Before diving headfirst into the prep spring sports of baseball, softball, track and field, tennis and golf, it is worth looking back at some of the memorable stories and accomplishments that happened on the hardwood, on the wrestling mat, in the swimming pool and on the mountain during the winter sports season.

Here are nine stories that defined the winter sports season in Central Oregon:

1. Mac Bledsoe’s alley-oop to give Summit its first ever basketball state titleWith 1.3 seconds remaining in the 5A title game and the score deadlocked at 50, it appeared that Summit and Wilsonville would have to settle the championship game in overtime.

Then senior Mac Bledsoe caught a perfect alley-oop pass from senior Collin Moore off an inbound and his shot dropped through the net as time expired to give Summit the 52-50 win over the two-time defending champs.

The buzzer-beating win avenged Summit’s loss to Wilsonville in the title game the previous year, and not only gave Summit its first-ever basketball state championship, but the city of Bend its first-ever boys basketball state title.

2. Seven teams bring home hoops trophies

The top six teams are awarded trophies at the state basketball tournaments, and seven Central Oregon teams brought home hardware this season.

The Trinity Lutheran boys had their best finish since 2019 with a third-place finish at the 1A tournament in Baker City. The Madras boys finished fourth, while Crook County finished sixth in the 4A tournament in Forest Grove.

At Linfield University, the Redmond boys finished sixth, the Mountain View girls claimed their first trophy in program history with a sixth-place finish, the Redmond girls reached the semifinals and finished fifth, and the Summit boys were the last team standing in the 5A tournament, taking the state title.

3. Redmond, Mountain View girls get first-ever state tourney wins

The Redmond girls basketball team had never advanced past the quarterfinals of a state basketball tournament. That all changed when the fifth-seeded Panthers took down No. 4 Wilsonville 45-39 in overtime to advance to the semifinal round.

Although Mountain View lost its first game of the tournament, the Cougars also secured their first tournament win in program history when they beat No. 4 Wilsonville 64-46 in the consolation round.

4. 14 Central Oregon wrestlers win state titlesAt the state wrestling championships at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, 14 Central Oregon wrestlers won their weight classes for their first-ever state titles: Mountain View’s Aiden Nelmes (Class 5A, 106 pounds); Bend’s Leif Larwin (5A, 165); Redmond Joseph Downing (5A, 150) and Jared Ake (5A, 157); Crook County’s Landon Lavey (4A, 138), Norman Reynolds (4A, 215) and Ylyana Sandoval (4A/3A/2A/1A girls, 190); and La Pine’s Riley Flack (3A, 113).

Three Central Oregon wrestlers won their second state titles, including Mountain View’s Scout Santos (5A, 132) and Jackson Potts (5A, 175), along with Crook County’s Gavin Sandoval (4A, 180) and Makenna Duran (4A/3A/2A/1A girls, 120) winning back-to-back titles.

A pair of La Pine wrestlers won their third individual titles: Devon Kerr (3A, 144) and Landyn Philpott (3A, 138), who are both now one championship away from joining the four-title club.

5. Bend swimming dominates state meet

It was a dominating showing for the Bend High girls swim team at the Class 5A state swimming meet. At the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton, the Lava Bears won nine of the 11 events — breaking 5A state-meet records in three of them — and finished with the most team points (119) in 5A state meet history.

Several swimmers won individual titles to help Bend wins its sixth team title: Junior Kamryn Meskill (50 and 100-yard freestyle, with a 5A record in the 50), sophomore Maddie Thornton (200 individual medley and 100 backstroke), sophomore Emma Bronson (100 butterfly, 5A record) and junior Hadley Hayes (100 breaststroke).

But it was in the relays where Bend made the biggest splash. The Bears won titles in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, and the 200 medley relay team of Thornton, Bronson, Hayes and Meskill broke the state record (all classifications) with a time of 1 minute, 41.03 seconds.

6. McKean sets two state-meet records

Caldera’s Campbell McKean shattered two state meet records at the 5A state swimming meet.

His times of 1:44.54 seconds in the 200-yard individual medley and 53.36 in the 100 breaststroke were the two fastest times, no matter the classification, the state meet has ever seen.

7. Pearson Carmichael’s 51-point game

Against Caldera on Feb. 26, Summit’s Pearson Carmichael did something that no other hooper from Central Oregon’s large-schools had done before — eclipse 50 points in a game.

In the 98-65 win, Carmichael exploded for 51 points, a feat only accomplished by 32 6A and 5A players in state history. He also grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked five shots.

The 51-point outburst was the fourth time during the season that Carmichael scored more than 40 points in a game.

8. Bend, Summit win skiing titles

Bend High and Summit both won big at state skiing championships this winter.

The Storm won the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association combined boys and girls alpine state championship for the second straight year at Mt. Hood Meadows.

Senior Neve Gerard and junior Will Mowry each won combined (skate and classic) state titles to help the Lava Bears win the boys and girls team titles at the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association Nordic State Championships at Mt. Bachelor.

9. Locals compete in the Winter Youth Olympics

Two local high schoolers competed for the U.S. at the Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea. Gerard finished sixth in the women’s 7.5-kilometer classic, 17th in the freestyle sprint and was part of the fifth-place finishing team in the mixed 4x5K team relay. Caldera sophomore Biancha Emery finished 16th in the skeleton race.