By Steven Serafini
Sonoma Valley Sun Sports Editor
Photo above: Remy Harrison (left), who became the first Dragon swimmer to qualify for the CIF State Championship Meet, joined with teammates (left to right) Maya Garcia, Alegria Silvi and Charlotte King-Thomas – submitted photo
While the Sonoma Valley High School varsity sports teams wrap up their 2025-2026 schedules with spring-season play, we take a look back at a standout 2024-25 sports year for a host of Dragons in five sports, highlighted by the Soccer Girls capturing their first-ever sectional title.
After posting a Vine Valley Athletic League (VVAL) third-place 6-5-1 record, while finishing with a 10-9-5 overall mark, the Sonoma SOCCER GIRLS put together a playoff run en route to winning the Division 4 North Coast Section (NCS) championship. They then capped their historic postseason by competing in the state playoffs.
For the overall winter season, Sonoma’s top offensive player and leading scorer was junior Brianna Jurasek, with 31 goals, while the top defender was freshman goalie Bailey Linfante, with 31 saves.
Comprising the ’24-25 NCS Division 4 Girls champion Dragons, coached by Ron Bilberry, were Jurasek, Linfante, seniors Lindsay Bilberry, Andrea Dominguez, Sohni Gibbs, Katherine Kiser, Teagan Rhodes and Jasmín Rivas; juniors Melanie Ávila, Jazmyne Barón, Karina Chávez, Callie Diggins, Tilly Francis, Gloria Hinds, Siena Kelly and Kate Sutter; sophomore Nathalie Castillo; and frosh Amelia Bell, Addison Myhren and Ella Jo Peterson.
HIGHLIGHTING THE SPRING 2025 season for the Sonoma Swim teams, directed by head coach Jane Hansen and assistant coach Hannah Martin, was standout senior Remy Harrison, who after winning the VVAL girls 100-yard breaststroke title, swam to an eye-opening fourth-place finish in the same event at the NCS championships.
By placing an NCS fourth in the 100-breast-stroke, with a time of 1 minute and 4.97 seconds, Sonoma’s Harrison again qualified for the State Meet, held in Fresno, and entered the 2025 competition ranked 36th. It’s worth noting that Harrison became the first-ever Dragon swimmer to qualify for the prestigious CIF State Championship Meet as a junior in 2024.
In the 2025 100-breast-stroke preliminaries, Harrison swam a season-best-time of 1:03.77 and 16th place, which qualified her for the state finals, where she took a 17th-place finish in 1:05.47.
At the NCS championships, Harrison also achieved another Sonoma accolade by joining Dragon teammates Maya Garcia, Alegría Silvi and Charlotte King-Thomas in swimming the 200 medley relay and setting a new school record in the event with a time of 1:52.94, which earned them a 15th-place sectional finish.
Also making their marks at the ’25 NCS championships were Dragon boys sophomore swimmer Marcus Tomola, who in the finals took 14th in the 100 freestyle, with a time of 47.19 seconds, and 25th in the 100 butterfly, at 52.06; and freshman King-Thomas who finished 28th in the 500 free at 5:26.34 and 39th in the 200 free at 2:05.15.
SONOMA’S 2024-25 BOYS BASKETBALL team, directed by head coach Mike Boles, finished the regular season with an 18-16 overall record, while posting a VVAL third-place 6-6 mark, and began postseason play with a league playoff opening-round victory over Vintage, before falling to American Canyon in the semi-finals.
The Dragon boy cagers then entered the NCS Division 5 playoffs as the 11th seed, and defeated sixth-seeded John Swett 54-52 in a first-round road game. They then traveled far north for a quarterfinal showdown at third-seed Del Norte, where they won a 71-69 double-overtime thriller.
In the semifinals in Martinez, the Dragons were edged 62-58 by second-seed Alhambra, but bounced back with an impressive 76-61 third-place road win over fifth-seed Kelseyville, and qualified to compete in the CIF State Division 5 championship tournament as a 15th seed.
Remaining on the road, the Sonoma boys stunned second-seed Woodland Christian by overcoming a 17-point second-quarter deficit enroute to a rousing 73-61 victory, after which they traveled to San Francisco and, with three seconds remaining in the game, were nipped 50-48 by seventh-seeded International, which went on to win the state title.
The Dragons, who ended up traveling more than 1,100 miles for NCS and State tourney games, were led by VVAL first-team all-leaguers Hudson Giarritta and Vinny Girish, and second-team selection Grayson Sanders.
“These players gave us quite a ride and it felt like we restarted the team four times due to injuries, sicknesses and other obstacles,” said coach Boles. “But the team stayed and fought together and peaked at the right time. There was lots of competitive spirit.”
SONOMA’S 2024-25 BASKETBALL GIRLS, directed by head coach Jann Thorpe, put together a standout season that included a third-place finish in the VVAL, advancing to the NCS Division 4 playoffs, where they posted two straight wins over Kennedy and Rancho Cotate, respectively, before falling to Encinal in a third-round matchup.
With a chance to still earn a spot in the prestigious CIF State Championships, the Lady Dragons faced Sonoma Academy and pulled out an impressive victory to secure their program’s first-ever appearance in the state tournament.
In their opening round game of the state tourney, the Sonoma girls were upended by a tough Trinity squad, ending their season with a 19-4 overall record, which included a 9-4 league mark.
The Sonoma girls were led by VVAL first-team all-leaguers Kelsey Bauer and Alice Turner, with Mary Miller earning all-league honorable mention.
Also honored with the Lady Dragon Scholarship Award were Bauer and Sarah Juhasz.
SONOMA’S WRESTLING BOYS, directed by head coach Nico Saldana, ended their ‘24-25 regular season with one individual league champion and a fourth-place team finish at the VVAL finals.
Junior Jerome Saldana claimed the Dragons’ lone league weight-class title at 115 pounds, and he also qualified for the challenging NCS championships, along with seven of his Sonoma teammates.
At the NCS event, Saldana followed up winning a league crown with a stellar sectional performance that earned him a place on the awards podium after capturing an impressive 115-pound eighth-place medal.
Results for the seven other Dragons who also competed at the NCS championships include senior Stephen Rodriguez’s 1-2 record at 134 pounds; senior Benny Stevenson’s 1-2 at 140; senior Sam Stovall’s 1-2 in the Heavyweight division; senior Niko Leonis’ 0-2 at 177; senior Donavan Riebli’s 0-2 at 192; Sophomore Angelo Tellez’s 1-2 at 152; and freshman Max Wroblewski’s 0-2 at 128.
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