One of the biggest upsets in wrestling history took place this past weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the NCAA Division 1 Championships. Newton native Wyatt Hendrickson scored a takedown on Minnesota’s Gable Steveson in the last 30 seconds of his finals match to end the match in a decision of 5-4, winning his first NCAA individual title at the heavyweight. Before Hendrickson’s match, Steveson never had a takedown scored on him the whole season and hadn’t lost a match since 2021 in college wrestling.
Hendrickson was the #2 seed going into the tournament. Leading up to his semi-finals match, Hendrickson had 3 first-period pins and his semi-final match ended in an 8-2 decision over Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet who was last year's returning NCAA individual champion at heavyweight.
Additionally, for the 3rd year in a row, he was named NCAA’s most dominant wrestler of the tournament and finished the season with a record of a perfect record of 27-0 and a career record of 130-11.
Prior to wrestling at Oklahoma State this season, he wrestled at the Air Force Academy, where he became a 3x NCAA Championship qualifier, 3x Big 12 Champion, and finished 3rd at last year's NCAA Championships. But that wasn’t his original plan right out of high school. When he first received the Air Force recruiting letter, he threw it away, but his dad pulled it out of the trash and encouraged him to consider attending the academy. He had taken an unofficial visit to Oklahoma State because he always knew he wanted to be a Cowboy, but in the end, he decided he wanted to serve the country. That commitment led him to choose the Air Force Academy, where he could pursue both wrestling and a future in the military where he became a Second Lieutenant.
After graduating from the Air Force Academy last year, Hendrickson transferred to Oklahoma State this season to fulfill the dream of wanting to be a Cowboy to use his 5th year of NCAA eligibility. His experiences in wrestling helped him lead the team to finish 3rd at the championships which was the team's best finish and highest team points scored at the Championships since 2021.
Hendrickson plans to continue practicing in Stillwater, Oklahoma to train for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, before serving out his contract to the Air Force.
Another Kansas native, Jared Simma who is currently wrestling at the University of Northern Iowa, also competed in the championships this past weekend. Simma went 1-2 with a win over Avery Bassett from Lock Haven by a major decision of 11-0.
NEWTON NATIVE, WYATT HENDRICKSON UPSETS 2X HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AND OLYMPIC MEDALIST
