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The Gazette’s Jeff Linder reveals his top five sports moments for 2025
Who made a lasting impression? Libby Fandel, Quentin Nauman, Williamsburg softball, South Winneshiek cross country, and an all-too-brief moment in the sun for my Drake Bulldogs
Dec. 29, 2025 3:15 pm, Updated: Dec. 29, 2025 3:58 pm
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How will I remember 2025?
Some of the top moments I was blessed to witness through the past 12 months were obvious.
There was the storybook ending for Tom Lilly and Libby Fandel. The continued brilliance of Quentin Nauman, who continues to do things no other distance runner in Iowa has ever done.
One of my additional moments (Drake men’s basketball climb to national prominence) was personal and bittersweet, because you had a strong hunch that it wasn’t going to last.
The other two were Williamsburg’s third consecutive state softball championship and South Winneshiek’s triumphant day at state cross country.
My list, in chronological order:
Libby and Lilly, the Final Act
If Libby Fandel ever purchases vanity license plates, she should consider 37AND25.
That was the final damage — 37 points, 25 rebounds — she inflicted on top-ranked Sioux City Heelan in a Class 4A quarterfinal at the girls’ state basketball tournament on March 4.
She wasn’t done.
Fandel scored 21 points in the semifinals as Cedar Rapids Xavier rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to beat Norwalk, 70-60, in the semifinals, then closed out an unforgettable week with 36 points and 14 boards in the championship game, a 66-47 victory over North Polk.
That sent Coach Tom Lilly out as a champion. His final ledger: 644-301 in 40 seasons, 455-198 and six state titles in 27 years at Xavier.
As for Fandel: 1,995 career points, 2025 Miss Iowa Basketball, 2025 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year (shared with Mount Vernon’s Chloe Meester).
Drake’s far-too-brief moment in the sun
Think it’s challenging to be an Iowa State fan in Eastern Iowa (it is)?
Try being a Drake alum.
Just when you thought the Drake men’s basketball program had peaked under Darian (and Tucker) DeVries, along comes a guy with a white shirt and a blue tie from Northwest Missouri State. He brought some players along.
Another Missouri Valley Conference title, both regular-season and tournament. Thirty-one wins, the last of which came in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Of course, it was too much to ask for more than a one-year stand with Ben McCollum, who traded his blue tie in for a yellow one and took his team east down I-80.
It was a blast while it lasted.
Iowa’s best distance runner, ever
For three days in May, Quentin Nauman mesmerized thousands at Drake Stadium.
The Western Dubuque distance phenom started it by racing to the Class 3A 3,200-meter title, in 8:57.97, on the opening day.
He was just getting started.
On Day 2, he brought the Bobcats’ distance medley relay from behind — way behind — with a 1:47.5 split.
He saved his best for the final day, becoming the first Iowan to break 1:50 in an open 800 and the first to break the 4-minute barrier in the 1,600.
That combination — 1:49.41 and 3:59.60, respectively — made him the first ever to break 1:50 and 4:00 in a single state meet. Ever. In the nation.
Five months later, on the grass of Lakeside Golf Course, Nauman set the state-meet record in cross country, in 14:48.
Nauman has one more track season remaining here, then heads to the University of Oregon for his next chapter.
Williamsburg softball: Approaching dynasty mode
It has become a familiar scene.
Williamsburg softball players piling up in jubilation on the dirt of the main softball diamond at the Rogers Sports Complex.
The Raiders captured their third consecutive Class 3A state championship in July, edging Dubuque Wahlert 3-2 for the title.
Pitcher Jersey Metz, who was lifted in the 2024 title game, went the distance this time and was named all-tournament captain.
Williamsburg is the eighth team to run three straight titles. The Raiders were 3A runners-up in 2020, finished third in 2021 and 2022, and have gone all the way three years running.
That six-year run has netted a 197-55 composite record, including 36-7 last summer.
Metz is one of five returning starters for 2026.
An unforgettable fall day for South Winneshiek
Nothing, and nobody, was going to deny South Winneshiek’s Hugh Conway at the state cross country meet Nov. 1.
“However much it hurts, it doesn’t compare to my mom,” Conway said, referring to his mother, Gretchen, who was battling pancreatic cancer (she passed away Dec. 20).
Conway’s performance put an exclamation point on South Winn’s memorable day at Lakeside Golf Course. The sophomore claimed the Class 1A individual championship, winning by 12 seconds in 15:50.
That came about 45 minutes after the Warriors captured the 1A girls title in unconventional fashion.
South Winn had nobody in the girls overall top 50, but depth and balance sent the Warriors to the top.
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com
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