Stuhler achieved all his goals to cap senior season

Alconbury’s Jacob Stuhler and Naples’ Hayden Schmall battle during the 144-pound final at the 2026 DODEA European wrestling championships on Feb. 7, 2026, at Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Zade Vadnais/Stars and Stripes)

What do skateboarding and wrestling have in common? Just ask Jacob Stuhler, an avid practitioner of both sports.

For the Alconbury senior, mentality plays a key role.

For example, at Strawberry Park in his hometown of Pasadena, Texas, Stuhler once completed a backslide 180 off a long flight of stairs in what he deemed his most daring trick to date.

That courage translates to wrestling mats.

“Just having that fearlessness of landing a trick,” Stuhler said. “There’d be hours I’d spend in the garage or at the skate park that I would spend several hours trying to land one trick and I wouldn’t go home until I landed it.

“The mental aspect of skateboarding is a great transition to wrestling.”

The mental side is what Stuhler attributed to the difference for him this season – a year in which he put everything together.

The son of David and Cynthia Stuhler won the 144-pound bracket at the 2026 DODEA European wrestling championships on Feb. 6-8 at the Wiesbaden Sports and Fitness Center in Wiesbaden, Germany. It capped off an undefeated season at 22-0.

Because of his exploits, Stuhler was named Stars and Stripes’ 2025-2026 boys wrestling Athlete of the Year.

After three Top-5 finishes his first three seasons at Alconbury, Stuhler described how he emphasized working on visualization. He began writing down goals on which to focus before every practice.

“Writing down things has been a huge part of my season, and it’s really gotten me through the times where, ‘Hey, I don’t think I’m progressing,’” Stuhler said. “It just like, ‘I know I can get through this wall.’”

That effort translated into competitions as he cruised past his fellow wrestlers. Stuhler called a match against Kaiserslautern’s Davyn Meno during the second tournament of the season his toughest, saying the sophomore’s strength pushed him.

Yet Stuhler got through that match and everyone else.

His dominance didn’t end in quick pins every time, though. Instead, Stuhler said he worked on accumulating points and getting technical falls. That allowed him to improve his technique.

“My biggest jump was in my intentionality – just working a move and getting that move to work for me when I wanted to do it,” Stuhler said.

All his work on the mental side came to a culmination in the final against Naples’ Hayden Schmall. Stuhler said despite it being his first championship-contest appearance, the magnitude of the match didn’t get to him.

“I know that sounds maybe a little bit arrogant, but it didn’t feel like this was the championship. It was like this was another match,” Stuhler said. “Really, I do think that helped me in the end because if I had let it get to me that this is the championship match, then I think that could have affected my mental game.”

After reaching the pinnacle of high school sports in DODEA-Europe, Stuhler turns his attention to the next level in his wrestling career.

Stuhler will be competing at Wayland Baptist University, an NAIA program based in Plainview, Texas. The Panthers have been a Top 20 program this season.

There, Stuhler will study to become a physical education teacher with the hope of going into coaching.

And he thanked Sharon Lee and his current coach, Edison Vega, for planting and nurturing that dream.

As he leaves Alconbury, Stuhler said the program is in great hands, having clinched back-to-back Division III European crowns.

“I’m a firm believer in our program here,” Stuhler said. “Even though Alconbury is a small school … these guys, they give maximum effort.”