The website Niche conducted a series of surveys to create a list of the best Wisconsin high schools for athletes, and the No. 1 school in Wisconsin will be familiar to those in the Milwaukee area:
Arrowhead.
With 28 total sports, Arrowhead received an overall grade of A and a sports grade of A-plus.
The methodology involved parent and student surveys (50% of the weighted grade), total enrollment (20%), sports championships (10%), number of offered sports (10%) and athletic participation for boys and girls (5% each).
Niche reasons that larger schools draw from a larger talent pool, hence the inclusion of enrollment in the score (and, thus, schools from larger population areas higher on the list).
Here's a look at the Wisconsin high schools ranked in the top 10:
1. Arrowhead High School (Hartland)
The Lake Country empire has more than 70 team state championships, including 2025-26 titles in football, girls basketball, gymnastics and (for the third straight year) girls track.
The school has achieved recurring title performances in cross country, golf, swimming, girls tennis, football and track and field over the years, not to mention individual accolades like those in wrestling.
2. Divine Savior Holy Angels (Milwaukee)
The all-girls school in Milwaukee has a state title this year in girls golf and nearly 20 in school history, but that only counts the WIAA titles after the WIAA-WISAA merger in 2000.
DSHA has routinely competed for titles in soccer and volleyball, with the No. 1 seed in this weekend's state soccer tourney.
3. Catholic Memorial (Waukesha)
Even if we didn't count pre-merger titles, Memorial's 45 titles sit top-10 in state history. Their girls soccer program is one of the best programs in state history in any sport (12 titles since 2004), with regular championship contention in football, girls volleyball, boys volleyball and boys golf.
4. Waunakee
The Madison-area powerhouse has been especially strong in football but also landed recent titles in boys golf and baseball, plus the second-ever boys lacrosse championship last year.
5. Marquette University High School (Milwaukee)
Post-merger, its 56 titles are still sixth in state history, a remarkable number considering that only dates to 2000 and also comes from an all-boys school. The school represents the gold standard in boys soccer, tennis and volleyball, not to mention three straight titles in track and field from 2023 through 25, a boys golf crown in 2025 and recent wins in football and basketball.
6. Kimberly
Perhaps it's best known for a football program that won 70 straight games and five straight state titles, but Kimberly's excellence has extended to other sports over the years, including a notable run in girls basketball, as well as softball and boys track and field.
7. Homestead (Mequon)
The North Shore school has been racking up championships since the 1970s and 1980s, with more recent conquests in girls tennis, football and girls soccer. The Highlanders just won the Division 1 title in boys track and field.
8. Muskego
The school has 30 state titles, and only one of those pre-date the year 2005. The school has cultivated championship-level success in gymnastics, football, girls cross country and a recent run in girls soccer that includes four straight state titles heading into this weekend's state tournament, with five in the past six years.
9. Bay Port
The Green Bay-area school has nine state titles in team sports, including girls hockey and football most recently.
10. Pewaukee
Known as the school that produced the Watt brothers, Pewaukee has indeed enjoyed some football success, but it's been even more prolific on the state-title front in boys basketball and girls cross country. Outside of two volleyball titles in the 1970s, all of Pewaukee's 15 state titles have come since the turn of the century.
Others on the list
- Middleton
- Whitefish Bay
- Sun Prairie East
- Brookfield East
- Verona
- Brookfield Central
- Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee)
- Franklin
- St. Mary's Springs (Fond du Lac)
- Xavier (Appleton)
- Amherst
- Plymouth
- Slinger
- Notre Dame (Green Bay)
- Rice Lake
It feels worth mentioning that Middleton and Whitefish Bay have been wildly prolific on the state-title front in 2025-26, and Whitefish Bay's 89 titles are second-most in WIAA state history, with Middleton's 44 near the top 10.
Middleton won state titles this year in girls swimming, boys swimming and boys volleyball.
Whitefish Bay won both swimming crowns in Division 2, plus the boys tennis and soccer titles and crowns in both boys and girls basketball.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Which Wisconsin high schools are best for athletes? Here's one ranking