New London No. 6 in preseason poll

The Cedar Rapids Gazette preseason poll predictably has some familiar faces. The poll, which is voted on by members of the Gazette, KGYM Radio and the Southeast Iowa Union includes all six state champions from last season, including New London, which represents the area in the top-10 polls.

New London is ranked No. 6 in the preseason poll, garnering 30 total votes and one first-place vote out of seven voters. Of the state champions from last season, only West Des Moines Dowling (4A) and West Sioux (1A) will come in to the new year in the No. 1 spots.

Pekin is making some noise in the Class A poll. The Panthers had five poitns in the poll, eight off of the No. 10 spot. The Panthers were tied for fourth down the line in the 'others receiving votes” column.

The only area Class 3A team to get votes was Washington. The Demons picked up one point in the poll, meaning one of the seven voters picked them at No. 10. District favotire Solon is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A.

The most contetious poll was the Class A poll where West Hancock edged out defending state champion Hudson by one vote. In Class 1A, defending champion West Sioux was voted ahead of 2018 runner-up Dike-New Hartford by six points.

There are no unanimous No. 1 teams in the preseason poll, although Dowling (4A), Western Dubuque (3A) and Waukon (2A) each got six out of seven first-place votes.

CLASS 4A.......... W-L Pts

1. WDM Dowling (6) 11-2 68

2. WDM Valley (1) 10-1 54

3. Cedar Falls..... 12-1 49

(tie) Waukee..... 8-3 49

5. Ankeny Centennial 9-1 40

6. Iowa City West 9-2 26

7. Ankeny......... 5-5 25

8. Bettendorf.... 10-2 20

9. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 6-4 18

10. Fort Dodge.. 7-3 12

Others receiving votes: Johnston 9, Southeast Polk 8, Cedar Rapids Prairie 5, Ames 1, Urbandale 1.

CLASS 3A.......... W-L Pts

1. Western Dubuque (6) 10-3 69

2. Cedar Rapids Xavier (1) 13-0 53

3. Solon............ 9-1 42

4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 10-2 38

5. North Scott.... 9-2 33

6. Pella............. 8-2 31

7. Lewis Central. 11-1 30

8. Spencer........ 8-3 26

9. Harlan.......... 8-3 18

10. Clear Creek Amana 8-2 9

Others receiving votes: Independence 8, Oskaloosa 6, Bondurant-Farrar 4, Iowa City Liberty 4, Norwalk 3, Sioux City Heelan 3, Carroll 2, Decorah 2, Denison-Schleswig 2, Washington 1, Waverly-Shell Rock 1.

CLASS 2A.......... W-L Pts

1. Waukon (6)... 10-2 69

2. Clear Lake..... 7-2 42

3. B-H/Rock Valley 11-2 34

4. Algona.......... 9-2 29

5. Chariton........ 8-2 27

6. Greene County 8-2 25

7. Crestwood..... 6-4 22

8. Waterloo Columbus 7-2 21

9. Monroe PCM (1) 13-0 20

(tie) Spirit Lake.. 7-3 20

(tie) West Liberty 8-4 20

Others receiving votes: Benton Community 17, Southeast Valley 11, Des Moines Christian 10, Mount Vernon 7, Garner GHV 4, Williamsburg 4, Iowa Falls-Alden 3.

CLASS 1A.......... W-L Pts

1. West Sioux (5) 12-1 64

2. Dike-New Hartford 12-1 58

3. Van Meter..... 11-1 51

4. West Branch (1) 9-2 49

5. West Lyon (1). 7-3 37

6. S.C. Calhoun 10-1 35

7. Pella Christian 8-4 20

8. Treynor......... 8-2 18

9. Interstate 35.. 10-1 16

10. Bellevue...... 10-1 10

(tie) Osage........ 7-3 10

Others receiving votes: Iowa City Regina 4, Wilton 4, Mount Ayr 3, Cascade 2, Mediapolis 2, Ogden 1, Sumner-Fredericksburg 1.

CLASS A........... W-L Pts

1. West Hancock (4) 9-3 65

2. Hudson (3).... 13-0 64

3. Wapsie Valley 7-3 42

4. Saint Ansgar.. 6-3 27

5. Edgewood-Colesburg 10-2 26

6. Alta-Aurelia... 7-3 23

(tie) North Tama 8-2 23

8. Algona Garrigan 10-1 17

9. C.B. St. Albert 5-4 16

10. Avoca AHSTW 12-1 13

(tie) Westwood.. 8-2 13

Others receiving votes: South O'Brien 9, Alburnett 7, Hinton 6, Durant 5, Pekin 5, Akron-Westfield 4, BGM 4, Tri-Center 4, Woodbury Central 4, Grundy Center 3, Wayne 3, Belmond-Klemme 1, South Winneshiek 1.

8-PLAYER......... W-L Pts

1. Don Bosco (4). 9-2 64

2. Fremont-Mills (1) 10-2 45

3. Audubon (1).. 6-3 42

4. Newell-Fonda. 8-2 41

5. Turkey Valley. 8-2 38

6. New London (1) 12-1 30

7. Remsen St. Mary's 6-3 27

8. Iowa Valley.... 10-1 26

9. Southeast Warren 12-1 14

10. Glidden-Ralston 6-3 12

Others receiving votes: Ar-We-Va 11, Central City 8, Northwood-Kensett 6, Midland 5, East Mills 4, Exira-EHK 4, HLV 3, Easton Valley 2, Lenox 2, Lamoni 1.