Wrestling: Blair’s Henckel claims Ironman title as Bucs place three at national tourney

William Henckel earned a first place finish for Blair wrestling at the 2024 Ironman tournament in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
The Walsh Tournament, annually hosted by Walsh Jesuit High School, regularly features some of the top high school grapplers in the nation. Over 120 teams were represented at this year’s tournament.
The championship match at 175 pounds featured Henckel, the No. 2 in Flowrestling’s national rankings and the No. 4 at 165 Asher Cunningham (State College, PA). The Pennsylvania wrestler jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after securing a takedown and four near fall points towards the end of the opening period. A takedown by Henckel and a reversal by Cunningham made it a 10-3 lead for Cunningham at the start of the third period. Henckel scored two takedowns to make it 12-9 before landing a tying takedown with 17 seconds left to force overtime. Henckel initiated a shot seconds off the first overtime whistle and secured a go-behind off a scramble to finish off the comeback with a 15-12 sudden victory win.
Henckel, the top-seed of his weight class, made his way to the finals by earning pins over Brayden Kobylinski (Brecksville, OH) and Andrew Barford (St. Francis DeSales, OH) and decision wins over Maximus Norman (Baylor School, TN) and Emmit Sherlock (Gilman School, Md.)
Blair finished with three placers in all, as sixth-seeded Michael Batista worked his way back from a semifinals loss to take fifth place at 113 while seventh-seeded Peter Snyder finished eighth at 190. The Bucs earned 89.5 team points, which gave the team a ninth place overall finish.
Michael Mocco, the son of New Jersey wrestling legend and North Bergen native Steve Mocco, earned another piece of hardware for the family by taking the top spot at heavyweight. Michael Mocco, the top-seed and No. 6 at 285, earned the Ironman title by taking a 16-6 major over No. 7 and second-seeded Mark Effendian (Faith Christian Academy, Pa.). The Cardinal Gibbons senior made his way to the finals off a pin and a pair of tech falls. Before becoming an Olympian. a three time Pan American champ and a two-time NCAA champion for Oklahoma State and Iowa, Steve Mocco earned four national prep titles competing for St. Benedict’s and Blair.
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