BELTON, Texas — Central Texas is home to a star who spent Friday nights under the lights, Spring on the diamond and Winter on the wrestling mat.
From tumbling around in the back yard with his siblings, Reagan Ragsdale grew up with a passion for physical toughness.
"We are rough and tumble around the house growing up and doing," Ray Ragsdale, Reagan's dad, said. "You could just tell from a young age that that was his love language, quite honestly."
Wrestling was a love that he wanted to bring to Central Texas.
"So last year, I went to the TAPPS meet. Just myself. Me and my dad went and I won," Reagan Ragsdale, a senior 3-sport athlete at CTCS, said. "That created a lot of buzz around the school. Kids were asking 'Can I wrestle?' 'Can we wrestle?' and I didn't really realize that it was even a possibility that we could have a team."
After competing solo in the TAPPS tournament last year and winning first place, Reagan was ready to share that excitement with a team for his senior year.
Next thing he knew, Central Texas Christian School fielded a team full of first time wrestlers.
"Reagan was instrumental in the fact that him wrestling with guys would push guys to levels that I'm not really sure they would have had an opportunity to experience in their first year," Reed Dunn, wrestling head coach, said.
Wrestling since he was nine years old, Reagan took on the role of teammate and coach.
"Going from mat to mat coaching them and then me having to wrestle, that was tricky too," Reagan said. "I would be yelling at this kid and then I would think 'Oh I have to go wrestle now'."
Even with his back against the wall (or mat) as he battled for a state title, he was an athlete, a coach and tested ... all in one.
"The truth is, the first round was the hardest round he had all year," Ray said. "The kid was big and strong and literally threw him around and was up 8-0."
It was a feeling Reagan wasn't used to, but he never gave up.
Six minutes later, the whistle blew and he had just secured his second straight state title.
"Last year I did it, but then this year it was so much better to have the team there and do well as a whole for our first year," Reagan said. "It was incredible."
His first solo state title was sweet, but having his teammates behind him? Even better.
Reagan is a special athlete who went undefeated on the year with two state titles under his belt.
After graduating this year, the star heads to Texas Tech. But, he definitely said he will make a return to CTCS and have some fun on the mat with the team he helped kickstart.
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