The Wylie East football team went 10-0 in the regular season for the first time in school history, and incoming junior running back Jonathan Utubor (8), was named the District 9-6A Offensive Newcomer of the Year. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By David Wolman
With the 2025-26 school year having recently come to an end for Wylie East, The Wylie News will take a look back at the success that the Raiders enjoyed in athletics, beginning with cross country, football and volleyball.
Wylie East won a district title in football, qualified for the state cross country meet and the Lady Raiders volleyball team used a late-season surge to make the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
The Wylie News will now take a closer look at each sport.
Cross country
Wylie East’s cross country team has enjoyed a meteoric rise ever since Luke Scribner took over as head coach in 2023.
The Lady Raiders won their first two district titles in program history during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and while they came up short of a three-peat last fall, they had a historic breakthrough a couple of weeks later on the regional stage.
Led by a second-place finish by sophomore Evangeline Williams, Wylie East took third place at the Region II-6A meet to earn its first-ever team berth in the state meet. Williams clocked a time of 17:48.
Senior Madison Akers placed 13th in 18:58. Sophomores Isabelle Price and Amiya Runsewe placed 36th and 55th, respectively. Senior Alexis Schmidt finished in 80th, sophomore Reagan Tolar placed 99th and senior Layla Talbott took 105th.
Williams, who transferred to Wylie East after competing for Trabuco Hills, California, capped off an incredible sophomore season with the Lady Raiders by placing seventh at the state meet.
Wylie East also had a state qualifier on the boys side. Sophomore Kaleab Endale placed 17th with a 16:18.02 to earn one of 10 individual berths for state on a non-qualifying team.
At the district meet, Endale (second, 16:08), Kirubel Feyissa (fourth, 16:14), Carter Roberts (11th, 16:45), Roman Lopez (14th, 16:55), John Middleton (16th, 17:02), Fraol Endale (19th, 17:17) and Diego Juarez (21st, 17:32) helped the Raiders take second overall.
Williams claimed the individual title by 29 seconds. Akers (third, 19:31), Price (14th, 20:42), Runsewe (15th, 20:57), Talbott (16th, 21:04) and Tolar (19th, 21:11) rounded out the top performances.
Football
After posting three straight nine-win regular seasons, the Raiders took things one step further and notched their first 10-0 regular-season in school history along with a District 9-6A championship.
Although the season ended with a stunning 52-10 loss to Rockwall-Heath in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division II playoffs, there were a lot of positives that Wylie East took away from a 10-1 season.
Defensively, Wylie East’s pass rush and play in the secondary proved to be a force that opponents struggled to contain. The Raiders racked up 18.5 sacks, including five by senior defensive end Nash Chapman, and 64 tackles for loss. Wylie East’s defense forced 16 turnovers, including a trio of interceptions apiece by senior defensive back Ruke Eruvwetaghware and junior safety Charles Perry.
Wylie East held district opponents to 49 second-half points and pitched four second-half shutouts.
Chapman was named Co-District 9-6A MVP, along with his teammate, senior wide receiver, Amarean Porter.
Offensively, Wylie East had to reload at quarterback and running back following the graduation of Howard Fisher IV and Michael Henderson III. Senior quarterback Jaiden McLemore, a Frisco Heritage transfer, threw for 1,872 yards and 14 touchdown passes. Sophomore tailback Jonathan Utubor was tabbed the district’s Offensive Newcomer of the Year after he rushed for 881 yards with 13 touchdowns.
Volleyball
This past season brought significant change to the Lady Raiders volleyball program.
Former Lake Highlands head coach Tasha Hallam was hired as Wylie East’s next coach after the resignation of Nicole Calverley. There was also a significant youth movement within their roster after losing five key seniors from the 2024 team that won a share of the district title and made the third round of the playoffs.
That mix of youth and inexperience, as well as an injury to senior setter/right-side hitter Jordan Turner, showed at times, but the Lady Raiders peaked at the right time. They won nine of their final 11 regular season matches to earn another trip to the postseason.
Wylie East battled but came up short in a 3-1 loss to North Forney in bi-district.
Freshman outside hitter Tess Adamic was tabbed the district’s Newcomer of the Year after she logged 73 service aces, 302 kills, 289 digs and 19 blocks.
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