The 2025-26 high school athletics season proved to be one for the Carver County record books. Led by incredible senior classes across all of our community’s high schools, the Chanhassen Storm, Chaska Hawks, Holy Family Fire and Southwest Christian Stars teams had outstanding seasons and took home multiple conference championships, trips to state tournaments, and even a couple of state records and a state championship.
At the start of the 2025-26 school year, there was plenty of reason for optimism across Carver County. The previous two years had been filled with success stories, many of them driven by a Class of 2026 that had been turning heads since their youth league days. People around our community sensed something special was coming.
They had no idea just how special it was going to be.
When all was said and done, the year delivered on every front. An upstart team took home a state championship. A powerhouse program made another deep run to a championship game. One team reached the state tournament for the very first time. And when the dust settled on the track, two of our athletes had rewritten the Minnesota record books.
Our community was home to arguably the best girls’ soccer and hockey players in the state, a plethora of Division I commits, a roster of All-State performers, and coaches honored as the best in Minnesota.
I grew up in this community — back when we had only one high school — and have followed Chaska and Carver County sports avidly since the late 1980s. So, hopefully I have some expertise and credibility on the subject.
I don’t make this statement lightly, and I’m well aware of the risks of recency bias. But I’ll say it anyway: I believe this was the greatest athletics season in Carver County history.
Over the course of the next week, we’ll take a look back at the teams and athletes — with a special focus on the historic Class of 2026 — that made the past year so special.
We’ll also be handing out our first-ever Carver County Local News Sports Awards, featuring Boys Team of the Year, Girls Team of the Year, Boys Senior Athlete of the Year, and Girls Senior Athlete of the Year. We’ll honor a winner in each category, along with a deep field of honorable mentions. This year’s list was genuinely hard to whittle down.
We can’t wait to recap the incredible season we just experienced with you. Stay tuned all week as we honor the student-athletes who made this year so special.
