The 2025-26 school year is finally over and what a year it has been for the new Monon Athletic Conference.
When the league was first discussed many thought leaving the Sagamore Athletic Conference would mean a step down from the competitiveness our county schools had been used to over the past four or more years. Now that the first year of the MAC is in the books, I think that competitiveness has stayed at a level very similar, if not, surpassing the old SAC.
Of course, some sports were more competitive than others, but as a whole it was a great year for the MAC. Perhaps the sport that summed that up the best was softball.
Two MAC schools — Southmont and Western Boone — advanced to the semi state and Western Boone even won their semi state and played for the Class 2A state title against perennial power Tecumseh (who was playing in their sixth straight state title game). My memory is not as good as it once was, but I can’t remember a year where the SAC had two teams advance to the semi state in the same sport in the same year. I’m sure it had happened but off the top of my head I can’t remember.
In the final MaxPreps polls, Southmont ended up ranked fourth in 2A, Western Boone fifth and North Putnam 10th. After 2A school Greencastle had been ranked as high as fourth early in the season. Jump up to 3A and Cascade (who will be dropping to Class 2A in all sports next year) and the Cadets ended up ranked No. 9. That is five of the eight schools being ranked in the top 10 at some point in the season and four of the eight in the Top 10 to end the season.
And that was not all.
The MAC had its first state champion in the fall when Cascade won the Class 3A state title by beating Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 29-14. That set the tone for the new league.
Also in the fall, Greencastle’s volleyball team advanced to the Class 2A semi state before losing to the eventual state champion Barr-Reeve in a competitive match 25-22, 25-11, 25-20.
While the final overall conference standings have not yet been updated on the conference website it was a competitive year. Every school but North Putnam and Frankfort won at least one conference title and (according to the website) Cascade and Greencastle led the way by winning a total of six conference titles and Crawfordsville four. According to my calculations Crawfordsville won the boys all-sports honors with 55 total points, a half point more than Cascade and three better than Greencastle and four better than Western Boone. I have the girls title going to Western Boone with 50, Crawfordsville with 46.5 and closely followed Cascade, Greencastle and North Montgomery all within 6.5 points of the top sports. Once again these are completely unofficial, and the girl’s tennis results were incomplete.
So here is a hats off to a great first year Monon Athletic Conference and it looks like year two will be just as great.
I hate to end the column on a sad note, but all was not cheerful this past week. Montgomery County lost one of its greats as Alamo legend Whitey Reath passed away. Our condolences go out to the family and the community. While Whitey was a great basketball and baseball player for Alamo, he will most be remembered for the caring person he was. When anyone needed anything, I am not sure Whitey ever said “no.” Countless community members are in a better place because Whitey was so willing to share his time, knowledge and heart with them. RIP Whitey.
Barry Lewis has been involved in Montgomery County sports for nearly 50 years. He has a passion for keeping its rich history and tradition alive.
