DES MOINES – Five new champions will be crowned later this week as the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union holds their State championships.
Games kicked off on Monday morning with class 5A tipping off the week-long tournaments.
Class 5A:
For the second year in a row Johnston’s Dragons are the No. 1 seed. The Dragons capped last year’s State title with a 48-36 win over Dowling Catholic.
This year the Dragons are once again the No. 1 seed as they try to go back-to-back. In the first game, the undefeated Dragons will play Iowa City Liberty (17-6). The Bolts are making their State tournament debut.
No. 4 seeded Ankeny Centennial (16-7) will play against Pleasant Valley (19-4) in the quarterfinals.
Last year’s runners-up, Dowling Catholic (20-3) are the No. 2 seed and they take on Davenport North (19-4) in the first round.
The quarterfinals will conclude as Waukee Northwest, the No. 3 seed (18-4) will take on Cedar Rapids, Prairie in the first round. The semifinals for class 5A are Thursday, followed by the championship game Friday night.
Class 4A:
A new champion will be crowned in the class 4A field. Clear Creek-Amana won the class 4A title last year, but is not in the State tournament this year.
Instead the 4A field is led by perennial title contender, Bishop Heelan (21-2) the Sioux City Catholic school is no stranger to the tournament. Last year the Crusaders advanced to the semifinals.
Heelan takes on Cedar Rapids, Xavier (19-4) in the quarterfinals.
Norwalk comes into the tournament at 22-1 and is the fourth seeded team. Central DeWitt (20-4) will take on the Warriors in the first round.
North Polk, who lost by two points to Clear Creek-Amana in last year’s semifinals, is the only Raccoon River Conference team in the 4A field this year. The Comets are 22-2 this winter and the No. 2 seed. They will take on Sioux Center (21-2) in the quarterfinals. Like last year Sioux Center is once again the No. 7 seed.
Maquoketa (21-2) comes in as the No. 3 seed. They play No. 6 seeded Dallas Center-Grimes (19-4) in the first round.
Class 3A:
Solon surprised many teams in last year’s class 3A tournament, emerging from the No. 3 seed to win the tournament. This year they aren’t in the tournament.
Instead Mount Vernon is the No. 1 seed with a 23-1 overall record. The Mustangs are trying to improve on their semifinal appearance from a year ago. They will take on eighth-seeded West Marshall (19-5) in the first round.
Cherokee (21-3) comes in as the No. 4 seed. They will take on former Lakes Conference rival (and last year’s runners-up) Estherville-Lincoln Central (20-3) in the first round.
Dubuque Wahlert (19-4) has the No. 2 seed while Spirit Lake (17-7) enters the tournament with the fewest number of wins and most number of losses in the regular season of any of the class 3A qualifiers.
The third seeded team is Williamsburg (23-2) is the No. 3 seed. They will play Des Moines Christian (21-3) in the first round.
Class 2A:
On Feb. 27, 2024 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont fell by four points to Sioux Center. That was the last time the Rocket girls have experienced a defeat. The Rockets enter a fresh 2A field as only one of two undefeated teams in class 2A.
Dike-New Hartford, which won the 2A title last year, didn’t qualify for the tournament, meaning class 2A is wide open.
The Rockets (24-0) went wire-to-wire as the top-ranked team in the State rankings. They will face Treynor (21-3) in the first round.
North Mahaska will represent the SICL in the tournament. They are the No. 4 seed at (22-2). Central Lyon (19-4) will play North Mahaska in the first round.
Iowa City Regina (23-1) will come in as the No. 2 seed. They square off against seventh-seeded Maquoketa Valley (23-2) in the quarterfinals.
Hinton is also undefeated with a 23-0 record. They enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed. Rock Valley is the sixth-seeded team with a 20-3 record.
In the class 2A field EBF is the only team from last year’s tournament to return.
Class 1A:
A rematch of last year’s title game could come in the semifinals. North Linn will try to repeat as champions, but this year’s 1A field is full of tough competition.
Council Bluffs St. Albert is the top seed of the tournament. The Saintes finished the year 22-1 proving themselves against the tough western Iowa schools in the Hawkeye 10 conference (which is comprised of mainly 2A, 3A and 4A schools). The Saintes will take on Dunkerton (17-7) in the first round.
Bishop Garrigan, who took on St. Albert in the opening round last year, is the fourth-seeded team with a record of 22-3. In the first round they will play Montezuma (19-5). The Bravettes come in as the No. 5 seed.
Last year’s champions, No 2 seeded North Linn has a record of 23-1 this season. The Lynx will play Gladbrook-Reinbeck (21-3) in the first round. In an ironic twist North Linn and Gladbrook-Reinbeck also both qualified their boys teams for the State basketball tournament and will also play each other in the quarterfinals.
Perennial title favorite and last year’s runners-up, Newell-Fonda return to the State tournament (in the past 20 years Newell-Fonda has more runner-up finishes, 6, than they do tournament absences 3). The Mustangs will take on Springville (20-4) in a rematch of the 2008, 2015 and 2018 class 1A championship games.
