Martin Blog: A deep dive into the 2018 class & their college decisions

(KMAland) -- It started as a bit by bit venture, but I quickly realized we needed to do better. We needed to do more. We’re always trying to do more.

So, I created a running update and covered each college commitment (at least the athletes willing to talk with us) as its own story. That started with the 2017 class, which finished with an unofficial tally of 173 KMAland athletes that decided to continue being athletic in college. And it continued into the 2018 class (and 2019 is off to a good start).

So, here we are on July 20^th. I’d like to think most college decisions have been made by now. Some are still adjusting those decisions, as I made a few changes that I just found out about yesterday. There are probably some that I just don’t know about that I would like to know about. (So please – tell me about it.)

With all that said, today I’m going to take a look inside the numbers of the KMAland 2018 class in which we have the decisions of 224 athletes. Let’s go…

HAWKEYE TEN CONFERENCE

We start in the Hawkeye Ten Conference, where there are 95 known athletes that have decided to continue doing athletic things at the next level. The high number in the conference is the 17 from Glenwood, which has athletes that will play football (6), soccer (2), tennis (2), wrestling (2), golf, track, softball, basketball, volleyball and even rugby at the next level. One athlete – Sierra Stouder – will be a dual-sport athlete (volleyball and tennis).

Lewis Central (15), Harlan (11), Atlantic and St. Albert (10 each) also have a double-digit numbers of seniors heading off to the next level. Here’s the full count, with schools listed in alphabetical order:

Atlantic – 10

Clarinda – 8

Creston – 8

Denison-Schleswig – 5

Glenwood – 17

Harlan – 11

Kuemper Catholic – 6

Lewis Central – 15

Red Oak – 1

Shenandoah – 4

St. Albert – 10

CORNER CONFERENCE

There’s a total of eight from the Corner Conference that will be competing athletically next year. One from Essex (Daiton Martin), three from Fremont-Mills (Bailey Hauschild, Andrew Hontz and Tristan Vanatta), three from Sidney (Bryson Duncan, Sergio Rodriguez and Cameron Whitehead) and two from Stanton (Travis Mascher and Dillion Rocha).

The sports range from volleyball to football to track to basketball to sport shooting. A nice mix.

Essex – 1

Fremont-Mills – 3

Sidney – 3

Stanton – 2

WESTERN IOWA CONFERENCE

The Western Iowa Conference has a list of 36 that will be in a collegiate uniform next year. The leading school in the WIC is Treynor, which has seven athletes playing baseball (2), basketball (2), football, soccer and volleyball.

AHSTW, Missouri Valley and Tri-Center are next with five athletes each heading on to the next level. Every school in the league has at least one known decision.

Edit: We've added four Missouri Valley to the list. They now lead the way with 9.

AHSTW – 5

Audubon – 2

Griswold – 1

IKM-Manning – 3

Logan-Magnolia – 4

Missouri Valley – 9

Treynor – 7

Tri-Center – 5

Underwood – 4

PRIDE OF IOWA CONFERENCE

We’ve only tracked the POI West Division decisions, but I would be all for the East Division sending me any and all decisions that have been made among their schools. And frankly, with the conference down to 10, I’m certain we will probably include all 10 schools in future lists.

All that said, Lenox and Nodaway Valley lead the charge with four seniors each deciding to compete athletically at the next level. Among those eight total, there are athletes in cross country (4), football, golf, volleyball and wrestling.

East Union – 1

Lenox – 4

Mount Ayr – 1

Nodaway Valley – 4

Southwest Valley – 3

ROLLING VALLEY CONFERENCE

There are eight known decisions from the Rolling Valley Conference, including three from Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton. Boyer Valley and Coon Rapids-Bayard have two each and CAM, Anita and Woodbine have one apiece. If there’s more – and there’s probably more – please let me know with a swift email to dmartin@kmaland.com.

Boyer Valley – 2

CAM, Anita – 1

Coon Rapids-Bayard – 2

Exira/EHK – 3

Woodbine - 1

MISSOURI RIVER CONFERENCE

The two Council Bluffs schools in the Missouri River have a total of 24, led by the 16 from Abraham Lincoln. Among those 16 for the Lynx are those that will compete in baseball (2), basketball (3), bowling (2), cheer, football (3), soccer (2), swimming and volleyball (2).

Abraham Lincoln – 16

Thomas Jefferson – 8

MISSOURI/NEBRASKA

The Iowa KMAland conference schools give us 189 of the 224. The rest come from our area schools in Missouri and Nebraska, including seven each from Auburn and Plattsmouth. There’s probably more, but I can’t know about them unless I’m told about them. Please tell me.

Auburn (NE) – 7

Craig (MO) – 1

East Atchison (MO) – 1

Jefferson (MO) – 1

Lourdes Central Catholic (NE) – 1

Maryville (MO) – 4

Mound City (MO) – 1

Platteview (NE) – 4

Plattsmouth (NE) – 7

Rock Port (MO) – 3

Stanberry (MO) – 1

Worth County (MO) – 3

THE SPORTS

All right. Now that you know which schools are sending the athletes to the next level, let’s nab a look at what sports they’re all playing.

Baseball – 23

Basketball – 35

Bowling – 6

Cheer – 2

Cross Country – 15

Dance – 1

Football – 51

Golf – 11  

Hockey – 1

Rodeo – 1  

Rugby – 1

Shooting – 5

Soccer – 15

Softball – 13

Swimming – 4

Tennis – 3

Track & Field – 16

Volleyball – 21  

Wrestling – 11

If you add those up, that’s 235 different sports, which means that several are doubling up. The dual-sport athletes are doubling up in these manners:

Basketball & Softball – 1

Basketball & Tennis – 1

Bowling & Shooting – 2  

Cross Country & Track – 4

Football & Baseball – 1

Tennis & Volleyball – 1

Track & Volleyball – 1  

WHERE ARE THEY GOING

Out of the 224 college decisions, 16 of them are going to Buena Vista and Southwestern Community College. Iowa Western will house 14 of our area athletes while Briar Cliff and Morningside are welcoming 11 and Northwest Missouri State and Grand View have 10 on the list.

The 2018 class has 23 Division I athletes, 29 Division II, 30 Division III, 52 junior college and 90 in the NAIA. Here’s the full list of schools:

Bellevue – 7 (NAIA)

Bradley – 1 (Division I)

Briar Cliff – 11 (NAIA)

Buena Vista – 16 (Division III)

Central – 4 (Division III)

Clarke – 1 (NAIA)

Coe College – 3 (Division III)

College of Saint Mary – 1 (NAIA)

Concordia – 2 (NAIA)

Creighton – 1 (Division I)

Dakota State – 1 (NAIA)

Des Moines Area – 3 (JUCO)

Doane – 1 (NAIA)

Dordt – 2 (NAIA)

Drake – 1 (Division I)

Ellsworth – 1 (JUCO)

Fort Scott – 1 (JUCO)

Graceland – 5 (NAIA)

Grand View – 10 (NAIA)

Hastings – 4 (NAIA)

Highland – 1 (JUCO)

Indian Hills – 1 (JUCO)

Iowa – 3 (Division I)

Iowa Central – 4 (JUCO)

Iowa Lakes – 2 (JUCO)

Iowa State – 5 (Division I)

Iowa Western – 14 (JUCO)

Kansas City-Kansas – 1 (JUCO)

Kansas State – 1 (Division I)

Lindsey Wilson – 1 (NAIA)

Loras – 1 (Division III)

Louisville – 1 (Division I)

Midland – 8 (NAIA)

Minnesota State-Mankato – 2 (Division II)

Missouri-Kansas City – 1 (Division I)

Missouri Western – 2 (Division II)

Morningside – 11 (NAIA)

Nebraska – 2 (Division I)

Nebraska-Kearney – 2 (Division II)

Nebraska Wesleyan – 1 (Division III)

North Central Missouri – 4 (JUCO)

North Dakota State – 1 (Division I)

North Iowa Area – 1 (JUCO)

North Platte – 2 (JUCO)

Northeastern State – 1 (Division II)

Northern Iowa – 1 (Division I)

Northern State – 1 (Division II)

Northwest Missouri State – 11 (Division II)

Northwestern – 8 (NAIA)

Park – 1 (NAIA)

Peru State – 8 (NAIA)

Pittsburgh – 1 (Division I)

Rockhurst – 1 (Division II)

Saint Mary – 1 (NAIA)

Simpson – 5 (Division III)

Sioux Falls – 2 (Division II)

South Carolina Sumter – 1 (JUCO)

South Dakota – 3 (Division I)

South Dakota State – 1 (Division I)

Southwest Minnesota State – 2 (Division II)

Southwestern – 16 (JUCO)

St. Ambrose – 1 (NAIA)

Waldorf – 4 (NAIA)

Washburn – 2 (Division II)

Wayne State – 3 (Division II)

William Penn – 2 (NAIA)

WHAT WE HAVE COVERED

We've tried our hardest to do interviews/write stories with each of the 224 athletes that have made college decisions. In fact, we've even done stories with athletes that have since decided not to play at the next level and/or changed their commitments.

In all, we've interviewed 160 of the 224 KMAlanders that have made their college decisions. If you haven't done an interview with us - and you would be willing to - please contact us by emailing sports@kmaland.com.

LET ME ADD TO THE LIST

Are you or someone you know not on the list? Please let me know by sending an email to sports@kmaland.com, tweeting at me (@d2mart) or texting me at 712-269-7938.

Along those same lines, if you’re in the 2019, 2020, 2021 or any other class in KMAland please feel free to do the same! As you know, we love highlighting any and all accomplishments by our area athletes, and this certainly constitutes as an accomplishment.