Wyatt Hendrickson Dominates to David Lehman Open Title

LANCASTER – Senior All-American Wyatt Hendrickson led the Falcons in a dominating fashion to claim the heavyweight title at the David. H Lehman Franklin & Marshall Open, Friday afternoon, in the Alumni Sports and Fitness Center. Hendrickson alongside freshman 184-pounder Josh Cordio claimed place-winning finishes for Air Force.

Hendrickson went 6-0 on the day, pinning his way through his first five matches in just 6:47. One of those pins came against Binghamton's Cory Day, the 22^nd ranked wrestler in the nation. Hendrickson's fastest pin was in a blazing 42 seconds against Jeff Crooks of Harvard. In the finals, Hendrickson met with a stout opponent in No. 8 Taye Ghadiali—the 2023 SoCon heavyweight champion. Hendrickson scored the first takedown but conceded the last, winning by 9-3 decision. Hendrickson is now 12-0 on the season— nine of those wins by way of pin.

Josh Cordio put forth an exceptional performance, winning his first three matches all in overtime periods. Cordio placed fourth following losses to No. 22 Jacob Nolan (Binghamton) and Caleb Hopkins (Campbell). Cordio has 11 wins so far this season.

Another standout performance came in the 133 class as freshman Bubba Wright posted two falls and a major decision, coming up just one match short of placing. Senior Calvin Sund was also just a match short of a place-winning finish, avenging a loss to Navy's Cael Crebs in the process. Sund's three wins on the tourney all came against service academy rivals. Junior 174-pounder Gage Musser finished one match shy of placing, going 3-2 on the day with losses to No. 12 Phil Conigliaro (Harvard) and Dimitri Gamekrelidze (Campbell).

"We had a good showing today, a lot of effort," head coach Sam Barber said. "We only brought three starters and we stacked our lineup up with nine of our younger guys— freshmen and sophomores and we threw them in the mix with some tough competition. Our guys were enthusiastic and went out and put forth the effort and execution that we expected to see. Credit to Wyatt Hendrickson for delivering on expectations, he's got a target on his back and everyone that goes against him wants to get that one. He went 6-0 and took on two ranked guys, one in the top-10, and he displayed his brand of wrestling through-and-through."

Next up, the Falcons dive back into dual action as they take on Big 12 rival Wyoming, January 12, in Laramie.

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