This season’s team is full of great wrestlers. On the girls’ side you have strong wrestlers like Madison Carroll and Camdyn Elliot, on the boys you have Leyton Collazo and Micheal Hovis, among others.
“We’re a great team built on core principles of executing, fearlessness, faith, effort, competition, and trust,” says senior Beaux Harris.
Starting strong, the team opened the season with two big wins in Enterprise (48-28) and Prattville (51-28). Next, the team went to the Border Wars and placed 2nd overall with 3 championship wins and four 2nd place achievements. Then our wrestlers competed in the Ryan Blackwell Invitational (Boys) and Queen of the South (Girls) where both teams did exceedingly well.
In the Queen of the South, wrestler Madison Carroll was champion in her weight division.
“It was a tough tournament, and it felt great to come out on top. I ended up winning a crown and got to sit in the throne after wrestling my finals match on a big stage,” she says when asked what her favorite moment of the season was.
As the season continued, we got to see our Dolphins dominate the wrestling world, especially in tournaments like Beast of the Beach, where the boys’ team went above and beyond despite some of them being bumped up a weight bracket. Other notable tournaments were the Gulf Shores Scuffle where the Boys Varsity Team placed 2nd overall and the 2026 District Duals Championship with the boys’ team earning a 2nd place again.
Just this past weekend, our girls team made waves at the Ryan Blackwell Invitational with a 2nd place overall win alongside the boys JV team where several wrestlers earned themselves a 1st place. The varsity boys traveled to Baton Rouge and took home a 3rd and 5th place out of a 64-man bracket.
As the season comes to a close, and districts and regionals are on the horizon, our teams are working harder than ever.
“This year I’ve been working to improve my mindset,” says Madison Carroll. “I’ve had bad days where I put too much pressure on myself or don’t believe I can go to practice or do the extra work and make excuses. In the long run I only ended up harming my performance by thinking like this… My key phrase that brings me back is saying: I can, I am, I will. By working on my mind everything else can, and will, follow.”
The girls’ wrestling team defeated Niceville on senior night 29-27, with winning matches for the Dolphins from Madison Carroll, Carrie Essary, Camdyn Elliot, Addy Fowls, and Sophie Collazo. The boys’ team fell short, but picking up wins were Michael Hovis, Garret Ferguson, Ryder Cohen, Ryker Hicks, and Leyton Collazo.
Our wrestling teams are great examples of how hard work pays off. They have fought hard and won big, and, hopefully, will continue to do so as the season raps up.