Monticello’s boys, girls are tops in 2A

If the Monticello High School cross country teams live up to its preseason billing, they will have a massive Halloween party.

Monticello is ranked No. 1 in both the boys' and girls' rankings in Class 2A in the preseason rankings released Tuesday by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.

The Panthers are defending 2A girls' state champions; they stormed to the title last year with an extremely young lineup that featured five freshmen. Paige Holub was the individual champion.

Monticello's boys were second to East Marshall and return all seven of their runners, including Matt Manternach, who finished fifth.

Cedar Rapids Prairie is ranked No. 1 on the boys' side. The Hawks were runners-up last year and have six runners back, including a strong top three of Jake Moore, Tysen VanDraska and Matt Lorenz.

Last year's 4A boys' champion, Linn-Mar is No. 4.

Urbandale's girls are the top team in 4A. Grinnell's boys and Davenport Assumption's girls lead the 3A rankings. The boys from Nodaway Valley and the girls from Pekin are tops in 1A.

The state meet is Oct. 31 at Lakeside Golf Course, Fort Dodge.

PRESEASON CROSS COUNTRY RANKINGS

(Iowa Association of Track Coaches)

Class 4A Boys

1. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 2. Cedar Falls, 3. West Des Moines Dowling, 4. Linn-Mar, 5. Pleasant Valley, 6. Johnston, 7. Waukee, 8. West Des Moines Valley, 9. Urbandale, 10. Bettendorf, 11. Iowa City West, 12. Dubuque Senior, 13. Ames, 14. Dubuque Hempstead, 15. Indianola.

Class 4A Girls

1. Urbandale, 2. Johnston, 3. Iowa City West, 4. Pleasant Valley, 5. Linn-Mar, 6. West Des Moines Dowling, 7. Waukee, 8. Ames, 9. Ankeny Centennial, 10. Muscatine, 11. Iowa City High, 12. Bettendorf, 13. Dubuque Hempstead, 14. Southeast Polk, 15. Des Moines Roosevelt.

Class 3A Boys

1. Grinnell, 2. Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 3. Dallas Center-Grimes, 4. Pella, 5. Gilbert, 6. Decorah, 7. Marion, 8. Charles City, 9. MOC-Floyd Valley, 10. Vinton-Shellsburg, 11. Sioux City Heelan, 12. Center Point-Urbana, 13. Harlan, 14. Ballard, 15. Algona.

Class 3A Girls

1. Davenport Assumption, 2. Gilbert, 3. Decorah, 4. Pella, 5. Ballard, 6. Humboldt, 7. Sioux City Heelan, 8. Winterset, 9. Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 10. MOC-Floyd Valley, 11. Vinton-Shellsburg, 12. Dubuque Wahlert, 13. Harlan, 14. Grinnell, 15. Dallas Center-Grimes.

Class 2A Boys

1. Monticello, 2. Unity Christian, 3. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, 4. Davis County, 5. Waukon, 6. East Marshall, 7. Osage, 8. Southeast Valley, 9. Shenandoah, 10. Western Christian, 11. Louisa-Muscatine, 12. Northeast, 13. Red Oak, 14. Sioux Center, 15. Albia.

Class 2A Girls

1. Monticello, 2. Cascade, 3. Osage, 4. Williamsburg, 5. Pocahontas Area, 6. Western Christian, 7. Mid-Prairie, 8. Unity Christian, 9. Mediapolis, 10. North Polk, 11. Dike-New Hartford, 12. Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central, 13. Des Moines Christian, 14. South Hardin, 15. North Fayette Valley.

Class 1A Boys

1. Nodaway Valley, 2. Bellevue, 3. Pekin, 4. Denver, 5. West Fork, 6. Fort Dodge St. Edmond, 7. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 8. Alta-Aurelia, 9. Hudson, 10. Elkader Central, 11. Tri-Center, 12. Emmetsburg, 13. Bellevue Marquette, 14. Wapello, 15. North Butler.

Class 1A Girls

1. Pekin, 2. Elkader Central, 3. Emmetsburg, 4. Panorama, 5. Fort Dodge St. Edmond, 6. Iowa City Regina, 7. North Linn, 8. Starmont, 9. Mason City Newman, 10. Durant, 11. Underwood, 12. West Fork, 13. Clayton Ridge, 14. Exira-EHK, 15. Hudson.

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