The 2024-25 IHSA school year, by the numbers
Aside from unfinished business in baseball and softball, the 2024-25 high school sports year is a wrap.
Not surprisingly, we dominated.
By “we” I mean the Daily Herald coverage area, our 80-plus high schools spread throughout Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Kendall counties.
Were there disappointments? Of course, but we saw far more triumphs. There were team and individual performances that won’t soon be forgotten, if ever.
Here’s a look at the 2024-25 school year, by the numbers.
18
The area piled up a whopping number of team state titles this school year.
That includes sweeping Class 3A boys and girls cross country (Downers Grove North and Barrington), boys and girls swimming (Hinsdale Central and Rosary) and boys and girls water polo (Naperville North and Stevenson).
Montini snared a Class 3A state football title, while the Broncos’ girls basketball team won a 3A basketball title and Benet’s boys claimed the 4A boys basketball title.
Fremd snared a piece of history by winning the IHSA’s first flag football state title.
53
That’s how many individual state titles were won in the area. Impressive.
Barrington sophomore Mia Sirois is a dynasty in the making after winning the 3A cross country title and the 3,200 meters in track and field.
Marmion senior Regan Konen wrapped up his high school career by winning a second straight Class 2A golf title.
It’d take a book to list all the individual champions, but check this out. The area won eight girls and boys swimming titles, 10 boys wrestling titles, seven girls track titles and six boys track titles.
Looking at the number of underclassmen on the list, we’ll be looking at another big medal haul in 2025-26.
1:26.75
While state titles are nothing new to the area, national records are rare.
But on Feb. 28, Hinsdale Central’s boys swimming team set a new NFHS record in the 200-yard medley relay in a stunning time of 1:26.75. The team of seniors Henry Guo and Josh Bey, junior Matt Vatev and sophomore Luke Vatev broke the previous record of 1:26.88 set by Carmel, Ind. in 2022.
15:53.40 and 10:01.12
Speaking of Sirois, she set a Detweiller Park course record in the state cross country meet while winning the race in Peoria by 37 seconds. Her 3-mile time topped the previous record, set in 2015 by Naperville North’s Judy Pendergast, by four-tenths of a second.
Last month in the state track and field meet, Sirois broke the 3A record with a time of 10:01.12 to win the title in the 3,200.
36-0
And speaking of Stevenson girls water polo, the Patriots were perfect in the pool while winning a third straight state title for the program’s second three-peat.
Only two other girls water polo teams in IHSA history have notched 36 wins — the unbeaten Stevenson teams in 2015 and 2019.
1,045
Boy, that’s a lot of wins … just ask Elk Grove softball coach Ken Grams.
On March 31, Grams — the Grenadiers’ coach for the last 45 years — helmed his team to a 3-2 win over Fenton for his IHSA record-breaking 1,045th victory.
Grams topped former St. Joseph-Ogden coach Randy Wolken, who retired after the 2018 season. They and Barrington’s Perry Peterson are the only IHSA softball coaches to eclipse the 1,000-win mark.