PHOTO PROVIDED
Lock Haven’s Wyatt Henson has his hand raised during this past year’s MAC Championships in this photo by LHU Athletics. Henson won gold for Team USA at the U23 Pan-American Wrestling Championships.

RIONEGRO, Columbia – While competing for the United States this weekend, current Lock Haven men’s wrestling standout Wyatt Henson claimed the gold medal at 65 kilograms after an undefeated run at the 2024 U23 Pan-American Championships in Rionegro, Columbia.

Henson, a 2023-24 NCAA Division I national qualifier and Mid-American Conference champion, was a perfect 3-0 on the day.

In the finals, Henson battled back from an early deficit and downed Roman Parra of Venezuela, 9-8 in the gold medal match.

Henson opened the day with a hard-fought 4-2 victory, and he won by tech fall in the semifinals.

Henson’s selection to Team USA came after the Bald Eagle placed second overall at the United States’ U23 World Team Trials, held June 1-2 in Geneva, Ohio.

For Lock Haven, Henson finished the 2023-24 season – his first season at Lock Haven – with a 35-4 record that saw him rack up a single-season school record 19 tech falls.

Joining Henson in Columbia was former Lock Haven standout Chance Marsteller, who served as Henson’s personal coach. Marsteller’s trip was funded by the Mat-Town USA Wrestling Club.

Marsteller, a 2019 Lock Haven graduate and two-time Bald Eagle DI All-American, recently competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in April. Following the 2018-19 season, Marsteller’s final season at Lock Haven, he was named both the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Athlete of the Year. During the 2017-18 season, Marsteller won a school-record 44 matches.