By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
The postseason gets underway for spring sports in Iowa this week, beginning the long road toward state competition later in the month and in early June.
Action begins with district meets in boys tennis May 10. Boys sectional golf meets are set for the May 11, and Class 3-A and 4-A district and regional track and field competition will also start on the same day. Two other classes compete May 12. Qualifiers from the district and regional meets take part in the state track meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines the following week, May 17-19.
Girls regional tennis meets are set for the May 12 to complete a busy weekend of postseason competition.
Missed by a Thread
The Des Moines East boys track team learned the lesson of adhering to the rules the hard way recently, losing the CIML Metro team championship by the slimmest of margins.
The difference: the disqualification of the Scarlets' 4x400 meter relay team for not wearing the same color of clothing under their uniforms.
"We had two different runners whose shorts rode up and showed a different color," East coach Patrick Lewis told the Des Moines Register. "We've told the kids they can't have any of that stuff on."
Due to the disqualification, the Scarlets finished second to Des Moines Roosevelt in the team standings by three points, giving Roosevelt its ninth-straight team title.
Cedar Valley Coaching Movements
Several Waterloo-Cedar Falls area coaches have made the decision not to return next season. The most notable decision came from Waverly-Shell Rock boys basketball coach Tom Bardal, who announced his resignation.
What makes this notable is that Bardal's decision comes on the heels of the Go-Hawks' first state championship in 63 years in March, when W-SR claimed the Class 3-A title in Des Moines. Bardal coached the Go-Hawks for just two seasons, taking Waverly-Shell Rock to the state tournament both years. He cited a desire to spend more time with his family behind his decision to resign.
Other coaches who have announced resignation decisions included Waterloo East girls basketball coach Rich Uthoff. His Trojans went 19-5 last season and came one game short of the state tournament. Dave Arns resigned his girls basketball coaching job after just one year at Waverly-Shell Rock. Cedar Falls Northern University boys basketball coach Jon McKowen leaves the University of Northern Iowa prep school after a five-year run that includes an appearance at the state tournament and 91 career victories. And, Brian Girsch has resigned as volleyball coach at Waterloo East after five seasons. Girsch took the Trojans from 1-24 in his first season to 15-15 last fall.
Waterloo East has also named a new football coach in former Iowa State nose tackle Antonio Mays, who returns home to his alma mater to lead the program that was 1-17 in two years under Charlie Aldrich. The one victory broke a state-record 60-game losing streak at the time.
Boys, Girls Soccer Rankings
The top four teams remain the same this week in the Iowa Girls High School Athlete Union's rankings of Class 2-A soccer programs. West Des Moines Valley, despite having only a 5-2 record as of the ranking's release May 3, has the No. 1 position for another week. Once-beaten Bettendorf (10-1) comes in at No. 2, followed in the third spot by unbeaten (8-0) Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Urbandale (4-0) also remains in the same spot it held the previous week, at No. 4.
Meanwhile in Class 1-A, Cedar Rapids Xavier (8-1) regained the No. 1 mantle for another week, while Waverly-Shell Rock's Go-Hawks (7-0) moved into the No. 2 position, after being third in the last list. That move came at the expense of Norwalk (5-1), which dropped to fourth. Pella (5-0) is now No. 3, and Dubuque Wahlert (5-2) also moved up to complete the top five.
On the boys side, the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association has Ankeny (8-0-0) ranked No. 1 in Class 2-A, (the first top-ranking for the Hawks in school history), followed by Bettendorf (5-0-1) dropping down one spot to No. 2. West Des Moines Valley (9-2-0) remains third, followed in fourth by West Des Moines Dowling (5-2-0) and Iowa City West (9-2-0) at No. 5.
In the 1-A rankings, Cedar Rapids Xavier (6-0-0) received all the votes to gain the No. 1 spot, followed by Waterloo Columbus (5-1-0), which moved up to No. 2 from the No. 3 spot last week. Norwalk (8-0-0) drops from two to three this week, and Bondurant-Farrar (5-0-0) and Fort Madison (3-1-0) complete the top five in that order.