Seth Duckworth
In wrestling circles there is a routine debate surrounding the best men’s wrestling states in the country? Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio routinely tout their depth and high end talent, while states like Oklahoma and Iowa lay claim to much of the significant history in the sport and would argue that their per capita participation and talent is up there with those larger states.
Even though Texas wrestling has made some strides of late, they aren’t quite on the level of some of those powerhouse wrestling states mentioned above, at least on the men’s side.
They do however have a strong claim as the #1 women’s wrestling state.
In the most recent USA Wrestling Women’s Rankings, Texas has three female wrestlers that take the top spot, which is more than any other state in the country with the exception of California. The state has a total of 20 ranked girl’s wrestlers with eleven in the top ten.
In raw participation numbers for girls wrestling, Texas also outdoes all other states but California. Texas had a total of 4,421 girl’s wrestlers behind only California which has 6,014 according to a 2019 NFHS report. Only one other state reported having over 1,000 girl’s wrestlers at the time.
On the college level, Texas has the current best program in women’s college wrestling. Wayland Baptist University is currently ranked as the #1 NAIA program in the country, and Texas Wesleyan who is fairly new to the wrestling scene is ranked #12. Though California has a bit of an argument for the #1 state power in high school wrestling, Texas currently holds the lead at the college level.
Texas also now can also lay claim to arguably the greatest current women’s wrestler in the entire world. World Champion Tamyra Mensah-Stock beat Adeline Gray in arguably the most high profile domestic American women’s wrestling match of all time. Gray is a five-time World Champion and Stock went up a weight to take the match. Tamyra hales from Katy, Texas and competed collegiately at Wayland Baptist University.
Wrestling in Texas on the men’s side is still growing and developing, but the women’s wrestling in Texas has a strong argument for being the best in the country.
NATIONAL GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS
Developed by USA Wrestling, Flowrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Released December 3, 2020
100 pounds
17. Olivia DeGeorgio, junior, Conroe, Texas, Woodlands College Park High School (17 at 100)
106 pounds
12. Kaycie Tanimoto, senior, Fort Worth, Texas, Keller Central High School (10 at 106)
112 pounds
1. Samara Chavez, senior, Arlington, Texas, Arlington Martin High School (1 at 112)
7. Alexis Hanks, sophomore, Killeen, Texas, Killeen Ellison High School (5 at 112)
117 pounds
18. Ashley Morris, senior, Spring, Texas, Klein Collins High School (17 at 117)
122 pounds
17. Tabitha Wood, senior, Frisco, Texas, Frisco Independence High School (20 at 122)
19. Sydney Harper, senior, Hurst, Texas, Euless Trinity High School (18 at 122)
21. Alexis Montes, sophomore, El Paso, Texas, Eastwood High School (24 at 122)
132 pounds
2. Devin Patton, senior, Plano, Texas, Coppell High School (3 at 132)
25. Mikayla Wallace, senior, League City, Texas, Clear Falls High School (NR)
138 pounds
9. Madison Sandquist, senior, Humble, Texas, Kingwood Park High School (8 at 138)
15. Aubrey Yauger, junior, Burleson, Texas, Centennial High School (14 at 138)
144 pounds
8. Avery Beckman, freshman, Friendsville, Texas, Friendswood High School (19 at 152)
9. Sage Benca, junior, New Braunfels, Texas, Comal Smithson Valley High School (18 at 144)
152 pounds
10. Leilani Hernandez, senior, Coppel, Texas, Plano West High School (9 at 152)
164 pounds
10. Haley Wilcox, senior, Euless, Texas, Euless Trinity High School (12 at 164)
180 pounds
3. Brittyn Corbishley, senior, The Woodlands, Texas, College Park High School (3 at 180)
22. Emma Lozada, senior, Princeton, Texas, Princeton High School (24 at 180)
200 pounds
1. Hannah Francis, senior, Coppell, Texas, Coppell High School (5 at 200)
225 pounds
1. Traeh Haynes, senior, Cibolo, Texas, Steele High School (1 at 225)
