If you dive into the tournament results across both Texas and out-of-state you will notice that a lot of the top wrestlers in Texas this year are freshmen. The influx of young talented wrestlers into high school is a tribute to the growth of wrestling in Texas at the youth levels and to the high level coaches at the clubs that are training and developing the next generation of wrestlers. Every year recently there are impact freshmen who enter high school ready to compete for a State title right away (Isaac Arevalo and Hunter Bogner in 2022, Mikey Ruiz and Jubilee Rendon in 2023) (Nathan Reilly, Cayden Campbell, Landri Von Gonten, and Kailin Sebert in 2024) ( Izayiah Chavez, Addison Hunt, Hailey Delgado, Lucy Clarno, and Charles Alvarez in 2025). This year’s freshman class is another extremely talented and highly decorated class with multiple contenders making their presence felt. There are a large number of Top 15 ranked freshmen and quite a few top 5 ranked freshmen looking to make their mark early in their high school careers.
Melissa and Dumas lead the way in 5A boys with 3 top 15 ranked boys each. Melissa is led by highly touted and current #1 ranked wrestlers Vinny Ferrari and Maddox Fields as well as #5 ranked Max Pierce (this last name should be familiar with TX high school wrestling followers) .
Dumas also has three high impact freshmen starting with #2 Connor Smith, # 10 Colton Bogner ( familiar last name here as well), and #15 Ezekiel Castillo .
Azle leads the pack in 5A girls with 3 top 5 ranked and 4 in the top 15 freshmen in #2 Zalynn Woods, #4 Austen Smith, #4 Mackenzie Harris, and #11 ranked Sage Mosier.
6A Allen boys team has another bumper crop of freshmen in #1 Oliver Pulliam, #9 Cohen Olsen, and Josh Brooks (top 10 talent but stuck behind 3 state champions at 126#, 132#, and 138#).
The 6A girls have a huge number of highly skilled freshmen in the Houston area led by Cibolo Steele with 2 freshmen in the Top 10 with #3 Cameron Hodge and #8 Vada McCubbin.
We have listed some of the outstanding freshmen that are making an impact this year below and they could all compete for a spot on the podium at the UIL wrestling state tournament in February.
Maddox Fields – Melissa 126# Freshman
5A Freshmen
Boys
Vinny Ferrari – #1 at 132#
Maddox Fields – #1 at 126#
Connor Smith – Dumas #2 at 106#
Max Pierce – #5 at 285#
Charles Anderson – Aledo – #7 at 126
Colton Bogner – Dumas – #10 at 132#
Graham Carson – Frisco Heritage – #11 at 113#
Jesus Ramos – El Paso Bel Air – #12 at 106#
Miguel Sandoval – Amarillo Caprock- #14 at 113#
Jax Zamarripa – Comal Davenport – #14 at 138#
Ezekiel Castillo – Dumas – #15 at 113#
Girls
Zalynn Woods – Azle – #2 at 130#
Austen Smith – Azle – #4 at 110#
Mackenzie Harris – Azle – #4 at 120#
Lillian McHam – Canyon Randall – #7 at 100#
Sage Mosier – Azle – #11 at 125#
Haleigh Bodin – Anna – #11 at 155#
Julisa Diaz – Lubbock Liberty Cooper – # 12 at 105#
Mikayela Valdez – Amarillo Caprock – #13 at 100#
Darlene Rosales – Fort Worth South Hills – # 14 at 190#
Milena Prole- Aledo – #15 at 115#
6A Freshmen
Boys
Oliver Pulliam – Allen – #1 at 120#
Mason Millsaps – College Park – #2 at 132#
Ashton Gonzales – Northwest Nelson – #6 at 138#
Hassan Shamkhi – Arlington Martin – #8 at 165#
Cohen Olsen – Allen – #9 at 157#
Liam Bentley – Arlington Martin #9 at 126#
Angel Gutierrez – Katy Cinco Ranch – #10 at 106#
Rudy Henninger – Austin Vandergrift – #10 at 120#
Andrew Rodriguez – Houston Westside – #12 at 106#
Miguel Rueda – El Paso Franklin – #13 at 106#
Tristyn Ulloa – San Antonio Johnson – # 15 at 138#
Brady Knadler – San Antonio Reagan – #15 at 106#
Aaron Rodriguez – Houston Westside – #15 at 113#
Girls
Cameron Hodge – Cibolo Steele – #3 at 110#
Emma Jimenez – Waller – #3 at 115#
Brynlee Mooney – Conroe The Woodlands – #4 at 105#
Isabella Allen – Conroe Grand Oaks – #6 at 105#
Vada McCubbin – Cibolo Steele – #8 at 100#
Xariah Sandoval – Wolforth Frenship – #12 at 105#
Francisca Araya Rojas – Katy Mayde Creek – #12 at 130#
Giuliana Rios – College Park – #13 at 105#
Kylie Keach – Rockwall Heath – #14 at 125#
The accolades for this outstanding group of freshmen boys and girls were too long to list, but they are sure to turn heads and make waves in the postseason this year. Best of luck to these young stars and all of the Texas wrestlers who aspire to stand on the podium this year.
Article written by the wrestling fans at txtakedown.com
