Boys state wrestling: Union Co.’s Raneys go out on top; Harrison wins 3 titles
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- Raney twins finish careers with a combined 11 state titles in 2026.
- Union County wins team title with seven individual state champions.
- Harrison County posts three champions and its best boys/co-ed finish.
When the finals of the 2026 KHSAA Boys/Co-ed State Wrestling Championships took shape, they presented the opportunity to showcase two of the state’s best wrestlers of all-time as the final matches of the day.
They did not disappoint.
Union County’s Jordyn and Jayden Raney, twin brothers committed to Oklahoma State who’ve won national and international competitions across the world, finished their high school careers with a combined 11 state titles Friday evening at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena.
After Jordyn Raney scored a 20-4 technical fall point margin against tough-as-nails Moore sophomore Santiago Gonzalez with seven seconds left in the final round, he sat for a moment, taking it in and looking across the mat to his father, Scott Raney, who was seated next to Union County co-head coach Jarvis Elam.
Jordyn Raney rose to his feet with tears in his eyes to an ovation from the Union County faithful and all who’ve appreciated the twins’ accomplishments.
No Kentucky high school wrestler had ever won six state championships. Jordyn Raney won at 106 pounds as a seventh grader, then 113, 126, 132, 138, and, finally, 150. His brother joined him at state when they were in eighth grade and has won five state titles in lighter divisions.
“I can’t even explain how I feel right now,” said Jordyn Raney, who earned the Orville Williams Outstanding Wrestler Award a year after his brother did the same. “It’s hard just wrestling six years healthy and last year, battling a bad injury and still winning, it’s unbelievable.”
The Raneys claimed two of Union County’s seven individual championships on the day as the Braves garnered their fifth team state title of Jordyn Raney’s career and state-record 17th overall.
“This year, just this team, this is the most fun I’ve ever had at any tournament in my life,” Jordyn Raney said. “This team supported me every day, training, in the room, here. This couldn’t be a more special moment. It’s just unbelievable.”
In all, 14 individual state champions were crowned at the conclusion of two days of state competition. Paducah Tilghman, the only team to knock off Union County in the last 11 years, finished second in the team standings. Harrison County had three individual champions and took third.
‘The best team that Harrison County has ever seen.’
Harrison County senior Brock Sexton and Paducah Tilghman freshman Rage Henderson have first names befitting a WWE main event, and they staged perhaps the most dramatic match of the entire state championship weekend in the 215-pound finals.
Tied 1-1 after three two-minute rounds and a one-minute sudden-victory period, Henderson got called for stalling in the first of two 30-second tiebreaker rounds to trail 2-1.
Down 3-1 after conceding Sexton’s escape from bottom position to start the second 30-second tiebreaker, Henderson was awarded two stalling penalty points as Sexton shrugged away from standing lockups.
As the wrestler who scored the first point of the match, Henderson got to choose his position for the last “ultimate tiebreaker” 30-second period. He chose the bottom position. To win, Henderson had 30 seconds to stand up and escape Sexton’s grasp.
But Sexton did not break, holding on to win 4-3 and going out as a state champion in the final match of his high school career.
“It feels amazing. It’s everything I’ve worked for this year, and it all comes down to 30 seconds. ‘Who’s tougher?’” Sexton said. “I just put it all out there, and I’m just so grateful to be here, right now.”
Earlier, Harrison County’s George Dennis won the 157 finals in a nail-biter, as well.
Tied 1-1 with 30 seconds left in the final round, Dennis took a shot at the right leg of Highlands’ Kayson White and grabbed hold at the ankle. As White tried to break free, Dennis lifted him in the air and slammed him to the mat for a 3-point takedown that clinched his third state title.
“He’s a real bully wrestler. If he gets ahead of you, he stays ahead of you, but he struggles if the match goes on, so that was the key,” Dennis said. “We’ve wrestled a lot of times and he has a really good whizzer (escape-move) where he angles his foot out, and I was thinking, ‘Not this time.’”
Harrison County’s Jackson Wells dominated his 120-pound finals to also win his third state championship. The junior piled up a technical fall margin of 16-0 just 32 seconds into the second round.
“I had some injuries set me back earlier in the season, and I missed a lot of national tournaments, but my goal was domination, just like last year,” Wells said.
With its three champs and two other medalists among 12 wrestlers at the event, Harrison County secured its best boys/co-ed state championship finish in program history.
“I told the boys, coming in, that this was an opportunity for us to solidify them as the best team that Harrison County has ever seen. And believe we did that today,” Thorobreds coach Josh Ashbrook said. “It was a collective, total team effort, all 12 guys that came here, and if you look up there, we’ve got one big family. Our cheering section was pretty full.”
Boyle County win comes down to final seconds
Johnson Central’s Dalton Matney looked to defend his 165-pound title against Boyle County’s Micah Thompson in the second finals match of the day.
It went back and forth with Matney leading 10-9 inside the last minute of the third and final round when he had to take injury time to check a right knee already a brace.
With Matney due to be in the bottom position on the restart, Thompson conceded the escape to trail 11-9, and they faced off in standing positions.
Thompson took his shot and scored a 3-point takedown with 17 seconds left in the match to win it 12-11.
“I just had to keep wrestling the whole time. I couldn’t stop,” Thompson said.
Boyle County coach Seth Allen Lucas worked some with Thompson and Matney in the offseason and described the two seniors as “best of buddies.”
“I hate it for (Matney), but love it for my guy,” Lucas said. “They were both giving the best effort that they could do to put on a show for the crowd and themselves. … They both wrestled their butts off.”
Other state champions Friday outside of Union County’s were: Conner’s Clayton Badida in a tiebreaker 2-1 win over Meade County’s Peyton Vowels at 126 pounds; Paducah Tilghman’s Ben Hall in a 13-11 win over Bullitt East’s Max Baxter at 175 pounds; and Atherton’s Colton Lewis in a second round fall against Campbell County’s Brayden Allender at 285 pounds.
‘An unbelievable performance’ by Union County
Union County continued its domination of the sport with seven state champions from the 14 divisions led by the Raneys and joined by sophomores Jackson Taylor at 106 and Peyton Fowler at 113, junior Brennen Cliffford at 132 and seniors Utah Heady at 138 and Lucas Ricketts at 190.
“Overall, it was just an unbelievable performance,” Elam said. “I was talking to a lot of our seniors and they couldn’t be more proud of how they went out. They stepped up. … It’s pretty impressive to see what this team does.”
Jayden Raney pinned his opponent in the 144-pound finals and held his emotions together a bit better than his brother. But he didn’t expect to be able to hold that over on him.
“I can say anything I want, and he could just look at me and be like, ‘Well, I’ve got six, you don’t,’” Jayden Raney said with a laugh. “I’m obviously super happy, and I’m kind of sad because it means it’s over. But, you know, I’m super pumped, and I’m glad the whole team got to experience this.”
Elam couldn’t say enough about what the Raneys have meant to the Union County program and appreciated the gesture by the KHSAA to send Jordyn Raney out as the last match of this year’s state championships.
“It truly meant a lot to him, and it meant a lot to his coaches and his family,” Elam said. “Someone in that caliber deserves it.”
2026 KHSAA Boys/Coed Wrestling State Championships
At the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena. Complete results online at khsaa.org/sports-sport-activities/winter/wrestling/.
Orville Williams Outstanding Wrestler Award: Jordyn Raney, Union County.
TEAM STANDINGS
Top 10 plus Lexington teams’ finishes.
1. Union County, 271; 2. Paducah Tilghman, 168.5; 3. Harrison County, 140; 4. Boyle County, 135.5; 5. Ryle, 117; 6. Johnson Central, 102.5; 7. Madison Central, 101; 8. Conner, 94; 8. Simon Kenton, 94; 10. Martin County High School, 85; 11. South Oldham, 78; 32. Lafayette, 31; 42. Henry Clay, 22; 76. Paul Laurence Dunbar, 5; 91. Lexington Christian, 2.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Top four finishers and top eight (medalists) from Central Kentuckians listed.
106—1. Jackson Taylor, Union County; 2. Parker Wilkens, Highlands; 3. Cody Blevins, Simon Kenton; 4. Ryker Kramer, Fort Campbell.
113—1. Peyton Fowler, Union County; 2. Kevin Lopez, Apollo; 3. Jeremy Mollett, Martin County; 4. Thomas Sang, Greenwood.
120—1. Jackson Wells, Harrison County; 2. Aiden Brinkman, Ryle; 3. Jaxson Mayberry, Union County; 4. Mason Gipson, South Oldham; 6. Kadham Alghanemi, Lafayette.
126—1. Clayton Badida, Conner; 2. Peyton Vowels, Meade County; 3. Braydan Blevins, Simon Kenton; 4. Ethan Masters, Boyle County.
132—1. Brennen Clifford, Union County; 2. Jackson Stoner, Daviess County; 3. Cordion Abernathy, Conner; 4. Corban Nance, Anderson County; 5. Cullen White, Boyle County.
138—1. Utah Heady, Union County; 2. Ryan Smith, Johnson Central; 3. Mat Wasson, Harrison County; 4. Luke Cornwell, Ryle; 6. Blake Murdock, Great Crossing.
144—1. Jayden Raney, Union County; 2. Jaylin Bellamy, Paducah Tilghman; 3. James Morris, Johnson Central; 4. Kalob Wise, Moore; 6. Chance Mills, Madison Central.
150—1. Jordyn Raney, Union County; 2. Santiago Gonzalez, Moore; 3. Chase Gillum, Boyd County; 4. Judah Carey, Boyle County; 5. Gavyn Kinley, Madison Central; 8. Juan Ramirez, Scott County.
157—1. George Dennis, Harrison County; 2. Kayson White, Highlands; 3. Kaygen Roberts, Boyle County; 4. Emory Dix, Madison Central.
165—1. Micah Thompson, Boyle County; 2. Dalton Matney, Johnson Central; 3. Tony Leader, Boyd County; 4. Noah Crisp, Ryle; 6. Karsyn Sumpter, Harrison County.
175—1. Ben Hall, Paducah Tilghman; 2. Max Baxter, Bullitt East; 3. Owen Lamer, Taylor County; 4. Tyler Hillebrandt, Oldham County.
190—1. Lucas Ricketts, Union County; 2. Carson Herbst, Madison Central; 3. DJ Wilson, Paducah Tilghman; 4. Riley Burton, Fern Creek.
215—1. Brock Sexton, Harrison County; 2. Rage Henderson, Paducah Tilghman; 3. Devin Allen, Dupont Manual; 4. Thorin Johnson, Wayne County; 5. Jax Crowe, Boyle County; 6. Jeffrey Temprano, Lafayette.
285—1. Colton Lewis, Atherton; 2. Brayden Allender, Campbell County; 3. Christian Brown, Cooper; 4. Maxx Escaloni, Woodford County.
This story was originally published March 1, 2026 at 11:54 AM.
