From the historic to the heartbreaking, Philomath High School’s athletic programs delivered unforgettable moments throughout 2025 that will be remembered for years to come.
The Warriors qualified teams or individuals for state competition in 16 of 23 sports, demonstrating the depth and quality of athletics at the Class 4A school. Among those state qualifiers, multiple programs brought home trophies and individual honors that added to Philomath’s rich athletic tradition.
Philomath High’s track and field program continued its remarkable dominance with the girls winning a fourth consecutive state championship — a feat never before accomplished in Class 4A history. Senior Janice Hellesto delivered a legendary farewell performance by winning three individual events and breaking her own school records in each.
Girls volleyball, girls soccer, boys cross-country, girls cross-country, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys swimming, girls swimming, boys wrestling, dance, cheer, baseball, boys track and field, girls tennis and boys volleyball also sent teams or athletes to state competitions.
Among those, the girls volleyball, girls soccer, girls basketball, baseball and boys volleyball teams advanced past the first round in their respective playoff brackets. The girls basketball team advanced to the championship game but had to settle for runner-up. Both of the school’s volleyball teams earned sixth-place trophies at state, the boys accomplishing the feat in their inaugural season.
In addition, girls cross-country won a third-place trophy in Eugene, the cheer squad took fourth in its division at state, the boys wrestling team was seventh up in Portland and the dance team was sixth in hip-hop and seventh in show.
Besides Hellesto, other PHS individuals winning state titles included Riley Barrett and Lake Mulberry in wrestling, high jumper Anneka Steen in track and field, long-distance runner Cassidy Smart in cross-country and swimmer Lucas Brandt in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Here are the top 10 sports stories of the year as chosen by the Philomath News:
1. Girls track earns 4th straight title; Hellesto wins 3 events
The girls track and field team etched its name in the history books by winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive Class 4A state championship at Hayward Field in Eugene. No other 4A girls program had ever accomplished such a feat, and the Warriors’ senior class was the common thread across all four titles.
Senior Janice Hellesto delivered a legendary final performance, sweeping three individual events while breaking her own school records in each. She won the long jump at 18 feet, 6 inches, the 100-meter dash in 12.14 seconds, and the 200-meter dash in 24.70 seconds. Hellesto also anchored the 4-by-100 relay to a runner-up finish and school-record time of 49.08 seconds. Her 36 points accounted for nearly half of the team’s 80-point total.
“Watching Janice go from a goofy freshman to the real leader of this team is very impressive,” coach Joe Fulton said.
Senior Anneka Steen claimed gold in the high jump at 5 feet, 5 inches after two previous runner-up finishes. Senior Aspen Russell placed second in the pole vault at 9-9, while senior Natalie Dunn took third in the 400 meters with a school-record 57.04.
The championship race proved tighter than expected with La Grande finishing just 10.5 points behind. Freshmen Cassidy Smart, Reagan Nuño and Kya Bolton contributed crucial points, signaling a bright future even as the Warriors said goodbye to a special senior class that defined an era of dominance in Oregon 4A track and field.
2. Barrett, Mulberry capture individual state wrestling titles
Philomath High’s wrestling program celebrated a banner day at the 2025 Class 4A state championships in Portland as juniors Riley Barrett and Lake Mulberry both captured individual titles at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Barrett became just the second wrestler in school history to win back-to-back state championships, dominating Pendleton’s Vance Nelson 14-0 in the 150-pound finals. The victory matched Kevin Sterba’s 1982-83 achievement and came despite Barrett wrestling through a significant ankle injury that doctors initially said would end his season.
Barrett built an 11-point lead in the first period and never looked back, earning his second consecutive title with the mental toughness coach Troy Woosley described as “a true definition of a warrior.”
Mulberry’s championship at 190 pounds came just three years after Barrett and Woosley convinced him to try wrestling as a freshman. After admitting he considered quitting multiple times early on, Mulberry persevered and claimed the top seed at regionals. He defeated Mazama’s Jack Kaefring 5-1 in the finals, scoring a crucial stalling penalty late before finishing with a takedown. The multi-sport athlete seemed almost surprised by his own success afterward, saying the championship “almost felt kind of easy.”
Elsewhere on the team, junior Porter Compton reached the championship match at 144 and had to settle for second. Senior River Sandstrom came into state unseeded but left with a fourth-place medal.
3. Football team forced to forfeit last game, misses playoffs
A promising season ended in heartbreak for Philomath High’s football team when an inadvertent rules violation forced the Warriors to forfeit their final regular-season victory and miss the Class 4A playoffs.
After defeating Sweet Home 26-14 on Oct. 25 to apparently clinch a playoff berth, the team learned the next morning that two underclassmen had violated OSAA participation limits by playing in both Thursday’s JV game and Friday’s varsity contest without the required 48-hour rest period between games. The JV game had been moved from Monday to Thursday at Sweet Home’s request to give players one final preseason tune-up.
Head coach Alex Firth took full responsibility for the oversight, saying he was either unaware of or had forgotten the 48-hour rule. The violation involved a freshman and sophomore who played out of necessity due to low roster numbers.
The forfeit transformed the season-ending win into a loss, dropping Philomath’s record to 4-5 and eliminating them from playoff contention. Sweet Home advanced instead as the 10th seed.
“In our heart of hearts, we know we won and we know we should be in the playoffs,” Firth said, while expressing frustration that the penalty fell on student-athletes rather than coaches or administrators.
4. Cassidy Smart wins state, team finishes 3rd
Sophomore Cassidy Smart became Philomath High’s first individual cross-country state champion in 22 years, dominating the final stretch to win the Class 4A title by more than 13 seconds at Lane Community College.
Smart executed her race strategy perfectly, staying with defending champion Brooke Perry of La Grande before unleashing a powerful kick over the final 300 meters on the track. Her winning time of 18:33.75 marked a historic achievement — Smart became just the sixth individual champion in program history, joining Brianna Anderson-Gregg, who won three consecutive titles from 2001-03, and Tassie Norton, who won titles in 1981 and 1983.
“This was my goal the entire season — to get first and I knew I had a kick that could do that,” Smart said afterward. Coach Joe Fulton marveled at her finish, comparing her competitive mindset to Anderson-Gregg’s.
The girls’ team earned third place despite fielding just eight runners and missing their projected No. 5 for the state meet. Freshman Sienna Bushnell placed 20th and sophomore Reagan Nuño finished 28th to help secure the Warriors’ 40th trophy in 43 years.
Senior Leo Pausch led the boys’ team with an eighth-place finish as the Warriors placed seventh overall.
5. De La Rosa, Nuño commit to Division 1 schools
In a remarkable achievement for a Class 4A program, Philomath sent two seniors to Division 1 college football programs with commitments from CD Nuño and Rocco De La Rosa.
Nuño announced his commitment to Boise State in late September, choosing the Broncos after an official visit that included watching them defeat Appalachian State. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound three-star athlete, rated as Oregon’s No. 7 recruit for 2026 by 247Sports, was recruited to play linebacker despite earning all-state honors as both a wide receiver and defensive back at Philomath. Nuño will delay his enrollment until 2028 to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
De La Rosa committed to Oregon State in November as a preferred walk-on, fulfilling a lifelong dream for the multi-sport standout who grew up in a household where orange and black were the only acceptable colors. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound athlete finished his senior season with 20 touchdowns and led Class 4A with six interceptions while earning Oregon West Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors.
“Both CD and Rocco are what I call generational kids,” said coach Alex Firth. “You don’t get them coming through your program that often.”
6. Brandt captures state swimming title, breaks records
Sophomore Lucas Brandt made school history at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Swimming State Championships in Beaverton, becoming Philomath High’s first individual state champion in a decade with his victory in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Brandt dominated the field, leading by more than a second at the halfway point and never looking back. He also earned a third-place medal in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:53.43 in prelims that broke James Dye’s seven-year-old school record of 4:56.80.
The performance marked the fourth time Brandt added his name to the Warriors’ all-time record board. He also holds school records in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, and broke the breaststroke record three times during the season.
“We get a lot of comments from other coaches that he’s pretty impressive for a 15-year-old sophomore,” said coach Iliana Kaiser. “It’s exciting to see how he’ll do the next couple of years.”
Senior Kyah Weeber provided a strong finish to her high school career with two medals — third in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 100 butterfly. Junior Cameron McLennan earned his second consecutive sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best 57.49.
(File photo by Andy Cripe/Philomath News)
7. Girls basketball reaches state finals, settles for runner-up
The girls basketball team reached the Class 4A championship game in Forest Grove, capping a remarkable season before falling to rival Stayton 47-38 in the title match.
The championship game represented the third meeting between the two heavyweights, with Philomath winning at home 27-26 in January and Stayton returning the favor 40-39 at their place in February. The neutral-court finale proved to be a physical battle with both teams diving for loose balls and momentum shifting back and forth throughout.
Sophomore Reagan Heiken led the Warriors with 14 points and earned unanimous all-tournament team honors, while senior Anneka Steen made the second team. Heiken later earned the 4A Player of the Year award.
The runner-up finish capped an exceptional four-year run for the senior class that included a first-place trophy, fourth place, fifth place and now second place. Coach Ben Silva praised the departing seniors, including Steen, Aspen Russell, Zoee Howard, Mica Boynton and Cali Cannon, while expressing confidence that the program’s tradition of excellence would continue with a strong returning core.
8. Beckstead earns state tennis medal in dramatic finale
Senior Adele Beckstead capped a stellar four-year tennis career by winning third place at the 4A/3A/2A/1A state championships at Oregon State University’s tennis complex, finishing with a dramatic come-from-behind victory in her final high school match.
Facing St. Mary’s-Medford sophomore Carys Chamberland in the third-place match, Beckstead dropped the first set 4-6 before dominating the second 6-0. The third set went to a tiebreak where Chamberland had multiple match points, but Beckstead came out on top, 11-9.
“She had a few match points in the tiebreak in the third set but somehow I pulled it out,” Beckstead said. “I was just trusting in my shots and just trying to stay mentally tough out there.”
The third-place finish marked Beckstead’s best state tournament result in four consecutive appearances. She advanced to the semifinals with wins over Baker’s Elizabeth Timm and fourth-seeded Sami Ramos of Crook County before falling to eventual champion Raegan Farm of North Bend.
Beckstead finished the season 16-4 and compiled a 78-12 career record. Remarkably, she also competed at the district track and field meet both days of the state tennis tournament, qualifying for state in three track events.
9. Volleyball team places 6th at 4A tournament
The Philomath High volleyball team capped its season with a sixth-place finish at the Class 4A State Tournament in Coos Bay, splitting two matches on the final day to earn a trophy and finish 17-8 overall.
After falling to Cascade in the quarterfinals, the Warriors bounced back the next morning with a dominant 25-16, 25-19, 25-15 victory over Astoria. Junior Nora Stanley led the sweep with 13 kills while senior Avery Smith distributed 31 assists.
In the fourth-/sixth-place match, Philomath battled host Marshfield in a tightly contested affair but fell 23-25, 28-26, 28-26, 25-20. Stanley delivered an outstanding performance with 21 kills, while Smith recorded 36 assists. The second and third sets saw the teams trade points deep into extra frames before the Pirates prevailed.
Stanley earned first-team all-tournament honors for her exceptional play throughout the weekend.
“They set their sights on a state appearance this season and accomplished their goal,” said coach Whitney Thomas. “This team genuinely loves each other unlike any team I’ve ever coached. They support and play for their teammates every single day.”
10. Boys volleyball makes history with sixth-place state finish
In its inaugural season, Philomath High School’s boys volleyball team exceeded expectations by bringing home a sixth-place trophy from the Oregon High School Boys Volleyball Association state tournament in May. The Warriors finished 17-8 overall and 10-2 in District 2 play, tying Newport for the league title.
At the state tournament in Hillsboro, the Warriors battled through the consolation bracket after a tough four-set loss to third-place finisher Cascade. They swept Marshfield to advance to the fourth-/sixth-place match, where they faced Newport for the fifth time that season. The rivalry match went the distance with the Cubs prevailing 17-15 in the fifth set.
Senior Carson Winder starred in the Newport rematch with 14 kills, four blocks and eight aces, while senior Raul Sanchez anchored the defense with 20 digs. Coach Helen Bennett praised her squad’s dramatic improvement throughout the season, noting that most players had only experienced volleyball in PE classes before joining the team.
“For us to go 10-2 in league, 17-8 overall and finish with a sixth-place trophy our first year, I couldn’t be more proud,” Bennett said.