By ERIC KNOPSNYDER
Winning a national title would be enough to satisfy almost any wrestler.
But Evan Henderson continues to prove that he’s not just any wrestler.
Henderson, a junior at The Kiski School who lives just outside New Florence, overcame illness to win the 140-pound Prep National Championship at Lehigh last weekend, but his drive and determination left him wanting more.
“It wasn’t against the person I wanted to, but it was good,” Henderson said. “I was sick in that match, and I didn’t wrestle the way I wanted to.”
Henderson went 37-1 on the season and beat Duke Pickett of Virgina’s Woodbury Forest 10-5 in the championship, but it’s that one loss that haunts Henderson. It was a 6-4 setback to Blair Academy’s Chris Villalonga in the semifinals of the Walsh Jesuit Ironman tournament in December. Villalonga also beat Henderson in the national title match a year ago, so the former United wrestler was hoping for another crack at the New Jersey product.
But Villalonga, who is headed to Cornell in the fall, moved up to 145 pounds at the end of the season, leaving Henderson without a chance for redemption.
“That was pretty bad for me,” Henderson said. “I was pretty upset. He’s my only loss this season.”
Instead, Villalonga won the championship at the same weight where Robert Henderson, Evan’s twin brother, wrestled.
Robert finished third at the national tournament, losing a heartbreaker, 2-1, to Chris Mears of Bishop Lynch High School in Texas.
“I had a pretty good run up until the semis,” Robert said. “It came down to the last second. I had a takedown; the ref didn’t see it that way. It was a disappointing outcome.”
Robert went 28-7 on the season. He did not place at the Ironman – losing 12-6 to another famous twin, Andrew Alton of Central Mountain. He finished second at the Southmoreland Holiday Tournament, losing to Greenville’s Cody Copeland, and was runner-up at the Westmoreland County tournament after an ankle injury forced him to default to Kiski Area’s Justin Harold in the finals.
“Right around Christmas I had some misfortune,” Robert said. “It wasn’t until the end of the season that I started to come around and wrestle really good.”
Robert, who was a PIAA runner-up for United last season before joining his brother at Kiski, said he has excellent workout partners, including Jason Luster, the Cougars’ 152-pound national champion.
“We had a group of about five or six guys that are all hammers,” Robert said. “It’s just a brawl, the whole time. From 125 to 160, we’d all wrestle together. It was tough. Having Jason there as a practice partner did wonders for both me and Evan.”
Though they are only juniors, the twins – who wrestle year-round – have already begun to think about moving on to the next level.
“A couple of colleges have contacted us, looking for some info,” Robert said. “We’re looking at some Ivy Leagues. Our coach (Joe Ross), he’s kind of pushing us. He’d really like us to go to the Ivy League. We’re both 4.0 students.”
The brothers won’t necessarily go to college together, and while Evan is keeping his options open, he said it would be difficult to turn down an Ivy League education.
“Who wouldn’t want to go to an Ivy League school?” Evan said. “If I can get into one, I’ll go.”
Evan and Robert have time to decide where they want to go to college, and with a schedule that includes the Ironman, Beast of the East and POWERade tournaments next year, they’ll have plenty more chances to impress college recruiters.
