Baylor wrestlers Balint Rendessy '24, Jacob Bond '25, Hunter Sturgill '25, Grady Joyner '24, Nate Askew '25, Oliver Phillips '26, and Owen Rose '25.
photo by Raider Recap
For the second time in school history and first since the 2019-2020 season, Baylor wrestling has been recognized as one of the nation's best, earning a slot in the "Fab 50" Team Rankings by Intermat Wrestling/MatScouts. Baylor is currently holding down the #41 slot amongst the nation's best. En route to earning their ranking, Baylor wrestlers won their seventh Prep Slam XVI in Atlanta in December, placed second out of 50 teams at the Southern Slam in Greenville, S.C., and finished third in the 93-team field at the Kansas City Stampede.
Perhaps most impressive this season, however, was Baylor's 27th place finish at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman outside of Cleveland, Ohio, which is considered the toughest in[1]season high school wrestling tournament in the country. In doing so, Baylor outplaced six top-50 nationally ranked teams, and Indiana University-bound senior Matt Hart, with a seventh-place finish, became Baylor's second Ironman placewinner since the program was first invited to the prestigious event in 2020. In the accompanying Wals.
To kick off the 2023-2024 season, the Baylor grapplers travelled to Greenville, S.C. for the Southern Slam tournament, which included state championship teams from Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama, making it one of the southeast region's toughest events. Baylor's runner-up finish was anchored by titles from juniors Hunter Sturgill and Max Norman and sophomore Titus Norman. At the Kansas City Stampede tournament, the boys placed third out of 75 teams, most of which hailed from states west of the Mississippi, such Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska. Hunter Sturgill and Max Norman became Stampede champions, and Ryleigh Sturgill earned a third-place finish in the girls division.
Over Christmas Break, en route to a seventh Baylor Prep Slam team title, Hunter Sturgill and Max Norman again reached the top of the podium and were joined by sophomore Oliver Phillips and senior Matt Hart as tournament titlists. In addition to their national ranking, the Baylors wrestlers have also topped the Tennessee High School Wrestling Poll this season. Now in its 31st year, the poll is primarily a measure of dual meet strength with some consideration to individual tournament strength. Votes are cast by a statewide panel of high school wrestling coaches and are based on a maximum Power Ranking of 132. "Our hard work has paid off so far as we have had some success at national individual tournaments," said head coach Rex Kendle. "We now turn our focus towards the dual meet season, and we know we still have a lot of work to do. Rankings are nice and offer validation of our hard work, but we know they are simply other people's perceptions and hold little value. We have a target on our back after winning the last five state championships, and we are excited to defend our title."
Baylor's nationally acclaimed program currently has won 19 team state titles in traditional competitions and 32 team state titles overall with duals championships included. Both are state records. Last year Baylor had three state qualifiers for the girls wrestling D-II traditional state meet, and Vivi Christopoulos '23 made history for bringing home the first state title for girls wrestling.