Whew: Henson survives to win second gold medal (copy)
HERSHEY — Wyatt Henson didn’t realize it at the time but his role changed after being called for a slam against Jon Altieri of Norwin during the 145-pound final in last week’s Super Regional.
“At first, he thought he was thrown out of the (state) tournament,” said Waynesburg Central head coach Joe Throckmorton.
Henson, who won gold last season in the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships at 138 pounds, was disqualified at the Super Regionals but not given a gross misconduct penalty. Whatever relief came from that quickly changed back to anxiety once the state tournament began at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Instead of wrestling someone with a 13-5 record as the Southwest champion would, he be taking on Dagen Condomitti of Northampton and was on the wrong end of 7-1 score midway through the bout. Henson came up with a miraculous rally in which he outscored Condomitti 10-2 for an 11-9 overtime victory that produced numerous ulcers for Throckmorton.
“I think he wrestled the 2, 3 and 4 seeds,” said Throckmorton. “I think he wrestled all of them. We have some things to work on. The slam bothered him. I think it made him tentative.”
In the semifinals Henson built a 4-0 lead on Sam McMonigal of West Chester Henderson. McMonigal then outscored Henson 4-1 to slice a big lead into a 5-4 advantage but Henson survived to win a hold-on-tight 6-4 decision.
That set up another final against Altieri. After a few nervous moments, Henson came away with a 5-3 decision.
“Yeah, they were all pretty tough,” said Henson. “For a second there, I was pretty scared against Condomitti.
“People don’t get enough credit who medal here. They don’t get recruited enough.”
“That was a gut check,” Throckmorton said. “They say Wyatt has a few more gears and he showed them in his match.”
What made this victory so satisfying was that Henson’s father, Sammy, was in the corner for his match.
“It was awesome,” said Wyatt. “He’s in the corner for most of my matches.”
The win did pay off for Henson.
“My mom said she would give me $100 if I won,” said Henson. “I can get my dad to give me some money, too.”