Aledo has strong showing at state

Brady Powell ended his Aledo High wrestling career with a 2-2 record at the Class 5A State Tournament.

Piper Wheeler was the first girl from Aledo to qualify for state. She went 2-2 at the tournament.

Charles Anderson, a freshman, won 40 matches and advanced to the Class 5A State Tournament for the Bearcats.

Previous Next

Every Aledo competitor posted at least one victory. And in each, the wrestler who eliminated them either won or finished second in the consolation bracket.

“We’re proud of how our athletes competed at the state tournament,” Aledo coach Ben Shaw said. “We had two athletes wrestle on day two and finish in the top eight in the state, which is a big accomplishment, and all three athletes who wrestled at state were able to win matches. They competed hard, handled the moment well, and represented Aledo the right way on a very big stage.”

Senior Brady Powell ended his Bearcat career by going 2-2 at state. Competing in the 190-pound weight class, he opened with a 13-2 major decision victory before dropping a 17-6 major decision.

In the consolation bracket, Powell posted a victory by fall at the 2 minutes, 42 second point in the match. His tourney ended with a narrow 2-1 loss to Melissa’s Johnny Lastinger, who went on to win the consolation trophy.

Powell ended his season with a 39-16 record.

Following up on her history-making performance at regionals, freshman Piper Wheeler - the first girl ever to qualify for state for Aledo - also went 2-2 at state. Also competing in the 190 division, she began with a victory by fall at the 1:56 mark, then lost in a 4-2 decision.

In the consolation bracket, she again won by fall in two minutes before losing by a fall in 57 seconds to eventual consolation winner Gabriel Knight of Comal Smithson Valley.

Wheeler’s final season record was 18-9.

In the boys 126 weight class, another freshman, Charles Anderson, started out of the gates by winning a 13-5 decision before falling in a 4-0 decision. In his opening consolation match he lost a 4-3 contest to Leonel Lopez of North Mesquite, the eventual consolation runner-up.

Anderson’s final record this season was 40-8.

Cam Becera was a state alternate for the Bearcats in the 285 division.

“Looking at the season, it was an outstanding year for our program. We set a lot of program records and really established the standard for what we want Aledo wrestling to be,” Shaw said. “We had multiple team titles, brought home two district team trophies, qualified 21 athletes to regionals, and sent four athletes to the state tournament.

“The growth we saw throughout the year, both in results and in our culture, is something we’re proud of.

“As far as graduation goes, we’ll be graduating three starters on the boys’ side and one on the girls’ side, but we return a strong group and are excited about the direction of the program.”