March Madness for high school mascots: NCAA Tournament-style bracket will determine 2025 national champion

High School on SI's annual contest allows fans to vote for the best high school mascot in the country

Rowdy Rooster lurks in the background as Kansas City Chiefs running back and Vineland High School alum Isiah Pacheco speaks during a parade in his honor last year. / William Thomas Cain / USA TODAY NETWORK

March Madness isn't just about college basketball.

For the third consecutive year, High School on SI will run an NCAA Tournament-style bracket to crown the best high school mascot in the country.

Each of the past two defending national champions — the Coalinga Horned Toads in California and the Cary Imps in North Carolina — didn't make it out of the state-by-state rounds, so a new mascot will reign in 2025.

Over the past several months, High School on SI held 50 contests to let fans determine the best mascot in every state, and now those winners and the top vote-getting runners-up will compete to be named best high school mascot in America.

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Over the next few months, we'll pit those teams against one another in a traditional NCAA Tournament-style bracket, complete with 64 overall seeds and a five-team play-in game, with the winners determined by fan votes.

The contest tips off Friday, March 7, with the five-team play-in game to see who gets the final No. 7 seed.

Those five teams are the Orange Beach Makos (Alabama), South Wasco County Redsides (Oregon), Bryn Mawr Mawrtians (Maryland), Powers Cruisers (Oregon) and Nathan Hale-Ray Noises (Connecticut). 

State winners earned automatic spots, so those five had the lowest vote totals among qualifying runners-up.

Here are the overall seeds, sorted according to which teams earned the most votes in our statewide contests from Alabama through Wyoming.

1. Hesston Swathers (Kansas)

A swather is a piece of farming equipment that's crucial to the town of Hesston. From an article on farmlife.com: "The swather mascot first came into play in 1970, says Clint Stoppel, athletic director at the Kansas school. School officials wanted to pay tribute to the AGCO Corporation plant (previously known as Hesston Manufacturing) and the crucial role the manufacturer played then and now in the town’s economy."

2. Key Obezags (Maryland)

When the property on which the school was built was donated, it was filled with gazebos. The students voted and decided to spell gazebo backwards as their nickname. Not surprisingly, they’re the only Obezags in the country.

3. Inman Teutons (Kansas)

Inman is rife with German heritage, and a Teuton is a Germanic fighting warrior from around the second century BC. Inman has the only Teutons in U.S. high school sports.

4. East Union Urchins (Mississippi)

Formerly called the Epic Urchins, East Union's mascot comes from Greek mythology, where the god of the sea had daughters who rode seahorses. This is why the East Union logo boasts a seahorse rather than a sea urchin.

5. Westminster Martlets (Connecticut)

From the Westminster website: “When you become a Westminster student, you earn the notable distinction of forever being a Martlet. This remarkable mascot captures the grit and grace that Westminster students strive to embody. Since this mythical bird has no feet, its only choice is to demonstrate its ‘grit and grace’ by continuing to fly – despite obstacles, exhaustion or even a fierce headwind.”

6. International High School at Largo Sea Turtles (Maryland)

This unique school with a unique mascot started in 2015 with 100 ninth-graders, and it’s grown by 100 students each year since. The only requirement to apply to become a Sea Turtle is that English is not your first language.

7. Choate Rosemary Hall Wild Boars (Connecticut)

The year 1995 was a big one for Choate Rosemary Hall — when the school mascot transformed from Judges to Wild Boars. In an Opinion piece published in The Choate News in 1995, teacher Ned Gallagher wrote of his proposal, “This tenacious beast seems a much more suitable symbol for the athletic competition than a jurist. The wild boar is an authentic school tradition that reaches back to the nineteenth century; using it as a mascot would acknowledge the importance of athletics in our school’s heritage.” The student body agreed. 

8. Kosciusko Whippets (Mississippi)

Kosciusko isn't the only high school in the country called the Whippets, but it's the only one with a smiling physical whippet mascot named Whippy to whip the fans into a frenzy at sporting events.

9. Crisfield Crabbers (Maryland)

Known as "the Seafood Capital of the World," the city of Crisfield has a giant crab on its welcoming water tower. The Crisfield Crabbers were a minor league baseball team in the 1920s and '30s, and the high school decided to keep the name alive.

10. Mellen Granite Diggers (Wisconsin)

Mellen has a long history as a mining town, especially for a special type of black granite, and its physical mascot is as colorful as they come. It's a blue chipmunk named Chipper who carries a pick-ax.

11. Spanish Fort Toros (Alabama)

Seven high schools boast “Toros” as their mascot across the country, but no one nailed the logo like Spanish Fort. Beneath a pair of bullhorns are a coolly designed “SF” that look like a bull’s face.

12. Avon Old Farms Winged Beavers (Connecticut)

The school’s founder, Theodate Pope Riddle, chose the Winged Beaver as the school’s mascot to reflect the school’s motto, Aspirando et Perseverando, aspiring and persevering. The wings of aspiration represent the soaring flight of an eagle, and perseverance is symbolized in the diligence of a beaver. 

13. Monroe Cheesemakers (Wisconsin)

Only 25 miles away from the Freeport (Illinois) Pretzels, the Monroe Cheesemakers basketball teams take on the Pretzels every year in "The Snack Bowl." Monroe is known as "The Swiss Cheese Capital of the U.S."

14. Wilde Lake Wildecats (Maryland)

The most clever use of the letter E in high school sports history resulted in Wilde Lake having a deceptively unique mascot. There are 743 U.S. high schools that call themselves the Wildcats, and there's only one Wildecats.

15. Perry-Lecompton Kaws (Kansas)

Perry-Lecompton's Kaw mascot looks a lot like an all-blue version of the Kansas Jayhawk, and the high school is just 15 minutes away from Allen Fieldhouse. Perry and Lecompton consolidated in 1970, and Perry's mascot, the Kaws, was so good that it stuck through unification.

16. Bonanza Antlers (Oregon)

One surefire way to become inclusive of all antlered species is to just call yourself the Antlers rather than the Moose, Elks, Antelopes, Angoras, etc.

17. Hill City Ringnecks (Kansas)

Hill City, aka Ringneck Country, is an area known for its pheasant hunting — specifically the ringneck pheasant. The Hill City Ringnecks, meanwhile, annually hunt for state championships.

18. Moorhead Spuds (Minnesota)

Moorhead’s teams have been called the Spuds for over 100 years. The name started being used in the late 1910s or early 1920s, inspired by at least one Moorhead school’s site atop a former potato field. The school's mascot is a big smiling potato named Spuddy.

19. Kingswood Oxford Wyverns (Connecticut)

From the school’s website: “As soon as you enroll at Kingswood Oxford, you are transformed into a mythic Wyvern, a legendary winged beast from medieval times, not to be mistaken for a dragon. There is a distinction. Dragons breathe fire, whereas, Wyverns have attitude. Once you’re a Wyvern, you’re always a Wyvern.” 

20. Bayfield Trollers (Wisconsin)

As far north as Ashland is (one item below), Bayfield is another 23 miles farther north on Lake Superior. It's a community steeped in fishing tradition, and trolling is one way to fish. Bayfield honors that tradition by calling its teams the Trollers.

21. Ashland Oredockers (Wisconsin)

In the 1940s, there were still some ore docks left in Ashland — which is in northern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior — so a grass-roots effort to change the school’s mascot from the Purgolders (yes, they're purple and gold) to the Oredockers stuck. And so it remains. Also interesting to note that the state still has two other high schools called the Purgolders.

22. Orange Beach Makos (Alabama)

The shortfin mako is the fastest-swimming shark, and Orange Beach has been a fast riser in high school sports since the high school opened in 2020. The Makos’ softball team won its fourth straight state championship in May 2024.

23. South Wasco County Redsides (Oregon)

We have the Cutthroat in Idaho, and next door in Oregon we have the Redsides, another form of trout. Also called a Redband trout, a Redside is named for the red stripe along its side. South Wasco County High School is located a stone’s throw away from the Deschutes River, which is loaded with Redsides.

24. Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (Kentucky)

South Carolina and Florida also have Thoroughbreds as high school mascots, but how can we not choose a Kentucky school to wear the nickname best? It's 103 miles away from Churchill Downs, but that seems like a stone's throw on the first Saturday in May.

25. William Allen Canaries (Pennsylvania)

From the Our History section of the William Allen website: “In 1916, when the present main building opened, the Allentown High School colors were yellow and blue. The faculty and students interested in producing literary journals developed a magazine entitled, ‘The Canary and Blue.’ Somehow, the word ‘Canary,’ denoting one of the school colors, caught on and the bird became the mascot for the high school. The brave canary is known locally as the only bird to fly safely through a hurricane in its hope to beat perennial rival Bethlehem Area School District Liberty High’s Hurricanes.”

26. Sulphur Golden Tors (Louisiana)

Sure, Tors is just short for Tornadoes, but you’ve got to love the creativity (and brevity). There are several Golden Tornadoes in the high school ranks across the U.S., plus a few singular Golden Tornado, but there’s only one Golden Tors. 

27. Bryn Mawr Mawrtians (Maryland)

Michigan has the only Martians in the country among U.S. high schools, and Bryn Mawr has the only Mawrtians. Mascot pride is brimming at the 140-year-old school.

28. Powers Cruisers (Oregon)

Nope, these Cruisers weren’t named in the late 1950s or early 1960s in honor of teenagers driving their cars around trying to find a new place where the kids were hip. Powers is in timber country near the southern Oregon coast, and a timber cruiser is someone who estimates the value of timber in a particular forest.

29. Morse Shipbuilders (Maine)

Bath, Maine, home of Morse High School, became a haven for shipbuilding in the early 1600s, so the choice of Shipbuilders for Morse's mascot was an easy one.

30. Nathan Hale-Ray Noises (Connecticut)

The Moodus area is known for its low-level seismic activity, so the high school is the Noises — meant to underscore strange, underground rumblings.

31. Salem Witches (Massachusetts)

Two other U.S. high schools use the Witches as their mascot, but no one can pull it off with such historical authenticity like Salem, Massachusetts.

32. Center Point-Urbana Stormin’ Pointers (Iowa)

Would they be in this position simply as the Pointers? Probably not. But Stormin’ Pointers wielding lightning bolts are an out-of-this-world force to be reckoned with in the mascot universe.

33. Harpeth Hall Honeybears (Tennessee)

“Honey” the Honeybear is this all-girls school’s mascot. From a Harpeth Hall Facebook post: “The honeybear mascot was first introduced at Harpeth Hall in the 1970s, coinciding with the passage of Title IX. The legislation opened up new opportunities in sports for women and girls and teams embraced mascots to represent them and bring them good luck in competition.”

34. Goodrich Martians (Michigan)

From the Goodrich website: “When the ‘Martian' name was adopted in the 1930s, it had a dual significance because in Roman mythology, Mars was an agricultural deity as well as a warrior. Goodrich still has many small farms, and the Martian warriors have to be reckoned with on the playing field and in the classroom.” So no, it has nothing to do with Marvin from Looney Tunes.

35. Dayton Dust Devils (Nevada)

Not quite a tornado, a dust devil is a strong, well-formed, relatively short-lived whirlwind. And the Dust Devils' mascot has lots more personality than a lot of tornado logos out there — it looks ready to fight with its dukes up while sporting a serpent-like tail.

36. Bray-Doyle Donkeys (Oklahoma)

Not only are these the only Donkeys in the country in the high school ranks, the fact that they're in the town of Bray makes this an absolute hee-haw of a mascot choice. Everyone knows donkeys are going to bray, and everyone knows Bray-Doyle will stubbornly support its Donkeys.

37. Aurora Greenmen (Ohio)

From the History of the Greenmen section of auroraohioalumni.com, “Aurora was not always the Greenmen. Years ago, Aurora were the ‘Irish.’ During the late '40s, Aurora had a number of residents involved in the organization of the Cleveland Browns. Aurora was given permission to use the original ‘Brownie.’ As our colors were green, we became the ‘Greenies.’ A number of people did not like the ‘Greenies’ and around the late ‘50s, early ‘60s, Aurora became the ‘Greenmen.' The logo mascot remained. In 1972, an Aurora senior student-athlete, Mark Campana, redesigned the Greenman to the more masculine version we currently use.”

38. Columbia Hickman Kewpies (Missouri)

Here’s how this one-of-a-kind mascot came to be in 1914, according to kewpie.net: “Apparently, the school secretary owned a Kewpie doll, as they were popular figurines then, and she kept it on her desk. At one of the basketball games, she placed the Kewpie in the center of the court (I guess for good luck), and the entire game was played around it without its being broken. This was somewhat remarkable since the dolls were very fragile. Because it survived the game and brought a victory, it was thereafter considered the good luck mascot.”

39. Sun Valley Community Cutthroat (Idaho)

The scrappy, aggressive cutthroat is the Idaho State Fish, and Sun Valley Community School has been the Cutthroat since a yearbook contest named it the school mascot in 1984. The logo is a cutthroat wearing sunglasses and holding a knife in its teeth.

40. Colorado Rocky Mountain School Oysters (Colorado)

Colorado Rocky Mountain School has a unique mix of sports — soccer, cross country, climbing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding — and the only nickname in the country rooted in fried bull testicles.

41. Vineland Fighting Clan (New Jersey)

Formerly called the Poultry Clan, the Fighting Clan mascot is rooted in Vineland’s history of chicken farming. Rowdy Rooster stalks the sidelines at Vineland sporting events.

42. Clay-Battelle Cee Bees (West Virginia)

If every hyphenated school used its initials as its nickname, there’d be a whole lot more competitors with the Eagles and Tigers as the most common team name. But they don’t, so the Cee Bees stand out.

43. Somers Tuskers (New York)

The town of Somers is known for hosting the first American circus, so the high school chose an elephant as its physical mascot and called its teams the Tuskers. Highschoolfootballamerica.com has a fascinating story on Somers’ elephant- and circus-filled history.

44. Prescott Curley Wolves (Arkansas)

In the 1920s, after thePrescottfootball team delivered a thrashing of Little Rock, an Arkansas Gazette news editor wrote the headline, “WE THINK THAT THE BOYS ARE CURLEY WOLVES.” The team loved it, and they’ve been the Curley Wolves ever since.

45. Mt. Pleasant Kilties (Rhode Island)

These are the only Kilties in the U.S., and there's no physical mascot like it either. The story goes that "Kilties" came about in a roundabout way since Mt. Pleasant High School was built on a hill. A hill is akin to highlands, and highlands are common in Scotland. Thus, Kilties.

46. Clarkston Bantams (Washington)

Originally the Sandpipers, Clarkston became the Bantams in 1937. They've also been called the Fighting Bantams and Mighty Bantams. The impressive Bantam (a rooster) logo the school uses today was designed in the early 2000s by an art teacher at the school.

47. Lejeune Devilpups (North Carolina)

Lejeune students in 1944 took the moniker Devilpups, a reference to the Marine Corps nickname of Devil Dog and Camp Lejeune being a Marine Corps base.

48. Anaconda Copperheads (Montana)

The Anaconda Anacondas seems so obvious, so why not the Copperheads? After all, there are no anacondas or copperheads in Montana, and the Anaconda Common Gartersnakes wouldn't strike much fear in opponents.

49. Caesar Rodney Riders (Delaware)

There are three other "Riders" among U.S. high schools (and a whole bunch of Roughriders and Rough Riders), but these Riders have the most interesting back story. U.S. Founding Father Caesar Rodney rode 70 miles through a thunderstorm in 1776 to Philadelphia so he could break a deadlock at the Continental Congress when it was debating American independence. The wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved two days later.

50. Carbon Dinos (Utah)

Carbon used to have the only Dinosaurs in the nation in the high school sports world, and after shortening the name, it now has the only Dinos. Carbon County is known for its dinosaur fossils, and Carbon High School went with a bright blue dinosaur as its mascot.

51. Yuma Criminals (Arizona)

Here's how Yuma High School tells it: In 1913, "the Yuma football team traveled to Phoenix to play the 'Coyotes.' Yuma High won. The angry 'Coyotes' dubbed the Yuma High players the 'Criminals.' At first 'Criminals' was a fighting word. Before long, students and teachers wore the name with pride, and in 1917, the school board officially adopted the nickname. Yuma High School has been proudly called the home of the 'Criminals' ever since."

52. Ord Chanticleers (Nebraska)

There’s only one Chanticleers in the college ranks (Coastal Carolina), and Ord has the nickname to itself among U.S. high schools. “Chanticleer” is an old English word for “chicken” and a name commonly appearing in old fables.

53. Valley City Hi-Liners (North Dakota)

Valley City High School has been the Hi-Liners since 1926, in honor of the Hi-Line Bridge built in 1908. The bridge is 3,096 feet long and rises 160 feet above the Sheyenne River.

54. Frankfort Hot Dogs (Indiana)

Named in tribute to Frankfurt, Germany, the town has a Hot Dog Festival every summer, but it's worth noting that the high school mascot is a snarling dog, not a guy named Nathan or Oscar.

55. Keene Blackbirds (New Hampshire)

If Paul McCartney transferred from Liverpool to a U.S. high school as a teenager, Keene would have been an inspiring destination. The school’s blackbird mascot looks like it could give cartoon magpies Hekyll and Jekyll a run for their money.

56. Key West Conchs (Florida)

Key West is the farthest-south high school in the continental United States, and it has the only Conchs in the country in high school sports. Featuring an area rife with that seashell on local beaches, the mascot is a big hit with locals.

57. Clayton Valley Charter Ugly Eagles (California)

According to the Sacramento Bee, back in the 1970s a gruff football coach ordered his players to cut their hair and trim their sideburns. The players at then-Clayton Valley High School rebelled, so the coach deemed his shaggy lot to no longer be the Eagles but instead the “Ugly Eagles,” and the mascot stuck. The school became Clayton Valley Charter in 2012.

58. Green Mountain Valley School Gumbies (Vermont)

From the “Why Gumby?” section on the school website: “In the late 1980s, the GMVS girls soccer team was making a run at the state championship title. After one game, a reporter asked the team what their mascot was. They looked at one another – they didn’t have an official mascot – and in a moment of creativity, one girl spoke up. ‘Well, we’re flexible, we’re agile, we’re fun…I guess we’re the Gumbies.’ The name stuck.”

59. Nome-Beltz Nanooks (Alaska)

Only one U.S. state has polar bears, but that hasn’t stopped high schools all over the country from choosing Polar Bears as their mascot. But there’s only one “Nanooks,” the Inuit word for “polar bears,” and that school is Nome-Beltz, home to several state championship teams over the past 60 years.

60. Cobden Appleknockers (Illinois)

This seems like a missed opportunity for Cobden to use a corn pun, but the rural town is located in a region rife with apple orchards (and peach orchards, but Peachknockers doesn't have the same ring to it).

61. Bishop England Battling Bishops (South Carolina)

Seven other U.S. high schools go by the Bishops, but Bishop England has the only Battling Bishops in the country. One incarnation of its mascot is among the most amusing in U.S. history — anangry-looking bishopwearing boxing gloves who looks ready to defend his fighting spirit.

62. Hutto Hippos (Texas)

Local legend traces the origins of the Hutto hippo to 1915, when a circus train carrying animals stopped to fill up with water. The hippo escaped, walked to Cottonwood Creek and stayed there so long that it delayed the train until its handlers were able to get it out.

63. Cairo Syrupmakers (Georgia)

During a heavy rainstorm at a football game many years ago, workers at the Cairo syrup shelter brought over their raincoats labeled "Roddenbery's Syrup" on the backs of the jackets to keep the players dry. Reflecting this heritage, the Cairo (pronounced “kay-row") football team was named the Syrupmakers, and it stuck for all sports. The school’s physical mascot is a syrup pitcher.

64. Annandale Atoms (Virginia)

When Annandale opened in 1954 during the Cold War, students were inspired by President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech when they adopted the Atoms mascot, according to WUSA 9. The opening came nine years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

65. Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers (Wyoming)

Wyoming is a perfect state for rodeo references, and Doggers does the trick. A dogger is another name for a steer wrestler.

66. Rapid City Central Cobblers (South Dakota)

Yes, a cobbler is a job (shoe mender/maker), but these Cobblers are named after an important man in the school’s history. Coach Euclid Cobb led the Central football team to 144 wins, 43 ties and 13 losses, including his undefeated teams in 1922, ’23, ’25, ’27, ’31, ’32 and ’43.

67. Wai’anae Seariders (Hawaii)

Wai’anae has one of the best high school logos in the country, with a mysterious, muscular, spear-toting warrior riding a shark. From the Wai’anae website: “The Searider is the official mascot of Wai'anae High School. A warrior of the ahupua'a, he is tasked with protecting the coastline."

68. Carlsbad Cavemen (New Mexico)

Similar to the Salem Witches in Massachusetts, Carlsbad's Cavemen score extra points over the other Cavemen in the country thanks to historical authenticity. Carlsbad Caverns National Park features more than 100 caves.