With the 2024-2025 season wrapped up, the Jesuit wrestling team can lick its wounds and celebrate its significant victories in the New Year.
The Road to States Begins – District 5-6A Championships
All the tournaments, the duels, the grueling practices all come to mere seeding in the District Championships, where the Rangers showed up and showed out, with 7 top four finishes. All top four finishers go on to regionals in Allen, and Jesuit had 7.
The best individual performance from the day was Kingston Stephens ’26, who came home with a first place finish, demolishing his competition with two tech falls and a fall to secure the gold.
Another key placer was Trevor Leap ’26, who’s second place finish came after skyrocketing through the bracket, with two falls on his way to an unfortunate defeat in the championship round. The other Rangers who placed were Owen White ’25 (5th), Dash Llana (2nd), Alex Shomin (3rd), Thomas Czuppon (5th), Noah Nicosia (3rd), Jake Daboub (3rd), Luke Bloodworth (4th), and Parker Sherman (5th).
The team itself had a day, with a third place finish overall, narrowly losing to Rockwall and Rockwall-Heath.
UIL Boys Region 2-6A Results
Jesuit went into the postseason with seven wrestlers locked in to the Allen regional tournament. However, due to sicknesses, wrestlers busting weight, and plain old not showing up, an additional two, Parker Sherman and Owen White came in to compete.
The Rangers best wrestler was predictably Kingston Stephens ’26, who fought his way to the first place match, where he would lose a narrow 9-7 decision. Still, his second place finish was enough to propel him into the State Tournament, the only Ranger Wrestler to do so.
Another notable finish was Alex Shomin, who’s 6th place result marked the second best finish for the Rangers. He got the opportunity to be an alternate at state, coming with the bus to the state tournament.
UIL 6A State Championships
While Shomin did not get a chance to compete, Kingston Stephens did. While the state tournament is full of excitement and high stakes action, it is also full of down time for the wrestlers to simply enjoy themselves in-between matches.
Immediately his tournament began with a grueling, heartbreaking loss in the first round, losing a 10-6 decision to a Keller Central wrestler. However, instead of falling to the pressure, he displayed a cool resolve, going on to bulldoze his next opponent 17-1 in a technical fall.
His next opponent did not fair much better, losing in a similar 16-1 demolition to Kingston, who now had a 2-1 record in the state tournament, and was quickly shooting up the consolation bracket for a chance to win third. After facing another wrestler and winning a narrow 5-4 victory against said foe, he would face his toughest match of the state tournament. The same Keller Central wrestler who had bested him in his first match was once again his opponent, however, Kingston remained determined, and handily beat his opponent 4-2.
After having overcome the one opponent to defeat him, he found no challenge in his third place match, winning 16-8 and securing the bronze for himself and for the school.
“It felt great, but it wasn’t any different from any other match. I just wanted to go out there and show that I belong there and have some fun” -Jr. Kingston Stephens on his 3rd place match
So there you have it, the highs and lows of postseason wrestling. Keep reading the roundup for updates and news when the season rolls back around next November.
