Districts Round Up

After the second event of postseason, this time the first competition for the boys following the regular season, we 96 players who qualified for the singles and doubles state tournament, and get to continue their quest for a state title here in a few weeks. With a LOT of tennis conducted today, let's take a look at some of the storylines that came out of districts play.

Claiming all the bids

Waukee Northwest, and Xavier (for the first time) qualified all their entries to the state tournament today. The Wolves accomplished the feat last year, and also captured the coveted quadruple crown (singles, doubles, team and co-ed titles). They will be trying to defend all those titles here in 2025. The Saints, while they have been all over the team titles the last 5-7 years or so, have gotten all their players into the state tournament for the first time. They will also be pushing for a triple crown coming up in a few weeks. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Johnston, Iowa City West, Decorah, Wahlert and Dowling all qualified 3 of 4 entries as well.

Stacked singles field

The 2A singles draw is going to be a brutal one when that is decided coming up. Top 10 ranked players in Abhay Anil (City), Kellan Croatt (Waukee NW) and Dylan Schulte (Prairie) are all not eligible to be seeded as only district champions are eligible to be seeded at the state tournament. Whichever district champions draw these players first round, that is a very tough start to their draw. My way too early projected top four seeds in no particular order would be Anthony Schulte (Prairie), Jake Nelson (Waukee NW), Garrett Bauermeister (Linn-Mar) and Micah Flaherty (Fort Dodge). Flaherty has taken care of business all season, but I think he benefits the most from Anil being taken down by his teammate Will Feagler. Feagler and Lucan Persson of North Scott could also be in the discussion during the seeding meeting.

Program benchmarks/firsts

In addition to Xavier getting all their entries to state in the same year for the first time, there were a number of other benchmarks for multiple programs. Newton's Ethan Valtman is the first state qualifier for their team since 2006. Central DeWitt's Max Froeschle and doubles tandem Hudson Krukow/Ashton Schneider became the first players in Saber boy's history to make state. (I am sure I missed some, and I apologize in advance for that!)

Ranked matchups

2A singles today provided four district finals that featured a top 10 ranked matchup. The crazy part? Three of these matches were teammates (even brothers) squaring off against each other! #2 Jake Nelson and #7 Kellan Croatt of Waukee NW, #1 Anthony Schulte and #5 Dylan Schulte of Prairie, #3 Abhay Anil and #10 Will Feagler of Iowa City High, and #4 Garrett Bauermeister of Linn-Mar against #9 Ben Smalley of Cedar Falls. Feagler was the only lower ranked player to upend their higher ranked opponent today.

No defending state champions return

There will be new state champions in all divisions and fields in 2025. Easton Moon of North Polk was a 2024 doubles champion, but he is in singles this go around. The 2A 2024 doubles champs of Nelson/Croatt are in singles this year. The 1A singles champion of Jack Briggs has graduated, same with 2A 2024 singles champion Kaden Taylor. Exciting time ahead to crown new champions and get put into the record books.