Iowa City West Trojans

Here is a class-by-class breakdown of the 2024 Iowa high school boys’ state wrestling tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

North Linn and Western Christian finish atop their respective classes, as the Iowa High School Athletic Association released its final boys’ basketball rankings of the season in Class 1A and 2A. Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Clear Lake remain top-ranked in Class 4A and 3A, which has one more set of rankings next week.

The work and dedication since a disappointing 2023 finish have paid dividends for Iowa City West’s Justin Avila. Fourth-ranked Avila defeated Ankeny Centennial’s Lucas Bruhl, avenging a loss in last season’s state quarterfinals and capturing the 150-pound title at the Class 3A district meet Saturday at Cedar Rapids Prairie. He was one of three West champions and eight state qualifiers.

Photos from the Iowa high school boys’ state swim meet at the University of Iowa Aquatic Center in Iowa City on Saturday

Iowa City High’s Polyak capped off a brilliant prep career by defending his title in the 200-yard individual medley, winning in 1:46.35, five seconds ahead of runner-up Dylan Nelson of West Des Moines Valley. He backed that up by taking the 100 breaststroke title in 53.42 seconds. In most years, that performance would have likely been worthy of the swimmer of the meet honor, but that went to his I-Fly club teammate Owen Chiles of Pleasant Valley, who set state records in winning the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

Cedar Rapids Prairie hosted a Class 3A Iowa high school boys’ wrestling state-qualifying tournament on Saturday

Linn-Mar, fresh off a big win at last week's district meet, enters the Iowa high school boys’ state swim meet at No. 4 in the power rankings. Defending champion Waukee is ranked first, just ahead of West Des Moines Valley and Bettendorf.

Conference realignment continues to be a topic on Call It Both Ways, The Gazette’s Iowa high school basketball podcast. This week’s episode begins with the latest updates as the Northeast Iowa Conference appears on the brink of collapse. Then, we take a look at more postseason brackets released by the IGHSAU (5A and 4A) and IHSAA (2A and 1A) and the big games involving top teams last week.