Dec. 22, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- When Jake Herbert gathers with his family this holiday season, he'll have plenty of hardware earned in the last calendar year to show off: a second NCAA championship trophy, college wrestling's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, the Jesse Owens Award as the Big Ten's top male athlete, a U.S. Open title and a silver medal from the World Freestyle Championships. As a result, Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling's TheMat.com deemed Herbert's meteoric rise as the top story in wrestling in 2009.
"Coming into the year, Herbert was expected to be a dominant force on the college level, going into his senior season after an Olympic redshirt year. That expectation was met, and then some," Abbott writes. "He has established himself as a top hopeful for the 2012 Olympics and somebody who will put fans in the seats to see his aggressive offensive style of wrestling."
Herbert put the finishing touches on one of the most dominant college wrestling careers in recent NCAA history, finishing his senior year 34-0 after defeating defending NCAA champ Mike Pucillo of Ohio State in the title bout. His place in Northwestern and Big Ten Conference lore was cemented with his bestowal of the Hodge Trophy and Jesse Owens Award at nearly the same time Herbert was winning the 84-kg U.S. national title in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
After a summer spent training to compete for the American squad at the World Freestyle Championships in Denmark, Herbert made the most of his first true international opportunity, becoming the only U.S. competitor to reach the prestigious tournament's finals. Herbert defeated several former Olympic and World Championship medalists on his way to the final.
Abbott ranked Herbert's success ahead of other key stories of 2009 including Cael Sanderson's coaching move from Iowa State to Penn State, a pair of Junior World Titles for U.S. competitors and the addition of wrestling teams to several NCAA athletic programs. See the complete list of Gary Abbott's top-10 stories in USA Wrestling from 2009 by clicking here.