Annie Smith
picture on the wall in the wrestling room at Palisade High School.
On March 20th through the 22nd, history was made on the wrestling mat after the unexpected seemed to become factual, and an unforeseen underdog pulled through and conquered. This year’s NCAA wrestling championship was definitely a tournament that had many unexpected turnouts, and left spectators in disbelief. The tournament was hosted at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and was composed of a total of ten different weight classes. Penn State ended up taking home the championship overall win of the 2025 NCAA DI Men’s Wrestling Title, but it was definitely not easily taken. One of our own wrestlers here at Palisade High School, Sophomore Cason Tool-Rieger, was one of the many viewers of the tournament, and had much input on it. “I love to watch these big tournaments, because I like to learn from it being a wrestler myself. I like to study the skills that all of the pros are using, and observe the attitude that these men use when they go out onto the mat. I think that the most insane part about it was seeing undefeated champion Gable Steveson lose to Wyatt Hendrickson and that was also a crazy upset among a lot of people. I wanted to see Steveson take his third NCAA title, but it was also exciting to see an underdog put in so much fight and beat a champion like Steveson”. Wyatt Hendrickson is a wrestler from Oklahoma State University, and wrestled in the heavyweight class (183 to 285 pounds). Hendrickson is also a U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant, and took home his first heavyweight championship title of his career at this year’s tournament in a hard-won battle against undefeated champion Gable Steveson from the University of Minnesota. This was definitely an event that had many unexpected turnouts and is one spectators will remember for years to come.