NEWARK, Del. — Will Henckel came into Sunday with a Beast of the East title as a junior, but what he hadn’t yet claimed was a spot atop the national rankings at 175 pounds.
On a day that Blair’s 22-year tournament team title streak came to an end, Henckel turned it into a great one anyway for the Bucs as he defeated St. Joseph (Mont.) senior Ryan Burton in a 5-3 decision in a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the country.
Henckel lost to Burton in July by 4-2 decision in the 175-pound final at the Fargo Junior National Championships in North Dakota. That loss had been on the mind of the Penn State signee and everything he poured into the last five months showed on the mat on Sunday at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware.
“I’ve been thinking about that one for a while,” Henckel said. “I was excited to go out there and get my hands on him. I was anxious early, but like Ironman [when I came back to win], one takedown isn’t everything. I wrestled the way I know how to.”
“His training and his focus has been spot on this fall,“ Blair head coach Ross Gitomer added. “He has been putting it on people and he was really looking forward to that match. You could see it and you kind of had to control him a bit because he was so amped up. He kept the pace up and didn’t hang out. He’s really enjoying wrestling right now.”
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Henckel was down 3-1 after the first period before he got an escape and a takedown in the second.
On top in the third, he had the option to cut Burton and work on his feet, but advice from Gitomer lingered in his head and he rode the Virginia Tech pledge for the full two minutes. Including the takedown in the second period which came with 1:26 remaining, Henckel rode Burton for a grand total of three minutes and 26 seconds.
“It was a gritty ride,” Henckel said. “I was giving him a reason to quit not want to wrestle anymore. I was thinking about cutting him and my coach and I actually talked about it before. [He lets me] choose how I want matches to go. He gives me his two cents when I’m on the mat though and I listened to him. And that’s how I got it done.”
Henckel flashed back to the summer loss and he chalks it up to Burton being better that day. There’s a large amount of respect between the two and Henckel went on to call Burton, ‘A great competitor.’
“He won the day,” Henckel said of the Fargo loss. “I don’t think anything went wrong that day, I just think he won the day. I was pretty upset after that match, but that’s nothing to be ashamed about. I won the day today. I’ve been training hard for it and I felt like I deserved it.”
From a coaching perspective, Gitomer saw things that Henckel could’ve done better that he honed in on throughout the fall.
“He has worked on moving forward and moving hands and feet in the tie,” Gitomer said. “He has done a really good job with timing and working both sides of the body. The big one has been working on transitions off of a score or transitioning to the next thing when getting taken down.”
Henckel has taken pride in doing more than just what it takes on the mat. He loves being a great teammate and seeing the Bucs thrive collectively.
He won his second Beast of the East title and added to what’s quickly becoming a rich high school career, but the team-wide success means a lot to him too.
“He [coach] also means little things outside of wrestling like being a leader on the team and elevating the people around me,” Henckel said. “I think we did a better job this week than we did at Ironman. There are little technique things and being picky about how hard I drill, but the big improvements have been off the mat.”
Ryan Patti can be reached at rpatti@njadvancemedia.com or via direct message here.
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