The 2025-26 Herald Cup: No. 5 Hersey

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. Last week we announced the top five small schools in the Herald Cup standings. This week we’re unveiling the top large schools, one per day, starting with No. 5 now through No. 1 on Friday.

Every week in the fall seemed to bring a fresh trophy to Hersey High School.

Cross country, golf, soccer, football … it was an amazing season as the Huskies set the tone for the entire school year.

With success continuing through the winter and spring, Hersey finished fifth in the 2025-26 Herald Cup standings for large schools. Its 102 points were calculated by weighing team finishes throughout the three IHSA seasons.

How they did it

The boys and girls cross country teams finished third and fourth in the state, respectively, while boys golf was fourth behind Owen Spokas’ fifth-place finish.

The boys soccer team used a pair of one-goal playoff wins to claim a regional title. The football team rolled through the Mid-Suburban League East before advancing to the Class 7A quarterfinals.

Both basketball teams earned hardware — the boys team a sectional title and the girls team a regional. Girls bowling finished third in the state.

The girls water polo team won a sectional title. A fourth-place finish by Matthew Sikorski in boys tennis capped the school year and propelled the team into a tie for seventh in Class 2A.

Who made it happen

Junior quarterback Jake Nawrot, who threw for more than 3,000 yards, and senior running back Brandon Jenkins, who rushed for more than 1,300 yards, carried an electric offense into Class 7A football quarterfinals.

Charlie Pomis topped the 1,000-point mark for his prep career while leading Hersey, along with Nawrot, to its first boys basketball sectional championship since 1995.

Annalyse Johnson averaged a 207.3 and Abby Stonequist a 202.3 as they both finished in the top 20 and powered Hersey to third in the state girls bowling tournament

Key stats

The girls bowling team qualified for the state tournament 12 times without bringing home a trophy. This year’s trophy was the program’s first.

Nawrot collected 22 scholarship offers, according to Rivals, before committing to Kentucky in April.

Senior girls basketball player Kate Donovan, committed to New Jersey Institute of Technology, scored 35 points in two games and vaulted past the 1,000-point mark for her prep career to lift Hersey to a fourth straight regional title.

Key facts

The football team, a playoff qualifier for the fifth straight season, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since winning the 6A state title in 1988

The fall marked the first time the boys and girls cross country teams finished in the top four in the state meet in the same season.

They said it

“I was playing the best tennis of my life in the first set. It was heartbreaking having to go out like that,” said Sikorski, the defending state tennis champion who was forced to retire in the 2A state semifinals due to severe cramps.

“It was definitely a bitter feeling in my mouth,” said girls water polo player Melissa Loch, who scored two goals in a 10-7 sectional final victory over Fremd that avenged a loss to the Vikings in the same round the previous year.