Darren Won the NCAA DII Men’s National Championship Title


by Stephanie (Coartney) Dulaney ’10


Photo of Darren Wynn WrestlingDarren Wynn won the ncaa Division II Men’s national championship title in March 2016. Within minutes of his 12-8 victory over the No. 6-ranked wrestler from Seton Hill University, McKendree’s Twitter feed erupted with the news #AllHeDoesIsWynn.

Darren is thrilled to bring home a national championship win so early in his college career. In fact, he’s using the victory as a springboard for empowering himself and his teammates to push for even more championship titles in the next two years. “Words can’t even explain how good it felt to see all of my hard work pay off, but I still have two more years to hopefully bring back two team titles and two individual ones,” he said. In total, the Bearcat wrestling team brought five players to nationals this year, all of whom are sophomores. With this combined high level of talent, Darren believes the best is yet to come for McKendree’s wrestling program. “Our team is so young, and we have the ability to really skyrocket this program to the next level.”

This year, Darren’s season was filled with ups and downs as he recovered from knee surgery over the summer and fought to make it back to the top of his game. There were times, he says, when he doubted whether he would even reach the national championship round; however, advice from his coaches helped to spur him on and keep him focused on the goal ahead. “During the final round, my opponent tied it up 4-4. for a lot of kids, their mind starts to play games with them, but my coaches put it upon me to stay calm no matter what until the last second because you’re still in the match.”


 


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