Western Wrestling took fourth place at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship competition in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 11, 2023. It was the best finish the program has had since a fourth-place finish in 2004. The team also took home four All-American titles from Jason Hanenberg, Hunter Mullin, Patrick Allis, and Cole Hernandez. For Mullin, who is a senior, it was his second time earning an All-American title.
At the competition, All-American athlete Hernandez finished sixth, Allis finished third, and Hanenberg and Mullin took runner-up finishes in the championship round.
“Making the finals at the national tournament was very exciting. It is something that you think about and play in your head thousands of times before it happens,” Mullin, who was wrestling his final match as a Mountaineer, said. “I think the biggest thing that I took from my time in the program was a belief in myself. I learned that my ‘why’ is bigger than wrestling and that I am bigger than my results.”