Best Boys Athletes - 2025-26

This is part of the Simmons superlatives - a recap of the top high school athletes in warren county chosen by Jeff Simmons.

Usually as the week progresses and I do the Superlatives, I’ll start getting some questions. It was no different this week.

The moment the senior lists go out and a certain name or two are missing, people immediately start what I like to call the “What abouts?” And I always try to assure them there’s a method to my madness.

Sometimes though, it’s just hard to trim these lists down to five names.

Like I’ve already said in other write-ups, it gets even tougher when you're comparing athletes across completely different sports. Does an MVP in a team sport mean more than a district title in an individual one? Does making state in an individual sport mean more than helping lead a team championship run?

Honestly, I don’t pretend to have all the answers.

But when I think about my time capsule analogy - the hope that somebody looking through Warren County Sports Hall of Fame résumés in 2050 might need a refresher on what happened during the 2025-26 school year - I try to focus on the athletes who created moments that won't be forgotten.

And to me, it all starts with one guy.

Let’s roll on the Best Athletes list for 2025-26.

Luke Saldana, WCHS track

It’s been a go-to line for me on the WCSA and in my writing for years: The difference between cocky and confident is whether you can back it up.

Saldana entered this season completely confident he was going back to the state tournament and bringing home gold.

Then he did exactly that.

The Hawkeye Community College signee won Warren County's first boys individual state championship in track and field history when he captured the Class AAA shot put title in Knoxville. Along the way, he broke the school shot put record twice and shattered the discus record four separate times, eventually pushing the school marks to 58-11.75 in shot put and 166-0 in discus.

That’s not half bad for a guy who didn't even throw discus last year.

When we got to visit with Luke after his title on the WCSA, he was humble and gracious as always. But I think part of that was him finally coming down from the mountain he had spent a year climbing.

Ever since he finished runner-up at state as a junior, everything pointed toward this moment.

There were extra workouts, extra throws and - even if he wouldn't admit it - probably some extra pressure because he wasn’t going to settle for anything but being the best. All of it was worth it.

I still want to see if Luke can throw Trev across the Adam Wood-Farm Bureau parking lot, but I’ll settle for honoring him as the top athlete in Warren County for a second straight year.

It’s going to be a pretty cool moment when his state championship banner goes up in the rafters of The Dalt. If they want to save a little time and effort, they can probably just let Luke throw it up there himself.

Jakoby Odineal, WCHS wrestling

What makes the Best Athlete list fun is that everybody doesn't have to look like Luke Saldana. Yes, Warren County would love to clone Saldana about 10 times over. But, there’s not question everybody would want 10 Jakoby Odineals too.

The résumé is already ridiculous for somebody who still has another year left. Odineal joined the program's 100-win club this season, won a Region 4-AA championship, finished runner-up at sectionals and became a two-time TSSAA state medalist after earning sixth place at the state tournament for the second straight year.

But stats and medals only tell part of the story. What separates Odineal is the lengths he's willing to go to win.

It feels like you're literally going to have to break his bones to beat him. And if you're not willing to go that far, there's a good chance Odineal is walking off the mat with his hand raised.

Trust me. It happens a lot.

I love sports movie comparisons and the look Odineal gets before a match always reminds me of Rocky IV. Adrian tells Rocky he can't win and he glares back before letting her know that maybe he can't beat Ivan Drago, but if Drago is going to beat him, he’s going to have to kill him - and to do that, he’s going to have to be willing to die trying too.

Blood round at state. Region finals. Random December tournament - If you're going to beat Odineal, you better be willing to risk everything.

Because he is.

Xavier Simmons, WCHS football/wrestling

I honestly don't know where to start with Xavier. Should it be football? Or, should it be wrestling?

I'm not sure Xavier even knows which sport he's better at. If asked, he'd probably just shrug and say, "Both."

And honestly, he'd have a case.

Simmons signed with Tusculum University after becoming one of the most disruptive defensive players in the area. He piled up 89 tackles and 5.5 sacks as a senior while helping establish the foundation for the Eric Belew era. Then, with no rest, he went on into the winter to throw heavyweights around.

Simmons joined Warren County's 100-win club in wrestling, won a Region 4-AA championship and advanced to sectionals while becoming one of the most accomplished heavyweights in recent program history.

What I always liked most about Xavier was his swagger. He was intense, competitive and wanted to win.

But he also looked like he was having the time of his life doing it. Whether it was a football game or a wrestling tournament, Simmons seemed to embrace every challenge that came his way.

Was a little trash talk mixed in there too? Well, that probably made it even more fun.

Isaiah Robledo, WCHS football/basketball

You go from a heavyweight to a guy most people would overlook the moment he stepped off the bus. And if they did, that usually lasted until kickoff - or once he was standing in the endzone.

It's cliché, but Robledo always embodied the saying that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the amount of fight in the dog. He played football like a giant. He was fearless - Robledo would throw his body around with no concern for the consequences because most of the time he was the one delivering the punishment.

What really separated Robledo though was his body control.

At least two or three times every Friday night, he'd leave his feet and make catches that didn't seem physically possible. Then he'd get a sweep, look completely bottled up and somehow teleport through traffic before anybody could get a hand on him.

His senior season ended with him breaking Warren County's career receiving record in the bowl game, a moment that felt like the entire community was celebrating together.

Everybody was counting the catches, everybody was rooting for him and everybody wanted to see him get there.

He did, but honestly, even if he hadn't, we'd still all remember Isaiah Robledo.

Kayden Solomon, WCHS track

Before the weekend is over, I'll probably do a mailbag and answer the question I've already heard a hundred times: Who was the toughest omission? The answer is a lot of people (And yes, I’ll answer “what the heck happened?” while I’m at it).

But when I got down to making the final cuts on this list, something told me there was no way I could leave off Kayden Solomon. I'm a sucker for record books and few athletes did more to carve their names into Warren County history this year than Solomon.

Solomon broke the school long jump record with a leap of 20-3.75, broke the triple jump record multiple times before pushing it to 42-2.25 and helped establish a new standard in the relay events (4×100) as part of one of the most successful track seasons the school has ever seen.

Every few weeks it felt like Solomon was finding another way to rewrite history. And I still think he's just getting started.

Who knows? Maybe next year he jumps all the way to the top of this list. One thing is certain - there will be plenty of other Pioneers ready to challenge him for it.