Local wrestlers shine on high school’s biggest stage

Under the highest pressure in high school wrestling, three Wichita-area athletes pushed through.

Maize teammates Duwayne Villalpando and Kyle Haas and Newton’s Wyatt Hendrickson finished in the top six of their respective weight classes at the 2018 U.S. Marine Corps Junior and Cadet National Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota from July 12-20.

Haas, a sophomore, finished runner-up in the 182-pound Greco-Roman cadet bracket. He won his semifinal bout with a 4-0 decision over Virginia’s Samuel Fisher. But Haas hit trouble in the final, losing to Wisconsin’s Tyler Hannah 13-4.

He was the highest finisher from Kansas in any of the six tournaments in Fargo. Haas also finished third in the cadet freestyle tournament.

“I didn’t get the win I wanted, but it’s still fun to lay it out there in big tournaments and show what I was trained to do,” Haas said.

Villalpando, his junior teammate, came sixth in the 160-pound cadet freestyle tournament and likely would have gone farther in the bracket if not for a knee injury in his quarterfinal bout, a 13-12 loss.

This year was Villalpando’s first time competing in the Fargo tournament, so he said nerves definitely played a part, too.

“I was nervous at first but when the coaches told me to open up a little bit, it was a regular tournament after that,” Villalpando said.

Together, Villalpando and Haas, were one of the most accomplished pairs of teammates in Fargo. Villalpando said having Haas there was a huge benefit.

“It was a lot better having him as a warmup partner there, knowing he could help me,” he said.

Villalpando won the Kansas Class 5A 152-pound state title. Haas came third in the 182-pound class for the Eagles. Haas was one of the top freshman in Kansas last season, finishing his season with a 51-2 record.

He said Fargo was an experience he won’t forget.

“I feel great about it,” he said. “I’ve been working my butt off. I’ve been focusing on that tournament, and it was fun.”

Newton’s Wyatt Hendrickson finished third in the junior freestyle tournament with a 12-2 technical fall in 2:02 over Massachusetts’ Austin Cooley. He also finished fifth in the junior Greco tournament.

Hendrickson, a senior, won the Kansas Class 5A 195-pound state title beating Carroll’s Brady Bockover with a 3:58 fall. He finished the season 38-1 and recently committed to wrestle at Air Force.

Goddard’s Jason Henschel took eighth in the 113-pound junior Greco tournament. Henschel won the Kansas Class 5A 106-pound title.

Valley Center’s Tony Caldwell finished eighth in the 285-pound cadet freestyle tournament. Caldwell came runner-up in the 5A heavyweight bracket.

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 4:52 PM.