Penn State Wrestling Recruiting: PSU Commit, Sister Become National Champs
In recruiting news, a Penn State wrestling commit and his sister became national champions over the weekend.
At 175 pounds, William Henckel became a national prep champ on the boys side.
On the girls’ side, his sister, Sarah, also won a national prep title.
Sarah doesn’t have the option to join her brother at Penn State since the school doesn’t yet have a women’s program. But Will is set to join Cael Sanderson’s wrestling empire next season. The Henckel’s are one year apart, with Sarah set to graduate in 2026. Odds are, she’ll have even more accolades by then.
As for her brother, well, Penn State wrestling fans are excited to see what he can do at the college level.
HENCKEL’S RESUME
William Henckel has already put together quite the wrestling resume. This was his second national prep championship and fourth time placing. In the years he didn’t win, he finished second and third, respectively. He’s also a two-time Beast of the East champion, with features wrestlers from more than 20 states. This season, he beat Ryan Burton, also from New Jersey, in the finals. Burton, a Virginia Tech commit, is ranked No. 13 overall in the Class of 2025 by FloWrestling.
At this year’s national prep championships, Henckel went 5-0 with four pins and a tech fall. In the finals, he pinned Brown commit Maximums Norman.
A LOADED CLASS
One might be surprised to know that Penn State wrestling— which has won 11 of the past 13 national titles— has a strong recruiting class set to come in later this year. PSU has the No. 1 (Marcus Blaze) and No. 2 (PJ Duke) recruits coming in. Henckel is ranked No. 15, and State College’s own Asher Cunningham isn’t far behind at No. 18.
Wyoming Seminary star Nate Desmond is No. 32, and fellow PA native Dalton Perry (Central Mountain) is No. 41.
The current Penn State wrestling team is set to compete at the Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Illinois March 8-9.
