Emma Reyes-Cano Puts MHS Girls Wrestling on the Map

By Sam Bernardi | Posted March 25, 2026

For years, girls’ wrestling was an afterthought. There was little to no participation, lacking resources, and not enough girls like Emma Reyes-Cano leading the charge.

The Montgomery freshman is off to a wonderful career, ripping off her last 11 matches to boost her record to 17-6.

For head coach Jamar Thigpen, who coached Emma’s older brother, Nick, for four years, this has come as little surprise.

Montgomery High School Wrestler Emma Reyes-Cano

Emma and Nick, as brothers and sisters do, have been wrestling each other for years. The family even has a mat in their basement. Perhaps those bouts are preferential to a ball going through a window.

“After a full matchup, even if we’re rolling up the mats, you can see them, like hand-fighting with each other. It’s fun to see,” Thigpen said.

Emma Reyes-Cano moves between the 132 and 138-pound weight classes, though she prefers the slower style to those quick, smaller wrestlers. Her typical match includes hand-fighting, trying to grab her opponents’ wrists, getting into their legs, and, her signature headlock.

“It’s an addicting sport,” Reyes-Cano said. “Everyone says they hate it, everyone says they want to quit, and then they just come back.”

Advertisement

Thigpen still has three more full seasons with Reyes-Cano.

He says, “She has a no-flinch personality. If she loses, she doesn’t sulk. She’s quickly coming over, asking, ‘Hey, can we go over my film tomorrow so I can get better?’ A minute later, she’s smiling, cheering on her teammates. Nothing really seems to have fazed her.”

Reyes-Cano had to learn how to lose before finding her groove.

Advertisement

Since there was not enough female competition early on, she had to wrestle the boys. Those fights did not go her way. “Every day I would show up to the match knowing I’d get slammed and I just have to take it,” Reyes-Cano said.

The boys transformed her into the wrestler she is today. “I feel like that gave me some character development… I knew that if I wanted to beat people better than me, stronger than me, I would have to work harder,”

Reyes-Cano added. That hard work has already paid dividends, and it will be fascinating to see how her season, and career, turn out.