Iowa high school boys’ state tennis Day 1: Prairie’s Anthony Schulte, Xavier’s Charlie LeGrand advance to semifinals

A couple of young guns and a junior looking to take the next step all advanced to the semifinals in the singles division of the Iowa high school boys’ state tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Cedar Rapids Prairie sophomore Anthony Schulte rolled to a pair of impressive wins in the 2A portion of the tournament at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center in Iowa City.

The No. 4 seed opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Waukee Northwest’s Miles Steffensmeier, then came back in the quarterfinals to down Marshalltown’s Jason Strand, 6-2, 6-2.

In 1A play at Waterloo, Cedar Rapids Xavier freshman Charlie LeGrand moved on with ease, dropping just one game in his two matches. He beat Pella’s Beau Bush, 6-0, 6-1, in the first round, then blanked Storm Lake’s Josh Steffen, 6-0, 6-0. Decorah’s Caden Branum, the 1A runner-up last year and the top seed in this tournament, topped Shenandoah's Andrew Lawrence before battling his way past Xavier’s Ryan Schmit, 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Schulte is just one of many talented singles players in the 2A field. He remained steady throughout the day.

“Anthony did a great job today in both matches,” said Prairie Coach Eric Modracek. “There were a couple of chances for him to get tripped up, but he was just so mentally tough.”

The next match for Prairie’s Schulte is expected to be much tougher as he will meet top seed Caleb Peterson of Ankeny Centennial in the semifinals. Peterson didn't lose a game in his two Tuesday wins, including in the quarterfinals against Iowa City West’s Jonathan Fan.

“It's a thrill for me to have him on our team and see him succeed,” Modracek said. “There should be some really exciting semifinals (on Wednesday). It will be the first time all year where the pressure is really on the other guys.”

Waukee Northwest’s Kaden Taylor will meet Waukee’s Quinn Monson in the other semifinal. No area doubles teams made the semifinals, but three teams, Malcolm Rice/Zach Mersch (Linn-Mar), Garrett Bauermeister/Jackson Kramer (Linn-Mar) and Samir Singh/Shivy Mannengi (Iowa City West) are alive in the consolation bracket. The Linn-Mar teams will meet each other in the consolation semifinal. Iowa City West’s Jonathan Fan is in the consolation singles bracket.

LeGrand gets No. 2 seed Ethan Moon of North Polk in one of the 1A semifinals while Branum will play Moon’s brother, Ethan, in the other semifinal.

Xavier Coach Jim Potts said LeGrand was solid and added that Schmit gave Branum a real test in the first set before losing.

Decorah will also have a doubles team in the semifinals as unseeded Daniel Skrade and Landon Baker advanced to meet No. 2 seed Charlie Curtiss and Roan Martineau of Dubuque Wahlert, The Golden Eagles duo advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Xavier's Garrett Nurre and Jacob Schmit, who, along with Ryan Schmit are all still alive in the consolation bracket.

“We have everyone playing (Wednesday),” Potts said. “We had a good day.”

Boys’ state tennis results

» Class 2A

» Class 1A