Darren Won the NCAA DII Men’s National Championship Title
by Stephanie (Coartney) Dulaney ’10
Darren 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.”
Make It McKendree
