Our look at the top sports stories from the 2010s decade at Washington continues with a dive into the year 2017.

For the first time since 1999, a Washington boys’ cross country runner competed at the state meet in Fort Dodge when Brennan Horak punched his ticket in his final season. The senior squeaked into the field after placing 14th at the district meet in Pella. Horak placed 95th in class 3A at state out of 129 runners with a time of 17:45. 

The competition had no shot at dethroning Sarah Nacos as the top golfer in class 4A and the junior ran away with her third straight title at the state tournament. Nacos was on another level shooting a 36-hole score of 154 that bested the whole field by 23 strokes. Washington just missed out on a third consecutive team championship placing third scoring a 767 two-day tally.

Hannah Anderson left her mark at the Blue Oval for the state track and field meet in her first varsity season. The freshman placed second in class 3A in the long jump with a leap of 17’9.75’’ and her 100m dash time of 12.45 seconds was fourth.

The strong tradition of Demon wrestling continued that winter culminating in another state dual appearance. Washington finished fourth at Wells Fargo Arena by defeating Atlantic and then falling to Solon and Davenport Assumption. Four Demons also finished on the podium in the individual tournament headlined by Trey Van Weelden second at 152 lbs. Kyle Anderson was sixth at 126 lbs, Austin Hazelett sixth at 145 lbs, and Tristin Wesphal-Edwards seventh at 160 lbs. 

The Washington archery team competed once again in the world’s competition where they did some damage in Orlando. In the IBO 3D Challenge the Demons placed 21st out of 35 teams including freshman Samantha Mellinger shooting a 285 that ranked 10th out of 154 high schools girls. 

The Washington football team put up big numbers and returned to the class 3A playoffs after a one-year hiatus. The Demons finished 8-2 and fell to Davenport Assumption in the first round of the playoffs. It was another potent offensive attack averaging 45 points a night led by sophomore quarterback Luke Turner with over 2,000 yards of offense and 22 touchdowns. Jaivonn Willis added 13 receiving scores and Jack Redlinger recorded 12 on the ground. 

Check back in tomorrow when we take a look at the year 2018.