Prairie’s Anthony Schulte on top of his game for state tennis singles

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Class 2A boys’ state singles tournament has the potential to be one of most competitive meets in recent years.

That has a lot to do with decisions made before district play. All 10 players ranked in the final poll by the Iowa High School Tennis website are in the singles draw.

Prairie Coach Eric Modracek has his top two players, No. 1 seed Anthony Schulte and his brother Dylan, in the field. He believes the singles tournament will be one of the best ever held.

"This year is really unique in that four teams across the state qualified two singles players out of districts," he said. "Everyone knew this was going to be dicey when the brackets came out where some really good seeds were going to be up against some of the top players who happened to be district runners-up."

Action begins on Tuesday with first-round matches at 10 a.m. Play on Wednesday begins with consolation rounds at 9:30 a.m. Semifinal matches are scheduled for 10 a.m. with title matches set for approximately 12:30 p.m.

Class 2A competition will be at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center in Iowa City with 1A play at Byrnes Park in Waterloo.

Two of the state's top five Class 2A players will meet in the first round when Dylan Schulte, ranked fifth, plays No. 3 seed Garrett Bauermeister of Linn-Mar.

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The younger Schulte was not eligible to be seeded because he lost to his brother 6-4, 6-4 in the district final.

"Dylan's path through the tournament is kind of brutal," Modracek said. "Several players in that section of the draw alone were ranked Top-5 all season long.

"He could just as easily lose in the first round or get hot and win the whole thing, All I know is he's the type of player people prefer to avoid."

Whoever wins between Dylan Schulte and Bauermeister likely will get Iowa City High senior Abhay Anil, ranked third, in the quarterfinals. However, Anil's opener will not be easy. He faces Cedar Rapids Jefferson sophomore Parker Holland.

Abhay was upset by his freshman teammate, William Feagler, in the district final. Feagler will meet Iowa City West freshman Pierce Hribar in his opener.

Anthony Schulte is on the other side of the bracket and his path is a bit easier. He opens play against Cedar Falls junior Ben Smalley.

"Anthony seems to be really well-focused coming into state and is playing as well as he has all year," Modracek said. "I think he's definitely added a stronger first and second serve this season and is playing smarter all-around tennis as well.

"It is such a loaded singles field this year literally anything could happen, but I like his chances as well as anyone's."

With all the top-ranked players in the singles draw, the doubles tournament is wide open. Iowa City West's Anthony Medina and Derek Hua are seeded fourth. Another Trojan duo (Junze Sun/Ishan Harwan) is in the draw. Cedar Rapids Washington has a pair of teams (Brock Davis/Preston Haefner and Lucas Burkamper/Bjorn White) along with Iowa City Liberty's Jack Saunders and Sam Maddhi in the field.

"So many dangerous players are floating around who could make waves if they get hot at the right time," Modracek said. "(It will be) really exciting to see it play out."

In Class 1A at Waterloo, Xavier junior Charlie LeGrand is in search of his first state title. He finished as a singles runner-up in 2023 and was third in doubles with teammate Jacob Schmit last season. This year, he is back in the singles draw, seeded No. 2 behind North Polk's Easton Moon.

The Saints entire team has qualified. Freshman Grant Golding meets Moon in his opening singles match. The doubles team of Schmit and Bennett Link received the top seed. Bradey Johnson and Tyler Jasper are on the other side of the draw. Decorah will have five players, all unseeded, in the meet. Keaton Nalean-Carlson will play singles while Liam Chamberlain/Caleb Krieg and Elliott Berland/Tristan Hunter qualified in doubles .