Wrestlers Shine at District

This story is dedicated to the Stockon family; wrestling head coach Austin Stockon, his wife Lauren and newborn baby girl Charlee Mae.

On Wednesday, Feb. 2, a large winter storm pushed across the state of Texas bringing ice and snow to the roads and shutting down the greater metroplex. This created an issue for the Aledo wrestling program, as it was due in Lubbock the following days for the district meet at Estacado High School.

Luckily, the team was able to drive to Lubbock on Wednesday and beat the storm that actually prevented another school, Brewer High School, from attending the meet. On top of that, head coach Austin Stockon was unable to travel with the team. At the same time the team left for Lubbock, Stockon’s wife Lauren gave birth to the couple’s first child, daughter Charlee Mae.

Stockon was expecting to miss the district meet, which was to start Friday afternoon and conclude Saturday. However, due to Brewer High not being present, the coaches met and decided to delay the meet and complete the entire event on Saturday. Stockon’s wife and child were discharged from the hospital Friday afternoon, and he soon was on the road to Lubbock.

On Saturday morning, Stockon surprised his wrestlers when he walked into the gym to lead his program. Before the meet even started, Elizabeth McCarley already qualified for the regional meet due to only four wrestlers being in her weight class. Officially, McCarley is the first Aledo wrestler to be a regional qualifier.

Throughout the day, the wrestlers battled hard and when all was said and done, five boys qualified for the regional tournament.

In the 113 weight class, Chad Thomas got off to a great start, defeating his counterpart from Springtown. After falling to the eventual district champion, Thomas won his final two matches to take third place.

Up a few weight classes, team captain and the student responsible for starting the program, Cole Bohnen won his first bout against a wrestler from Estacado High. This victory proved to be what ended up allowing him to qualify. After dropping his next two bouts, Bohnen defeated his counterpart from Lubbock Cooper, putting him in