle school teams, HERE.

Every year, says VS girls soccer coach Dave Cornell, the team will have a new look. That’s because every year, more underclassmen will have had one more year of pre-high school soccer experience. When VSHS began the girls soccer program five years ago, most of the players had played little or no soccer before.  Now, many elementary and middle school players compete in a variety of soccer clubs or leagues, and they come to high school with more knowledge of the game.

The Vinton-Shellsburg High School "Red Cedar Shooters" trap shooting team kicked off their 2014 competition season by taking 5th place overall in 2 separate trap invitationals hosted by Cedar Rapids Xavier and Cedar Rapids Jefferson High Schools held Saturday at the Otter Creek Sportsman's Club in Cedar Rapids.  Nearly 300 competitors were in attendance for the day long events, representing 13 eastern Iowa high Schools.

The continued cold has caused delays in some of the first Vinton-Shellsburg athletic contests of the season.  Boys and girls golf openers vs. Center Point-Urbana, originally scheduled for this afternoon, have been postponed. The VS boys Early Bird event scheduled for Friday has been delayed until April 14; the girls track meet at Union scheduled for today has been reset for April 11.

Last year, Leah Wroten became the first woman to win a feature race since 1971 at the Independence Motor Speedway, and came close to becoming the second woman to ever win a feature against male competitors at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Wroten, of Independence, was a rookie last season, racing the car her husband, Nick, gave her for a wedding present.

Although cold wet weather delayed this weekend's scheduled Frostbuster at the Benton County Speedway, the sun was shining Sunday afternoon when several of the drivers brought their machines to First Avenue in Vinton. Many drivers and fans spent a couple of hours discussing the cars and the upcoming race season. Among the participants were Scott Hogan, who has a brand new car for this season, and Leah Wroten, who as a rookie last year became the first female to win a race at the Independence Motor Speedway since 1971.

In March, some of our local league bowlers traveled to Cedar Rapids to participate in the USBC City tournament.  The bowlers compete against many bowlers from the Cedar Rapids area in many different categories.  Bowlers could compete as a team of four, a team of two, a single bowler or for total pins in all events. Results for our

The Gutter Cleaners (Kyle Jorgensen, Bryce Meyers, Hunter Martin, Nick Schneider) failed to live up (or down?) to their name this season in the Jr/Sr. Jets Bowling League at Berry's Lanes. The Gutter Cleaners finished first this season in team standings. Complete results are below: Tournament Champions:                  Boys:  Keagan McKibben                 Girls:  Chloe Tharp   Season winners:                 1st Place Team:  Gutter Cleaners (Kyle Jorgensen, Bryce Meyers, Hunter Martin, Nick Schneider)                 2nd Place Team:  No Guts No Glory (Josh Staab, Ben Eden, Tyler Rasmussen, Jordan Schoettmer)   High Averages:                 Boys:  Jacob Gosse                 Girls:  Alyssa Bunge   High Game:                 Boys:  Nick Schneider                 Girls:  Chloe Tharp   High Series:                 Boys:  Cole Garwood                 Girls:  Taylor Berry   Most Improved:                 Boys:  Nick Schneider                 Girls:  Elise Woolison Congratulations to all!!  Another great bowling season closes for the Vinton youth currently members of the Jr/Sr Jets at Berry's Lanes in Vinton.

The Vinton-Shellsburg Vikings learned their 2014 and 2015 football schedules earlier this month when the Iowa High School Athletic Association announced them.  The Vikings will have five home games in 2014, and four home games in 2015. In 2015, however, two of the five away games are at the two closest opponents, Benton and Independence.