Clinton wrestlers bring experience, fresh talent into 2026 season
Clinton’s Jordan Smith, a 175-pound wrestler, competes against Hardin Valley Academy during the 2025 season. A returning state qualifier, Smith brings valuable experience and leadership to the Dragons’ wrestling program as they prepare for the 2026-27 season. (photo:Tony Cox )
And that doesn’t count a strong incoming freshman class, according to Head Coach Carl Nielsen, now in his second year at the helm.
Meanwhile, the Lady Dragons are starting fresh — literally — as they rebuild their program with an all-freshman team.
Boys team
“We have several seniors,” Nielsen said. “As far as my full lineup, we’re starting wrestle-offs this week and next week, so nothing’s going to really be set in stone at all the weights.
“But among our big returning wrestlers, we have senior Jordan Smith up at 175, a state qualifier last season; senior Adam Gonzalez, he’ll be at 165; and we have a sophomore, Hayden Duriat, who went to state last year at 113 as a freshman, and he’ll probably be going up to 126 this year as a sophomore.
“I have a good feeling about a junior, Keenan Hoskins,” Nielsen said. “I’m not exactly sure what weight he’s going to go. If I had to make a good guess, he’ll probably eventually get to 138. He may start the season at 144.
“He’s working his way down right now,” the coach added. “I have high hopes for him. He was one match away from going to state last year. Same for Adam (at 157 last year). He was one match away from going to state. So we have high hopes for both of them.”
Another wrestler Nielsen hopes will make a postseason push is junior heavyweight Bryson Breeden, whose sophomore season was cut short by an injury.
“We also had a pretty good heavyweight last year. He was a sophomore. He was injured late in the season and wasn’t able to wrestle. Had he not been injured, I’m pretty sure he would’ve done really well.
“Junior Bryson Breeden, he’s still a heavyweight. I’m hoping he stays healthy this year. I think he has a real good shot of qualifying for state. He’s been doing well so far this year.
“We have another kid who went to sectionals as a freshman. I think he was a match away from placing at sectionals, Emanuel Rangel. He will be a sophomore this year. Whether he goes 132 or goes down to 119 or wins wrestle-offs at 126, we’ll see.”
Other names to watch include Tucker Nielsen, Aaron Solberg, Jake Brown, Tucker Brown, Liston Hoskins, Jonah Hoskins, Connor Lemmon, Marshon Matthews, Lukas Holifield, Nathan Black, Jeffrey Hatmaker, Kolton Leinart, Spencer Smith, Boston Ollis, Anthony Odell, Bradon Morgan, Kyle Morgan, Jaxon Byrd and Jakoby Carden.
Girls team
While the boys return experienced wrestlers, Clinton’s girls program will feature an entirely new lineup.
“We also have several freshmen coming in this season. I have a really, really big freshman squad coming in, which is really fun and exciting for the future,” Nielsen said.
“And another fun thing is we actually had some girls come in, some freshman girls who are just recently interested,” he added. “So we have about four or five freshman girls coming in, and they’ve never done wrestling, so we’re trying to get them up to speed. We’ll see how that goes and where that takes us.
“But none returning.”
Sophie Stainback, Charlene Sandlin, Daisy White, Oakleigh Walsh and Isabell Alverson are among the names to watch.
“It’ll be kind of a growing year and maybe seeing if we can get something started up and teach these girls a little bit about wrestling and see where that takes us,” Nielsen said.
“November is to kind of get us ironed out in the right spots, and we’re excited for that. I’m looking forward to a really good season.”
Tyler Ficken serves as Clinton’s assistant coach.