ASHLAND — The 2026 portion of the Ashland area’s high school wrestling slate is kicking off with some massive achievements already in the bag for local athletes.
The Ashland boys – ranked among the best squads in Division I once again – headed into Christmas with some huge momentum after placing second out of 54 teams in the North Canton Hoover Holiday Tournament.
Individually, head coach Tommy Bauer’s squad also collected a trio of 100-match winners in the early portion of this season, including senior Budda Martin and juniors Mason Bauer and Guardian Miller.
At Mapleton, senior Skylar Hopstetter collected a massive area milestone when she reached her 100th career victory during a tournament at Avon Lake in early December.
With high school girls wrestling booming in popularity, Hopstetter is believed to be the first girl in Ashland-area history to hit triple-digit wins.
Also grabbing headlines has been Crestview junior Naomi Gearheart. The two-time state placer is ranked No. 1 in Ohio at 145 pounds in Division III on dubstat.com and her third-place finish at the Ironman Wrestling Tournament opened eyes as well.
She’s already cleared 80 career wins and helps lead a pack of numerous area grapplers to keep track of this season.
Here’s a peek at some more highlights and information to note as locals dig in for the stretch run.
Ashland boys
Coach Bauer and his squad have steadily placed themselves in the conversation as one of the best programs in Ohio in recent years, regardless of division.
The Arrows finished 16th in Division I at state last season behind Mason Bauer (third place at 126) and Miller (fourth at 144), and they have loaded up on depth yet again.
Heading into this weekend’s J.C. Gorman Invitational, Ashland is ranked No. 10 in Division I at borofan.net and has seven matmen ranked individually.
Bauer (20-0, fifth at 138) and Miller (18-2, fifth at 150) lead that charge, but closely behind them are returning state qualifiers Martin (19-2, seventh at 285) and junior Max Ohl (17-3, seventh at 120).
Also listed for Ashland are senior Talon Boyd (19-3, eighth at 165), sophomore Tyson Mateo (19-2, 11th at 106) and junior Isaak Wickham (5-0, 13th at 132).
Impressively – if they’re able to remain healthy – coach Bauer said Ohl, Boyd and Wickham all could reach the 100-win milestone for their careers later this season.
Six guys hitting that mark in one season likely would be a record for the area, but it should be no surprise to folks who have followed Bauer’s program.
All 12 of the wrestlers on Ashland’s “Black” varsity team this season carry winning records, and the Arrows went 8-2 in mid-December at the Roughneck Duals in Findlay despite missing four weight classes.
Ashland had seven wrestlers in the championship match when it won the title in its home, season-opening Sarver Paving Invitational.
Mason Bauer paces the squad thus far in pins (17) and nearfalls (16) while Miller is tops in takedowns (89) and technical falls (7).
After the Gorman, the Arrows will hit the Marysville Duals (Jan. 10) and the Wadsworth Grizzly Invitational Tournament (Jan. 24) before a home super-quad Jan. 30 against St. Ignatius, Solon and Walsh Jesuit.
Coach Bauer said he thinks his varsity lineup should come together fully healthy by the middle of January.
Ashland girls
While the Ashland boys continue to stack up accolades, the Ashland girls also have entered the conversation as a squad to keep an eye on moving forward.
The Arrows had their first official season a year ago, when they competed as a club team that was able to perform in the OHSAA postseason.
Now, under head coach Frankie Mateo, the AHS girls have a roster of 10, including three seniors, two juniors and three freshmen.
Ashland’s first official varsity tournament came at Marengo Highland, where the girls posted five finishes inside the top six. Junior Gracen Brockett (13-0, 11 pins at 120) nabbed an individual title there and senior Isla McFrederick (11-2, 11 pins at 140) took runner-up.
Those two both are captains for the Arrows this season, along with junior Rowan Varnes (7-7, 6 pins at 110). The three also are the top-ranked AHS grapplers in Ohio for their weight classes at dubstat.com, where Brockett is 25th, McFrederick is 43rd and Varnes is 70th.
Mateo said he’s been impressed with the buy-in and progression he’s seen so far – not only from Ashland’s high school competitors, but from the middle school program as well, where the Arrows have 11 competing.
“A lot of that comes from our wrestling program as a whole,” he said. “Our coaches and parents for all levels are willing to invest time and effort in making sure each team is set up for success, which I am very grateful for.”
Ashland took second out of 15 teams in an event at West Liberty-Salem, it’s best all-around performance to date, with titles from Brockett and McFrederick.
Freshman Daisy Plank (9-6 with 9 pins at 115) has been one of the leaders among the underclassmen, and Ashland appears poised to make moves in the postseason one year after McFrederick qualified to the district tournament and Varnes was an alternate.
Crestview
As girls wrestling continues to build momentum in Ohio, no wrestler in the Ashland area has climbed up the charts more impressively than Gearheart.
The junior is 84-12 already and this season has tournament titles in events at Madison and Vermilion and a second-place effort at Avon Lake, gathering 14 pins out of her 19 wins so far.
Her aforementioned third-place finish at 145 during Walsh Jesuit’s Ironman – considered by many as the nation’s top tournament – has been the highlight this year, as Gearheart has been working with CHS girls head coach Steve Haverdill.
The Crestview boys, under first-year head coach Trent Hovis, have reeled in a second-place finish at the Maple Heights Holiday Tournament and a fourth-place effort at the Marion Elgin Invitational to highlight their start.
The Cougars returned a pair of Firelands Conference champs this year in senior Jack Stephens (7-2, 6 pins) and junior Brayden Parrigan (9-1, 8 pins), and both of them are ranked by Borofan in Division III – Parrigan seventh at 138 and Stephens eighth at 175.
Stephens is a win away from 100 for his career as Crestview heads into action at the Gorman, and CHS has another state-ranked senior in Dylan Burge (16th at 126, 4-1 so far this season).
All told, Hovis’s team has 10 matmen with winning records entering 2026. Juniors Kenneth McGregor (113) and Bronson Rose (215) both are off to solid starts at 6-1 among that group – both winning all six of their matches by pin.
Hillsdale
The steady rise in relevance for the Falcons and head coach Dan Mager has notably continued in Jeromesville.
Hillsdale had just six total wrestlers in 2023 between its high school and middle school programs and now boasts 28.
One of the big breakthroughs came earlier this season when the Falcons beat Lexington, 42-26, part of Hillsdale’s 3-0-1 record in duals so far.
Mager said his roster features eight guys who were part of the football team’s second straight run to the state championship game, so many of them are still getting reacquainted with mat action.
Heavyweight Garrett Furr – Hillsdale’s lone senior – is debuting soon after dealing with some back issues. He was one of eight Falcons to place in the top four of their weights a season ago at the Wayne County Athletic League Championships, where Hillsdale climbed to fifth as a squad.
Including Furr, five wrestlers from that group have returned this season, including sophomore Reed Mager (8-3 at 165) and juniors Jason McClure (6-4 at 138) and Colt McCoy (6-4 at 215).
Other underclassmen helping build the team’s depth are freshmen Cameron McCoy (8-1 at 113) and Bentley Denny (8-1 at 132).
Loudonville
The Redbird boys have a solid balance of experience and youth this season under head coach Ryan Thatcher as a sixth-year member of the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
Senior Brady Smith is a top returner for Loudonville after nabbing third in the KMAC a year ago. He was a fourth-place finisher at 157 at Clear Fork’s tournament in mid-December, a finish matched by senior classmate Trevor Dawson (175).
Also back for the Redbirds this winter are All-KMAC matmen Brayden Marotta (senior at 165) and Waylon Harris (sophomore).
(Detailed stats and information for the Redbird boys were unavailable at the time of publishing.)
Like Ashland, the Redbirds have installed a girls program that already is getting solid traction, with five team members – all underclassmen – being coached by David Vaughan and Zoey Eades.
Eades was a senior a year ago for LHS and the lone girl on the squad at that time. She was a 155-pound sectional champ in 2025, when she finished 32-11 as Loudonville’s first-ever girls district qualifier.
The Redbirds’ first event was the Northwestern Lady Huskies Invitational. So far, sophomore Natalya Miller and freshman Rylee Denny have collected wins for LHS.
Mapleton
The Mounties and girls head coach Carly Sue Stevens have been at the forefront of the area’s girls wrestling movement in recent years.
During the 2023-24 season, Taren Kramer and Skylar Hopstetter both broke through as local threats to make the state tournament, each winning more than 30 matches while piling up pins along the way.
Kramer won 76 matches in her career and got a victory at state last winter before graduating, and Hopstetter continues to carry the torch.
The senior now has 106 career victories, more than 70 career pins and is looking to qualify to state for a third time.
Stevens recently noted the significance of Hopstetter’s passage of the 100-win milestone.
“It is a monumental achievement – not just personally for Skylar, but for the growth and recognition of girls wrestling in our region,” Stevens said.
“Her work ethic, leadership and consistency really set the tone for what girls in this sport can accomplish.”
Hopstetter (8-1 this season) is ranked 10th at 145 on dubstat.com and the Mounties also have gotten a solid winter thus far from Sara Drake (9-5 with a team-high 7 pins).
Mapleton’s boys, meanwhile, have continued to build back up under second-year head coach Grady Kline.
The squad has just two upperclassmen in senior Will Sas (150) and junior Dalton Hildebrandt (190), but is bolstering its depth through a youth movement that includes eight total underclassmen.
Sophomore heavyweight Lukus Jenkins has led the charge for the Mounties so far. Coming off a district qualification last year, he opened his season with a weight-class crown at Smithville’s tournament and is 13-3 with 12 pins.
Jenkins also was third at a Galion tournament and is 29th in the Borofan heavyweight rankings.
His brother, sophomore Landon Jenkins (157), is also a returning district qualifier. He placed fourth at Smithville, where sophomore Cooper Gaus (144) nabbed third.
Kline said the youthful squad has embraced the challenges on its schedule so far and anticipates plenty of growth by season’s end.
