State News

Kennedy spikers start season at No. 2

Kennedy has been to the semifinals of the Class 4A state volleyball tournament each of the last three seasons.

The Cougars will be aiming a little higher this season.

Kennedy begins the season ranked No. 2 in Class 5A. Iowa City High is ranked No. 1 and Iowa City West, the Cougars' semifinal nemesis the last three seasons, is ranked ninth.

Two other Metro teams also are in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union preseason rankings. Xavier is ranked No. 12 and Marion is 14th in Class 4A.

Sioux City Heelan is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. The other top-ranked teams are MOC-Floyd Valley in 3A, Dike-New Hartford in 2A and Grundy Center in 1A.

IGHSAU VOLLEYBALL RANKINGS
Preseason

CLASS 5A

1. Iowa City High, 2. CR Kennedy, 3. Ankeny, 4. Cedar Falls, 5. Urbandale, 6. Dubuque Hempstead, 7. Clinton, 8. Pleasant Valley, 9. Iowa City West, 10. West Des Moines Dowling

CLASS 4A

1. Sioux City Heelan, 2. Harlan, 3. Solon, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock, 5. Charles City, 6. Maquoketa, 7. Dubuque Wahlert, 8. West Delaware, 9. North Scott, 10. DeWitt Central, 11. Fairfield, 12. CR Xavier, 13. Lewis Central, 14. Marion, 15. Clear Creek Amana

CLASS 3A

1. MOC-Floyd Valley, 2. Mediapolis, 3. West Liberty, 4. Sioux Center, 5. Union, 6. Nevada, 7. Davenport Assumption, 8. Mount Vernon, 9. Unity Christian, 10. East Sac County, 11. Cascade, 12. South Central Calhoun. 13. Estherville Lincoln Central, 14. Red Oak, 15. Bondurant-Farrar

CLASS 2A

1. Dike-New Hartford, 2. Western Christian, 3. Carroll Kuemper, 4. Sumner-Fredericksburg, 5. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 6. West Branch, 7. Ridge View, 8. Woodward-Granger, 9. Treynor, 10. Hinton, 11. Durant, 12. IKM-Manning, 13. Iowa City Regin, 14. Lake Mills, 15. Edgewood-Colesburg

CLASS 1A

1. Grundy Center, 2. LeMars Gehlen, 3. Janesville, 4. Fort Madison Holy Trinity, 5. Tripoli, 6. Bellevue Marquette, 7. Stanton, 8. East Union, 9. Bedford, 10. Lisbon, 11. New London, 12. Twin Cedars, 13. Central Lyon, 14. Preston, 15. Winfield-Mount Union

6 Metro teams make X-C rankings

The Linn-Mar Lions are the highest ranked teams in the preseason cross country polls.

The Linn-Mar boys are ranked No. 3 in Class 4A and the Linn-Mar girls are ranked No. 4.

The Metro boys race could be interesting this season with Linn-Mar ranked No. 3, Washington No. 4 and Prairie No. 6.

The Marion boys are ranked 11th in Class 3A.

The Kennedy girls are ranked ninth in Class 4A.

BOYS 4A

1. Dowling Catholic, 2. Pleasant Valley, 3. Linn-Mar, 4. Washington, 5. West Des Moines Valley, 6. Prairie, 7. Iowa City High, 8. Iowa City West, 9. Waukee, 10. Burlington, 11. Indianola, 12. Dubuque Senior, 13. Cedar Falls, 14. Ames, 15. Ankeny.

BOYS 3A

1. Decorah, 2. Pella, 3. Sioux City Heelan, 4. Dubuque Wahlert, 5. Boone, 6. Grinnell, 7. Knoxville, 8. Glenwood, 9. Charles City, 10. Fort Madison, 11. Marion, 12. Webster City, 13. Ballard, 14. MOC/FV, 15. Mount Vernon/Lisbon.

GIRLS 4A

1. Dowling Catholic, 2. Pleasant Valley, 3. West Des Moines Valley, 4. Linn-Mar, 5. Cedar Falls, 6. Iowa City High, 7. Iowa City West, 8. Johnston, 9. Kennedy, 10. Bettendorf, 11. Waukee, 12. Des Moines Roosevelt, 13. Ankeny, 14. Ames, 15. Dubuque Senior.

GIRLS 3A

1. Pella, 2. Davenport Assumption, 3. Dubuque Wahlert, 4. Solon, 5. Decorah, 6. MOC/FV, 7. Dallas Center Grimes, 8. Mount Vernon/Lisbon, 9. Sioux City Heelan, 10. Harlan, 11. Williamsburg, 12. Garner-Hayfield, 13. Shenandoah, 14. Benton, 15. Xavier.

State baseball tourney staying in Des Moines

BOONE - The state baseball tournament will remain at Principal Park in Des Moines through the 2015 season, the IHSAA announced Monday.

The current contract with the Iowa Cubs was set to expire after the 2013 tournament, but the IHSAA and Cubs agreed to add two years to the deal.

"Without question Principal Park is the finest baseball facility in Iowa and allows us to give the teams and fans in each of our four classes the thrill of playing in a professional facility," said Rick Wulkow, the executive director of the IHSAA.

The state tournament moved to Principal Park in 2005 and the average attendance since then has been 30,700 fans. From 1997 through 2004, the tournament was held at split locations and the average total attendance during those years was 18,356.

Xavier, Marion make Register football poll

The Xavier Saints and Marion Indians had modest records during the 2011 football season, but the Des Moines Register thinks they'll be two of the strongest teams in their respective classes this year.

The Saints, who finished 5-5 last season, were ranked No. 7 in Class 4A in the Register's preseason poll announced Sunday.

The Indians, who finished 4-5 last year, were ranked No. 8 in Class 3A.

West Des Moines Valley was ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. Cedar Falls was ranked No. 2, Iowa City West No. 6 and Iowa City High No. 8.

Decorah was ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. Solon was ranked No. 9.

Marion hosts Decorah on Aug. 31. The Indians are in the same district with Solon.

CLASS 4A

1. West Des Moines Valley, 2. Cedar Falls, 3. Ankeny, 4. Bettendorf, 5. Dowling Catholic, 6. Iowa City West, 7. Xavier, 8. Iowa City High, 9. Southeast Polk, 10. Johnston.

CLASS 3A

1. Decorah, 2. Creston/Orient-Macksburg, 3. Pella, 4. Harlan, 5. Carroll, 6. Waverly-Shell Rock, 7. Keokuk, 8. Marion, 9. Solon, 10. Sergeant Bluff-Luton.