HILLIARD

Wrestling: Hilliard Davidson Wildcats’ Josh Henderson seeing more success

Competing mainly at 157 pounds, Davidson junior Josh Henderson was 32-6 entering an OCC-Central match against Upper Arlington on Feb. 10. He rededicated himself after going 12-16 last season.

After going 12-16 a year ago, Hilliard Davidson wrestler Josh Henderson rededicated himself to help better those results.

His commitment had resulted in a 32-6 record entering an OCC-Central Division match against Upper Arlington on Feb. 10. The junior has competed mainly at 157 pounds this season. 

Henderson’s offseason preparation included working with a strength and conditioning coach and competing in several summer tournaments. 

“There’s a lot of improvement this year. I’m having a lot more success,” he said. “I put in a lot of work over the offseason. It’s nice to finally see it paying off. I’ve been working hard and it’s finally coming together this year. I made a lot of improvement strength-wise, conditioning and working on a lot of technique doing club.” 

Henderson attends Worthington Christian, but is allowed to compete for the Wildcats because he lives in the Davidson zone of Hilliard City Schools and Worthington Christian does not have a wrestling program. 

“I’ve been wrestling with a lot of these guys since seventh grade,” said Henderson, who began wrestling at Weaver Middle School. “It’s all love, all family. My friends at Worthington Christian know I wrestle at Davidson. They’re all pretty supportive. I like it a lot.” 

He is seeking his first Division I district tournament berth after going 3-2 at sectional last season to place fifth at 152, making him a district alternate. He went 0-2 at sectional at 145 as a freshman to finish 8-22. 

“I’m trying to get further than that and make it to the state tournament and hopefully place,” Henderson said. “I still have some work to do. The team is young and we have a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement.” 

He was 52-44 for his career entering the match against UA. 

“Josh just believes in himself more,” coach Lee Wilson said. “He’s always been really solid in the practice room, but this year he’s been able to have it pay off.” 

Davidson also has received a solid performance from junior Wyatt Moore, who was 35-7 at 132 before competing against UA in the Wildcats’ final league dual. 

“I still have little things to work on to get where I want to get in the postseason, but I feel pretty good,” Moore said. “The goal is to get to state and place.” 

Last season, Moore went 3-2 at district to finish fifth at 126 and be a state alternate. He finished the season 25-3. 

“Wyatt has always been the hardest worker on the team, being able to lead by example,” Wilson said. “He’s one of the kids that we count on. We really don’t have to worry about if he’s putting in the work.” 

Davidson will compete at sectional Feb. 26 at a site determined at the district meeting Feb. 13. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to district March 4 and 5 at Darby. 

Davidson snapped a 10-match losing streak in the OCC-Central with a 41-36 win at Bradley on Feb. 5. 

“We’re a pretty undeveloped team, but we’re getting there,” Moore said. “It feels good to get a win. It seems like the team wants it more this year than they have before.” 

The Wildcats’ most recent league victory had been a 46-30 win over Central Crossing on Jan. 23, 2020. 

“This was our first win, and we’ll take what we can get,” Wilson said. “We definitely have a lot of room to improve still. We have a decent, young team.” 

Other Davidson wrestlers hoping to advance to district include Hawkins McHugh (126, 25-15 before Feb. 10), Quin Hopping (144, 24-15), Luke Sparkman (215, 23-15) and Talan Kirtland (165, 22-12). 

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