PREP SPORTS BEST OF 2025: Heaps of state success highlighted the past year

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Try and savor the last moments of 2025.

In a year with so much change, if there was ever a chance of having too much success, this year would have been it. Since the fall of 2023, one team and six individual state titles have returned to the coverage area. That’s a total of seven, five of which were earned in 2025. Take a bow, athletes.

Boosted by state success, the area was captivated by multiple team postseason runs as well as individual playoff journeys impacted by hardships, injuries and a whole bunch of pressure. Is there one moment that stands out to you? I’d love to hear about it.

Below is our list of the top-10 headlines from the 2025 prep season.

1. Noah Bontrager breaks through with distance dominance — Through his first two years of high school distance competition, Westview’s Noah Bontrager demonstrated that eventually, he would reign at a state championship event. On Friday, June 6, he did just that. At North Central High School, Bontrager won the first boys track state title in 30 years for Westview, winning the mile with a record time of 4:02.6 and falling seconds short of a second state record in his 3,200-meter title-winning run of 8:51.22.

In the fall, Bontrager recorded his second-straight runner-up finish at the cross country state meet with a historic photo-finish. Now his mind shifts to his senior track season where he’ll have to defend his dual state titles.

2. Julie Mishler records state-championship milestones to cap prep career — After falling short in her previous three seasons, Wawasee’s Julie Mishler swept the freestyle sprints at the IHSAA swim state finals last winter. Mishler won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and dominated the field following her national record early in her senior season.

3. Naima Ghaffar etches her greatness in first year of IHSAA girls wrestling — Clinching a state title in the first year under the IHSAA umbrella, NorthWood’s Naima Ghaffar made history when she won the 135-pound state championship at the girls wrestling state final in January. Ghaffar posted a 46-1 record and is currently undefeated in her senior season. This would be a good time to add that sectionals begin this Friday.

4. Goshen baseball knocks out No. 1 on historic postseason run — The story of 2025 wasn’t just written by state champions. Goshen baseball had arguably the loudest moment of the spring. Just a day after Bontrager’s state track performance, the RedHawks did the unthinkable. Not only did Goshen upset a 30-win and No. 1-ranked Penn team to secure the school’s first regional title since 1981, the RedHawks reached the semistate championship game at Four Winds Field a week later. Entering the postseason at 9-13, what head coach J.J. DuBois, and players like Ryen Diaz, Braxton Cline and Kyan Miller pulled off is worth the highest spot among non-state title winners.

5. Concord football navigates all road schedule to reach semistate — Playing without a true home due to renovations at Jake Field, Concord picked a good time to go on a playoff run. The Minutemen finished second in the Northern Lakes Conference before rattling off three-consecutive postseason wins to secure a sectional and regional title. After a walk-off field goal at Rice Field, Concord’s chance to return to Lucas Oil Stadium was dashed in a loss at Merrillville. The Minutemen finished 11-2 led by TGN Coach of the Year Craig Koehler and Player of the Year Reese Breveard.

6. Northridge boys cross country dominates, again — Leading Michiana in cross country prowess the past two seasons, Northridge boys cross country continued its stretch of state success this fall when the Raiders secured a second-straight podium finish at LaVern Gibson. Northridge placed fifth and were led by seniors Baylor Miller (11th) and Brady Hicks (30th). Baylor’s brother, Xavier, added to the postseason run by showcasing a team-first attitude by running through an intense injury.

7. NorthWood girls volleyball uses sectional shocker to return to semistate — Last year’s NorthWood girls volleyball semistate run was surprising to few. But for Hilary Laidig to do it again with nearly an entirely different group? That was special. The Red Slam shocked No. 5 West Noble to win their seventh-straight sectional title and won a fourth-consecutive regional crown. Laidig cited “grit” as the driving force for her team’s success and there was a whole bunch of it.

8. Competing boys/girls golf duos finish off careers at state — Varying in intensity but similar in top-tier talent, our area said goodbye to several skilled high school golfers in 2025. On the boys side, Fairfield state champion Brayden Miller played his last state tournament round in the spring. Ironically, he was in the same group as Westview friend/rival Silas Haarer. Miller went on to the University of Cincinnati while Haarer now attends Liberty University.

That’s not all. In the fall, a pair of girl golfers teed off one final time in Carmel. Northridge’s Alex Reschly and NorthWood’s Sophie Richmond nearly matched each other’s score throughout the Northern Lakes Conference season as well as the IHSAA postseason. Their friendship grew and now both are set to graduate this spring and continue their playing careers at Marian University in Indianapolis.

9. Double dose of Mental Attitude winners — Standing at the top of the podium is nice, ask any of our three state champs above, but showing good character is exactly the energy high school sports needs more of. That’s why 2025 Mental Attitude recipients Noah Bontrager and Addison Beasley are listed here. Bontrager, honored this fall, and Beasley, honored at the state swim meet during the winter, were recognized at IHSAA mental attitude athletes who showed upstanding character while engaging in their school and the community.

10. Hardwood heartbreak makes its way to Elkhart County — While Westview did win a third-straight boys basketball sectional title, oddly, the most memorable moments of the 2025 basketball postseason were of the sour variety.

NorthWood, which rostered big-man Tyler Raasch and scoring twins Maddux and Myles Everingham, were kept title-less when Columbia City pulled off a shocker in the Panther Pit. Meanwhile, in the sectional championship at North Side Gym, the Northridge student section advised Warsaw to start warming the buses with a three-point lead with just over a second to play. Then the Tigers nailed the game-tying triple and won in overtime to send one of the winningest Raider senior classes home without a postseason trophy.

Honorable mentions: Goshen constructs new baseball/softball complex … Morgan Weatherholt’s inspiring comeback to the dugout … Concord wins third-consecutive boys soccer sectional title … Bethany Christian boys soccer punches up in 2A tournament … individual state success for Kristina Petkova (Goshen track), Travis Henke (Northridge wrestling), Sawyer Lehman (Northridge swimming), Catie Brenneman (Concord girls swimming), Kaden Grau and Luke Stults (Westview tennis).

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