Creston ranks sixth in Hawkeye 10 enrollment

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CNA sports editor Every time a Creston team finishes in the top half of the conference, it is exceeding its enrollment rank. Creston has the sixth-highest enrollment in the Hawkeye 10 Conference, according to the state’s BEDS documents released last week. The figures are used for sports classification assignments in 2008-09 by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. Creston’s enrollment is 354 in grades 9-11. That ranks 93rd among Iowa’s 392 schools. Ranked ahead of Creston in the Hawkeye 10 are Lewis Central (667), Denison-Schleswig (525), Glenwood (489), Harlan Community (468) and Atlantic (379). Schools with lower enrollment than Creston’s 354 are Red Oak (294), Clarinda (260), Shenandoah (229) and Carroll Kuemper Catholic (228). Kuemper dropped by 26 students. Creston slips Among traditional non-conference opponents Winterset (401) and Dallas Center-Grimes (395) have moved ahead of Creston, benefiting from the migration to Des Moines western suburban areas. Just a year ago, Winterset’s 364 ranked behind Creston’s 365. Creston’s figure dropped by 11 in a year. Class 3A basketball and baseball ranges from Norwalk’s 574 to Center Point-Urbana’s 300. Western Des Moines suburb Waukee, once a Class 2A school in Iowa, is now solidly entrenched in 4A with the 37th highest enrollment of 906 in three grades. Just a year ago Waukee was at 830 students. Metro growth Several other metro areas are showing growth. Cedar Rapids Xavier, Creston’s first round opponent in the Class 3A state baseball tournament, moves into 4A for sports such as basketball and baseball now at 47th overall with an enrollment of 613, up from 557 in 2007. Davenport Assumption, Mount Ayr’s Class 2A state baseball opponent, moves up to 3A in most sports with an enrollment of 309. That’s up from 277 in 2007. In baseball and baseball, the state’s largest 48 schools are in 4A, the next 64 in 3A, the next 128 in 2A and the remainder in 1A. Football classifications were announced last month in five 11-player classes and one 8-player class. The makeup of Class 3A is similar to that of basketball and baseball, roughly 600 to 300 students. Wrestling has only three classifications. Harlan (468) would rank as the highest 2A enrollment without factoring shared programs. Even with Orient-Macksburg’s 75 students, Creston/O-M is at 429 students, ranking some 40 students below the lowest-ranking 3A school list, which includes Glenwood. Lewis Central has grown by 10 students in a year to the 46th-highest enrollment at 667, but is still 100 students behind the next-ranking school, Indianola. West Des Moines Valley remains the state’s largest high school with a 9-11 enrollment of 1,972. At least three new schools will be formed in 2008-09: IKM-Manning; West Fork, a combination of Sheffield SCMT and Rockwell-Swaledale; and Buffalo Ridge, a combination of Galva-Holstein and Crestland Schaller. School closure In addition, the Iowa Department of Education has ordered the Russell school district closed due to financial problems. Russell, a member of the Bluegrass Conference, has a 9-11 enrollment of 40, ranking 380th in the state. The ruling means the 12 seniors at Russell High School will make up the last class to graduate from the southern Iowa district. While many districts have consolidated over the past few decades, Russell is the first to be forced to close since Hedrick in 1990. Diagonal is 386th with an enrollment of 29, tied with Siouxland Community Christian and Walnut Ridge Baptist Academy of Waterloo. However, Diagonal’s figure is up from a 2007 9-11 enrollment of 20. The only schools with lower enrollment are Rivermont Collegiate of Bettendorf (24), Lineville-Clio (22), Cedar Falls Valley Lutheran (17) and Iowa Braille & Sight Saving School (6). Other area schools with relatively low Class 1A enrollments are Murray (68), Orient-Macksburg (75) and Lenox (89). Higher in 1A are East Union (124), Bedford (128) and Corning (144). Mount Ayr and Wayne of Corydon are on the lower end of the 2A list at enrollments of 159 and 158, respectively. In the middle of the 2A field is Nodaway Valley with 193 students in three grades, just under Interstate 35 of Truro (201). Larger 2A schools include Carroll Kuemper (228), Shenandoah (229), North Polk (233), Clarinda (260) and Red Oak (294). Only five 2A schools rank above Red Oak, led by Spirit Lake at 300. Humboldt, a successful football and basketball school in recent years, slips into 2A at 299. Clarke of Osceola ranks as the seventh-smallest 3A school with a 9-11 enrollment of 315, nearly 260 fewer students than Norwalk, topping 3A at 574. Among other sports, cross country and track use the traditional four classifications, there are three classes in spring golf (4A plays in the fall), and tennis has only two classes (top 48 schools in Class 2A). —————— Larry Peterson can be reached at 782-2141, ext. 232 or lpeterson@crestonnews.com