The private school portion of Texas high school wrestling featured back-to-back tournaments in Houston.
The Prep State Championship was held Feb. 7 at St. John’s School in Houston. The following weekend, TAPPS held its state meet at Bay Area Christian School in League City on Feb. 14 — the same day UIL held its championships, along with 2026 National Prep Wrestling Championships on Feb 20-21.
Both meets featured teams from all portions of the Lone Star State.
Four wrestlers took home championships in both events and three others were first in one and second in the other.
All Saints Episcopal School in Fort Worth saw Brodie Bedford and TC Wills win first in both. Houston St. Thomas’ Grant Hay and Dallas Bishop Lynch’s Asher Wheatley were the other two.
Houston St. Thomas’ Behzod Rakhmatov and Jet Rank and Dallas First Baptist Academy’s Carter Cox were all second at Prep State and won the TAPPS title.
Texas Prep State Championships
St. John’s, the host school, won the Prep State Championship with 214 points. Houston St. Thomas was next with 181 and Bishop Lynch was third with 160.
Hay, a junior, won the 157-pound title with a pin in 3:37 against Jackson Barnes from Dallas St. Mark’s School of Texas. Hay improved to 40-7 with the title.
Bedford won his 3rd straight Prep State title with a 6-0 win over Oliver Loehr from St. Mark’s. Bedford won at 157 the past two years and was second as a freshman.
Wills won at 190 pounds with a 14-4 major decision against Thomas Dunlap from Houston Episcopal. Wheatley (285) pinned Deacon Morgan from Houston Episcopal at the 3-minute mark.
Other champions
106 — Jovanni Escobar, Houston St. John’s School, 47-4
113 — Ferris Gottlich, Dallas St. Mark’s School of Texas
120 — Herny Evans, Houston The Kinkaid School
126 — Alex Choo, Houston St. John’s School, 40-4
132 — Garrett Clark, The Kinkaid School
138 — Xavier Trigo, San Antonio Cornerstone Christian School, 29-7
144 — Braden Lane, St. John’s School, 41-6
150 — Henry Haufrect, St. John’s School, 41-4
165 — Xavier Stoops, San Antonio Cornerstone Christian School, 42-6
215 — Madden Morgan, Houston Episcopal, 47-8
TAPPS Texas State Tournament
Bedford capped off his career at the TAPPS level with 3 titles in 3 tries — an injury suffered at Prep State kept him out of TAPPS state his freshman season.
The senior beat Andrew Noack from Bishop Lynch by a 20-5 tech fall. Bedford was 17-3 in high school competition this year.
“Honestly, I felt super confident about this year,” he said. “My past years, I’ve had some tough matches, especially my finals matches, but this year, I felt super confident in the wrestler I am and the wrestler I am becoming. I think it’s been pretty fun to see myself widen the gap (between other wrestlers).”
Growing up in a gym and around a wrestling family — his parents own Spartan Mat Club in Fort Worth — he saw others with the dream to win multiple titles in high school. He did it himself.
He won two TAPPS titles at 165.
This year, he wrestled in a handful of open college tournaments, posting a 17-5 mark. Brodie also wrestled in the 2026 National Prep Wrestling Championships earning a 7th place finish at 175lbs.
All 3 of his high school losses were to out-of-state foes: two from Oklahoma at the 81st Geary Invitational and another from the Baylor School in Tennessee.
Hay won 157 with a pin against Nate Pike from Bay Area Christian School with 8 seconds left in the match. Wills needed 1:04 to pin Keaton Hall from Bay Area Christian School in the 190-pound finals.
Wheatley completed his state sweep with a pin in 3:43 against Italo Chavaria-Mendez from Houston St. Thomas.
Houston St. Thomas won the team title with 237 1/2 points, followed by Bay Area Christian in second with 201 points and Dallas Bishop Lynch took third with 186 points.
Other champions
106 — Mason Shields, Houston St. Francis Episcopal, 18-12
113 — Kane Preskitt, Dallas Bishop Lynch
120 — Pierce Ritchey, Houston St. Thomas 39-7
126 — Behzod Rakhmatov, Houston St. Thomas, 40-6
132 — Jackson Vaughn, Houston St. Thomas, 19-12
138 — Marc Davila, Dallas Bishop Lynch
144 — Kamden Nugent, Dallas First Baptist Academy
150 — Carter Cox, Dallas First Baptist Academy
165 — Jet Rank, Houston St. Thomas, 49-5
215 — Carter Murphy, Bay Area Christian School, 36-7
