El Diamante High School’s Chris Creason is the Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register’s Tulare County boys’ athlete of the year for the 2024-25 school year.
Sport: Football, wrestling
Highlights: Creason culminated his outstanding junior year as a state and national wrestling champion.
In March, Creason won an individual 2025 CIF State title, beating Buchanan’s Leo Contino by a 4-1 decision in the 157-pound championship match. He won four of his six state matches in dominating fashion, two by pin and two by technical fall. His other two wins came by decision.
Creason concluded his CIF state-championship season with a 41-6 record. During his sophomore year, he went 40-6 en route to a sixth-place medal at state.
Combined, Creason is 81-12 in two seasons with El Diamante. He was home-schooled as a freshman.
Creason punctuated his historic wrestling season at the national stage later that month, winning the 160-pound individual crown in his junior bracket on March 30 at the 36th annual National High School Coaches Association Wrestling Nationals in Virginia.
During the three-day tournament, he posted a perfect 7-0 record in dominating fashion, winning three matches by pin, another by technical decision and three by major decision.
In the national championship match, Creason defeated Jaelen Culp by a 10-0 majority decision. He defeated wrestlers from New Jersey, Alabama, Virginia, Colorado, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and South Carolina to best the 128-wrestler bracket.
Creason is coached by his father, Chris Creason Sr.
On the gridiron, Creason was also the Miners’ starting running back. He has verbally committed to wrestle in college for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.
What coach Chris Creason Sr. had to say about Creason during the season
“It’s amazing. I love it. All those practices, those early mornings running, all the time we put in, it’s kind of paid off. We’re not done yet. We got one more year. I’m excited for that.”
“He just dominated. He did his own style. He went in there and stuck to the game plan.”
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County Boys Athlete of the Year: El Diamante’s Chris Creason
