STATE CHAMPION: Haylee Trew of Johnson County Central wins title in Class B 100 bracket
After finishing as runner-up last year, the Thunderbird junior stands alone in 2026
OMAHA - Southeast Nebraska has a wrestling state champion!
Extending her school's recent run of impressive success at the lightest weight classes of Nebraska girls wrestling, Haylee Trew of Johnson County Central captured the 2026 state championship in the B100 bracket on Wednesday night in Omaha.
After finishing as runner-up last year in the 110 bracket last year, the Thunderbird junior stands alone as a state champion in 2026 at 100. The top seed in the bracket, Trew defeated 11th-seed Hayleigh Darling of Yutan in a 5-1 decision to claim the title.
It was a tight match throughout, with no points scored until a stalling warning against Darling in the final half-minute of the second period. Still leading just 2-0 with a minute left the match, Trew notched the bout’s only takedown to put the result beyond doubt – JCC employed a coaches' challenge to try to shore it up but it didn’t end up mattering – Trew pulled off the 5-1 decision win and is a state champion at 100 pounds in 2026.
"These matches are more important to me because it shows me that all my hard work, even in six minutes, my hard work shows off throughout those six minutes," Trew said after the match Instead of going out and pinning it easily, my hard work gets showed more throughout hard matches because it's longer, I show more... if I just pin them right away, it's not as good as a match to me because I'm not getting good competition to me."
Trew coasted through her bracket this year, recording a pin in just over a minute in round one, a pin in just under two minutes in round two, and a pin in just over three minutes in round three. Darling came in as the 11th seed but knocked off second-seeded Brynlee Wells in a major decision in the semifinal.
Trew's title is the just the latest in a long line of recent success for Johnson County Central in the lightest weights of Class B girls wrestling. Trew was a runner-up last year, as was Alejandra Reyes - Reyes narrowly missed out on a title of her own in the 105 bracket.
And of course the standard bearer was Jocelyn Prado, who concluded her career at JCC with three straight titles at 100 pounds. Unsurprisingly, the current York Panther grappler remains a big inspiration for the Thunderbirds' newest state champ.
"She's pushed me so much, even though she's off to college, she's helped me so much," Trew said of Prado. "She's come back and helped me with my wrestling. And Alejandra as well, we've pushed each other so hard, and it's very great to have someone close to me in my weight in the practice room, and someone that's good as well, because it's, like, It's harder to wrestle with someone that's way heavier than you. And we do push each other really hard in the practice room."