From the start of the 2025-2026 soccer season to District 12-6A basketball and everything in between, the Christmas break certainly was the gift that kept on giving in Killeen ISD athletics.
A wealth of highlights nestled into a busy two weeks included the Killeen ISD Classic girls basketball tournament, which featured nine teams and closed with KISD squads sweeping the three trophies up for grabs, a 1-1 draw between the Ellison and Killeen girls soccer teams, the Chaparral boys basketball team going 4-0 at the Boerne tournament, and Shoemaker notching victories in both the boys and girls 12-6A basketball encounters with Harker Heights.
Killeen ISD Classic
Chaparral, Ellison, Harker Heights, Killeen and Shoemaker were joined by Christian Home School Athletics, Porter, Richardson and Houston Episcopal for two days of action at CHS. All nine teams played four games apiece, and when the dust settled Harker Heights earned the Platinum bracket title, Chaparral took the Gold bracket and Killeen the Silver bracket.
The following players were named to the all-tournament team:
Chaparral: Demiyah Carter, junior
CHSA: Shiloh Grays, junior
Ellison: Jade Oladipo, senior
Episcopal: Rylee Poindexter, junior
Killeen: I’Keriyah Thomas, junior
Harker Heights: Amanda Grate, senior
Harker Heights: Makaya Gaston, senior
Porter: Jahnae Nickerson, senior
Richardson: Ma’Kayla Carr, senior
Shoemaker: Heaven Britton, senior
District 12-6A girls basketball
Three days after the KISD Classic, Harker Heights and Shoemaker met for a 12-6A contest Jan. 3, and the Lady Grey Wolves upended the host Lady Knights, 53-51, to move to 3-0 in district.
League play continues this week with Killeen (0-2 district) hosting Shoemaker (3-0) and Heights (1-1) visiting Bryan (3-0) on Tuesday, Jan. 6. On Friday, Jan. 9, Harker Heights is at Temple (0-2) and Killeen hosts Bryan.
Meanwhile, District 16-5A tips off Friday, Jan. 9, when Ellison hosts Waco and Chaparral travels to Waco University.
District 12-6A boys basketball
Shoemaker hosted Harker Heights on Jan. 3 for the teams’ league opener, and the squads treated the weekend crowd to overtime in an eventual 85-81 win for the Grey Wolves.
The slate this week includes Killeen (0-0) at Shoemaker (1-0) and Bryan (0-1) at Harker Heights (0-1) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, and Bryan at Killeen and Temple (0-1) at Harker Heights on Friday, Jan. 9.
Wrestling
Holiday tournaments were plentiful over the break.Shining results started Dec. 20 when the Harker Heights girls were first and boys were second at the Reindeer Round-up.
Then on Jan. 2-3, 12 KISD wrestlers earned top 8 placing in their weight class across a pair of tournaments, the CenTex Invite and the Cy-Fair Invite.
Those athletes were:
Ava Milliner, Chaparral, third
Avery Wiltzius, Chaparral, seventh
Jaycie Guthrie, Ellison, eighth
Saniah Ebron, Harker Heights, second
Ana Davis, Harker Heights, sixth
Anthony Morales, Chaparral, sixth
Anthony Pough, Harker Heights, seventh
Anthony Beverly, Killeen, third
Angrand Mackeila, Killeen, third
Gizell Rodriguez, Killeen, fifth
Olijana Gabble, Killeen, sixth
Shanyah Johnson, Killeen, fifth
Swimming
Killeen ISD’s swim teams will host the Last Splash Invite on Saturday, Jan. 10 at the Clements Boys and Girls Club Natatorium. It’s the final tune-up for the swim teams ahead of their district meets later in the month.
Tickets for the meet can be purchased here: https://tinyurl.com/mrxaykkd
The festivities to close out 2025 and kick off 2026 lead to the start of the busiest stretch for athletics during the school year. Soon, spring sports such as track and field, softball, baseball, golf and tennis will get underway, mixing with the in-progress winter sports such as basketball, soccer, wrestling and powerlifting.
Schedules are regularly updated on the KISD athletics web page.