Florida's Sawyer Bartelt Wins the Dave Schultz SE Award

Press Release from National Wrestling Hall of Fame via USA Wrestling

STILLWATER, Okla. - The National Wrestling Hall of Fame on Thursday announced the regional winners of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award (DSHSEA).

The winners are:

Central Region - Gage Walker, Bixby, Oklahoma, Bixby High School, University of Missouri

Midwest Region - Aeoden Sinclair, Edgerton, Wisconsin, Milton High School, University of Missouri

Northeast Region - Carter Neves, Dayton, Ohio, Blair Academy, Ohio State University

Southeast Region - Sawyer Bartelt, Coral Gables, Florida, South Dade Senior High School, Iowa State University

West Region - Cash Henderson, Bountiful, Utah, Woods Cross High School, Cornell University

The national winner will be announced on May 8. The national winner will be chosen from the regional winners.

The DSHSEA was established in 1996 to honor Olympic and World champion Dave Schultz, whose career was cut short when he was murdered in January 1996. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1997 and as a member of the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.

The DSHSEA recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.

DSHSEA winners are evaluated and selected on the basis of three criteria: success and standout performances and sportsmanship in wrestling; review of GPA and class rank, academic honors and distinctions; and participation in activities that demonstrate commitment to character and community.

The regional winners of the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award were announced on Wednesday. The TSHSEA recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior female wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service. The TSHSEA national winner will be announced on May 7.

The TSHSEA and DSHSEA national winners will be honored during the 47th Honors Weekend at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum on May 31 and June 1 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. To purchase tickets for Honors Weekend, visit https://bit.ly/2024NWHOFHonorsWeekendTickets.

The regions and the states that they are comprised of are:

West (11) - Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming

Midwest (10) - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin

Central (7) - Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas

Southeast (11) - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia

Northeast (11) - Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont

2024 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award Regional Winners

Central Region: Gage Walker of Bixby, Oklahoma was a four-time Oklahoma state champion for Bixby High School. The son of Matt and Whitney Walker, he will continue his wrestling career at the University of Missouri. Walker became Oklahoma’s 46th four-time state wrestling champion, finishing with a career record of 155-11 while also winning four regional titles. He also had a fifth-place finish at the Ironman Wrestling Tournament and a third-place finish at the Doc Buchanan Invitational. He finished seventh in freestyle at Junior Nationals in 2023 and seventh in 16U Greco-Roman Nationals in 2022. Walker was a two-time academic all-conference and a two-time academic state champion team member. He is a member of the National Honor Society, student council and Fellowship of Christian Students. He hosted and participated in Operation Gratitude, a fundraiser to gather cold weather gear for homeless veterans while also hosting, cooking, serving and cleaning at the Veterans Day luncheon, parade and community assembly. Walker hosted, shopped, wrapped and delivered gifts for Christmas Angel Trees, benefitting children and nursing home residents, and hosted, shopped, packed and delivered baskets for the Christmas Food Basket Challenge, a fundraiser to provide Christmas dinner to students enrolled in the Backpack Program. He hosted and participated in the Easter Egg Houses fundraiser to raise money to host a prom for the Delaware County Friendship Homes, which provides residential and vocational opportunities for developmental disabled adults, and also volunteered to assist with cleanup when a tornado destroyed homes and yards in the local community. A member of the Cherokee Nation, he was a Cherokee National Trail of Tears Award recipient.

Midwest Region: Aeoden Sinclair of Edgerton, Wisconsin was a three-time Wisconsin state champion with a career record of 144-4 for Milton High School. After going 14-3 and finishing third at the state tournament as a freshman, he went 48-1 as a sophomore, 45-0 as a junior and 37-0 as a senior while capturing regional, sectional and state championships. The son of Michael and Abigail Sinclair, he will continue his wrestling career at the University of Missouri. Sinclair recently won the U20 Freestyle Nationals and also won the 2023 Journeyman World Classic, including a victory over world champion Sandro Kurashvili of Georgia in the semifinals. He also captured Super 32 and Who's #1 titles in 2023, and went 1-1 at the 2023 U17 World Championships. He was the 2022 USA Wrestling U16 Nationals champion and went 8-0 to help his team to a second-place finish at the 2022 U16 National Duals. Sinclair finished second at the 2022 Super 32, due to injury, and had a third-place finish at the United States Open. Sinclair was a Fargo champion in 2022 and went 8-0 to help his team finish fifth at the Junior National Duals in 2022. He performed community service with the National Honor Society and also volunteered as an instructor and coach with the Milton Youth wrestling program and the Askren Wrestling Academy. Fluent in reading, speaking and writing Spanish, Sinclair was a four-time Academic All-State wrestler and also a 2023-24 Academic All-American. Sinclair is a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish National Honor Society, the Student Council, the History Club, the Spanish Club, and was a co-captain of the Financial Literacy Team. He was named Rock County Rotary Student of the Month in December 2023 while also making the honor roll every trimester of his high school career and being a Badger Boys State selection in 2023.

Northeast Region: Carter Neves of Dayton, Ohio was a National Prep champion in 2024 and a National Prep runner-up in 2023 for Blair Academy after being an Ohio state champion in 2022 and a state finalist in 2021 for Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio. The son of Paul and Holly Neves, he will continue his wrestling career at Ohio State University. Neves won the Walsh Ironman, the Beast of the East and the Escape the Rock tournaments, and did not surrender a single offensive point during the 2023 season. He finished third in freestyle at the U20 UWW Junior Nationals and the U.S. Open Juniors in 2023 after a runner-up finish at the U17 World Team Trials in 2021. He also played football at Blair and earned second-team all-state honors as a linebacker. Neves served as a prefect at Blair and was also the girls lacrosse team manager. He received the Stephen Curry Prize for Most Impactful New Junior at Blair.

Southeast Region: Sawyer Bartelt of Coral Gables, Florida was an undefeated four-time Florida state champion for South Dade Senior High School. He finished his high school career with a 139-0 record and was only taken down once, and that didn’t come until the final match of his high school career when Dr. Krop High School’s Nathan Adras did so early in the first period of the Class 3A 215-pound championship for an early 2-0 lead. Bartelt’s response? He pinned Adras at the 2:40 mark for the state title. The son of Douglas and Michelle Bartelt, he will continue his wrestling career at Iowa State University. Bartelt won the Junior Nationals Greco-Roman title in 2023 and was the 16U Greco-Roman national champion in 2021. He also won the U.S. Open U20 and U20 World Team Trials titles in 2023 and wrestled for the United States in the 2023 U20 World Championships. Bartelt was a four-time Miami Dade County Wrestler of the Year and was named Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Wrestling and the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Wrestler of the Year in 2024. Also a standout as a defensive end on the football team, he was named South Dade Football Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Miami-Dade in 2024. Bartelt was a member of the “Best Buddies” club, spending time each week bonding with the special needs students at South Dade, and he also spent time reading and interacting with elementary school students. He also served as a guest speaker at local schools, emphasizing the importance of respect and being responsible, particularly with school work, and encouraging students to become well-rounded students before becoming athletes.

West Region: Cash Henderson of Bountiful, Utah was a three-time Utah state champion for Woods Cross High School. The three-time divisional champion and four-time state place-winner had a career record of 158-11, including 126-3 the last three seasons, and was named Outstanding Wrestler at both the division and state tournaments as a senior. The son of Jayson and Cicily Henderson, he will continue is career at Cornell University. He was a Fargo freestyle champion and finished fourth in Greco-Roman in 2022 and finished fourth in Greco-Roman and freestyle in 2023. Also a standout on the football field as a running back and middle linebacker, Henderson was all-state as a junior and senior, region MVP as a senior, and all-region as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was also the team captain for football and wrestling for three years. Henderson was a student diversity representative and a member of the National Honor Society and student council. He was a member of the speech and debate team, which finished second in the region and state, and played trumpet in the orchestra. He volunteered at the Utah Food Bank and at the University of Utah Huntsman Race while also being a member of the peer support group and the school’s food donation drive.

The Hall of Fame accepts nominations for its high school excellence awards from state chapters and coaches. The nominations are reviewed by a committee, which selects state and regional winners. The committee then determines the national winners from the regional winners.

Coleman Scott (2004) and Logan Stieber (2010) will become the first DSHSEA national winners to be Distinguished Members of the Hall of Fame when they are inducted in the Class of 2024 during Honors Weekend.

Cael Sanderson, who was the Utah and West Region winner of the DSHSEA in 1997, and Jake Varner, who was the California winner of the DSHEA in 2005, are also Distinguished Members of the Hall of Fame.

National winners of the DSHSEA have combined to win 20 NCAA Division I individual titles led by four-time champion Logan Stieber (2010), three-time winner Zain Retherford (2013) and two-time winners David Carr (2018), Steven Mocco (2001), David Taylor (2009), Teyon Ware (2002) and Zahid Valencia (2015).

2024 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award State Winners

State - Name, High School, Hometown, College Attending

Alabama - Cole Carter, Jasper High School, Jasper

Florida - Sawyer Bartelt, South Dade Senior High School, Coral Gables, Iowa State University

Georgia - Seth Larson, Flowery Branch High School, Flowery Branch, Campbell University

Mississippi - Gabrial Shanks, Ocean Springs High School, Ocean Springs, Gannon University

North Carolina - Cameron Stinson Jr., Mallard Creek High School, Charlotte, University of North Carolina

South Carolina - Jermaine (JJ) Peace, Cane Bay High School, Summerville, American University

Tennessee - Logan Fowler, Cleveland High School, Cleveland, United States Air Force Academy