To the world he’s “Captain America” but Wyatt Hendrickson has been a fixture of the Newton wrestling community since he was a kid.

Over the weekend, Hendrickson defeated Olympic champion Gable Steveson to win the heavyweight wrestling national title in epic fashion.

Going into the final moments, Hendrickson trailed Steveson 4-2 before scoring a takedown in the last seconds to win 5-4 in the 2025 NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia.

“The Newton wrestling community is so proud of Wyatt on achieving his goal on becoming an NCAA Champion. His hard work, faith, and dedication to the sport of wrestling is something very inspiring,” NHS wrestling coach, Tommy Edgmon said.

In the NCAA press conference after winning in the semi-finals, Hendrickson took the time to thank his Newton Wrestling Club youth coach, Matt Treaster.

Treaster shared that he likes to tell his other wrestlers about Hendrickson because of the obstacles he overcame over the years.

“(He) did not win a single match in his first year youth wrestling. He also didn’t qualify for kids state as a sixth-grader, and then again didn’t qualify for high school state as a high school freshman…but even with those hiccups along the way, he persevered, and kept working hard to have the incredible level of success that he’s had in his college and high school career,” Treaster said.

When wrestling for the Railers, Hendrickson won the 5A state title at 195lbs in 2018, the 220lb title in 2019 and took 2nd at 182 pounds in 2017.

He graduated from NHS in 2019 and went on to the United States Air Force Academy for a career spanning 2020-2024 before wrestling his last year at Oklahoma State University.

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