Sports highlights of 2025

For sports fans, the area youth provided nonstop excitement throughout the year, with runs to state finals, personal records for individuals and many receiving all-conference titles and other accolades.

Volleyball
The third-seeded Waupaca Comets traveled to the Resch Center in Green Bay to face the second-seeded Grafton team on November 7 2025, playing in front of the largest crowd in WIAA state volleyball history.
Grafton got off to a strong start, building a 13-7 lead and then stretching it to 16-8 as they kept up their momentum. However, down 17-10, the Comets rallied, scoring four unanswered points and narrowing the gap to 17-14.
Grafton went on an 8-4 run of their own, as they won the opening set 25-18. In the second set, both teams jockeyed for position before Grafton took an 18-15 lead. Grafton would take over the set as they closed out, winning 25-19 and taking a two-set-to-zero lead over Waupaca.

It was a back-and-forth set in the third, with Grafton taking the early lead 12-8. Waupaca would take back the lead, going up 21-19 before the set became tied at 24-24.
The Comets would take the set 28-26 to force a fourth set in the match. Both teams were able to trade leads early in the set before Grafton would finish the fourth set 25-21, ending the Waupaca Comets’ season.

Wrestling
The third trip to state was the charm for Nolan Skebba as he finished his senior year at Hortonville as the 2025 Division 1 150-lb state champion after taking a trip to compete in Madison the previous two seasons.
Skebba qualified for the 2023 WIAA state tournament as a sophomore at 120-lb and placed third in 2024 as a junior in the 132-lb division.

In his opening match, Skebba, the first seed in his bracket, took on the 16th-seeded freshman Mason Boulanger of Luxemburg-Casco. In the opening period, Skebba went up 9-1 as he had two takedowns and a near fall. An escape by Boulanger gave him the lone point of the period. In the second period, Boulanger had a near fall of his own to net him four points, but a reversal by Skebba led to a pinfall victory.
Skebba faced eighth-seeded junior Gabe Metzler of Waunakee in his second match and won with a 10-0 major decision. A takedown by Skebba at 1:05 was the only points scored in the opening period. Two more takedowns and an escape in the following periods would lead Skebba to the semifinal of his bracket.
Fox Valley Association rivals squared off in the semifinal as Skebba went toe-to-toe with Kaukauna senior Peyton Lee, who entered the bracket as a fourth seed. Skebba picked apart his opponent with a takedown in the opening period and an escape, reversal and near fall to Lee’s takedown to end the second period up 10-3. Another takedown in the final period gave Skebba the 13-3 victory.
One more opponent stood between Skebba and a state title as he took on second-seeded senior Eli Rabideau of Germantown. A takedown again gave Skebba an early advantage as he went up 3-0. In the second period, Skebba scored on an escape and his second takedown of the match to go up 7-0. In the final period of his wrestling career at Hortonville, Skebba went in for one more takedown to go up 10-0 and be declared the winner and 2025 Division 1 WIAA State champion by majority decision.

The top-ranked Weyauwega-Fremont Warhawks wrestling had their best finish in school history as they placed second in the Division 3 WIAA wrestling team finals on Saturday, March 8, at the University Of Wisconsin Field House in Madison.

The Warhawks were the top seed in the four-team tournament and faced fourth-seeded Oostburg in the semifinal at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
It was a dominant performance by the Warhawks, as they dictated most of the dual meet matchup. Oostburg only had three winners in head-to-head matches as 165-lb participant Liam Richards defeated Warhawks Conner Johnson by 17-12 decision, 190-lb Nash Banko defeated Wyatt Wetzel by pinfall and 132-lb
Rigoberto Tellez got a pinfall victory over Ezra Balthazor. The other three victories for Oostburg were by forfeit.
Weyauwega-Fremont pulled away from Oostburg with five pinfall victories, 175-lb Carter McDaniel over Axel Dock, 215-lb Tellyer Alix defeated Tanner Zehel, 285-lb Cashten Hoffman pinned Gus Williamson in 13 seconds, 113-lb Josue Azuara pinned Landon Holschbach and 138-pound Carter Birdyshaw got a pinfall over Levi DeZoute.
Three more Warhawks won by technical fall: 106-lb Jaydon Le Noble won 18-2 over Joan Tellez, 120-lb Riley Scherg defeated Blake Lentz 21-6, and 126-lb Jake Buss secured a 17-2 victory over Matthew Wilterdink. The Warhawks defeated Oostburg 45-33 to move on to the championship final.
Weyauwega-Fremont met second-seeded Mineral Point at 3 p.m. A pinfall by Birdyshaw over Easton Brunett, a 14-5 major decision victory by 150-lb Collin Hamm against Jacob Dannenberg, four decision wins by Wetzel, Hoffman, Azuara and Scherg and a forfeit victory for Alex Loehrke were not enough to overcome Mineral Point.
Mineral Point had two pinfalls, two technical falls, two victories by decision and a major decision win to defeat the Warhawks 32-28 and take home the 2025 WIAA wrestling championship.

Baseball
The Hortonville Polar Bears could not overcome the deficit in the first inning that put them in a hole in the quarterfinals of the WIAA State Baseball championships on June 16, 2025, as Hartford moved on to the next round.
Hortonville fans filled the stadium and created a sea of red. Still, the early pitching woes for the Polar Bears put them at a 2-0 deficit at the end of the first inning, as Joe

Langdorf had an RBI on an infield grounder to make the score 1-0. An errant throw from the pitcher’s mound to third brought in the second run of the opening inning.
The Polar Bears cut into the Hartford lead as a sacrifice fly by Kameron Chronis drove in a run to make the score 2-1.
Hartford’s Ethan Birkel provided an insurance run with an RBI double to put Hartford up 3-1, and Kaiden Romens made the score a 4-1 final with an RBI single of his own to knock
Hortonville out of the tournament and send Hartford to the semifinals.

Track & Field

Ben Beck of Iola-Scandinavia achieved the top accomplishment that an athlete in high school sports can pull off as he stood atop the podium for the 2025 Division 3 3200-meter run at La Crosse in his junior season.
Winning the 3200 M with a time of 9:28.02 at the State meet, Ben also competed in the 1600 Meter Run at the State meet as well finishing fourth with a time of 4:18.89.
Ben didn’t start competing in long-distance running until a cross-country coach approached him, “A coach from the XC team convinced me to join my freshman year after I quit football. From there I decided to do long distance in track as well.” Ben also felt it would keep him in shape for other sports, “The reason I decided to do XC my freshman year was because I thought it would be good conditioning for basketball. Basketball was my favorite sport until my freshman year when I realized I should pursue long-distance running. “
His shift in mentality towards competing has made Ben’s high school career memorable so far, “There have been so many great memories I’ve had while competing in high school sports. If I had to choose one it would be the state track meet weekend this spring. Last year I didn’t have the races I wanted and my experience wasn’t what I expected. This year I changed that. The way I was able to hold myself the whole weekend made me feel confident and in turn, it helped me race to the best of my abilities. From not having a podium finish last year to having two this year made it very memorable and special to me.”