67 Area Wrestlers Bound for Rio Rancho — In a Sport That Leaves Nowhere to Hide

By 7:00 a.m. Friday morning, the hum will already be building inside the Rio Rancho Event Center.

Sixty-seven area wrestlers will join athletes and coaches from throughout the state as they filter through the doors before sunrise. Shoes squeak against the spaces where mats don’t cover the floor. Hoodies stay up a little longer than usual, and by 8:30, it’s weigh-ins. By 10:00, the first whistle of Session I at the 2026 Wrestling New Mexico State Championships will cut through the arena air as 19 area girls and 48 area boys leave it all on the mats.

And then the nerves arrive.

Centennial’s Paige Jorge (Girls 170) remembers it well.

Exciting.
Nerve-wracking.
Unforgiving.

This weekend, dozens of wrestlers from Las Cruces, Mayfield, Centennial, Organ Mountain, Gadsden, Santa Teresa and Chaparral step into that spotlight — in a sport that demands more of them than most people will ever fully understand.

And this year, especially on the girls side, they’re competing in a moment bigger than themselves.

Area Qualifiers

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The Girls: Competing in a Moment of Creation

Girls wrestling in New Mexico is still young — but it is no longer new.

The New Mexico Activities Association sponsored its first girls state tournament in 2018. It sanctioned girls wrestling as an official sport in 2019. In less than a decade, what began as opportunity has turned into expectation.

Now, the sport is cresting nationally.

In 2020, women’s wrestling was labeled an “Emerging Sport” by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. In 2025, it became the NCAA’s 91st championship sport. On March 6–7, the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championship will take place — a milestone that felt distant only a few seasons ago.

And Las Cruces is not just watching that wave. It is riding it.

That is not coincidence. That is trajectory.

The girls wrestling at state this weekend are competing in a pipeline that did not exist five years ago.

And they are everywhere in these brackets.

At 100 pounds, Jazlyn Castro (Las Cruces), Adylenne Marquez (Mayfield) and Alexandra Portillo (Gadsden) represent the area’s depth. At 115, Autiana Caro (Las Cruces) and Grayce Forsyth (Mayfield) bring experience and grit. At 155, Anastacia Cisneros (Las Cruces) and Anahbel Guerrero-Padilla (Centennial) fight through one of the tournament’s most physically demanding classes.

Then there’s 130 pounds — one of the most compelling storylines in the building.

Gabriella Estrada (Gadsden) and Mia Gamez (Santa Teresa) both qualified, and in a 16-wrestler, double-elimination “stretched consolation” bracket, familiarity can become destiny. A championship run takes four matches. One loss sends a wrestler into the backside, where two wins are required just to reach the third-place bout.

There is no easy path. Only earned ones.

Girls wrestling in our broader community has produced qualifiers across nearly every weight. That’s not symbolic representation. That’s program growth. That’s buy-in. That’s work being done in practice rooms long before the lights come on.

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The Boys: The Grind of the Established Battlefield

If the girls bracket represents ascent, the boys bracket represents survival.

Sixteen wrestlers per weight. Eight seeds. Every varsity result logged and dissected through Trackwrestling criteria — head-to-head, common opponents, returning state placement, regional finish, winning percentage.

Precision matters.

And nowhere does that tension feel thicker than in 5A at 144 pounds.

Sam Abeyta (Organ Mountain).
Zachary Block (Centennial).
Izaak Carreon (Gadsden).
Orbie Nabb (Las Cruces).

Four local wrestlers in the same bracket. Four separate roads that could intersect under the Saturday lights — or collide on the backside in elimination bouts that test resolve more than skill.

One loss doesn’t end the dream. It lengthens the road.

And this area has wrestlers who know how to take the long road.

Kolby Gonzales Courtesy Las Cruces Pubic Schools.

At 157, Las Cruces sophomore Kolby Gonzales enters as centerpiece material — a competitor who has already shown the composure and mat IQ of an upperclassman. Sophomores aren’t supposed to anchor championship hopes, but Gonzales wrestles like someone who expects to be there late Saturday night.

At 190, Daniel Amaro brings a different kind of storyline.

The MaxPreps Football Player of the Year at running back, Amaro helped carry the Las Cruces Bulldawgs to the state championship game this fall — only to fall just short of a title. Wrestling offers him something brutally honest: another shot. Another bracket. Another chance to close a season standing atop a podium.

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There are no pads here. No offensive lines. No timeouts.

Just six minutes — sometimes more — of one-on-one accountability.

Organ Mountain loads the bracket with depth across multiple weights. Chaparral’s A-4A contingent is formidable. Las Cruces boys are scattered throughout 5A in clusters strong enough to spark hope. Santa Teresa and Gadsden are woven throughout the field.

No one is openly predicting a team trophy.

But anyone who has spent time in a wrestling room knows this: when enough qualifiers advance, momentum builds quickly. A semifinal here. A consolation run there. A finalist under the lights.

Hope doesn’t announce itself. It accumulates.

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Saturday Night

At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, championship finals begin.

By 8:30, team awards will be handed out.

Some athletes will leave with medals. Some will leave with lessons. All will leave having tested themselves in one of the most demanding sports offered at the high school level.

Wrestling rarely gets the headlines football or basketball command.

But ask Paige Jorge what it feels like to stand in the center of that mat, surrounded by hundreds of eyes.

Ask Kolby Gonzales what it means to wrestle as a sophomore with state expectations.

Ask Daniel Amaro what another shot at a title is worth.

Then tell anyone how a few pictures on Instagram can convey the gravity of the moment.

Rio Rancho awaits.

And student athletes from our broader community are bringing numbers, experience — and belief.

Good Luck, Wrestlers!