Prep Sports- The IHSAA board met last Friday and made a big move for high school soccer along with releasing the rankings for the five classes of boys basketball.
Firstly, basketball and bowling had their winter classifications approved and they will be ready for the postseason come February. The wrestling postseason manual was updated due to the offseason changes such as: the elimination of sectional tournaments, addition of qualifiers to the traditional tournament, and changes to duals in state tournament site and regional qualifying.
The big kicker for the meeting was the announcement that soccer was going to add Class 4A in 2023. IHSAA executive director Tom Keating stated that the move should add more parity to the classifications,
“With the growth of soccer, particularly in our smaller schools, adding an additional class will reduce the disparity in enrollment in each class, providing for a more competitive season and state tournament series…”
The classification will be divided as such: Class 4A will be the largest 36 schools, Class 3A will be the next 40 schools, Class 2A will be the next 48 schools, and Class 1A will take the remaining schools.
Boy’s Basketball Rankings
Waukee Northwest holds the top spot in Class 4A, Cedar Rapids Xavier sits atop Class 3A, Central Lyon is the top dog in Class 2A, and Grand View Christian is the king of Class 1A. West Burlington is ranked 4th in Class 2A thanks to a strong 8-0 start to the season. WACO is 5th in Class 1A with the Warriors still undefeated to start their season.