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Top 25 Moments of 2025

Top 25 Moments of 2025

Moments 11-15

As the calendar year wraps up, Boise State Athletics wanted to celebrate some of the amazing accomplishments achieved by our student-athletes in 2025.  After thorough conversation and discussion, the sports communications staff compiled a list of 25 of the top moments from 2025. Here are those Top 25 Moments. 

For Moments 25-21, click here.

For Moments 20-16, click here.

MOMENT NO. 15:

Bronco Studios & BroncoPRO

Boise State Launches Bronco Studios, Hires Award-Winning Sports Anchor Jay Tust

Boise State Athletics will launch Bronco Studios and has hired award-winning local sports anchor Jay Tust as the host of Bronco Studios Live and on-demand shows to help advance Boise State's storytelling with free, live programming for Bronco Nation.

Bronco Studios is an in-house media studio that will produce daily and weekly live shows as well as other Boise State Athletics original content. Focused on telling the story of Boise State student-athletes, coaches, staff, Bronco Nation and the Boise community, fans can watch the shows live and for free on Boise State Athletics' YouTube and social media channels as well as on-demand on BroncoSports.com and the Bronco Sports mobile app.

Tust joins Boise State after 14 years at KTVB NewsChannel 7, the NBC affiliate in Boise and official television station for Bronco Nation. He was originally hired as the weekend sports reporter in 2011 but ascended to the sports director role in 2013. He won the regional Edward R. Murrow Award in 2015 and a northwest regional Emmy Award in 2019. He is also a 10-time Idaho Sports Broadcaster of the Year as named by the Idaho Press Club.

Boise State Announces BroncoPRO Staffing, Structure

Boise State Athletics has announced its BroncoPRO staff as it prepares for the upcoming changes in college athletics pending the final approval of the House settlement. The core NIL group of six team members will focus its vision of driving competitive excellence in the new era of revenue-sharing.

MOMENT NO. 14:

Boise State Beach Volleyball Claims Southland Conference Regular Season Crown

Boise State beach volleyball had been members of the Southland Conference for two full seasons prior to the league’s midseason showdown.

Entering their third season as members of the conference, the Broncos had quickly made a name for themselves as one of the top teams in the conference. Boise State held an 18-6 mark against league foes entering the three-day tournament in late April. 

There was one team, however, that had Boise State’s number. Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.

The two teams had instantly made a name for themselves as the top two teams in the conference, but the Islanders had won the games when it mattered most. Boise State held a measly 1-5 mark against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as members of the conference, including in each of the past two championship duals. 

The coaching staff had played into the rivalry, challenging the 2025 spring roster that this was the group to get over the hump. This was the team that was destined to beat the Islanders when it mattered most.

As the Broncos had done in their previous two seasons, the Blue and Orange DOMINATED the rest of the conference competition. After a 3-2 win over Stephen F. Austin in the tournament’s opening match, Boise State rattled off a program-record four consecutive 5-0 victories. The Islanders had also won their first five matches, setting up a de facto championship match on the event’s final day.

Avery Allen and Abbie Wolf secured the first point against the Islanders, winning 21-18, 21-18 on court four. After narrowly dropping the first set on court two, 23-21, Alden and O'Neil responded with a 22-20 second-set victory to force a deciding set. Trailing 9-6, the duo rattled off nine of the next 10 points to win 15-10 and secure a 2-0 lead for the Blue and Orange.

Moss and Patock lost the first set on court five, but battled back in the second. The pair withstood nine separate match points, but ultimately fell 30-28 to concede a point to the Islanders. Moments later, Guerra-Acuña and Wolthuis clinched the dual – and the regular season title – with a 21-18, 21-16 win from court three.

(Following what can only be described as an awkward loss on the top court), the team erupted into cheers. A team picture was taken on the sand with the giant, oversize regular season trophy.

The conference offered to ship the trophy from Thibodeaux, La. up to Boise, but there was no chance the team would separate from their trophy. The team buckled the trophy in (once in a van and twice on airplanes), for the quest back to the Treasure Valley.

Though the team arrived in Boise at 2 a.m., the party wasn’t over. The team headed over to Albertsons Stadium, where the field was lit blue, celebrating the first regular season championship in beach volleyball history. 

MOMENT NO. 13:

Boise State Men’s Tennis Wins Back-to-Back Regular Season Titles

The Appleton Tennis Center has become more than a home court for Boise State men’s tennis. It’s a place where championships are earned. Over an emotional final weekend of the regular season, the Broncos leaned on each other and emerged with back-to-back Mountain West regular-season titles.

Friday night set the tone. After dropping the doubles point against Air Force, James Van Herzeele, Carson Baker and Jett Middleton stormed through straight-set singles wins, each point building the energy around the Broncos. When Idriss Haddouch closed the match in three hard-fought sets, the excitement was unmatched. The victory secured a share of the conference title and extended the Broncos’ home winning streak to 21.

But Saturday brought heavier emotions. New Mexico pushed Boise State to the edge, reclaiming the lead late and forcing the Broncos to dig deeper. Baker’s comeback win on court two brought hope, tying the match and shifting every eye toward court one.

There, senior Middleton stood with pressure like no other. When Middleton finally sealed the straight-set win after two tiebreakers, the moment felt like a movie. Teammates rushed the court, the crowd erupted and another outright championship was secured at home.

The 4-3 win clinched Boise State’s second-straight Mountain West regular-season title, a perfect 6-0 conference run and a 12-match winning streak to close the regular season. 

MOMENT NO. 12:

Ava de Leest Claims Defensive Player of the Year As A Freshman

Making a statement is in Ava de Leest’s DNA.

She did just that in the first half of Boise State’s season opener at Idaho State. In the 17th minute she booted a ball that ended up to land right on queue for Kenzie MacMillan to deposit in the back of the net for the first goal of 2025. Boise State had  recorded its third goalkeeper assist in three years (Genevieve Crenshaw secured an assist in 2023 and 2024 ). Prior to that, the Broncos had not recorded one since 2009.

The freshman goalkeeper was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and Mountain West Newcomer of the Year. 

The awards and praise didn’t come overnight. The mighty goalkeeper battled for the starting role with redshirt sophomore Molly McCabe. It is not always hard to jump a student-athlete older than you, especially at a position that is as coveted as the goalkeeping position.

de Leest has been a vocal leader. One moment that MacMillan, then the team’s star player, remembers is the team coming into a huddle during halftime of an early season test at Southern Utah.

She came into the huddle and ripped into us. You don’t see this from a freshman who is still finding her identity.
Senior Kenzie MacMillan

The Broncos secured a Mountain West semifinal win that fell to de Leest in penalty kicks. The freshman goalkeeper made six saves in 110 minutes of action and came up big with two more following full-time in PK’s.

Following the semifinal match, head coach Jim Thomas praised de Leest for her standout performance.

I believe in this team and they believe in one another. With a couple minutes to go I was hoping it would go to penalty kicks because Ava (de Leest) wants to be in the big moment.
Boise State Head Coach Jim Thomas

The Fullerton, California native earned three Mountain West Athlete of the week honors including one Co-Freshman of the Week accolade. This season, she posted six total shutouts. She finished her freshman campaign making 21 appearances (20 starts), recording one assist, 64 saves and a .771 save percentage leading the Broncos to a 10-3-7 season which marks the fewest losses for Boise State in a season.

MOMENT NO. 11:

Cross Country Finishes 22nd at Nationals

The Boise State men’s and cross country team departed for Sacramento, the site of the NCAA West Regional, with one goal in mind. 

Get. To. Nationals.

Head coach Pat McCurry, currently in the middle of his second full season at the helm of the program, was looking to show improvement from last season. In 2024, three women finished in the top 25, leading the team to a sixth-place finish. The men finished in seventh.

As the race started at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, Calif., it was clear the Broncos were there to compete. As the dust settled, both teams finished within the top five, with the women finishing third and the men fourth.

The results marked the first time the women had placed in the top three in a regional since 2019. The men hadn’t finished in the top four since 2018.

Kaiya Robertson was the standout. Out of 263 total runners, she finished eighth, clocking a time of 19:44.4. Amit Koma (20:16.2) and Bianca Böhnke (20:16.6) ended the race 21st and 22nd, respectively.

What followed was a selection show held in the Hall of Fame outside of Albertsons Stadium, where fans and supporters watched on as the women’s team found out it would be selected as an at-large team for the NCAA Championships in Columbia, Mo. Meshack Kuyo and Alex Thompson from the men’s team were also selected. 

It was the first time a Boise State cross country team had made an appearance in the NCAA Championships since the 2020 campaign.

To celebrate, the Boise State Athletics Staff staged a sendoff for the team as they walked from their locker room to the vans outside of Albertsons Stadium to make the journey to Missouri.

Once there, the team was greeted with a high-profile event, with national media outlets there to cover the show. The race, which was broadcast nationally on ESPNU, was a smashing success for the Broncos.

The women’s team finished 22nd, with Robertson besting her NCAA West Regional time with 19:33.0. On the men’s side, Kuyo earned All-American status by placing 27th. Kuyo became Pat McCurry’s first student-athlete to earn All-American status. 

I may sound like a broken record, but I'm so proud of the fight our women's team showed. After the first kilometer, our pack relentlessly moved up. This experience will be invaluable for our women as we continue to build our program.
Meshack (Kuyo) was phenomenal in his first NCAA Championship race. The depth of this event is hard to grasp and it just gets better every year. He recorded an elite result, and his development since he got to Boise in January has been remarkable."
Boise State Cross Country Head Coach Pat McCurry