The 2025-26 Herald Cup: No. 4 St. Viator
Editor’s note: Now that the 2025-26 high school sports year is over, it’s time to announce the top schools in the Herald Cup standings. We devised a points system based on team state finishes to measure which of the 80-plus high schools from the Daily Herald circulation area had the best athletic year. We’ll announce the top five small schools this week, one per day, with No. 5 on Monday through No. 1 on Friday. The top five large schools will be revealed next week.
St. Viator, welcome to the party.
After missing out on last year’s rankings, the Lions earned the No. 4 position in the 2025-26 Herald Cup standings with 67 points, calculated by weighing team finishes throughout the fall, winter and spring.
Their boys lacrosse team finished as a runner-up in the state tournament for the second time since 2023. Girls basketball made its way to the state semifinals for the first time and finished fourth. St. Viator also earned fourth place in boys golf, a regional title in boys basketball and a sectional title in girls volleyball.
How they did it
The boys lacrosse team broke through to the state semifinals after falling short the previous two seasons. The Lions avenged consecutive regional final losses to Lake Forest with a 5-3 win, then claimed a sectional title by beating Lake Zurich 15-7. After returning to the state tournament, St. Viator beat Glenbard West 6-5 in a thriller before falling to Wheaton Academy 11-10 in the state final.
Girls basketball also made a historic run. The Lions, who finished with a 22-16 record, edged Lake Forest 30-29 to win a third consecutive regional title, then topped Wauconda and Grayslake Central for the program’s second sectional title. Despite never winning a supersectional before, the Lions flipped the script with a 46-43 win over Geneva to earn their first state tournament trip. The Lions finished fourth after losing to Washington in the semifinals and Trinity in the third-place game.
St. Viator’s girls volleyball team dominated its Class 3A regional by sweeping Northtown and Northside in two sets. The Lions survived a three-set thriller against Wheaton Academy before capturing the sectional title with a hard-fought 25-17, 25-20 victory over Burlington Central. Their season ended after a heartbreaking three-set loss to Prairie Ridge in the supersectional.
Who made it happen
Keaton Frazen, St. Viator’s all-time boys lacrosse leader in points, goals and assists, stepped up in the fourth quarter with two goals to help turn a 4-1 deficit into a 6-5 victory over Glenbard West in the state semifinals.
St. Viator sophomore guard Ava Garcia delivered a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds in the girls basketball supersectional win over Geneva, including a go-ahead basket that secured the Lions’ first state tournament berth.
In the girls volleyball supersectional, outside hitter Erin Lynch led the way with 11 kills. Junior middle blocker Olivia Walberg and senior captain Avery Albritton followed with nine and seven apiece.
Key stats
Frazen, a four-year starter, led the boys lacrosse team with 137 points, including 84 goals and 53 assists.
The girls volleyball team won 17 straight matches before closing out the season in the supersectional loss to Prairie Ridge.
Garcia led the girls basketball team in points (13.2) and rebounds (6.7) per game. She also led the team in blocked shots and steals.
Key Facts
The girls cross country team’s fifth-place finish at the IHSA Class 2A state meet featured five runners with personal best times, six runners under 19 minutes and a 28-second one-to-five split in the race at Detweiller Park.
After beating Burlington Central, St. Viator’s girls volleyball team claimed the fourth sectional title in program history and its third in five seasons.
St. Viator’s boys golf team finished in a tie for fifth place at the Class 2A IHSA state finals with an overall team score of 609 (307-302) in coach Jon Dean’s inaugural season. It marked the Lions’ first top-10 finish since 2018.
They said it
“I feel like our team has accepted every challenge it has faced this season,” said Lions girls basketball coach Kyle Braheny.
“This is an experience I wanted them to have,” St. Viator girls volleyball coach Charlie Curtain said after the team won the sectional title. “I've had it a couple times, but I wanted them (to have it). They put in amazing effort. They've been working all year for this, and a lot of them have been on varsity three or four years, so this is like the culmination of all that.”