progress: SPORTS & EDUCATION
B5
CHARLES CITY PRESS | WWW.CHARLESCITYPRESS.COM | TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025
During rebuilding season, Comet girls get visit from Hawkeye center Press photo by John Burbridge University of Iowa senior center Addison O’Grady, center, gets her photo taken with members of the Charles City high school and middle school girls basketball teams after the chemical engineering major visited Cambrex early this year.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com There are two sides of the Caitlyn Clark effect. The transcendent former Iowa and cur- rent Indiana Fever star may be the epito- me of the warpspeed progress of women’s basketball. Even “old school” fans of 1980s and 1990s NBA basketball are impressed by the “throwback” style of play that honors ball movement, screen-sprung cuts, pre- cision passing and teamwork rather than one-on-one isolation and stand-around star gazing. But the downside is that while tradition- ally competitive high school girl programs continue to upgrade their play – especially in this state – the gap between them and the lower-rung programs has gotten much wider to where varsity matchups become farces. Charles City, which continues to be graced with outstanding female athletes who tend to focus their talents more on sports other than basketball, is among the
programs being left in the dust. To possibly help close that gap while giving some of their underclass players the opportunity to play in a competitive setting, Charles City decided to forgo var- sity-level basketball and play a sub-varsity schedule this season. But that didn’t mean the Comets never encountered any Division I talent in Comet Gym. Early this new year, University of Iowa center Addison O’Grady – member of the Hawkeyes’ NCAA Tournament runner-up teams two years in a row and currently averaging double-digit scoring her senior season – visited members of the Comet high school and middle school teams. O’Grady was in town for a formal visit to Cambrex’s Charles City facility after it was revealed in a graphic during a Hawk- eye game that she is majoring in chemical engineering. O’Grady had been given an extensive tour and met with many of Cambrex’s em- ployees and managers. It remains to be seen if O’Grady ever
accepts a position at Cambrex … she sure has the “major” quali fi cation. But if that does come to fruition, it’s easy to imagine that a high-pro fi le new hire like O’Grady may interact with the community where she is employed. That may include volun- teering her expertise in helping coaches Sue Hoefer and Luke Anderson rebuild the program. Though Charles City didn’t have a varsi- ty girls team, it did have a few players who could have played varsity … perhaps even started … with other programs. One player in particular was senior guard Sakira Brown, who was one of the Comets’ leading scorers and most-reliable ballhanders. Brown was this year’s recipient of the Amy Boley Heiter Memorial Scholarship annually given to a Comet senior girls bas- ketball player who – like when Amy Boley Heiter played for the Comets – displays uncommon passion for the game and who wants to further their education in a fi eld that will help others.
Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City senior Sakira Brown, shown here driving to the basket, was this season’s recipient of the Amy Boley Heiter Memorial Scholarship.
2025 SPORTS PREVIEW
WATCH FOR IT COMING SOON IN THE
Non-GMO Ingredients
Barnyard FEEDS
to provide you the very best in... Fresh Floral Designs, Gifts, Home & Garden Decor, and Greenhouse & Landscape Services
One-Ton Totes
OPEN YEAR ROUND
Non GMO Feed
50 LB. Bags
Clean feed oats, Horse feed, Chicken feed, Goat feed, Sheep feed, Pig feed, Dairy and Calf feed.
Feed Made with Fertrell Minerals
Open: Mon.-Fri. 7am-7pm • Sat. 7am-3pm Also available for sale at Livestock System located at 3095 190th St., Charles City, IA 1585 Shadow Ave • Charles City, IA • 641-220-2272
1313 Gilbert St. Charles City 641-228-6193 www.ottosoasis.com
Hours: M-F 9-5:00 Saturday 9-2 Extended Seasonal Hours
Delivery Available
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator