HUNTINGTON – The state wrestling championships came down to the wire in Division I in Huntington on Saturday.
It didn’t matter in the end, as top-ranked University High captured its third consecutive state championship with a team total of 246 points, 11 points ahead of second-place Parkersburg.
It was the fourth state championship overall for UHS, which won its first state wrestling championship in 1956. The Hawks now join a list that includes just Parkersburg South, Parkersburg and John Marshall as large state high schools that have won at least three state championships in a row.
After two and a half days of competition, UHS entered Saturday’s championship final round with 230.5 points, 15.5 points ahead of Parkersburg, which sat second with 215.0.
Fittingly, each school qualified six wrestlers for the championship finals.
Entering the finals for the Hawks were Jacob Hensley (126), Nico Maisel (144), Jason Walker (150), Max Vitale (157), Maximus Fortier (175), and Emerson Murphy (190).
The Big Reds saw Aiden Linko (106), Austin Carrodus (113), Seth Drennen (120), Stephen Myers (138), Colston Skeen (144), and Dominic Way (157) battling for a state championship.
Linko and Drennen each earned decision victories at 106 and 120, earning four points each to their team’s total score (223.0), but Carrodus came up empty at 113, falling to Huntington’s Sawyer Bond by a single point, 5-4.
That kept the Hawks’ lead at 7.5 points. Hensley, a freshman who took over the starting role at 126 due to an injury to the wrestler ahead of him in January, fell short of the state title to Washington senior Kai Plinski.
Up next was Parkersburg junior Stephen Myers against Bridgeport freshman Tyler Mason. Myers delivered for the Big Reds with a pin in the second period, earning the state title at 138 and six points for his team, increasing their total to 229.0, 1.5 points behind UHS.
Maisel and Skeen then squared off in one of two championship bouts between the two schools at 144 pounds.
Maisel pulled ahead early in the second period and held on late to come away with an 8-6 decision over Skeen, earning his first state championship after finishing second at 132 pounds in 2025, and four massive points toward the Hawks’ team total.
Walker then earned a victory via pinfall in the 150-pound title match, pushing the Hawks’ team total to 240.5.
With Parkersburg sitting at 229.0 and only having one wrestler remaining in the final round, Walker’s victory sealed the third straight state championship for the Hawks.
Even with Dominic Way’s pinfall victory over Vitale in the 157-pound bout, the difference was too great as UHS claimed its third consecutive state championship.
Fortier, a Virginia Tech commit, won the state title at 175 pounds with a 16-1 technical fall over Rowan Dunham of Huntington.
Emerson Murphy fell to Parkersburg South’s Jesse Adams by major decision to end the night.
The Hawks’ 2026 senior class achieved placements of 2nd in 2023 and 1st in 2024, 2025, and this season.
