Southbury’s William Henckel, a senior at Blair Academy in New Jersey, won a national title in freestyle in the U20 division.
Southbury’s William Henckel, a senior at Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., won a national championship at USA Wrestling’s U.S. Open championship meet in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Henckel, who will be attending Penn State in the fall, won the 79 kilogram (174.1 pounds) title with a 12-8 win over California’s Brock Mantanova in the finals of the U20 tournament.
Henckel was one of several Connecticut wrestlers to finish in the top eight of their weight classes at the U.S. Open held at The Expo at World Market Center.
Stratford’s Nico Provo of Stanford finished third at 57 kg in freestyle in the Senior Men’s Tournament while Peter Del Gallo, the coach of the new University of Bridgeport’s women’s wrestling team, finished fourth at 55 kg in the Greco-Roman competition, which doubled as the trials for the upcoming world championships.
Bridgeport’s Jackson Heslin finished fourth in the Greco-Roman competition at 55 kg in the U20 tournament.
In the U17 tournament, Simsbury’s Max Konopka finished third in freestyle at 92 kg while Ryan Schneider of Norwalk was sixth in the U17 Greco-Roman competition at 92 kg.
In the U15 tournament, Plainville’s Jaxen Bailey was fifth in the Greco-Roman tournament at 57 kg and seventh in the freestyle tournament at 57 kg. Jacob Jones of Stamford was seventh in freestyle in the U15 tournament at 68 kg.
In the girls High School Showcase tournament, Milford’s Kayla Batres (110 pounds) was third in the freestyle tournament while Southbury’s Sarah Henckel (155) and Somers’ Natalie Accorsi (120) each finished fourth.
For the women, the national championship tournament is a standalone event that was held in early April in Spokane, Washington.
In master’s division competition, New Fairfield’s Michael Cartossa was second in freestyle and Greco-Roman at 58 kg in Masters D (ages 51-58) while Greenwich’s Greg McLaughlin was fourth in freestyle at 61 kg.
William Henckel beat California’s Brock Mantanona, a 2023 U17 world championship bronze medalist in the U20 final at 74 kg. Trailing by one with 1:28 remaining, Henckel got a double leg takedown and drove Mantoanona off the mat for a four-point move with 1:02 remaining to take a 11-8 lead. Henckel drove him off the mat again with 32 seconds left to extend his lead to four, 12-8.
Henckel went 6-0 in the tournament with four wins by technical fall, a pin and a decision over Montanona.
“I just feel good,” the three-time Prep School national champion at Blair Academy said. “I am just relying on my training. I have some great people around me. I am wrestling with the best people in the country and I have the best coaches in the country.”
Henckel praised coach and training partner Gino Fluri, a former wrestler at Rider University. He wore Fluri’s Rider single in the final in honor of his coach.
“To be successful, you have to surround yourself with good people and successful people,” Henckel said.
With the win, Henckel secures a spot on the U.S. team going to the 2025 U20 Pan American championships in Lima, Peru on July 10-12. Henckel also advances to the best-of-3 finals for a spot on the American U20 world team at the world team trials in late May in Geneva, Ohio.
Henckel is one of just four Connecticut wrestlers to earn All-American honors in four years at the Prep School national championship tournament.
Senior Nationals (U23)
Provo took a redshirt year this year with Stanford but went 4-1 in freestyle at 57 kg (125.6 pounds) to finish third.
Provo opened the tournament with a pair of 10-0 wins by technical fall in 1:20 and 22 seconds, respectively. In the semifinal, he dropped a 10-4 decision to Penn State freshman Luke Lilledah, who ended up winning the tournament.
Provo had an early 4-0 lead but Lilledah scored 10 unanswered points to secure the win.
Provo advanced in the consolation round with a 10-0 technical fall win in 1:45 before beating Brendan McCrone of Ohio in the consolation final, 13-2 in 2:04.
Del Gallo won his first two matches with a technical fall in 1:00 and a 10-9 win over Kenneth Crosby to move to the semifinals where he lost to eventual champion Jayden Raney of NYAC by technical fall. After a 7-3 win in the wrestlebacks, Del Gallo forfeited the consolation final due to a medical issue and finished fourth.
U20 tournaments
Heslin beat the No. 1 and No. 3 seed in his U20 Greco Roman tournament at 55 kilograms (121.2). Heslin went 4-2 in the tournament, beating top seed Kody Tanimoto of Texas in the quarterfinals, 7-3 and No. 3 seed Saxton Scott of Idaho in the consolation bracket, 9-0 in 45 seconds.
Heslin dropped a 16-13 decision to Ezekiel Witt of Kansas in the consolation final.
Konopka went 6-1 with a pin and three wins by technical fall to finish third at 92 kg (202 pounds) in the U17 tournament.
He won his first two matches with technical falls before dropping a 10-4 decision to Ronan An of Marietta, Georgia in the quarterfinals.
U17 tournaments
Konopka picked up three wins in the consolation bracket to advance to the consolation final where he met An for the second time in the tournament. Tied at 6-6, Konopka got takedowns with 1:13 and 38 seconds remaining to get the points he needed for a 10-9 decision.
Scheider, the Norwalk resident who wrestles for Greens Farms Academy (GFA), went 5-3 in the U17 Greco-Roman tournament at 92 kg (202 lbs.) to finish sixth.
U15 tournaments
Bailey, who wrestles at GFA, picked up two medals at 57 kg (125.6) with a fifth place finish in Greco-Roman and seventh in freestyle in the U15 tournaments. He was 5-2 with two pins in Greco-Roman. In freestyle, he was 6-2 with five wins by technical fall and one pin.
Jones, who represented SouthSide Wrestling, went 4-2 to finish seventh at 68 kg in the U15 freestyle tournament. Jones lost to Nathaniel Park of Marietta, Ga., in the championship round, 9-1 but beat him in the seventh place medal bout, 6-5.
Girls Showcase
Batres, who also wrestles at GFA, went 6-1 to finish third at 110 pounds in the Girls Showcase tournament. She won her first two matches with technical falls before dropping a 14-12 quarterfinal decision to Adalyne Montiel from Washington State.
Montiel took a 10-2 lead in the first period but Batres cut the lead to 11-10 with 1:26 but Montiel got a takedown to take command of the bout. Batres won four straight in the consolation round, including a 11-0 technical fall victory in 1:10 to beat Montiel to finish third.
Sarah Henckel gave up just two points in two technical fall victories to advance to the semifinals at 155 pounds. But she dropped a 5-4 decision to Sydney Davis of El Paso, Texas. Henckel went 1-1 in the consolation found to finish fourth. She finished 3-2 with three wins by technical fall.
Masters Division
Cartossa finished second in Greco Roman and freestyle at 58 kilograms, losing to Ohio’s Carson Gainey, who won both respective tournaments.
2025 U.S. Open results (USA Bracketing)
