Valley High School Recruiting????

News flash people, this isn't just sports. Parents move their kids to better schools for any number of reasons. There are far more open enrollment situations due to academics than athletics. Why aren't people complaining about that?
 
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Ok, that is new news for me. I'll be honest, I don't get too concerned about this stuff, but I do recall this being a debat when these proposals were being discussed.

I give Ankeny credit here, but then I think you may find that everyone goes to one school and the other looses out. Or, it becomes the Cedar Rapids of sports, where every other year, one of the schools seems to make a run at the playoffs while the others are left out.

There's no doubt of "unofficial" recruiting going on - especially between Valley and Dowling. But there's no doubt the commitment by parents to place their kids in programs they feel will benefit them the most. This even means relocating the whole family to do so, not just open enrolling.
Isn't that kind of the point - to make a level playing field where all of the schools have an equal opportunity to be successful? No one (except people who have ties to the particular schools) likes to see the same teams win every year.
 
who cares, it is high school athletics. if the kids want to attend different schools then let them. Like someone else said, parents do it for other reasons as well like academics or music.
 
This might be old news, but I thought Ankeny was leaning towards 1 HS with a sports focus, and another with a fine arts focus. Anyone else hear that?
 
Name a D1 recruit in the last five years from a Catholic school in Iowa that wasn't Catholic.

Get real. Dowling had kids from Colfax Mingo on their wrestling team, one of the best golfers in the state that lived in Panora was on their golf team, etc...

I would bet that somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 percent of their athletes are not Catholic.... conveniently that 15 to 20 percent are always their BEST athletes.
 
This is why I admire Ankeny for their decision to go with two smaller high schools instead of one huge high school. Unlike West Des Moines, our community chose to do what is best for the kids instead of worrying about all the state titles our football and basketball teams will miss out on.

Huh? Valley technically has two schools with Southwoods. Don't act like Ankeny is a better community because they want smaller schools. And we'll gladly take all those state titles that you don't care about.
 
Get real. Dowling had kids from Colfax Mingo on their wrestling team, one of the best golfers in the state that lived in Panora was on their golf team, etc...

I would bet that somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 percent of their athletes are not Catholic.... conveniently that 15 to 20 percent are always their BEST athletes.

C'mon 78. C'mon buddy, this isn't proof. Besides, is there a Catholic HS closer to Colfax, Mingo or Panora than Dowling?
 
This might be old news, but I thought Ankeny was leaning towards 1 HS with a sports focus, and another with a fine arts focus. Anyone else hear that?

Not the case at all. They have split the city in two, both with old and new areas of Ankeny. They have tried and done a pretty good job of splitting the economic areas of Ankeny pretty equally. They have also stated that they will not allow kids who live in on area to request a change to the high school they want. This is to make sure that the good athletes do not all end up at one school over the other. My kid is only in 1st grade, we can see the 1st new Ankeny Hawks High School from our back yard, but the way the boundaries are drawn, my son will go to Ankeny Centennial Jaguars High School on the other side of town. My petition would be rejected if I tried to get him to go to Ankeny High. I am fine with that, at least he will never be a Hawk:twitcy:. As for sports, the 8th grade and Freshmen programs at Ankeny High are already split, and Ankeny Freshmen who will go to Ankeny Centennial in 2013 are already competing as Ankeny Centennial. As a matter of Fact the Ankeny Centennial Girls Fresheman Basketball team just beat Lincoln 63-16 the other night. Also, with the split 8th and 9th grade teams there appears to be more kids in sports at Ankeny Centennial than at Ankeny High at this time. Something I think they thought was going to be the opposite when the plans were put together. Also the Kindergarten class in Ankney is Around 850 kids this year, my sons class last year was just short of 800, and the town is still growing, in 10 years both the Ankney High Schools will have 1700 kids grades 9-12, so ther athletic teams will continue to both be just fine. Both these high schools will quickly be just as big as Ankeny High is right now. What Ankeny has done is essentially open up more opportunities to kids in not just sports, but all extrcurricular activities.
 
Catholic kids go to Catholics schools...THEY RECRUIT!!!

When I went to school Downling had a kid named Albert Smith that was totally not catholic. Your crazy if you think all of Dowlings kids are catholic.
 
Huh? Valley technically has two schools with Southwoods. Don't act like Ankeny is a better community because they want smaller schools. And we'll gladly take all those state titles that you don't care about.

Southwoods is Valleys Freshman High School only. Valley does not have a two high School System. Ankeny Freshman do not go to school at the actual high school, they are housed at the 8-9 schools. I never said Ankeny is Better than Valley, but the fact is there that Valley has not gone to a two school system because they think it will hurt there sports. If you do not belive that than you are kidding yourself. Each community leaders get to make the decsisions and both are fine, no one is better than the other. I went to a high school with almost 4000 kids had a senior class of 988 people, and if they do it correctly, right staffing, coaches, aides, extracurriculars they can be done well, but thefact of the matter is that large schools have less opportunities in the area of sports than smaller ones do. There are only so many basketball and football spots to be filled, so the bigger the school the less athletic opportunities there are, but usually the better the pool of players is also. Of course alot of large intercity schools have trouble fielding players to make good teams, but that is a whole different discussion.
 
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I would bet that somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 percent of their athletes are not Catholic.... conveniently that 15 to 20 percent are always their BEST athletes.


Dowling Football athletes that went to play D1 in the last 3 years
Tommy Gaul (IA)
Drew Zaun (UNI)
Connor Bravard (UNI)
Jason McMurray (Notre Dame, Baseball)
Brad Chelleen (Kansas State, Baseball)
Ben Boesen (ISU)
Eric Lee (Notre Dame)
Amara Darboh (Undecided)

Every one of these guys went to Dowling all 4 years, but go ahead and throw out random numbers if it makes you feel better.
 
Both schools recruit, get over it. Just like that small school that was won 80+ baseball games in a row. They have kids that transfer in all the time. It's just a part of high school football now.
 
There are only so many basketball and football spots to be filled, so the bigger the school the less athletic opportunities there are.

Valley has plenty of spots for kids interested in playing sports. I should know, I suck at basketball but still made a team. It might not have been varsity, but it was a team nonetheless haha
 
When I went to school Downling had a kid named Albert Smith that was totally not catholic. Your crazy if you think all of Dowlings kids are catholic.

Okay that's one...in what 1972?

Who are the D1 recruits from Catholic schools in Iowa the last five years?

Off the top of my head from Heelan;

Brennan Cougill - Iowa
Brandon Wegher - Iowa
Zach McCabe - Iowa
Michael Malloy - Iowa

(all Catholics)

or you can check out wartknights list for Dowling...

Dowling Football athletes that went to play D1 in the last 3 years
Tommy Gaul (IA)
Drew Zaun (UNI)
Connor Bravard (UNI)
Jason McMurray (Notre Dame, Baseball)
Brad Chelleen (Kansas State, Baseball)
Ben Boesen (ISU)
Eric Lee (Notre Dame)
Amara Darboh (Undecided)

Every one of these guys went to Dowling all 4 years, but go ahead and throw out random numbers if it makes you feel better.