TOP STORIES OF 2025: GECKOS FOOTBALL GETS #1

It was another spectacular sports year for Guam – on home soil and beyond.

Records were broken and streaks were snapped. From long distance, Guam was well represented on the world’s biggest stages.

Here are the Top 10 Stories of 2025, along with a monthly recap.

#1 GECKOS STOP FRIARS 85-GAME WIN STREAK AND TITLE RUN

It was the biggest sports story of the year, by far. The GW Geckos ending the incredible 85-game high school football win streak on October 10 in a 13-7 overtime thriller. (READ HERE) Just three weeks later, the Geckos capped off The Season of Destiny with a 7-0 championship win over the Friars to snap FD’s nine-year title run. (READ HERE)

#2 JEFF COBB MAKES IT TO THE BIG SHOW – WWE

‘I’ve finally achieved my dream!’

Former Guam Olympic wrestler Jeff Cobb made it to the WWE in May – after 16 years in the pro wrestling circuit. (READ HERE)

#3 HANNA SAHAGON WINS SUPER BOWL WITH THE EAGLES

Chamorrita and Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader Hanna Sahagon wins the Super Bowl in January as the Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs. The 2016 Notre Dame graduate from Hagat became the third Guam cheerleader to win a pro sports championship. (READ HERE)

#4 GUAM ADVANCES TO FIBA ASIA CUP AND WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Team Guam’s men’s national basketball team reached new heights, qualifying for both the FIBA Asia Cup and World Cup Qualifiers – the highest level of competition for Guam ever. Guam hosted China AND the Philippines in 2025. Who would’ve thought.

#5 HUGH KENT BREAKS RECORDS, WINS GOLD

Hugh Kent was on fire this calendar year. Still in his teens, the JFK alum and current University of Portland runner broke four Guam national records: outdoor 5000m, outdoor 10,000m, indoor 1500m and indoor mile.

Hugh went on to shine in the summer’s Pacific Mini Games, taking gold in the 1500m and 10,000m and silver in the 5000m. To add icing on the cake, he doubled up on the July 21st Liberation 5k and 1-miler.

#6 CHEN/LEON GUERRERO GRAB OCEANIA U18 BEACH GOLD

The dynamic combo of Niesha Chen and Alessandra Leon Guerrero went unbeaten in the Oceania U18 Beach Volleyball Championships in the Solomon Islands in April and beat powerhouse Australia TWICE to bring home the gold. (READ HERE) Chen would later lead the Harvest Eagles to their first girls volleyball title in school history in October.

#7 ATOS GUAM DOMINATES JIU-JITSU COMPETITION

Team dominance is an understatement. As big as jiu-jitsu is on Guam, Atos Jiu-Jitsu has made huge statement after huge statement by sweeping every tournament on island, and killing it off-island. This has been going for an unprecedented four straight years now. Look for Professor Mike Carbullido and his BJJ train rolling along in 2026. (SEE THE LIST)

#8 ST. JOHN’S KNIGHTS GIRLS BASKETBALL TOO STRONG FOR THE FIELD

Jia Peters won three straight MVPs and led the Knights to back-to-back titles with a talented roster. After blowing out the competition, St. John’s had to fight with everything they had before edging out Academy in the finals 58-57. (READ HERE)

#9 FD WRESTLING MAKES IT 10 STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS

The FD wrestling team made it 10 championships in a row, making it the longest active champions. Despite a surprise regular season loss to the JFK Islanders, the Friars knew what to do and came through at the end at the All-Island meet. (READ HERE)

#10 GUAHAN BOYS 16s WIN USA VOLLEYBALL NATIONALS

The Guahan Boys 16s took gold in the 16s Club Division at the 2025 USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships in July. Antonio Egurrola was selected the Tournament MVP.

JANUARY

• Submit VII at the Sandcastle

• FD Football retires jerseys #4 (Alex Sojo) and #54 (Keone Badua)

• Guam Running Club’s 50th Cross Island 10-mile Run

• 2025 Kanto Basketball Classic in Tokyo, Japan. Academy won the girls title, the FD Friars won the boys championship

• The Career Tech High Siheks made school history in playing their first ever high school boys basketball game

• Japan’s Yomiuri Giants on Guam to take part in a skills and conditioning camp

• Korea’s Samsung Lions baseball team in full swing of their training camp

FEBRUARY

• SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS: Hanna Sahagon and the Philadelphia Eagles are NFL champs after beating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22

• Led by Mia Lee, the Amphibious Aquatics Swim Club sent 22 youth swimmers to the 5th Asian Open Schools Invitational (AOSI) Long Course (50m) Swimming Championships in Bangkok, and all of them came home with personal bests

• Guam falls to Mongolia 73-64 in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifier

• Guam’s Nina Warriors make debut at the prestigious Dubai Games

• Guam takes on China in FIBA Asia Cup Qualifier action and Guam basketball fans almost witnessed an upset of historic proportions before falling 86-78

MARCH

• Academy Cougars finishes a perfect season by winning their second straight high school girls rugby title 22-14 over the Southern Dolphins

• FD Friars make it six straight boys high school rugby titles after a tough 17-10 win over archnemesis GW Geckos

• Academy Cougars holds off the Okkodo Bulldogs 20-19 to win back-to-back ISA softball championships

• 18-year-old Hugh Kent, representing the University of Portland Pilots, smashes the 10,000 meter Guam national record with a time of 30 minutes, 44.04 seconds. The previous record was 31:39.24 held by Johnson Lee, who was in attendance at the Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker Invitational in McMinnville, Oregon, to witness Kent’s achievement

• GAA Angels Wyatt Oh finishes a perfect tennis season, taking the ISA boys singles championship. Sister Charlotte Oh makes it 3 for 3, winning her third straight title

• Harvest duo of Jack Keith and Devin Paulin cap off an undefeated season to win the high school boys beach volleyball championship

• FD basketball wrap up a perfect season with hardly a struggle as the heavily-talented crew take out the St. Paul Warriors 78-54 for their 3rd straight championship

• Academy Cougars duo of Landen DeVera and Carmen Eugenia win the girls beach volleyball crown

• Bank of Guam Strykers back on top of women’s soccer after beating Guam Shipyard 4-3 in the championship game of the 2025 Bud Light G League

APRIL

• Niesha Chen and Alessandra Leon Guerrero take the Oceania U18 Beach Volleyball Championships, beating Australia 21-18, 21-16 in the championship match

• Wayne Blas completes his 13th Boston Marathon and 38th marathon overall

• JFK Islanders sweep the high school paddling long distance championships

MAY

• Tennis icon Rick Ninete retires from the Department of Parks and Recreation after 39 years of service

• Jacob Villegas and Caeley Leon Guerrero are the top lifters in 3rd Annual GSPN/Trenheads High School Powerlifting Showdown

• Jeff Cobb makes it to WWE! (‘I’ve finally achieved my dream!’ – Jeff Cobb on making it to the WWE Former Guam Olympic wrestler makes it to the big show with his debut at WWE: Backlash in St. Louis

• Hugh Kent breaks another Guam record, now owning the fastest 5k time at 14:34.16 during a track meet in Portland. Kent has broken three national records in a span of 70 days

• International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach arrives on Guam to take part in the XLV ONOC General Assembly

• FD Friars win 7th straight high school boys volleyball league title over top-ranked Harvest

• JFK Islanders cruise to a 6-0 win over the St. John’s Knights in the championship match of the Interscholastic Girls Football League. It is the Islanders’ 5th straight title!

• Ethan Lizama leads the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers baseball team to the Conference USA championship and being named tournament MVP

JUNE

• Ivan Sablan and Tyanna Jacot pull off their third straight Guam Amateur Golf Championship crowns after three rounds of leading start to finish

• Guam advances to the 2025 Senior Little League World Series in South Carolina after sweeping the Asia Pacific Regionals

• Jerome Diyco and Maria San Nicolas were two of the top performers at the Guam National Bodybuilding Championship

• The 2025 Pacific Mini Games officially kicks in Koror, Palau with the Opening Ceremony on a wet evening of celebration; swimmer Israel Poppe and va’a paddler Miriam Terlaje has the honor of carrying the Guam flag

JULY

• Bowler Jeremiah Camacho shoots a perfect game at the 48th Hong Kong Open; the 22-year-old Guam National Team member rolls his 18th career perfect game 

• Chloe Santos gets Guam’s first medals of the PMG with a gold and two silvers in weightlifting (53 kg)

• Amaya Bollinger takes silver in the 200m butterfly, winning just the 4th medal so far for Guam in the PMG

• Deren Perez competes in the American Ninja Warrior show for the 5th time – and his first Buzzer!

• Hugh Kent wins gold in the PMG 10,000 meter event; despite the 6 am start and a steady pouring of rain, Kent was tops in 33:03.34

• The Guahan Boys 16s took gold in the 16s Club Division at the 2025 USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships; Antonio Egurrola was named MVP

• Jordan Baden records Guam’s third gold medal of the PMG, winning the women’s 5000m convincingly

• Hugh Kent sprints down the stretch to win gold in the 1500m race in 4:01.37

• Japanese Olympic gold and bronze medal wrestler Yui Sasaki holds clinics for local grapplers of all levels of experience. The 2020 Olympic gold medalist is on her 4th visit to Guam, but this time, she’s hitting the mats and giving back to the island.

• The combined classes of 2002/04 won their 4th championship of the FD Alumni Basketball Tournament after a 50-44 win over the Class of 2013

• Hugh Kent defends his Liberation One Miler with a time of 4 minutes, 51 seconds prior to the 81st Liberation Parade; Ayuri Sugahara was the top female finisher at 6:07. Kent pulled off the double victory as he did in 2024, taking the 5k race an hour earlier in a time of 16:36; Yumika Sugahara took the female top spot in 20:12

• John Crisostomo, one of Guam’s MMA pioneers, unexpectedly passes due to a heart attack while visiting Guam

AUGUST

• GNYFF championships: Outlaws (Manha) and Packers (Metgot) finish a perfect seasons, while Angels win Matua on technicality

• Santino Sgambelluri sings the National Anthem and God Bless America at the San Diego Padres home game against the St. Louis Cardinals

• Mia Lee and Demi Blu Hurchanik bring home gold from the 2025 AAU Junior Olympics in Houston; both swimmers also set new meet records

• Another milestone is reached for Guam Basketball! Guam defeats Syria 82-73 in Group B at the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup, our first-ever FIBA Asia Cup win

• After 50 years of coaching football, Jimmy Naholowaa walks away from the game on his terms

• Montana Miller, who already secured a spot on the USA Taekwondo team for the 2028 Olympics, takes silver in the Jr. Pan American Championships in Paraguay. The 18-year-old locked in her Olympic spot in July while winning her 5th U.S. National title.

• Sage Cruz has made it all the way to the top of the national jiu-jitsu rankings, reaching #1 in the ADCC Top Boys Division in the U.S.

• Coach Donan Cruz and Team USA is in Jiangmen, China for the Men’s U21 World Volleyball Championships; they would finish 3rd in the world

SEPTEMBER

• Long-time football coach Loring Cruz has sadly passed away; Cruz guided the GW Geckos to multiple championships in the 1980’s and later led the Pepsi Giants/Warriors to MFL titles in the 2010’s

• Derek Mandell and Yumika Sugahara took the top podium of the 2025 Run for Wishes half marathon at the Leo Palace.

• 2024 Olympic silver medalist Julie Derron participates in Guam National Triathlon Championship in Malesso as a prep for the Ironman in Kona, Hi.

• Jeremiah Camacho defends his title in the 2nd Storm U22 Bowling Championships; he also bowled a perfect game in the stepladder match play, enroute to his 19th career perfect game

• After more than a decade, GSPN brings back full high school football statistics

OCTOBER

• Federal government shutdown affects DoDEA Sports

• The Friars Guam 50’s takes 3rd place in their division of the 2025 Senior Softball World Championships in Las Vegas

• OCT 10: GW BREAKS FD 85-GAME WIN STREAK (#1 story of 2025)

• Guam High Panthers continue their dominance in cross country as the boys and girls capture the 2025 All-Island Cross Country Meet; The boys win their 6th straight, while the girls make it back-to-back

• Harvest Eagles win their first ever high school girls volleyball title after dethroning the unbeaten GW Geckos 25-23, 17-25, 25-12, 27-25.

• Over 1000 jiu-jitsu practitioners from 24 countries display their skills for almost 12 hours at the the 2025 Marianas Open

NOVEMBER

• GW Geckos claim the 2025 high school football championship title with a 7-0 victory over FD Duenas Friars.

• Hazel Wilson cracks the 16-second barrier in the 100m hurdles, setting a new Guam national record at the Oceania Cup in Tonga.

• Dubbed ‘The Biggest Game in Guam History’, Team Guam holds tough in the first half, but Gilas Pilipinas was far too superior in the second half as the Philippines runs away with an 87-46 win in the opener of the FIBA World Cup Qualifier

DECEMBER

• Guam puts up a valiant effort in Manila before Gilas Pilipinas pulls away 95-71 in the home-and-home with the Philippines; Guam was 34-point underdogs

• The inaugural Guam National Skateboarding Championships gets rained out

• Jared Gogue (surfing) and John Barber (bodyboard) win the Surf the Basin 2025 event

• Francesca Lizama finishes off impressive BJJ year, ranking up to #1 amongst Asia’a female brown belts

• FD Friars avenge their only loss of the season to beat the ND Royals 12-1 for the high school baseball title

• Guam Blooded: Gabe Fernandez wins the D1 men’s soccer national championship with the Washington Huskies; Gabe played 80 minutes as a defender in the chamionship game

• St. John’s Knights repeat as high school girls basketball champions, finishing a perfect season behind 3-time MVP Jia Peters, but were challenged in the finals against Academy 58-57

• JFK Islanders win the high school boys soccer title 3-1 over the 5th-ranked ND Royals

• FD Friars wrap up their 10th straight high school wrestling championship; the ND Royals win their 5th straight in the girls division

PREVIOUS TOP STORIES ON GSPN

2024: FD Friars dominate with nine high school championships

2023: Video causes Panthers football to forfeit games

2022: Transgender play hits Guam rugby

2021: Sudden death of MMA fighter Kyle Reyes

2020: COVID

2019: GDOE leaves the IIAAG

2018: Tony Thompson’s sudden passing

2017: Chamorro players get drafted into NFL