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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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The best of 2025
Looking back at the top sports stories from the calendar year
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
When 2025 began, the area’s local sports teams were gearing up for the meet of the winter sports season.
In basketball, 2025 saw the area’s big school teams; Washington, Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant, all struggle against southern competition, as Ft. Madison took the Southeast Conference boys basketball title, while Burlington finished tops in the conference on the girls’ side.
In the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, the Hillcrest Academy and WACO boys each finished the year with two losses in league play, including one to each other, to split the North Division.
The Ravens were the longest-lasting area boys' team, getting to the Substate semifinals before falling to North Linn. Mid-Prairie had a similar fate in Class 2A, dropping out two games before the state tournament.
The Columbus girls were the talk of the area for much of the year, going 14-2 in North Division play to win a conference championship. The Wildcats were upset in the semifinals of the Class 2A Region 2 tournament, but finished the year 18-5.
The only other area semifinalist was Mid-Prairie in Class 3A. The Golden Hawks were eliminated by top-seeded Williamsburg, and for the first time in quite some time, the Union area didn’t have a Substate or regional finalist in boys or girls basketball.
The best athlete in the area all winter long was Sigourney-Keota senior Reanah Utterback. The senior girls wrestling phenomenon won her second state championship at Class 1A’s 115-pound bracket, finishing off a two-year run that saw her pin every single opponent she faced, including Don Bosco’s Erica Irvine in a highly anticipated championship match.
Fairfield’s Samantha Lyons made history as her school’s first-ever girls state medalist, taking fourth in the 170-pound bracket. Mid-Prairie’s Ashlee Farrier and Pekin’s Lexa Nelson each metaled as well, finishing fifth and sixth at 130 pounds and 105 pounds respectively.
It was a topsy-turvy year in boys wrestling, especially in the Southeast Conference, where Mt. Pleasant saw itself win close dual after close dual en route to a conference crown. It was Fairfield, however, that did the most in the postseason, getting six wrestlers to state and two on the podium.
Fairfield’s Cael McCabe took third place at 113 pounds, while Cason Miller finished his high school career out with a seventh-place finish at 157.
The best result from the boys wrestling tournament, however, came from the WACO Warriors. Senior Louden Huisenga finished out his high school career with a state title in Class 1A’s 190 pound tournament. He was one of three Warriors to place, as Ian Maize took second, at 106 pounds, and Gage Samo was sixth, at 120.
Also hitting the podium was Washington’s Aaron Boone, who finished his career out with a third-place spot at 2A-132, and New London’s Gage Burden, who placed sixth at 1A-138.
The Union area was also represented at both state bowling tournaments. Mt. Pleasant sent both Madalyn Millard and Bethany Drury to state on the girls’ side, and Sigourney-Keota’s Jayden Montgomery and Sophie Young went for the girls, while Landyn Greiner made it for the boys.
As the winter turned to spring, it was time for some of the area’s best in track and field, tennis, soccer and golf to show out.
State track saw a return state champion in Pekin’s Anna Hadley, who took home her second state discus title. Meanwhile, Winfield-Mt. Union’s Kohlby Newsom won the Class 1A 800, and New London’s boys 4X100 team of righam Porter, Cale Westerbeck, London Franklin and Gavin Strawhacker took home gold as well.
The Union area didn’t have any state soccer qualifiers, though the Mt. Pleasant boys did come one goal away after winning the 2025 SEC title.
In tennis, Fairfield’s Rumin Luo took sixth in his final state appearance. Poojita Mukadam and Natalie Steele qualified on the girls’ side, and the two were right back at it when the girls season came up again in the fall. Steele finished eighth in both individual tournaments, while Ria Ross and Sriya Yammanur took seventh in the fall.
The state golf scene saw both the Hillcrest Academy boys and Highland girls finish fourth place in the Class 1A state races, continuing the area’s tradition of making noise in the biggest tournaments around.
Those same two schools shined in the summer, as the Hillcrest Academy baseball team made a dream run to the state semifinals in Carroll. Meanwhile, the Highland and Washington softball teams battled it out in the Class 1A and 3A state tournaments, as the young Huskies made their mark on Fort Dodge, while a senior-led Demon team finished their historic run on the biggest stage.
And finally, the fall brought on a historic run by Mid-Prairie, which not only made the girls state cross-country tournament and volleyball tournament, but also lasted the longest of any area football team, getting knocked out one game before the Class 2A state semifinals.
The fall season saw Mt. Pleasant football continue its rise, as the Panthers beat both Washington and Fairfield en route to a Class 3A state playoff berth. The Pekin football team went unbeaten in the regular season before falling in the round of 16.
Also making waves this fall were the Van Buren County state cross-country teams, which both made it to Fort Dodge as a team. The Pekin and Columbus boys all made it as a team, and Pekin’s Chloe Glosser shined the brightest of them all, taking second place in the Class 1A race.
Now, the Union area turns back to January, as we await what new adventures 2026 will bring.
