Students are encouraged to pursue their athletic interests while also developing school spirit and community spirit. Unfortunately, not all teams are created equal: some schools excel at producing top players than others.
Bronny James is LeBron’s son and an integral member of a Sierra Canyon team featuring back-page regulars such as Scottie Pippen and Penny Hardaway. Sierra Canyon Trailblazers faced Valley Torah on Thursday night for a game full of contrasts – Bronny was vital in helping his father win four championships with that team!
Rock Valley High School
Rock Valley High School in central Iowa is a small, rural high school that takes great pride in both its academic and athletic programs. Students gain valuable life lessons through sports participation, such as teamwork, perseverance, and dedication. Furthermore, this school strongly values community spirit, with athletic teams renowned for competitive spirit yet sportsmanship.
Rock Valley won the Class 2A state title Friday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines with a 74-51 win against Central Lyon. Led by Landyn Van Kekerix (26 points on 10-of-12 shooting and ten rebounds) and Bryson Van Grootheest (25 points and nine assists).
West Valley High School
East High School boys’ basketball was expected to struggle after graduating a legendary class that set Alaskan competition records, but instead, thanks to Muhammad Sabally’s 20-point effort and clutch free-throw shooting late on Saturday, East reloaded and made history by winning their 18th state title – something no other Alaska team had accomplished since 1992!
The T-birds prevented West Valley’s comeback attempts with their pressing defense, which caused 17 turnovers and allowed 56% shooting from 17 of 30 shots (equivalent to five-of-30 shooting). West Valley rallied after leading 28-10 after one quarter, led by Player-of-the-Year Stewart Erhart, who scored 25 points. They eventually trailed 37-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Axel Carpio played an essential role on both ends of the court for East, scoring 12 points while also contributing on defense to help build their 19-point advantage with under a minute remaining. Carpio was just one of many top performers for the T-birds’ roster, including two-time All-State junior guards Xzavier Baker and Akeem Sulaiman, who all were instrumental in East’s dominating performance.
Hutchison was led by senior guard Ryan Young’s 16 points but could never overcome East’s pressure and fell short in their bid for victory. East’s depth was vital in this victory run, and coach Josh Reed acknowledged their bench play for contributing throughout this postseason run, hoping that all this experience would pay dividends next season for his squad.
Iowa Valley High School
Iowa Valley School serves students from pre-K through 12th grades and offers several athletic and academic programs, including baseball and softball, football, soccer, basketball, golf, wrestling, and track. Iowa Valley is known for its strong community support of its school and district sports program’s history of success; other academic offerings at Iowa Valley include math, science, English, and social studies reading. Furthermore, there is a National High School Mock Trial team.
The Tigers stormed out of the gates early and never looked back, led by Curtis Stinson’s 28 points while three other sophomore starters — Zay Robinson, Kiki Deng, and Trevin Jirak — also scored double figures. These numerous options make them difficult to defend.
Valley held a double-digit advantage at halftime and extended it further during the third quarter. Norwalk cut into their deficit with big plays from Iowa State commit Pryce Sandfort, but Valley always responded each time and held a 22-9 advantage in the paint to gain offense through inside space.
As both teams struggled in the fourth quarter, Valley was able to hold off any comeback attempts by its Wolves side and keep its defense strong throughout.
Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines will host this tournament. There is ample parking near the arena and access via bus, taxi, and Uber services. Please be mindful that Wells Fargo Arena has a clear bag policy in effect, so be sure to leave bags at home or check them before entering.
Niche ranks schools based on several criteria, including student-teacher ratio, standardized test scores, and surveys from students and parents. Niche collects data from over 100,000 schools, with millions of opinions contained from both students and parents to create an in-depth profile for every institution analyzed; additionally, it ranks around 100,000 schools and districts by key performance measures such as college readiness, teacher quality, and diversity.
Fremd High School
William Fremd High School, situated in Palatine, Illinois – a northwest suburb of Chicago – is part of Township High School District 211 and provides service for Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows, North Barrington, and Schaumburg communities. With an enrollment of 2,710 students, it also features The Vikettes dance team, which won state titles for flag/colorguard performances in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Fremd’s boys’ basketball program has experienced great success over recent years. For instance, Fremd made its inaugural Sectional appearance back in 1983 under BJ Jenkins and Joe Youman; later that decade, they reached Super-Sectional playoffs before losing against Kendall Gill-led Rich Central team.
Current Vikings Coach Brian Kessel was once a player for them himself and has helped turn it into one of the premier programs in Northwest Suburbs. Under his tutelage, several Division II state championships have been won,, as well as three conference titles and multiple All-Illinois awards won with this team.
