4 area cross-country squads earn preseason No. 1 IATC rankings

Four area teams are ranked No. 1 in the preseason cross-country rankings, released Tuesday by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.

The boys? teams from Mount Vernon-Lisbon (Class 3A) and Mid-Prairie (2A) are defending champions, as are the girls? squads from Monticello (2A) and Elkader Central (1A).

The rankings:

Girls

Class 4A

1. Johnston, 2. Dubuque Hempstead, 3. Cedar Falls, 4. Iowa City High, 5. West Des Moines Dowling, 6. Waukee, 7. Ankeny Centennial, 8. Iowa City West, 9. Dubuque Senior, 10. North Scott, 11. Pleasant Valley, 12. Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 13. West Des Moines Valley, 14. Ankeny, 15. Linn-Mar.

* Overview ? Johnston is a heavy favorite to repeat after beating the field in 2016 by 65 points. The Dragons placed five runners in the top 14 last year, and four of them are back. Hempstead returns five runners from a surprising runner-up finish last year.

Class 3A

1. Sioux City Heelan, 2. Decorah, 3. Dubuque Wahlert, 4. North Polk, 5. Pella, 6. Humboldt, 7. Dallas Center-Grimes, 8. Denison-Schleswig, 9. Gilbert, 10. Charles City, 11. Ballard, 12. Spencer, 13. Solon, 14. Davenport Assumption, 15. Mount Vernon-Lisbon.

* Overview ? Heelan and Wahlert return intact, each returning all seven runners from teams that finished fourth and fifth, respectively, last year. Defending-champion Decorah has four runners back, led by senior Katie Nimrod.

Class 2A

1. Monticello, 2. Mid-Prairie, 3. Okoboji, 4. Shenandoah, 5. Underwood, 6. Cascade, 7. Roland-Story, 8. Osage, 9. Unity Christian, 10. Aplington-Parkersburg, 11. Emmetsburg, 12. Pocahontas Area, 13. Iowa City Regina, 14. GLR-Central Lyon, 15. Tipton.

* Overview ? Monticello is an easy choice for No. 1; the Panthers bring back all seven runners from last year?s title team, led by 2014 and 2015 individual champ Paige Holub (fourth last year). Mid-Prairie was third last year and will be led by the Hostetler sisters, who were 1-2 last year.

Class 1A

1. Elkader Central, 2. Hudson, 3. South Winneshiek, 4. Springville-Central City, 5. Pekin, 6. Baxter, 7. Bellevue Marquette, 8. Denver, 9. North Linn, 10. Fort Dodge St. Edmond, 11. Mason City Newman, 12. Panorama, 13. Griswold, 14. Guthrie Center ACGC, 15. West Fork.

* Overview ? Central was the cream of the small-school class last year, winning by 47 points, and with six runners back, the Warriors are favored again. South Winn and Springville-Central City are down a class after finishing second and fourth last year in 2A.

Boys

Class 4A

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

* Overview ? Dowling edged Pleasant Valley by two points last year, but the Spartans are the favorites because they return their top four runners, and five total. Robert and Max Laue will keep Prairie in the mix; the Hawks were third last year.

Class 3A

1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon, 2. Grinnell, 3. Gilbert, 4. Dallas Center-Grimes, 5. Marion, 6. Decorah, 7. Cedar Rapids Xavier, 8. Carlisle, 9. Dubuque Wahlert, 10. Humboldt, 11. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 12. Mount Pleasant, 13. Clear Creek Amana, 14. Pella, 15. Sioux City Heelan.

* Overview ? Mount Vernon-Lisbon gets the nod despite significant graduation losses. The Mustangs do bring back their top two runners, Thatcher Krob and Garrett Herring. Grinnell finished two points behind MV-L last year, and brings back five runners. Marion?s Jeremy Fopma is the defending individual champ.

Class 2A

1. Mid-Prairie, 2. GLR-Central Lyon, 3. Western Christian, 4. Tipton, 5. Aplington-Parkersburg, 6. East Marshall, 7. Roland-Story, 8. Monticello, 9. South Hamilton, 10. Garner GHV, 11. Unity Christian, 12. Waukon, 13. Iowa City Regina, 14. Des Moines Christian, 15. Osage.

* Overview ? Mid-Prairie is a significant favorite after capturing the title last year. Peyton Miller, Zach Pettit and Floyd Evans led a balanced crew that brings back its top five runners. GLR-CL returns all seven from a fourth-place team.

Class 1A

1. Nodaway Valley, 2. South Winneshiek, 3. Starmont, 4. Denver, 5. Guthrie Center ACGC, 6. Pekin, 7. Calamus-Wheatland, 8. Bellevue, 9. Hudson, 10. Remsen St. Mary?s, 11. Earlham, 12. West Fork, 13. Panorama, 14. Boyer Valley, 15. Eagle Grove.

* Overview ? Defending-champ Nodaway Valley is still stacked at the front from a team that scored 36 points last year (three top-20 runners are back), but graduation might bring Nodaway back to the pack somewhat. South Winn drops to 1A after a seventh-place run in 2016, and all seven Warriors return.