All Iowa Class Breakdown – How Could Enrollment Changes Create Big Postseason Waves?

I love playing “What If” games when it comes to sports.  Who doesn’t? However, some of those “What Ifs” sometimes happen.  When looking at top programs and teams in the state of Iowa there is no doubt who will be favorites to be playing in Cedar Rapids the first week of November.  However, the bigger question might be what class they will be competing in. With plenty of top teams along the border of two classes it creates a lot of fun “What If” scenarios.

Class 5A/4A

There is no doubt that Central Iowa has the enrollment that teams will always and forever be some of the biggest schools when you include Valley, Waukee, and other Des Moines Metro schools.  The next largest outside of Central Iowa would be Linn-Mar with an enrollment of grades 9-11 of 1642 for the 2018-2019 school year.

Iowa City Liberty will bump up from Class 4A to Class 5A with all grades being incorporated at Liberty.  This will be really interesting and exciting to see how this develops as was Ankeny Centennial and Ankeny High.  Another scenario to forecast will be when Waukee builds their new high school and how that will make an impact in the Central Iowa volleyball scene.  Des Moines Hoover was the smallest high school in Class 5A with 821 students and Mason City was the largest Class 4A school at 810. I haven’t done enough research on any projected enrollment, but I doubt a team like Davenport North who is at 909 and two future Division 1 players in Justyus Jackson (Tulsa) and Bailey Ortega (Iowa) could drop down into Class 4A or any top programs in Class 4A jumping into Class 5A.  

Class 4A/3A

This is where it could get really interesting.  Here are the bottom five programs in terms of enrollment for Class 4A and the top five programs in Class 3A.

Bottom 5 Enrollment of Class 4A (2018-2019)

381 Winterset

377 Harlan

370 West Delaware

367 Bishop Heelan

366 Gilbert

Top 5 Enrollment of Class 3A (2018-2019)

364 North Polk

358 Center Point-Urbana

355 South Tama

348 Carroll

348 Humboldt

*343 Davenport Assumption

West Delaware was a Class 4A qualifier, Gilbert will have a really strong team in returning Thea Rotto and Haleigh Hadley along with setter Taylor Grinley, and would it really be possible for Heelan to be in Class 3A?  When Iowa was in a three class system, Heelan was always a top contender in the largest class. This would really change Northwest Iowa where teams have to go through Heelan or Sergeant Bluff-Luton on the road to Cedar Rapids.

In Class 3A, Humboldt was a regional runner up to Osage while the one team I’m seeing here that if they jump to Class 4A (which would be a little bit of a stretch) would be Davenport Assumption.  Assumption got a taste of the state tournament last year with a five set loss to Osage, but will be returning Kylie Welch and Emma Schubert as their top kill leaders and some players in waiting who will make a huge impact.  

Class 3A/2A

In 2018, Osage qualified for the Class 3A state tournament with an enrollment of 210, however they had the smallest enrollment in Class 3A, and just happened to be tied with the top 2A enrollment with Pella Christian.  Osage will have to replace their All-State setter in Rylie Olson and middle blocker Sydney Midlang, but will have a really strong core returning with Dani Johnson on the pin as well as Paige Kisley and a soon to be Sophomore class with Meredith Street and Kaebre Sullivan who have been playing club together for CIA.  

Another potential change would be what class Dike-New Hartford is playing in.  For years it didn’t matter what class DNH was in, they would find a way to win the title (and often times caused a drought of state titles for Western Christian).  Last year they were dethroned by Unity Christian in the first round who later lost to Western Christian in the finals. However, DNH will still be returning Wichita State recruit Morgan Weber who can take over a match.  

Class 2A/1A

An increase or decrease of ten to twenty students can make a big difference.  For Wapsie Valley, they were the smallest school in Class 2A by one student, that puts them with Grundy Center for a regional, however if they are in Class 1A that would have put them most likely with a Gladbrook-Reinbeck, North Tama, or Janesville.  The small school volleyball in Iowa is no joke, some regionals are a pure gauntlet to get through.

For a Class 1A state tournament team like Starmont, who was ten students away from being in Class 2A see that much of a difference from year to year in enrollment?  Or this past season for a Belle Plaine who had Kenzie Mantz, the future Cyclone, if they had four less students they would have been in Class 1A. Again, a difference of ten students makes a big difference.  For example, there are 23 schools who have an enrollment of 140 students to 120 students for the 2018-2019 school year.  What does that mean for 2019-2020? 

Link to IGHSAU 2018-2019 Enrollment: https://ighsau.org/upl/downloads/library/vbclassificationfinal82718.pdf