United States Air Force Academy

CORALVILLE, Iowa – Air Force Academy freshman heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson won the 125 kg title at the 2021 UWW Junior Nationals Sunday afternoon, May 2, at the Xtreme Arena. Hendrickson has qualified to be a member of Team USA at the 2021 UWW Junior World Championships in Ufa, Russia, Aug. 16-22.

🚨 World Team spot secured 🚨

Wyatt Hendrickson wins UWW Jr at 125KG to claim the World Team spot and will be competing in Russia in August! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/C7APg2OdKt

— Air Force Wrestling (@AF_Wrestle) May 2, 2021

 
Hendrickson was nearly unstoppable all weekend in the freestyle competition as a representative of the Air Force RTC. The Newton, Kansas native out-scored his opponents, 49-25, including three wins via tech fall and another via fall.
 
To get to the finals of the tournament, Hendrickson won 10-0, 10-0, and via 40 second fall on day one of action. He advanced to day two, where he matched up with Big 12 rival, Oklahoma's Josh Heindselman, in the best two-of-three finals.
 
Hendrickson dropped the opening match in a barn-burner, 17-8, to force him to have to win the next two matches. In match two, Hendrickson found himself down 8-6 with time running out. He did not quit, though, striking for a four point takedown to clinch a thrilling 10-8 win and force match three 30 minutes later.
 
In match three, Hendrickson wasted little time in racking up points on Heindselman, as he raced to a quick 11-0 tech fall in the first period to capture the 125 kg title and a spot on Team USA.

After forcing match three with a clutch 4-pointer, Wyatt Hendrickson goes out and dominates 11-0 to make the Junior World Team. pic.twitter.com/O3fhuKXaPd

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) May 2, 2021

 
AF had four other wrestlers in action in Iowa over the two days, and fellow freshman Sam Wolf earned All-American honors at 86 kg in the Junior division. After falling in his opening match, 6-3, the Warsaw, N.Y. native rattled off six-straight wins to earn the All-American honor. After falling in the consolation semis, Wolf won the fifth-place match to cap an incredible weekend.
 
Elsewhere, freshman Garrett Kuchan won a match in the 61 kg bracket consolation round in the Junior division, while classmate Calvin Sund won a match in the consolation rounds in the Senior Division at 86 kg. Finally, junior Sidney Flores made his triumphant return to the mat after a 15-month absence, and he went 0-2 at 61 kg in the Senior division.