Acknowledging omissions from our 'best of last 25 years' series

We have reached the conclusion of the Tribune’s “best high school athletes of the last 25 years” series , which examined the best of the best from the 10 Saint Joseph County high schools that were IHSAA members the last 25 years, plus neighboring New Prairie.

More: Who are the best South Bend-area HS athletes this century? Here's the school-by-school list

While the lists were mostly successful, there were some accidental omissions. Unfortunately, these athletes unintentionally fell through the cracks while doing research for this project, and we regret not putting them on the initial list.

With that being said, here’s our amended entries on the “best of” series. A reminder that these are athletes who graduated between 2000-2024. This is mostly a list comprised of emails we received or comments seen on social media, so if any others beyond that are missed, we sincerely apologize.

Entries below are listed in the order the stories ran in the series.

JOHN GLENN

• Chris Adkins, class of 2001 : This was a top Facebook comment of someone we missed, and rightfully so. Adkins dominated both on the football field and basketball court, the latter saw him score more than 1,000 career points and help the Falcons win a Class 2A sectional title in 2001.
• Josh Anderson, class of 2012 : Anderson was selected as the Tribune’s Male Athlete of the Year his senior year. That fall 2011 football season saw him rush for more than 2,100 yards and 43 touchdowns, becoming an easy All-State selection. He also finished with 802 career points in basketball and had a standout senior baseball season, being named first-team all-Northern State Conference.
• Joe Curtis, class of 2005 : Curtis was a standout linebacker for the 2004 football team that reached the semistate round. He wound up being a selection into the North/South All-Star game because of it. Curtis also was a good basketball player for the Falcons as well.
• Riley Groves, class of 2018 : Mostly known for her volleyball abilities, Groves finished with 1,841 career kills and 281 career aces. She was a two-time all-Northern Indiana Conference selection as well.
• Les Marcum, class of 2004 : Marcum was a standout pitcher and hitter for the Glenn baseball team, helping lead it to a 27-3 record his senior year. He went unbeaten as a pitcher that year with an 11-0 record and also anchored a prolific batting order.
• Korey Pulluaim, class of 2004 : Pulluaim was a key cog in the baseball team’s 2003 state semifinal appearance and 2004 campaign that saw it ranked No. 1 in the 2A poll heading into the postseason. He batted .342 his senior year before going to play collegiately at Valparaiso.

NEW PRAIRIE

• Marshall Kmiecik, class of 2024 : Kmiecik was the quarterback for New Prairie football the last three seasons, leading it to the Class 4A semistate round in 2021, the state finals in 2022 and a regional appearance in 2023. He finished with 3,574 passing yards, 3,288 rushing yards and a combined 85 touchdowns (43 rush, 42 pass) for his career.
• Roman Kuntz, class of 2019 : Kuntz was a Class 3A baseball all-state selection his senior year before becoming an All-American collegiate baseball player at Morehead State University this past spring.
• Elise Swistek, class of 2021 : Swistek was a two-time All-State volleyball player and named the NIC’s MVP in the sport her final two seasons. She graduated with school records in kills (1,738) and digs (1,609).

SOUTH BEND SAINT JOSEPH

• Gabriella Agostino, class of 2008 : Agostino deserved to be on the initial Saint Joe list, as she won the diving championship at the 2008 IHSAA girls swimming and diving state finals. She went on to have a decorated diving career at Indiana University before transitioning into a coaching career.

PENN

• Noah Brown, class of 2019 : slipping through the cracks because his primary sport isn’t an IHSAA sanctioned one, Brown has become a professional rugby player in the five years since he graduated Penn. He has represented Team USA in the past and was signed by the Chicago Hounds of Major League Rugby in February.
• Zach Oakley, class of 2014 : Oakley’s 80 combined touchdowns is a Penn football record. Playing quarterback and defensive back, Oakley led the Kingsmen to three sectional, two regional and one semistate title, finishing state runner-up in 2013. Oakley also competed in track and baseball at various points of his high school career.

MISHAWAKA

• Justin Fisher, class of 2022 : The current Notre Dame reserve running back was the quarterback for Mishawaka football for three seasons, rushing for more than 3,500 yards and passing for almost 1,000 more. He led the Cavemen to sectional titles in 2019 and 2020.
• Paishence Johnson, class of 2020 : A decorated sprinter for Mishawaka, she was an NIC, sectional and regional champion in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4X100-meter relay her junior season of 2019. She qualified for state in all three of those events in 2018 also, winning sectional titles in the 100 and 200 in all three years of her high school track career (2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic).
• Claire DeVreese, class of 2004 : DeVreese graduated as the Mishawaka softball program’s all-time pitching wins leader with 52, holding onto that mark for nearly a decade. She was a three-time All-State selection, an Indiana softball All-Star in 2004 and graduated with 824 career strikeouts. DeVreese played collegiately at the University of Illinois.

SOUTH BEND ADAMS

• Shawn Major-Winston, class of 2007 : Major-Winston rushed for more than 2,000 yards in his final two football seasons at Adams, earning honorable mention all-state in 2006. He was also a two-time team captain for the boys track team. Major-Winston was on the Indiana University football team in 2007 and 2008.

SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON

• Michael Bates, class of 2014 : Bates capped off his high school wrestling career with a fourth-place finish at the 2014 state finals in the 170-pound weight class.
• Deonne Witherspoon, class of 2016 : Along with being an excellent football player for Washington, Witherspoon excelled on the track. He was on an indoor track 4X200-meter relay team that won a state title and also finished runner-up in the indoor 60-meter dash. In the more traditional outdoor track season, Witherspoon was part of a 4X100-meter relay that finished fourth at the 2015 state finals.
• Sherice White, class of 2007 : While White was a starter for Washington’s 2007 girls basketball state championship team, her efforts on the track shined brightest. Qualifying for the state finals all four years, she held the school record in the 100-meter dash (12.08 seconds) for more than 15 years. White finished fourth in the event at the 2007 state finals.

Also, a special thanks to Tribune correspondent Tim Creason for his help researching the track and wrestling entries that made this list.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Acknowledging omissions from our 'best of last 25 years' series