2025 2A Boys Season Preview

Final season preview of 2025. 2A boys has an action packed spring ahead! Lets get the matches started next Monday.

Key Dates:

March 17 - First Practices

May 14 - Districts

May 17 - Prelim Substate

May 21 - Substate

May 27-28 - Individual state tournament

June 3-4 - Team State tournament

June 10 - State Co-Ed Tournament

Storylines

• Waukee Northwest could be in line for a second straight triple crown, and possibly even all four titles again including Co-Ed.

• A very talented freshman class enters the Iowa HS Tennis ranks. The likes of Dylan Schulte (Prairie), Will Feagler (IC City), Pierce Hribar (IC West), Prabhas Gupta (IC West), Srihari Kumaresan (Johnston), Aadil Patel (Johnston), Jens Strand (IC Liberty) and Vincent Flynn (Waukee NW) all enter their first seasons along with others.

• Top ranked player Anthony Schulte from Prairie has committed to playing college tennis at Coe College. He is following in the footsteps of other CR hometown legends in Brady Anderson and Rami Hemaidan who were top players for the Kohawks previously.

• Valley girls coach Mike Conlon has taken over as the boys coach for the Tigers this spring as well. He is pulling double duty coaching both the boys and girls in the final season of each gender running alongside each other. Believe he is the only coach pulling double duty this spring?

Team State Title Contenders

Waukee Northwest: Recording the quadruple crown in 2024, the Wolves are looking to do so again, this time without former 2-time state champion Kaden Taylor. The far and away heavy crown favorite again, what doesn't this team have. Coach Wetzel puts together a strong schedule with out of state matches, and does a good job at getting a lot of players on the team matches throughout the season. Two-time defending doubles champions Jake Nelson, Luther College commit, and Kellan Croatt headline the deepest team in the state and are joined by newcomers Marteen Beekhuis and Vincent Flynn.

Iowa City West: Unfamiliar territory for the Trojans last year, as they finished 3rd as a team, and did not reach the title match for the first time since 2010. An uphill battle to climb again to regain a team crown, especially with the graduation of Samir Singh and Patrick Selby. Freshman Pierce Hribar and Prabhas Gupta and promising newcomers to make a big impact immediately, along with returners Junze Sun, Anthony Medina and Aaron Kang. The Trojans are in good position to get back to the title match in June.

Pleasant Valley: The Spartans have been a crazy good consistent team the last decade as well. They finished 2024 on a tremendous high note finishing runner-up after an upset win over Linn-Mar in the semi-finals. Returning a lot of their lineup, PV is going to have to try and replicate without former #1 Folu Adelkune now. Not quite as strong of depth in 2025, but the Spartans should be in the top 4 for a lot of the season.

Cedar Rapids Prairie: Achieving their first top 10 ranking in 2024, the Prairie Hawks are looking for more. Returning everyone. in their lineup, except Jensen White, but adding Dylan Schulte to the mix, how dangerous can this team be? Going to be a lot of fun to see how they fare against some of the states best in Iowa City West and Xavier in the MVC. Hard to count them out with two of the top 5 players in 2A on the roster, who happen to be from the same household.

Other teams to watch: Linn-Mar, Johnston

Players to Watch

Anthony Schulte - Prairie

Dylan Schulte - Prairie

Jake Nelson - Waukee Northwest

Garrett Bauermeister - Linn-Mar

Micah Flaherty - Fort Dodge

Parker Holland - CR Jefferson

Abhay Anil - IC City

Kellan Croatt - Waukee Northwest

Three Bold Predictions

• The Schulte brothers from Prairie both finish in the top 4 at state singles

• Nelson/Croatt of Waukee NW three-peat in state doubles

• 3 freshman will finish the year ranked in the top 10 individual rankings

Team State Prediction

SF: Waukee NW def. Prairie

SF: IC West def. Pleasant Valley

F: Waukee NW def. IC West

Singles State Champion Prediction

Anthony Schulte, Prairie

Doubles State Champions Prediction

Jake Nelson/Kellan Croatt - Waukee NW