The Ripley twins, Maddie and Gavin, seniors at Oceanside High, are our 2024 Varsity Maine All-State Wresters of the Year. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

The Varsity Maine All-State teams have a long tradition, going back to the late 1980s when they debuted as the Maine Sunday Telegram All-State teams.

Each school year, we select the best high school athletes from across Maine for inclusion in our All-State teams for sports during the fall, winter and spring seasons. And from the members of those teams, we select a top athlete as the Player/Athlete of the Year in that sport.

Today, at the close of the 2023-24 winter season, we start to unveil our latest Varsity Maine All-State teams. We’ll present different sports each weekend, starting today with wrestling and going on to swimming, indoor track, skiing, ice hockey and basketball in coming weeks.

We start off with a rarity: Our Wrestlers of the Year happen to be siblings. And twins.

Maddie Ripley is our Girls’ Wrestler of the Year. Her brother, Gavin Ripley, is our Boys’ Wrestler of the Year. They are seniors at Oceanside High in Rockland.

Guessing you’ve heard about Maddie Ripley. Last winter, as a junior, she became the first girl in Maine to win an individual state championship while wrestling against boys. She pulled off the same feat this winter, winning the Class B title at the 113-pound weight class. She capped off her senior year by winning a championship in the all-girls New England Championships last weekend. Read Dave Dyer’s story about her here.

Gavin Ripley may be overshadowed by the media attention given to his twin sister, but he is an accomplished wrestler in his own right. Competing at 132 pounds, he won his third consecutive Class B state championship in February and placed third at the New England Championships – the best finish of any male wrestler from Maine. Gavin was the overwhelming choice among high school coaches we surveyed for our Varsity Maine Boys’ Wrestler of the Year honor. Steve Craig has the story.

Read more about all the members of the 2024 Varsity Maine All-State wrestling team.

And if you missed our Varsity Maine All-State teams from the 2023 fall season, you can find them here.