Caleb Henson’s Rise To A National Title: ‘I’m Going To Put The Nation On Notice’

The day is November 7, 2022. Woodland High School’s Adrian Tramutola’s phone lights up with a text from one of his former wrestlers.

It’s Caleb Henson. The Virginia Tech freshman just wrapped up a dominant showing at the Southeast Open, earning a fall and technical fall in his 5-0 outing a week ahead of the regular season.

His message is a simple, yet powerful one: “On Friday, I’m going to put the nation on notice.”

Four days later, he notched his first career dual victory over Ohio State’s then-No. 2 Sammy Sasso in overtime, 5-3. Trailing 3-0 at the start of the third period, he tied the match with a takedown with under thirty seconds left. Stonewalling Sasso in the extra period, he eventually found an opening for a shot and capitalized.

Here’s No. 27 Caleb Henson’s upset victory over OSU’s No. 2 Sammy Sasso.

Elite defense from Henson to fend off Sasso’s attack and then find a way to score #Hokies pic.twitter.com/jkXA5s8n3b

— Jack Brizendine (@JackPBrizendine) November 12, 2022

Standing up and showing off the Virginia Tech logo on his singlet to the stunned Covelli Center crowd as his hand was raised, the statement win provided the first glimpse of Henson’s potential — he knew it, and now the rest of the country did, too.

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Henson’s first couple of years as a wrestler didn’t feature many wins. He started in third grade and didn’t get his hand raised once that year.

While he doesn’t remember much from that season, it helped him form a relentless mindset that has carried him through his career.

The progress started to really show in seventh grade.

Henson finished second at the Tulsa Nationals that year, discovering what it takes to find high-level success in the process.

“I had results that varied from sixth grade to seventh grade,” Henson said. “It was a solid jump of improvement and seeing that just from a year of focused work was exciting and I think helped me keep pushing forward.”

He started practicing at Woodland that season as well, getting a jumpstart with the program that he would join two years later.

Scrapping with high-quality wrestlers allowed Henson to develop at a faster rate, and it helped further his competitive edge.

“He [Henson] was probably a little bit behind a couple of those guys, but you could just tell in practice every day that he just hated losing,” Tramutola said. “If he got taken down or something, then he was going to do whatever it took to beat the guy he was wrestling in practice back to the center.

“He wants to compete and he wants to wrestle against the best guys. At the high school level, you don’t see that too often. He was the type of kid on the whole way there, he’s thinking ‘I better get that kid.’”

The appropriately nicknamed “Hitman,” Henson began taking out his opponents one-by-one, climbing to the top of the national rankings at 152 pounds.

He finished his high school career with three state championships and only one loss — the title match his freshman year.

Henson’s rise was driven by his holistic approach to success, living a lifestyle that would give him an advantage over his competitors — whether it was doing 200 push-ups after each practice or asking for a blender for Christmas to make smoothies.

No matter what it took to get to the top, he was willing to do it.

His drive, talent and willingness to be coached made Henson a target on Virginia Tech’s radar, and the relationships he built with Tech’s staff made the difference in recruitment.

“He’s just a pro,” Tech wrestling head coach Tony Robie said at media day in October. “He’s as intelligent a kid that we have in our program. His wrestling IQ and his ability to learn and his ability to process wrestling and understand what he needs to do and be able to be coached, but also be able to coach himself — he’s got a unique ability for that. He knows what he needs to do, but he’s also very good at taking coaching and then implementing what’s going to work best for him.

“It’s one of the things in recruiting that’s a little bit difficult to see is how high kids’ wrestling IQ is, how well are they going to learn and how well will they adapt to college wrestling. Caleb is probably as far ahead of anybody that I’ve ever coached in those areas. If he chooses to be a wrestling coach, he’s going to be a hell of a wrestling coach, because he just has a real understanding of every aspect of what it takes to be successful in this sport.”

Henson found success early on in Blacksburg, starting his collegiate career with eight straight wins, including the Sasso upset.

He finished his freshman year with a 27-5 record, finishing fifth at the NCAA Tournament in Tulsa. He was tabbed ACC Freshman of the Year at the end of the season.

Henson was ranked No. 4 in Intermat’s preseason poll heading into his sophomore year following his impressive 2023 campaign.

With a year’s worth of experience under his belt, he steamrolled through the regular season, finishing with a 24-1 record. His only loss was against Ridge Lovett, who he got revenge against at the NCAA Tournament in the semifinals, eking out a 1-0 victory.

His semifinal win set up a date with Michigan’s Austin Gomez in the finals on Saturday night in Kansas City.

Henson had less than 24 hours to mentally and physically prepare for the biggest match of his life but didn’t let the moment get to his head.

He expected to be in the finals and acted accordingly.

“I wasn’t battling that many emotions and nerves because that’s what I expected of myself and I’m not too emotionally invested to where I was having to do things to stop from freaking out,” Henson said. “That’s just the position I wanted to be in.”

Par for the course, Henson didn’t flinch when he gave up an early takedown to Gomez in the first 30 seconds of the title bout. 

Instead, he remained calm, quickly escaping before rattling off 12 more points in the opening period to lead 13-4. He held on for the final two periods to major Gomez 15-7 and secure Tech’s second national title in program history. His championship was the first ever by a Georgia native.

“It’s a wrestling match; seven minutes of war,” Henson said in his post-match interview on ESPN. “I was coming out there for seven.”

Henson won the war because he wins the little battles every day, continuing to find ways to challenge himself. The mentality has taken him to the height of the sport, accomplishing something that very few wrestlers achieve — winning a national championship.

So what’s the next challenge for Henson? His answer is simple and direct, emphasizing just how determined he is.

“Win two more.”