Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap.
And that is exactly what I am about to do.
I take a lot of pride in gathering as much knowledge about Richland County high school sports as I possibly can. And usually, I can make some pretty spot on predictions about athlete and team prospects for the upcoming seasons.
But even I didn’t see this coming. My annual Richland 25 series looks at the Top 25 teams ahead of the following high school sports season. And last year, there were five teams that were grossly underrated.
Here are five championship teams that outperformed their 2025 Richland 25 rankings.
5. Clear Fork Wrestling
The Clear Fork Colts wrestling team came into the 2025-26 season ranked No. 22 on the Richland 25. It went on to win the program’s first ever district team championship a week after winning the first sectional team title. The Colts had six wrestlers place in the Top 5 of the district tournament with Caleb Snyder (First, 113 pounds), Colton Wenger (Fourth, 120), Anthony Oscar (First, 144), Luke Lee (Second, 157), Lakoda Leedy (Third, 175) and Luke Remy (Fifth, 285) all earning high spots on the podium. At the state tournament, Oscar won the program’s first individual state championship and Snyder was fourth.
The Colts outdid themselves in 2025-26, but won’t be under ranked again heading into next season.
4. Ontario boys swimming
The Ontario Warriors went into the 2025-26 season ranked No. 18 in the Richland 25, which is pretty good considering the great teams we have in Richland County. But after what they did as a team, they were way under rated.
After cruising through the sectional and district tournament with ease and team titles, the mighty public-school Warriors pushed University School to the brink at the state meet. The Warriors finished as state runners-up with 204 points just behind University School’s 216. If it wasn’t for diving points, Ontario would have easily won the state team title by 30 points with just seven swimmers. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Grantham Trumpower, Owen Walter, Jack Rietschlin and Colten Montgomery went on to win a state championship with a new state record time of 1:24.32 which highlighted a very busy day in the pool for the Warriors that netted a plethora of All-Ohio honors.
The Warriors do graduate Trumpower, but they have enough young talent to make a run at a state title again in 2026-27.
3. Mansfield Christian girls soccer
The Mansfield Christian Flames went into the 2025 season ranked No. 21 in the Richland 25 which wasn’t bad for a team that hadn’t seen a ton of postseason success in it’s program’s history. But the Flames put themselves on the map and then some by winning the program’s first district championship and advancing all the way to the regional championship game before being knocked out by Elmore Woodmore just one step away from the state tournament.
The Flames beat Columbus Grove 2-1 in the regional semifinals and Delta 2-1 in two overtimes in the district championship match. Ryen Anderson exploded onto the scene breaking the single-season goals record for the Flames. With nearly everyone returning, some for two more seasons, the Flames are a team that will not be overlooked in the next Richland 25 rankings.
They are a legit regional title contender for the next 2-3 years and maybe even beyond.
2. Mansfield Senior Boys Basketball
The Tygers were a team that barely made it into the Richland 25 last summer coming in at No. 25. They went on to have a historic season winning the first district championship since 2014 and making it to the regional championship game for the first time since that same season.
The Tygers knocked off Alliance in the regional semifinals 65-61 after a spirited run through the district tournament beating Oregon Clay 55-47 and Lima Shawnee 64-61 in the district championship game. The Tygers have a boat load of talent coming back in 2026-27 including first team All-Ohioan Kaylen Brooks along with Andrew Brooks Jr., who was sensational in the postseason, and Davion Mack.
The Tygers most certainly won’t be ranked No. 25 this time.
1. Ontario boys track and field
The most underrated team from last year’s Richland 25 has to be the Ontario boys track and field team, without question. The Warriors weren’t even ranked last year and didn’t even get included in the “on the cusp” teams. What did they do? Oh, just went out and won the program’s first regional team championship in history.
They scored 57 points finishing ahead of Valley View’s 53. They had seven individual Top 8 performances, four relay teams take Top 6 showings and the 4×800-meter relay team of Xavier Trent, Michael Ward, Xander Chitwood and Jace Young won the regional championship with a 7:55.54. Jermel Powell was the workhorse of the meet as he qualified for state in four events, the 100 and 200-meter dashes and was a member of the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relay teams.
The Warriors will lose some exceptional talent from this year’s team, but make no mistake, they are coming back in 2027 with realistic eyes on a repeat at regionals and a better ranking in this summer’s Richland 25.
jfurr@usatodayco.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 5 teams that outperformed their 2025 Richland 25 ranking this season
Reporting by Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal | USA TODAY Network
