BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
HUNTSVILLE — Wrestlers from Lee County and Chambers County travelled to the Von Braun Center in Huntsville for the AHSAA state wrestling tournament on Feb. 12-14.
Individually, Beauregard High School senior Parker Von Noy (56-0) won the 5A 113-pound state championship in style by winning by fall in just 17 seconds. According to an AHSAA press release, it was one of the fastest championship match pins in state history. This year’s undefeated season follows his 2024-2025 campaign where he won the 5A 106-pound state championship and finished with a 54-4 record.
Von Noy now leaves behind a storied legacy with two other seniors in particular — Brody Edwards and Reese Thorn — that BHS head wresting coach and athletic director Wade Thorn praised, calling them the “godfathers” of the school’s wrestling program.
“[Von Noy] surrounds himself with those kind of guys who are state champion and college wrestling-style guys, and he trains with them year-round,” Thorn said. “When you do that year-round, the work is going to pay off.”
In addition to Von Noy and Edwards, the Hornets qualified four other boys and two girls to the state tournament. With a broad range of wrestlers who have signed college wrestling scholarships, state qualifiers and placers, runners-up and state champions over the years, this season was the culmination of years of effort.
“It speaks volumes, we started the program 13 years ago with 11 kids on it,” Thorn said. “It’s really made a statement for Beauregard, being a 5A Lee County school.”
Five other area wrestlers also won individual state championships.
At the team level, several area schools managed to place in the top 10.
The highest overall finish went to the Auburn High School girls’ wrestling team, which came in third place with 66.5 points in the Class 6A/7A tournament.
In Class 7A, the AHS boys’ wrestling team finished in seventh place with 88.5 points, while the Smiths Station High School boy’s wrestling team finished in eighth place with 82.5 points.
The BHS boys’ wrestling team, spearheaded by Von Noy, finished in seventh place with 44.5 points in the Class 5A tournament.
Here is how individual local wrestlers performed at the state tournament:
Boys’ Wrestling
- 5A 113 lbs. — Beauregard’s Parker Van Noy (56-0) won the first-place match by fall (0:17) over Hayden’s Luke Mclaughlin (32-14).
- 5A 138 lbs. — Beauregard’s Brody Edwards (36-4) lost the first-place match by fall (3:12) to Arab’s Colby Silva (36-4).
- 7A 120 lbs. — Smiths Station’s Eli Sanders (47-1) won the first-place match by 7-0 decision over Oak Mountain’s Griffin Gardner (50-8).
- 7A 144 lbs. — Auburn’s Lewis Miller (51-6) won the first-place match by fall (5:45) over Vestavia Hills’ Charles Noto (21-5).
- 7A 165 lbs. — Auburn’s Maciej Paszek (39-5) lost the first-place match by 4-2 decision to Huntsville’s Bo Reynolds (34-2).
- 7A 215 lbs. — Smiths Station’s Xerxes Ellison (45-2) lost the first-place match by fall (1:25) to Thompson’s Wyatt Carroll (28-6).
Girls’ Wrestling
- 6A/7A 100 lbs. — Auburn’s Cheyenne Penn (48-3) won the first-place match by fall (0:28) over Daphne’s Payton Carpenter (37-12).
- 6A/7A 107 lbs. — Auburn’s Molly Seidman (42-1) won the first-place match by fall (1:22) over Saraland’s Paola Alvarez (31-10).
- 6A/7A 114 lbs. — Opelika’s Gabrielle Reese (38-2) lost the first-place match by a 7-2 decision to Grissom’s Jessalynn Allen (19-2).
- 6A/7A 235 lbs. — Auburn’s Caroline Cerro (29-7) lost the first-place match by fall (3:20) to Gulf Shores’ Khloe Henshaw (32-0).
Honorable Mentions
- 1A-4A boys’ 138 lbs. — Beulah’s Harry Grant finished in third place.
- 1A-4A boys’ 190 lbs. — Beulah’s Jason Hood finished in fourth place.
- 7A boys’ 113 lbs. — Auburn’s Connor Boos finished in fourth place.
- 7A boys’ 126 lbs. — Auburn’s Noah Krauss finished in fifth place.
- 7A boys’ 157 lbs. — Smiths Station’s Tristan Cliatt finished in fifth place.
- 7A boys’ 190 lbs. — Smith Station’s Amari Allen finished in fourth place.
- 1A-5A girls’ 114 lbs. — Valley’s Gabrielle Rudd finished in fourth place.
