Prep Girls’ Golf- The 2024 girls’ state golf meet is underway and southeast Iowa currently has two golfers within the top ten of their respective classes with one of them sitting atop the standings.

Girls’ Class 1A

New London brought the whole team to compete and after a day of golf, the Tigers currently sit in 6^th place with a team score of 380. Nevertheless, Taylor Phillips, who finished with the silver last season, leads the field with a round-one score of 73 (+2). A three-stroke lead over Mount Ayr’s Jaylee Shaffer.

Sophie Malott finished the day in 22^nd place, shooting a 91 (+20), while Emma Busby carded a 105 (+34) to earn 56^th place. Sydney Kracht’s score of 111 (+40) is the last score to contribute to New London’s team standings.

Easton Valley holds a shallow lead over Highland by a mere four strokes (363 to 367). BCLUW is in third place with a team score of 87-over par.

Girls’ Class 2A

Olivia Hines of Mediapolis has made it a habit of attending the state meet with bronze and silver medals in her back pocket; she will be battling for second place tomorrow. The senior shot an 80 (+8) to end day one in 6^th place.

Chole Bolte of Sumner-Fredericksburg is performing admirably to defend her state title, carding a 67 (-5). She has a ten-stroke lead heading into the finals tomorrow, as 2^nd place through 19^th place are also separated by ten strokes to further represent her domination.

Bolte’s lead has helped Sumner-Fredericksburg lead the way on the team front with a score of 337 followed by Roland-Story’s score of 341 and Oelwein’s 352. Mid-Prairie is back in 5^th place with a team score of 365 as they are led by Gabi Robertson’s 84 (+12), which is 13^th overall.

Girls’ Class 3A Par 72

Individual standings: Eden Lohrbach (69), Meghan DeLong (73), Ava Kalb and Meera Julka (76)

Team Standings: Gilbert (309), Dubuque Wahlert Catholic (325), Xavier (349)

Girls’ Class 4A Par 71

Individual standings: Morgan Rupp and Isabella Pettersen (70), Saleah Vivanh Vong (71), Izzy Steele and Natalie Henson (73)

Team Standings: Pleasant Valley (315), Waukee Northwest and Cedar Rapids Washington (317), Cedar Falls (324)

KILJ will continue its coverage of the girls’ state tournament tomorrow.

Prep Boys’ Tennis- The boys’ Classes 1A and 2A singles and doubles state tournament has concluded and Rumin Luo of Fairfield finished in 6^th place for the Class 1A singles tournament. Here’s how his tournament run proceeded.

His first-round matchup was against district 7-runner up, Christian Jensen of Lewis Central. Luo won without much of an issue, taking both sets 6-3. This set up a quarterfinal matchup against Pella’s Jack Briggs.

Briggs proved to be too much as Luo was defeated 6-2 in set one and 6-1 in set two, sending him to the second round of the consolation bracket.

His final match of day one was a chance at revenge against Pella’s Ben Van Gorp. Luo dominated the match, winning set one 6-2 and shutting out Van Gorp in set two. This propelled Luo to his day two matchup in the consolation semifinals.

Waiting for him was Mason Reicks of Kuemper Catholic, who lost his first match against Decorah’s Caden Branum before two consecutive victories to meet up with Lou. However, his run ended there as Luo won both sets 6-3.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s Tyler Grote was all that stood between the Trojan and 5^th place. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be despite the tough match, Grote won both sets 7-5 and 6-4.

Parker Stroh of Columbus Catholic finished in 7^th place. Tanner Laube of Grundy Center took 3^rd place. The individual state championship was between Briggs and Branum and three sets were needed to decide the gold with Briggs winning 6-4, 1-6, and 6-2.

Class 1A Doubles

State Champion: North Polk’s Ethan Moon and Easton Moon

Runner-Up: Waverly-Shell Rock’s Benny Ramker and Luca Myers

Third Place: Xavier’s Charlie LeGrand and Jacob Schmit

Fourth Place: Pella’s Joshua Roozeboom and Cameron Rowe

Fifth Place: Wahlert Catholic’s Roan Martineau and Charlie Curtiss

Class 2A Singles

State Champion: Waukee Northwest’s Kaden Taylor

Runner-Up: Waukee’s Quinn Monson

Third Place: Prairie’s Anthony Schulte

Fourth Place: Fort Dodge’s Micah Flaherty

Fifth Place: Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s Parker Holland

Class 2A Doubles

State Champion: Waukee Northwest’s Kellan Croatt and Jake Nelson

Runner-Up: Linn-Mar’s Garrett Bauermeister and Malcolm Rice

Third Place: Iowa City West’s Patrick Selby and Samir Singh

Fourth Place: Waukee Northwest’s Gavin Leuck and Sean Sonoiki

Fifth Place: Pleasant Valley’s Folu Adekunle and Karthik Ganesh

Prep Girls’ Wrestling- Two years after the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) sanctioned girls’ wrestling, the Board of Directors has approved the move to divide the 2024-2025 girls’ wrestling season into two classes.

Class 2A will include the 64 largest wrestling schools, while Class 1A will consist of the remaining schools. Wrestlers will still compete at regional meets to qualify for the state meet, which is scheduled for two days, February 6^th and 7^th.

“The rapid rise of participants in girls wrestling has exceeded even our expectations,” said IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich. “Adding a second class is the next building block in our efforts to continue to help the sport grow. The hope is that the addition of a second class will encourage more schools to add girls’ wrestling programs.”

The IGHSAU saw 204 schools sponsor a girls’ wrestling program, while 61 schools co-opted this past season.