2025 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year: Libby Fandel of Cedar Rapids Xavier

CEDAR RAPIDS — Libby Fandel grew up doing handstands, as a method of physical self-help.

Fitting, because in her final act as a high school athlete, she turned a state basketball tournament bracket upside down.

“She literally took over. She wanted it,” said Morgan Paige, associate head women’s basketball coach at the University of Kansas.

“To put them on her back when the lights came on, it was really impressive.”

To review: Cedar Rapids Xavier came into the state tournament as the 8-seed in Class 4A.

Up first was No. 1 Sioux City Heelan.

“I looked at the (extended) forecast,” said Fandel’s father, Matt. “It was supposed to snow in the middle of the week.

“I thought, ‘Well, we’re just going to be there Monday (for the first-round game). We won’t have to travel through the snow later in the week.”

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His daughter had other ideas.

* Fandel played, unquestionably, the best game of her career — 37 points, 25 rebounds — and the Saints ambushed Heelan, 71-57, in the first round.

“Flat-out spectacular,” Coach Tom Lilly said, recalling the performance. “We went in as the 8-seed, and we thought we were better than that.”

* Then it was 21 points and 14 rebounds in a 70-60 semifinal win over Norwalk.

* In a storybook ending for Fandel and Lilly, she closed it out with 36 points and 14 boards, and Xavier zipped past North Polk, 66-47, for the 4A championship.

“All week, she was absolutely bonkers,” Paige said.

“It was the perfect way to end it,” Fandel said. “I love those girls. We put a lot of hard work into it. It was really, really important to me.”

Hours before the title game, Fandel was selected as Miss Iowa Basketball 2025.

Today, The Gazette honors her — along with Mount Vernon’s Chloe Meester — as its 2025 Female Athlete of the Year.

“You see Libby walking down a hallway, and you think, ‘That’s a Division-I athlete,’” Lilly said. “You can just tell by the way she carries herself.

“She could have taken a lot of forks in the road and been good at a lot of things.”

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Fandel was a four-time first-team 4A all-stater in basketball, a three-time first-teamer in volleyball.

In addition to that magical run in March, Xavier claimed a state basketball title when Fandel was a freshman, and captured a volleyball title when she was a sophomore.

She’s training with the University of Kansas basketball program now, and she appears to be climbing the depth chart.

“Of any kid that we’ve had, from the time that they committed to the time they came to campus, Libby has made the biggest jump,” Paige said.

“She’s not a specialist. You don’t think, ‘Oh, she’s a 3-point specialist or a defensive specialist.’ I call her a ‘need ‘em,’ because you need kids like her to win.”

If you saw Fandel play at Wells Fargo Arena, and you wonder how or why she left the state, well ... neither Iowa nor Iowa State tendered her a scholarship offer.

“Iowa always invited her to come to everything,” said her mother, Ashlee Fandel. “They were like, ‘Can you please wait (before committing elsewhere)?’ Well, she waited a long time.”

Finally, shortly after a visit to Lawrence last summer, the wait ended. On Fandel’s terms.

“In the end, we told her, ‘Go where you’re wanted,’” said her father.

Fandel picked Kansas.

“I wanted to feel wanted,” she said. “I kind of got the message (with Iowa) that I wasn’t their top recruit, and they were waiting on their top recruit. I didn’t want to be somebody’s second choice.

“I felt like Kansas really wanted me, and that was exciting.”

Ranked the No. 43 freshman in the nation by ESPN, Fandel is part of the Jayhawks’ four-player 2025 class that is ranked No. 7.

“With a roster of 12, everybody’s going to have an opportunity to make the rotation,” Paige said. “She’ll probably never have another time in which she is double- or triple-teamed.

“I love that she’s not scared. I don’t see any fear or hesitation from her. She knows she belongs here.”

Fearlessness has been a Fandel staple since she began organized sports.

“She played soccer when she was little,” Matt said. “She wasn’t afraid of contact. She would get right in there and be aggressive.”

When Fandel was in fifth grade, she was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a heart arrhythmia characterized by rapid heart rate.

“She’d have to come to the sideline, and you’d have to hold her upside down to get her heart rate down,” Matt said.

Eventually, Fandel could self-medicate.

“I’d be doing handstands in the middle of the game,” she said.

Surgery ultimately cured the condition, but the handstands continue.

“I still love to do them,” Fandel said. “I can hold them for a long time.”

Fandel made an immediate impact on the girls’ athletics programs at Xavier. As a freshman, she was second on the volleyball team in kills.

In her first varsity basketball season, she led the Saints in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. She was the 4A all-tournament captain in leading the Saints to the 2022 title.

Lilly was 67 at the time, and it would have been a natural time to retire. Fandel was a major reason he didn’t.

“I’m loyal to her like a hound dog,” he said.

In Fandel’s senior season, she averaged 26.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.8 steals per game, and finished her career with 1,995 points.

As the stakes rose, so did her game: 32.8 points, 14.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game in the postseason.

“Sometimes I look back at it,” Fandel said. “The rebounds ... I think I just wanted the ball more than anybody else.”

To the untrained eye, Fandel has a serious vibe to her. Her expectations are high for herself, and for those around her.

For instance, Matt said ...

“If she was shooting and I was rebounding for her, if I didn’t make a good pass, she’d throw the ball back and say, ‘Make a good pass.’”

Lilly said, “Libby’s philosophy is that if you’re going to keep score, she’s going to play to win.

“She recognizes that she’s a role model and wants to be taken seriously.”

Though Fandel has been on campus in Lawrence barely a month, Paige already sees her as a mature leader-to-be.

“Libby is pretty chill. Not overly wordy,” Paige said. “But she’s a connector. She vibes with anybody. She is kind of a glue piece. She can connect one person to the next and make them both feel comfortable.”

Libby Fandel: 2025 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year

Full name: Libby Rose Fandel

School: Cedar Rapids Xavier

Date of birth: Dec. 19, 2006

Family: Parents, Matt and Ashlee Fandel; brother, Quin.

High school accomplishments: Named Miss Iowa Basketball 2025 after leading the Saints to the Class 4A state championship. Finished her career with 1,995 points, averaging 26.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.8 steals per game. Four-time first-team all-state, and a member of the Saints’ 2022 state-title squad. A member of four state-tournament teams in volleyball, earning first-team all-state honors three times. Xavier won the state title in her sophomore season. A former state qualifier in the high jump.

College: Will play basketball at the University of Kansas. Plans to major in business.

2025 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year voting

Thirteen staffers from the sports and photo departments participated in the voting; points were tabulated on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis. First-place votes in parentheses.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Libby Fandel, Cedar Rapids Xavier (6½) 58½

1. Chloe Meester, Mount Vernon (6½) 58½

3. Libby Dix, Mount Vernon 28

4. Noelle Steines, Tipton 22

5. Jayden Kuper, Monticello 9

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (alphabetic order)

Mackenzie Bridgewater, North Linn; Mackenzie Childers, Cedar Rapids Prairie; Pearson Hall, West Liberty; Makenna Hughes, Williamsburg; Lydia Kriegel, Iowa Valley; Brooke Krogmann, West Delaware; Morgan Miller, Iowa City Regina; Carly Rich, Williamsburg; Morgan Rupp, Linn-Mar.

OTHERS NOMINATED (alphabetic order)

Danielle Boche, Cedar Rapids Jefferson; Abby Hoyt, Springville; Addison Lange, Independence; Maddie Pavelka, Marion; Abi Roberts, Linn-Mar; Addy Tupa, Center Point-Urbana.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com