EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the seventh in a series counting down the area's top 12 prep dynasties of the past 50 years.
Step inside Baylor School's Worsham Memorial Wrestling Arena, and you'll find a wall filled with pictures of state champions.
For seven decades running, the Red Raiders have produced multiple individual champs each decade, resulting in a grand total of 82 wrestlers who have finished first in their weight class to combine for a TSSAA-record 137 state titles since 1961.
Baylor's 19 team championships at the state traditional tournament — including the past five Division II crowns — also rank first in TSSAA history, and the Red Raiders have also won 13 state duals championships, with all of those coming since 2001.
Beyond its Tennessee success, Baylor is considered one of the top all-time programs in the Southeast and has received national recognition as well.
"When our wrestlers put on the Baylor singlet, they know they are representing a long storied tradition," said Red Raiders coach Rex Kendle, who has been with the program for 13 years and has served as head coach for three. "I think that gives us a little bit of extra fight when it comes to close matches or tournaments. Our kids believe they can be successful because they know that it has happened before. We take a lot of pride in our rich wrestling tradition."
The program has been a model of consistency, with all of Baylor's state championships occurring under only four head coaches: Luke Worsham (1950-85), Jim Morgan (1986-2010), Ben Nelson (2011-20) and Kendle.
The Red Raiders have yet another TSSSA record with 11 winners of the most outstanding wrestler award at the state traditional tournament, and they have 10 individuals with at least four state championships. Zach Watson, who graduated in 2012, is one of just three five-time individual champions in TSSAA history.
Meanwhile, Jordan Leen is in extremely rare company, as the four-time state champion and 2004 Baylor graduate is one of only two high school wrestlers from the state of Tennessee to win an NCAA Division I championship. Now the head coach at Brown University, Leen won the 2008 title at 157 pounds for Cornell University, where he was a three-time All-American and had a career record of 118-29.
(The other Tennessee high school wrestler to win an NCAA D-I title was St. Andrew's-Sewanee graduate Bill Harlow, who was undefeated at 191 pounds as a senior for the Oklahoma Sooners in 1966.)
Baylor's Khamari Whimper became Tennessee's first national prep champion since 1971 when he won the prestigious tournament held at Lehigh University in 2017. Mason Reiniche (class of 2019) was a three-time national prep runner-up, while David Harper (2022) and Omaury Alvarez (2023) also were finalists at the tournament, which has been held 88 times. The Red Raiders have produced a state-best 26 prep All-Americans since Tennessee was invited back to the tourney in 2015. Baylor has had 62 All-Americans in its history and 11 national champions.
Reiniche went 9-0 this past season for Oregon State at 174 pounds in his sophomore campaign. He was also a NHSCA national champion, a two-time NHSCA runner-up and a Team USA member in the United World Wrestling Cadet Championships.
"What makes Baylor really special is that the program has such a long tradition," Kendle said. "There are people here now whose grandparents were state champs. Even in the down years team-wise, they were still producing state champions, and we are proud of the success we have had at the national level as of late, too."
Baylor's fifth straight D-II traditional title was won on Feb. 18, when the Red Raiders finished with 227.5 team points to hold off runner-up Father Ryan (217), earning a bit of payback after the Fighting Irish beat the Red Raiders 33-28 to win the DII-AAA state duals championship two weeks earlier. That loss had ended a run of four straight duals titles for the Red Raiders.
"We were not favored to win a state title this past year. We had to upset Father Ryan," Kendle said. "Since I have been here, this was our least likely championship ever. We had to coach this group up more than any group. I think everyone expects us to keep winning because we have been so dominant, but we really had to work for this one and had to flip a lot of matches.
"We have to work really hard to stay at the top because there are a lot of teams gunning for us and hungry to get where we are."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.
READ MORE: DYNAMITE DOZEN PREP DYNASTIES
No. 12: Baylor boys' and girls' tennis
No. 10: Bradley Central wrestling
No. 3: South Pittsburg football