After a year like 2025, trying to narrow the year’s top-10 stories proved to be an extremely difficult task.

For evidence of this, simply glance at the extensive honorable mention list that follows this year’s iteration of the Herald Bulletin’s Top 10 local sports stories.

1) End of an Era

In early March, an announcement that the tradition of Madison County’s tournaments would, for the most part, be coming to an end shook the local sports community.

While those considered ‘individual’ sports – tennis, golf, wrestling, track and field, and cross country – would continue, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball tournaments would no longer be held. Although Anderson stated the Nick Muller Tournament – long considered the county baseball championship – would continue, the development sent many schools scrambling to schedule new events.

The three schools that drove the decision – Alexandria, Elwood, and Frankton – announced they would jointly hold 18-team boys and 12-team girls showcases in late December and early January.

2) Three of a Kind

For nearly 20 years, 2005 Miss Basketball Jodi Howell stood as the lone girls player in Madison County history to have scored over 2,000 points.

That all changed in 2025 when Indiana All-Stars Jacklynn Hosier of Alexandria and Kaycie Warfel from Pendleton Heights reached that milestone last January and Lapel’s Laniah Wills did as well in December.

Hosier finished with 2,108 points and Warfel at 2,107 and they graduated as the top two overall scorers in county history. They also helped their teams end long sectional championship droughts in February.

Provided she remains healthy, Wills should pass both in January and also will break the all-time state rebounding record.

3) Stellar Debut

While the inaugural IHSAA sanctioned season for girls wrestling began in 2024, the postseason was held entirely in 2025 and featured a number of area successes.

On the team front, Frankton won the sectional championship at Alexandria while five individuals – Maddie Marsh of Pendleton Heights, Kynlie Keffer of Daleville, Paige Stires from Lapel, Karsyn Merritt of Shenandoah and Frankton’s Jaden Hughes – advanced to the state finals.

Both Keffer and Stires earned podium finishes at the state finals while Marsh captured her second straight state championship at 140 pounds. All five state finalists are back this year.

4) Gridiron Greatness

While Howell stood alone on the court, the 1987 Elwood Panthers were the solitary regional football champion in Madison County history.

That changed in 2025 when the Lapel Bulldogs built on an unbeaten regular season and a second straight sectional championship with a 38-7 win at Indianapolis Lutheran for the regional title.

Quarterback Devin Craig graduated fifth on Indiana’s all-time passing yardage list while linebacker Isaiah Young led a dominant defense to a 13-1 season that only ended against fellow unbeaten Brownstown Central at semi-state. The pair also repeated as THB Sports Football-Offense and Football-Defense Athletes of the Year.

5) Haralson Loving It

While playing at La Lumiere Prep School in Northern Indiana, Anderson native Jalen Haralson was named to the McDonald’s All-American game, which was played in April.

From there, Haralson went on to begin his collegiate career at Notre Dame. Through the first 12 games – including 10 starts – of the season, he is averaging 14.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Fighting Irish.

6) Pitch Perfect

Mirroring their school’s football counterparts, the Lapel girls soccer team also carried an unbeaten record all the way to semi-state this fall.

Led by area player of the year Leila Wilson, Lapel finished with a 19-1 season that included a second straight sectional title and a win over defending 1A state champion Faith Christian in the regional championship.

7) Roaring Tigers

Making history became habit for the 2025 Alexandria softball team, which won its first ever Madison County title, but also achieved the No. 1 ranking and won a regional title for the first time.

Led by the area’s player (Kinley Webb) an pitcher (Brynlee Humphries) of the year, Alexandria finished their season at 20-2, won the Central Indiana Conference championship, and routed Lapel 18-3 for their first regional crown.

8) Conference Call

In early October, Lapel and Shenandoah announced they would be among the founding members of the new Eastern Crossroads Conference.

Eastern Hancock and New Castle were also part of the original announcement as Lapel joined a conference for the first time since 2014 and Shenandoah left the Mid-Eastern Conference, where they had been a member since 2017. Conference play is expected to begin in the 2026-27 season.

9) Running Mates

After their historic tandem top-five finishes at the fall 2024 cross country state meet, Pendleton Heights senior Ava Jarrell and freshman Anya Zoeller made headlines again in the spring.

Both won regional championships, Zoeller in the 1,600 meters and Jarrell in the 3,200 meters, and went on to earn podium finishes at the state finals. Zoeller was runner-up and Jarrell was ninth in their state races.

10) Rolling Raiders

After a recent string of postseason disappointments, the Shenandoah baseball team came through big-time in the spring.

Led by University of Louisville commit Collin Osenbaugh, the Raiders defeated Hagerstown for their first sectional title since 2006 and defeated Triton Central to win their first regional crown since 1987. The season ended for the Raiders at 22-5 after falling to Evansville Mater Dei at semi-state.

Honorable Mention: Alexandria repeats Madison County wrestling championship; Alexandria girls tennis wins sixth straight sectional and seventh straight Madison County titles; Anderson Prep wins first girls team sectional (basketball) and boys team sectional (baseball) championships in school history; Lapel girls golf team advances to state finals; Simon Nickelson (Lapel) and Anya Zoeller (Pendleton Heights) earn All-State at cross country state finals; Eli Pancol signed to Colts practice squad; Anderson (boys) and Pendleton Heights (girls) wins basketball county titles; Liberty Christian repeats boys hoops regional title; Daleville wins boys basketball sectional; girls basketball sectional titles for Alexandria and PHHS; Alex’s Ezra Fye and Madison-Grant’s Tripp Haisley advance to boys wrestling state finals; PHHS wins third straight boys golf county title and advance to regional; Lapel wins third straight softball sectional; Lapel wins Muller and baseball sectional titles; Lapel wins 11th boys tennis county title in 12 years; Lapel girls and PH boys win inaugural Madison County swim championship.

CHICAGO — Now would be a good time for all Chicago White Sox fans to declare their true feelings about the state of the organization as the team ends 2025 on an upbeat note.

Is the hard part of the rebuild finally over, or is “Mune Time” a mirage?

The signing of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, whom Sox general manager Chris Getz described as a “superstar,” capped off a year in which their most valuable asset was Pope Leo XIV, who was not on the payroll and whose contributions were relegated solely to the marketing of the team.

The pope couldn’t prevent the Sox from their third straight season of 100-plus losses. He could not rush the ownership switch and put Justin Ishbia in Jerry Reinsdorf’s chair. And he couldn’t move the chains on the Sox’s pursuit of a new ballpark in the South Loop.

All he really did was make Sox fans proud that the pope was one of theirs. That and $14 will buy you a beer at Sox Park.

But now the Sox have someone to replace Pope Leo as the centerpiece of the 2026 marketing plan, and the selling of Mune will be something to watch. He made a good first impression Monday at his introductory news conference in the auditorium that was virtually abandoned during the Pedro Grifol era.

Murakami said all the right things through his interpreter about wanting to be a White Sox, and Getz hyped the signing by saying “to be able to have him now wear a White Sox uniform, it cannot be overstated how significant that is.”

So how significant is it?

Financially, not so much. His two-year, $34 million deal pales in comparison to the five-year, $75 million deal for Andrew Benintendi in 2022, the biggest in White Sox history. It’s also not anywhere near the four-year, $73 million deal for Yasmani Grandal in 2019, which signaled the Sox were ending their rebuild and trying to win.

“The signing of Grandal was a mind-blowing one to be honest, especially with (catcher James) McCann having such a great year,” Dallas Keuchel said at the 2020 SoxFest. “It fortifies us (having) two of the best backstops in the league, and that’s really where you build from.”

It didn’t end well on the South Side for Keuchel or Grandal, and the Benintendi deal hasn’t exactly worked out as planned either. But the Murakami signing was mind-blowing in its own way because who thought the Sox could convince a power-hitting free agent to come to the South Side on a two-year deal?

“My main priority was to find the best fit,” Murakami said. “Whether the contract was long or not wasn’t really a factor for myself. I just really believe in the city and the organization, really, really happy to be here.”

It’s here that it must be noted Murakami is going to strike out quite a bit and might be a liability in the field at third or first base. No reason to worry about that now. If he can hit 35-40 home runs and not be a butcher, he’ll be worth the investment.

What he brings to the Sox is hope, which has been missing since the downfall began under Tony La Russa in the summer of 2022. His replacement, Grifol, proved to be the wrong messenger, and executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn were subsequently fired. Hahn was replaced by Getz after Reinsdorf declined to search for a general manager outside the organization, citing the need to win quickly. Getz was given total control.

“Except when it comes to spending money,” Reinsdorf said that day. “But every owner reserves that right. But now I lost my train of thought. I feel like Mitch McConnell.”

Getz’s first two seasons have been less than inspiring, but an improved core and a manager with a calming presence in Will Venable made the second half of ’25 tolerable. And now he convinced Reinsdorf to go all in on Murakami, who fit the financial profile of a Sox free agent.

Getz said “when we identify a player that we feel like has a chance to really come into the organization and fit with what we’re trying to accomplish, you know I have a conversation with Jerry about it. And in this case, the more we talked about it, obviously talking about Mune and what he’s capable of doing on the field, the international connection, he got more and more excited.”

Well, the two-year commitment at Aldi prices probably got Reinsdorf excited as well. He’s not a Whole Foods kind of guy, as we’ve seen.

We don’t know if Mune, as he was referred to Monday, can take the Sox to the next step of the rebuild, as Grandal and Keuchel did in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. At the very least he’ll get some of the Japanese reporters covering the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camelback Ranch this spring to take the short hike over to the Sox clubhouse and check in on the newest Japanese sensation.

Murakami said he got great reviews of Chicago from Cubs players Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga, and hopefully he can match their popularity in his two-year stint. Sox fans could use a superstar, especially one who can hit home runs and help them win some games.

“Obviously I’ve heard that this club has lost a lot of games in the past, but that is in the past,” he said. “I only look forward.”

That’s always the best direction to look.

Maybe he’ll blow our minds in 2026, leading the Sox out of the rebuild desert and getting the pope off the hook.

It’s worth a shot.

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