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Henson a welcomed addition to postseason for Waynesburg

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It has been a great four days for the wrestling program at Waynesburg High School.

Over the weekend, the Raiders placed 10th in the team standings and freshman Mac Church finished in second place at 106 pounds in the Iron Man Wrestling Tournament in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

On Monday, the Raiders learned that one of their better wrestlers, Wyatt Henson, would be eligible to compete in the postseason, thanks to the WPIAL appeals board.

“We’re excited to have him in the lineup for the postseason,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “We had him in the lineup as a freshman. We have him in the lineup now. We’re excited and he’s excited.”

Henson, who won a state championship in Missouri last year, transferred back to Waynesburg and re-joined the team he was on two years ago.

Because he transferred after his sophomore season, Henson fell under the new transfer rule adopted by the PIAA. It does not allow the transfer who has finished his sophomore season to participate in the postseason, except under certain circumstances.

“The way the rule is written, if a student participates in a sport in his sophomore season or after, they are automatically ineligible for the postseason,” said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. “What Waynesburg did was submit an appeal, filled out the paperwork and it fit the criteria and the board granted the appeal. So he is eligible.”

One of those appeal criteria is for the movement of the family because of a change in work status. That’s what allowed Henson to become eligible for the postseason. His father, Sammie, who once coached at West Virginia University before moving out to Missouri, then returned to the area for work.

The older transfers fall under the restrictions that Henson did. The rule was put in place because some athletes were taking advantage. It was possible, before the transfer rule, for an athlete to play in the same sport at two schools in the same season.

There were some examples of an athlete starting a postseason tournament with one school and ending it with another.

Henson has a 6-3 record with the Raiders and is coming off an eighth-place finish in the Iron Man tournament. His only loss against someone from Pennsylvania was a 1-0 decision against Bethlehem’s Catholic’s Kenny Herrmann last Friday.

He won the Missouri Class 4 state title at 138 pounds, one year after wrestling with his brother, Jackson, for Waynesburg.

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