Iowa
The Top Stories In Iowa High School Sports In 2025
Records have fallen, stars have shined and there has also been plenty of heartbreak, heartache and sadness along the way.
Here is a look at some of the top sports stories that made headlines throughout 2025 in Iowa high school athletics.
The Rams swept both the state wrestling duals and traditional team titles in Class 3A this past winter, scoring a state tournament record 259.5 points. They clinched the traditional crown before the final day when Cooper Martinson, Justis Jesuroga, Nico DeSalvo and Eddie Woody all won individual championships.
Down in Class 1A, Don Bosco remained the premier program in the state, winning a seventh consecutive state championship. The Dons, who have claimed 17 titles all-time, also won state duals. Hayden Schwab, Hendrix Schwab, Kaiden Belinsky and Dawson Youngblut were all individual champs.
By winning a third state wrestling championship each last year, Fort Dodge’s Dreshaun Ross and Blake Fox from Osage moved closer to joining the exclusive four-timers club. Ross and Fox will both be going for a fourth individual state wrestling championship this winter.
The Johnston girls basketball team ended last year with a second consecutive Class 5A state championship, besting Dowling Catholic in the finals. The Dragons came into this season having won 52 consecutive games, as Notre Dame commit Jenica Lewis now leads them. In the finals last year, Kelli Kalb scored 13 points and Amani Jenkins grabbed 18 rebounds.
A loaded Valley boys basketball team captured its third consecutive Class 4A state championship this past winter, besting Waukee Northwest in the finals, 61-47. They became just the second 4A team to win three consecutive titles, as Jayden McGregory scored 26, Zay Robinson 15 and Trevin Jirak had 13 with 10 rebounds. McGregory is now headed to Missouri to play football, Robinson entered the transfer portal after playing one season of football at Iowa State and Jirak is at Iowa playing basketball.
Western Dubuque runner and future Oregon Duck Quentin Nauman has been virtually untouchable when it comes to distance running. Back in the spring, Nauman completed the distance triple crown at the Drake Relays, winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. He again did the same at state, setting multiple records in the process. In the fall, Nauman won another state cross country title, again setting a meet record.
Ranked as one of the best players in the country for her grade, Sophia Schlader showed why to the rest of Iowa by leading Waukee Northwest to the Class 5A state softball title this past summer. Schlader and the Wolves bested Linn-Mar in the finals, 1-0 in eight innings. The freshman struck out 15 batters, tying her own 5A state mark, as she finished the week with 35 strikeouts. Her 15th K of the finals came with the bases loaded and two outs.
In the span of 24 hours, Pella won the first state baseball championship in program history and first state softball title in school history. The Dutch baseball team did it first, besting Dubuque Wahlert in the Class 3A finals, 3-1, on a game-winning hit by Landyn Bethards. Teagan Hoekstra pitched a complete game, striking out seven. The No. 8 seed in softball, Pella took out No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier in the quarterfinals and North Polk in the finals for head coach Katie Banowetz, who was to be married one day later.
Pella’s Marissa Ferebee cemented her own place in the history books, winning a third consecutive Class 3A state cross country championship this past fall. The future Arkansas Razorback also was a state champion in track and field in the spring in the 3,000-meter run. She helped the Dutch earn a fourth consecutive team state cross country title, as well.
The Iowa high school football season was hit hard by a number of forfeits, as teams cited too few of healthy players to compete on the gridiron. One of those was defending eight-player state champion Remsen St. Mary’s, as the Hawks called a game at halftime and sat on the sidelines for multiple weeks to get enough healthy and experienced players ready to continue. Others called the season off entirely or did not even field a varsity team this past fall.
For the first time since the classification was created, someone other than Southeast Polk won the Class 5A title. That somebody? Ten-time state champion Dowling Catholic, as Ian Middleton led the Maroons past Iowa City Liberty, 27-10. Middleton ran for 206 yards and scored two touchdowns on 34 carries in the finals.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa City police are asking the public’s help identifying persons of interest connected to a vandalism investigation.
Police said a business was vandalized in the alley behind the 200 block of East Washington Street on Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
Investigators would like to speak with the persons of interest pictured. Police ask anyone who recognizes these individuals to contact them.
Anyone with information or security camera footage of the incident should contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275. Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Spring commencement arrives at Iowa State this weekend, with a whole new generation of Cyclones set to get their diplomas and move on to the next things in their lives.
The options and choices will set their path for, potentially, the years and decades ahead.
Which got me thinking about the choices and circumstances of this school year that came for Iowa State athletics. There were no shortages of inflection points at which, it seems, programs and an entire athletics department pivoted to new directions.
Let’s explore.
What if Iowa State had hired Taylor Mouser as head football coach?
This seems to be the most discussed “Sliding Doors” moment for Iowa State football fans regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. And with good reason. It’s the most obvious, could have had the most immediate impact on the program and would have been largely seen as a continuation of the most successful run in school history.
Would promoting the Iowa State offensive coordinator, though, have been the right move?
If you assume a best-case scenario in which some of the star Cyclone players on offense – think Rocco Becht, Ben Brahmer, Carson Hansen, etc. – stay at Iowa State and a bulk of the coaching staff does as well, there are still likely defections that weaken the roster. Nothing like we saw back in December, but, still, there would be holes – and Campbell’s shoes – to fill by a first-time head coach taking over for a legend.
The calculation, as I see it, has to be – does the Year 1 continuity and relative stability gained by hiring Mouser provide for better long-term results than hiring Jimmy Rogers, who has the benefit of head-coaching experience?
It certainly would have made the fan base feel better back in December, but would it have positioned Iowa State to have better results in 2027 and beyond?
The roster almost certainly would have been “better” in 2026 if Iowa State retained Mouser, but would that have created a more solid foundation for the future or just delayed decay?
This “What If” becomes a lot less intricate and interesting if Rogers just wins a ton this fall and going forward.
What if Penn State had been able to hire Kalani Sitake as its football coach?
I think this is the most interesting question on the list.
By reports, Penn State was on the verge of hiring Sitake from BYU when the Cougars’ boosters – led by the Crumbl Cookie fortune – banded together to put together a financial package to keep Sitake in Provo.
What if they hadn’t, though?
Sitake goes to Penn State, and Dec. 5, 2025, is an uneventful day in Iowa State history rather than one of its most feverish.
But … what happens a few weeks later when Sherrone Moore is fired at Michigan?
Rather than plucking 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham from Utah/forced retirement, do the Wolverines try to make a Michigan Man out of an Ohioan? Does Campbell inherit the seat of Bo Schembechler?
And, for the sake of this thought exercise, if Campbell did move to Ann Arbor, does the timing of that decision change athletics director Jamie Pollard’s options and calculus about Iowa State’s opening? Is Jimmy Rogers still available? Or would he have taken a different opening or opted not to leave Pullman at that later date? Is Mouser the answer in this scenario?
Or is the Buckeye State distaste for the state Up North too much and Campbell returns for Year 11 at Iowa State?
Addy Brown on what went wrong in Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse
Iowa State’s Addy Brown talks about her team’s struggles in a loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
What if Addy Brown doesn’t get hurt?
Iowa State women’s basketball was 14-0 on Jan. 4 when it played Baylor in Waco, and the season felt sure to realize the potential that was clear before it started with one of coach Bill Fennelly’s best rosters.
The Cyclones, though, returned home with their first loss and with Addy Brown sidelined with a back injury.
Four more losses in a row followed, and when Brown returned to the floor after six weeks, the Cyclones’ season was floundering.
They salvaged an NCAA Tournament bid, but a first-round exit gave way to a roster collapse with nine players – including Brown and superstar Audi Crooks – leaving via the transfer portal, putting Fennelly’s tenure and future under fire.
If Brown doesn’t get hurt – or just isn’t out as long – does that change the trajectory of the season? The offseason? And what the eventual end of Fennelly’s Iowa State career looks like?
What if Joshua Jefferson doesn’t roll his ankle?
The most recent “What If” I think is also the most straightforward.
If Jefferson’s ankle doesn’t roll in the early minutes of Iowa State’s first-round NCAA Tournament blowout win over Tennessee State, I think the Cyclones get a long second weekend in Chicago, but the Final Four drought probably remains intact.
Jefferson’s rebounding and offensive impact are, I think, enough to give the Cyclones the edge against Tennessee, but Michigan, the Cyclones’ would-be Elite Eight opponent, was just a juggernaut.
I’m not sure even a full-strength Iowa State team would have had more than a puncher’s chance. The Wolverines were just one of the best college basketball teams we’ve seen over the last few decades.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
One of the top Iowa high school football prospects in the state has made his college decision official.
Iowa City Regina High School senior-to-be Tate Wallace has announced he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Wallace picked the Golden Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck over a finalists Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Wisconsin.
Wallace narrowed down his list of schools to six at the end of April before making his final decision.
Iowa City Regina Football Standout Tate Wallace Ranked As No. 2 Overall Prospect In Iowa High School Football
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound linebacker is considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Iowa for high school football, and is the No. 21 linebacker in the Class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
In the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wallace is No. 2 in Iowa high school football, No. 29 at linebacker and No. 359 for the Class of 2027.
Along With Minnesota, Tate Wallace Currently Holds Offers From Schools Such As Arizona, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Iowa State
Wallace currently holds 16 total offers including from the previously mentioned Minnesota, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, UNLV, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
As a junior, Wallace registered almost 50 tackles on defense, with 29 of them being counted as solo stops. He had 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks and forced two fumbles, as Iowa City Regina advanced to the state championship game of the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Football Championships.
Future Minnesota Golden Gopher Has Been Key Two-Way Starter For Regals
Wallace also hauled in 40 passes for 611 yards with 10 receiving touchdowns on offense for the Regals. As a two-way player for Iowa City Regina during his sophomore season, Wallace had 27.5 tackles, including 16 solo stops, four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, adding 51 receptions for 752 yards and eight touchdowns.
Back in March, Wallace announced seven spring visits to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas State and Arizona State. He also visited Tennessee this past fall, taking in an SEC contest with the Volunteers.
Along with his success on the football field, Wallace helped lead the Regals to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Basketball Tournament this past winter. He earned High School on SI all-state honors in the process.
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