Women's Middle Weight Wrestler of the Year... Congrats to Lexy Pabon!

Crofton’s 2024-2025 Girls’ Middle Weight Wrestler of the Year, Lexy Pabon, is a natural athlete who excelled at soccer prior to being bitten by the wrestling bug. Lexy’s interest in wrestling was spurred by her brother’s success at South River, where Lonnell Owens-Pabon finished his senior season as a 4A/3A state runner-up and earned All-American status at the NHSCA Senior Nationals with a fifth-place finish.

“I am very happy to be named wrestling Middle Weight of the Year,” remarked Pabon. “I’m glad that throughout these past four years of my high school career that all the blood, sweat, and tears that I've had to put in this sport have not gone unnoticed. I am very grateful to be a wrestler for many boys and girls to look up to! It makes me not only a better wrestler but a person. I cannot thank my support system enough. They've all been a great factor in my high school career and will continue to be throughout my college career.”

To say Lexy was a natural would not be out of place or an unwarranted cliché as with no previous experience, Pabon reached the south region and state finals as a freshman where she suffered the only losses she would endure to a Maryland female in her career to Northern Calvert’s Emma Hardeman, 2-1 at states, and 12-11 in the region finals.

Crofton coach Jason West was witness to Pabon’s rapid growth in the sport from the first moment she stepped on a mat until her third state championship was secured.

“Lexy went 31-10 this season wrestling almost all COED matches,” West marveled. “Lexy got her start rough housing with her older brother Lonnell. (She) stepped foot on the mat the summer before her freshman year for the first time. Lexy was the perfect combo of physical ability (strength, speed, athleticism) and mental will and drive to learn and succeed at the sport. After the state finals loss her freshman year she dedicated her summer to training, specifically with Justin Wildy at Headhunters and the Girls’ National Team.

“She was dominant the following three years pushing herself and others around her. Her contribution to the program goes beyond the mat as she has been an integral part of building the women’s program at Crofton where she was the only female participant as a freshman, to being one of fourteen as a senior, primarily contributed to her individual success and her will to build the program around her. You couldn’t really ask for a better individual to be the face of a new program than Lexy.”

Her sophomore season saw Pabon earn her first state and region crowns, a feat she would also duplicate last year as a junior, while also adding an Anne Arundel County Championship to her war chest. Pabon missed most of the early part of that junior campaign, returning in time for the Who’s # 1 Tournament that afforded her a chance to test her improved skills on Hardeman, who she would edge in the finals, 8-7. Another big win at that Who’s # 1came over now two-time state champion, Anastasia Dakoulas (Rockville), 12-3.

“It definitely boosted my confidence up a lot,” asserted Pabon. “Especially since that was my first tournament back from injury. It really helped bring my confidence up to wrestle more and to start getting back into wrestling the boys. And it just showed my growth and how I can overcome a lot of things that I don’t think I was able to do before wrestling.”

As the final season was set to unfold, Pabon’s dominance was now nothing new, in fact it was expected, which at times made Pabon lose focus of what’s truly important to her about wrestling.

“My personal expectations for myself was just staying in good positioning, trying to end the matches early or if I couldn’t pin the girl, tech her as fast as I can,” Pabon informed Legacy Wrestling. "This year was more of just keeping myself busy, making new memories, and just spending that time with my coaches and the people that I love as much as I can before I go off to college. I feel like the expectation for everybody else for me was just to go out there and have fun. I’ve been told that I do take wrestling a little too serious sometimes and that’s kinda my weakness. I’m a better wrestler when I’m happy and I’m smiling, so I guess the focus for me was, yes train, do everything right, but remember why you’re there and to just have fun.”

Have fun she did as she only tasted defeat at the hands of one girl all year and dominated her Maryland opposition, keeping her winning streak versus Maryland girls going for a third consecutive year, resulting in a third state championship.

Pabon spent the majority of her senior year rolling with the boys as one of Crofton’s Team Captains and 126-pound starter. One of the few Girls’ events Pabon participated in before the end of the year was the Third Annual Girls’ Beast of the East in Delaware.

Pabon, who is ranked 17th in the country at 125lbs in USA Wrestling’s April update, placed second after falling in the finals to the girl slotted just ahead of her on the national list, No. 16 Sara McLaughlin (Choate Rosemary Hall, CT), 10-3. McLaughlin was third at National Preps beating Good Counsel’s Bella Sowards (No. 1 in MD at 125), 9-0, in the consolation final. Sowards upset Pabon (No. 2 in MD) at the MSWA’s Fall Brawl, 10-6, but has since fallen out of the national ratings.

Three pins and a technical fall placed Pabon in the final. The tech was 17-2 versus No. 26 in the nation, Jada Pichardo (Pennsauken, NJ), in the semis. Pichardo won the 126-pound New Jersey state title. The pins all came early in the other encounters, 1:45 over state runner-up, Lily Oh (Riverside, VA), 1:51 against Joy Lombardi (St. George’s Tech, DE), who placed third in her state, and 1:12 over Katherine Crockett (Oakton, VA). Crockett did not place at states.

“I signed up last year but unfortunately, I didn’t go because of my injury,” Pabon recalled. “That wasn’t my best performance. I’m still very disappointed in how I wrestled and how I showcased my wrestling. I do believe that if I went against her again, it would be a different match. I feel like I would be in a different mind space, less panicky, less tired. I felt during that match that my body was tired, especially from the weight cut that I had done prior, so yeah, I think it could have been a better match on my part.”

Prior to the postseason, Pabon decided to test the college waters a bit with a trip to the Bobcat Open at Frostburg State University. In college, the women wrestle Freestyle. Pabon placed third at 131-pounds, winning 10-3 in the consolation final over Frostburg’s Solano Mottola and also beating the fifth-place girl, Laura Ruiz Diaz (Presbyterian), 13-2. Her loss came to King University’s Anna Dicugno, 10-0.

“For my first college tournament, and going up a weight class, I felt pretty good,” remarked Pabon. “It boosted my confidence a lot. It kinda reset me back to why I wrestled in the first place and why I do all these high-level tournaments, and why I go to these practices. It wasn’t the outcome that I wanted because I do believe that I could have won the tournament. It’s just little critiques that I made that I have to fix in the room, but overall, I am very proud of my performance. But again, just not satisfied with the outcome.”

Pabon was not able to compete in the counties, so her next concern was the 4A/3A East Region and securing a third gold and second in the East. Only two wins were required to achieve that, and both came on quick pins, 1:36 over Chesapeake’s Amber Walker in the finals and a semifinal decking of Annapolis’ Hildegard Zimmerelli in 1:04.

“It was a good feeling,” stated Pabon. “I knew that I was going to perform my best. I wanted to go out there and do what I had to do to get ready for states. The whole point of regionals was just to get mat time and just to step on the mat especially since I didn’t wrestle in the counties. I don’t know if there was joy per se, I guess I was happy that I got to wrestle, other than that my mindset was just to get ready for states and after states, nationals.”

Girls wrestling in Maryland is still relatively new and as of now there are no four-time girls’ state champions, but there is a three-time club and Pabon joined that when she stuck Stephen Decatur’s No. 3 in MD, Rachel Plata, 1:29, into their finals match.

Pins would be the only method of victory used by Pabon, and they came lightning quick on the road to the finals. Maryland’s No. 4 Saniyah Belliel (Rockville), who would place third, was disposed of in 38 seconds. Manchester Valley’s Brynn Ryan (No. 8 in MD) was put down in 43 seconds. Sparrows Point’s Tinsley Jones was dropped 20 seconds into Pabon’s opener.

“If I were to look back four years from now, I think my past self would be very surprised at just how much I’ve grown in wrestling in just a short amount of time,” Pabon reflected. “My whole goal was to not let a point (be scored). Just to challenge myself and try to beat some records but we needed the team points so I did my best to pin the girls as I could. Luckily, I did. It was more bittersweet than happiness. I guess, just because, it was my last time I’ll step on a high school mat.

“During my finals match, I was preparing myself to hear the whistle blow and then getting up to shake hands and leave the mat. I felt very accomplished, but I wasn’t satisfied by winning. My whole goal this year is prepping for nationals, winning nationals, prepping for college, and then later on in the road, Olympics and Worlds. So, all these things are just tying together to help me out. After the whistle blew, I did get very emotional, just knowing that that’s the last time I’m going to be in that arena getting my hand raised one last time before I go off to my new normal, which is college, and not be able to have those same coaches coach me.”

Pabon will be taking her incredible talents to Life University in the fall to join another three-time Maryland State Champion, Randallstown’s Ugochi Anunobi.

“I’m very excited, very nervous because it’s new,” Pabon continued. “I’m excited to see what’s to come for me and my wrestling journey. There are a lot of good girls there and I know that they can push me and help me get to where I want to go. Especially the coaching staff as well. They are very helpful already. They check up on me, make sure I’m good. They might coach me at my next tournament. It’s just very exciting and I feel very welcomed into their family.”

The Women’s Nationals were a bit of a rough experience for Pabon as she finished 2-2 and got dinged up, giving her one of the few down moments she’d experienced in recent times. The final loss came by fall to South Carolina’s Tiyanna Mack, who is ranked 20th in the nation at 130-pounds. Mack did not place in the U20 59 KG bracket either, losing her next match in the blood round.

“My nervousness definitely overwhelmed me a little bit,” Pabon recollected. “I went 2-2 and I feel like both of the matches that I did lose; I could have potentially won. I did get hurt on the second match that I lost. I landed on my head and my neck, so I was pretty much out of it the rest of the time.”

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame just announced its winners of the 2025 Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award and Pabon was chosen as the Maryland designee.

“I’m truly humbled to be selected to represent Maryland for the Tricia Saunders Award,” Pabon said. “Even though I started wrestling later than most, it’s really cool to be recognized for the hard work and dedication I’ve put in. This recognition isn’t just for me—it reflects the support, sacrifices, and encouragement from everyone who’s been part of my journey. I hope it inspires other wrestlers, especially those who are new to the sport, to keep pushing forward. Your hard work can absolutely pay off.”