Prep Cross Country- The Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) released the sixth edition of the team rankings for the four classes and our six of our seven local teams improving their position from last week.

Class 3A

The Fort Madison boys’ team is not going to have anyone consistently ranked in the top 30, but they are a consistent team as they picked up another easy victory at Mt. Pleasant.

The Bloodhounds nearly won by 40 points over Oskaloosa as their top four runners finished within the top 20, including their anchor Riley Tripp, who grabbed 2^nd place overall with a time of 17 minutes and 2 seconds.

A second-place finish at the Anamosa Invitational bolstered their resume after losing first place by five points to Class 2A’s #2 Denver. The Bloodhounds climbed four spots in the rankings from #18 to #14.

The Fort Madison girls’ team continues to impress with a pair of team victories last week. Cruising to a near 50-point victory in Mt. Pleasant to a 20-point win at Anamosa over #7 Solon.

The win vaulted the Bloodhounds to #5 in the rankings after being ranked 7^th last week.

Class 2A

Competitive week for the Mediapolis boys’ team, taking on three ranked teams in Mt. Pleasant and finishing in 3^rd place followed by a trip to Burlington for the Tony Proctor Invitational, taking 2^nd place.

The team is led by two ranked individuals: Simon Wendel and Will Schmidgall, as the pair consistently finish in the top 10. It will take the third, fourth, and fifth runners to make the who team a threat for Mediapolis.

Still, the Bulldogs did move up to #16 in the rankings after nearly falling out last week.

Class 1A

It was a big week for WACO. Not only did Jude Dykstra win the Mt. Pleasant Invitational at the last moment, but the Warriors also pulled off the upset against Columbus to win the team gold by 16 points.

The Warriors got sub-18-minute times from three of their runners and two other sub-19-minute times from Gavin Slagel and Tristan Luitjens. Their top five is really putting it together at the right time, resulting in a six-spot jump inside the top ten to #5.

Columbus is very similar to Fort Madison, one very good runner and a team full of good runners. Might not be the recipe for individual glory, but it is for team success. Despite falling to a WACO on a highlight day, the Wildcats only dropped one spot to #6 in the rankings.

Van Buren County only had one meet last week and the boys’ team finished in 3^rd place at the Tony Proctor Invitational. Lincoln Bainbridge grabbed the bronze in a nice individual effort.

The boys’ team leapfrogged one spot up the rankings to #11.

The girls’ team for Van Buren County tallied another victory, but not nearly as dominant of fashion as their others, just three points over Clear Creek Amana—a much larger school.

The Warriors have a clear leader in Kayley Snowgren but this team consistently has multiple runners finish in the top 10 or at the very least the top 15.

Surprisingly, the girls’ team lost a spot in the rankings this week, moving from #6 to #7.

Prep Cross Country- There were two big meets last week in southeast Iowa that sharpened the image of some of the top runners in the area, while also allowing for a new face in the individual rankings.

Class 3A

The Mt. Pleasant Invitational provided Avery Fedler’s first opportunity to run in front of the home crowd for her high school career. After, admittedly, a fast first mile, Fedler calmed down to win the gold medal with a time of 18 minutes and 53 seconds.

That was the overall best time for the large or small girls’ division, defeating Fort Madison’s Avery Rump by 10 seconds. The two impressive times vaulted both runners up a spot in the rankings.

Fedler is now ranked #2, while Rump was placed at #11. Fedler talked about the extra training she’s had to do to compete at this level,

“I think one thing I’ve really worked on is building my mileage. So, in middle school I probably wasn’t running more than 10 miles a week, and I’ve built it up to like 30 miles a week, 10 miles is not ideal for any kind of mid distance runner, so building my mileage is definitely the key factor in my success.”

Isolated from the conference competition, Washington’s Iris Dahl turned in her best time of the season at the Solon Invitational, a bronze medal time of 19 minutes and 35 seconds. This deduction of time moved the Demon up five spots in the rankings from #22 to #17.

Class 2A

Hard to know it homefield advantage still counts after transferring to a different school two years ago; however, Simon Wendell of Mediapolis was on the wrong end of a classic finish at Mt. Pleasant High School.

Wendel, who had been leading for most of the race, saw his position usurped by WACO’s Jude Dykstra in the final 100 meters, resulting in the Warrior victory and Wendel with a phenomenal silver-medal time of 16 minutes and 26 seconds.

Finishing not too far behind for 3^rd place was another Bulldog in Will Schmidgall, clocking a time of 16 minuets and 49 seconds. Wendel would improve his time at the Tony Proctor Burlington Invitational to tab a mark of 16 minutes and 24 seconds.

Schmidgall took fourth place with a time of 17 minutes and 4 seconds. The result was Wendel moving back two spots to #7 and Schmidgall climbing six spots to #15.

Burlington Notre Dame/West Burlington has a pair of talented freshmen that put their skills on display at the Tony Proctor Invitational last week in Cavin Denney and Hannah Ritter.

Denney made his first appearance in the individual rankings last week and followed that up by ascending three spots in the rankings to #24 this week after taking 5^th place with a time of 17 minutes and 11 seconds.

Hannah Ritter made her first ever appearance in the rankings this week, leaping nearly into the top 15, getting placed at #16. Ritter claimed 2^nd place with a time of 20 minutes and 20 seconds at the Tony Proctor Invitational.

Class 1A

“Not really, I think I am more motivated coming back to Mount Pleasant” said Jude Dykstra after the race. “I know so many people here and it’s a great environment.”

Whether it was homefield advantage or increased motivation, the victory for the Warrior launched the senior five spots in the rankings to #6 this week.

Van Buren County’s Lincoln Bainbridge has been jumbled all around the rankings and this week was no difference as the Warrior finished in 3^rd place at the Tony Proctor Invitational with a time of 16 minutes and 47 seconds.

Bainbridge tumbled back six spots in the rankings, leaving the top 10 to find an open spot at #12.

Lastly, on the girls’ side, Josie Dykstra of WACO’s near sub-20-minute time was good enough for the bronze in the small division and 6^th place overall at the Mt. Pleasant Invitational. After nearly falling out of the top 30 last week, the sophomore was safely elevated to #24 in the rankings.

Prep Football- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released their first edition of the 2025 football rankings for Classes 2A, 1A, A, and Eight-Player. These rankings will be used as a tool for postseason assignments.

Class 2A

Four teams in the top 10 are still undefeated five weeks into the season, including the top dog Kuemper Catholic. The Knights have not had a difficult schedule so far with their closest win coming over Cherokee Washington by 16 points in week one.

Their most interest matchup will be a senior night showdown in week nine against #3 and fellow undefeated squad Okoboji. The Pioneers would have a claim for the top spot if they picked up a more convincing win over one-win Spirit Lake, instead of a 10-7 final.

PCM ranks #2 in the rankings despite posting a loss. Important to note that the loss was a two-point fall at the hands of Nevada, 30-28, a team that could see time in the rankings for Class 3A.

The other undefeated teams are #6 Centerville and #7 Osage. Centerville has taken down one of our local Class 3A team in Fairfield, 44-38, in a shootout. Their offense continues to be impressive, averaging 44 points per game.

The power rankings on Bound agree with the IHSAA with Mid-Prairie’s positioning at #8. The Golden Hawks are averaging 38 points per game with their only loss coming against #4 Alburnett in a tight 42-37 finish.

What will have to improve is their defense. Mid-Prairie has allowed 35 or more points in three of their five games. After sneaking pas Wilton to start District play, expect the Golden Hawks to go back-to-back as District Champs.

Class 1A

The top 10 is top-heavy for Class 1A with last year’s Class 2A’s state champion West Lyon sitting atop the standings followed by last year’s Class 1A state champion in Grundy Center.

Regina Catholic at #3 and South Hardin placed at #4 produce a top four of only undefeated teams. Each of which are beating their opponents by at least 30 points.

The Regals and Wildcats should get out of the unscathed as Regina Catholic’s showdown against Sigourney Keota this week will be their toughest remaining game on the schedule.

Nevertheless, Grundy Center will celebrate their Homecoming against South Hardin this Friday night in a top five battle.

Union Community was kept out of the top five despite still boasting an undefeated record. Given that #5 slot was Treynor, who lost a low-scoring bout to Van Meter earlier in the year 21-13.

#9 Underwood was the lose two-loss team to crack the top ten with losses to a tough Class 2A squad in Clarinda by seven points a decisive loss to the rival Cardinals of Treynor 37-12 last week.

Class A

There are nine undefeated teams in the Class, yet only eight in the rankings. Aptly, the Royals of MMCRU sit on the throne, allowing just six points per game, while putting up nearly 40 points per game.

Saint Ansgar and ACGC round out the top three, respectively. Saint Ansgar is about the only team in the top eight that should go the rest of the regular season unchallenged. #5 West Hancock and #8 Woodbury Central could also make the same claim.

However, here are some interesting matchups on the horizon for the other members of the top eight:

Week 7: #1 MMCRU vs #4 West Sioux

Week 8: #7 North Linn @ #6 Wapsie Valley

Week 8: #3 ACGC vs #9 Riverside

Riverside is in the top 10 with a 4-1 record because their lone loss was at the hands of Class 1A’s #5 Treynor. And #10 Lynnville-Sully gets in with a 4-1 record because that loss was at the hands of Class 1A’s #7 Pleasantville in a dramatic 47-36 final.

Who was the one undefeated team left out? The local Pekin Panthers. Strength of schedule really hurts Pekin here, which included two teams that had to forfeit their season, one they actually played.

Still, Pekin is playing well, beating teams by an average of nearly 40 points. Riley Smith has a touchdown to interception ratio of 9 to 0 and Nolan Glick is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry with 13 total touchdowns.

Eight-Player

Either be undefeated or be Don Bosco, that’s how the rankings work this week for the contentious eight-player league. Especially, as the class tries to find a new champion as Remsen-St. Mary’s struggles to field a team.

At the top of the rankings is Bishop Garrigan, the state champion from two seasons ago. Woodbine and Gladbrook-Reinbeck round out the top three.

At #4 is Iowa Valley, as the lone 6-0 team in the state. The Tigers know how to score points at will with 65 points per game and an average win differential of 40.5 points.

Some impressive wins include an 83-64 victory over Montezuma and a 49-34 takedown of #10 Don Bosco. Nolan Kreigel leads the state with 34 total touchdowns as the junior is nearly unstoppable.

Other undefeated teams: #5 Audubon, #6 Edgewood-Colesburg, #7 Southeast Warren, #8 Easton Valley, and #9 GTRA.

Don Bosco had perhaps the toughest four-week schedule to start the season with Iowa Valley to start the year and Gladbrook-Reinbeck last week, falling 42-27. The Dons have otherwise dominated, decimating West Central 74-0 and Janesville 61-0.

More Information

The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) will be released next week for Classes 5A, 4A, and 3A. For the full rankings and information on the postseason follow the link below.

LINK: Football: 2025 Rankings, Sept. 29 | IHSAA