Historic! Hagerstown’s Aaron Brooks wins his fourth NCAA wrestling title
In his final college wrestling match — the last bout of the 2024 NCAA championships — Hagerstown’s Aaron Brooks made history Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
The Penn State senior defeated North Carolina State’s Trent Hidlay 6-1 in the finals at 197 pounds to capture his fourth national title.
Brooks was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament as well as the NCAA’s most dominant wrestler of the season.
“It’s a journey with the Lord, praise the Lord,” said Brooks, a 2018 North Hagerstown graduate, in his post-match interview with ESPN. “You guys know. It might be boring, but it’s the truth. It’s the Lord, the Holy Spirit. It keeps me calm, keeps me poised. But I remember that it’s bigger than this. These four titles come and go, but his word remains forever.”
With his win, the Nittany Lions set tournament records for the most points scored by a team (172.5) and the largest margin of victory (100). Cornell finished second with 72.5 points.
Penn State has won 11 of the last 13 NCAA team titles, including the last three straight.
“Gratitude, man,” Brooks said. “We all love each other, but we’re grateful for what we have, so we use it to the best of our abilities.”
Brooks, who won his first three NCAA titles at 184 pounds, finished 22-0 for the season with 20 bonus-point victories. He went 89-3 for his college career.
2021: Aaron Brooks wins his 1st NCAA title
2022: Aaron Brooks gets revenge on biggest stage, wins his 2nd NCAA title
2023: Three-peat! Aaron Brooks’ reign continues at NCAA championships
Brooks became the seventh four-time NCAA champion, and the second from Penn State, not long after teammate Carter Starocci joined the short list Saturday night by winning his fourth straight title at 174 pounds.
Brooks’ final title run was his strongest, revealing the wide gap between him and the rest of the field as he went 5-0 for the tourney in dominant fashion.
On Friday, he defeated Missouri’s Rocky Elam by technical fall, 17-2, in the semifinals after pinning Oklahoma’s Stephen Buchanan in the first period in the quarterfinals.
On Thursday, Brooks defeated Northwestern’s Evan Bates by technical fall, 19-4, in the first round and then pinned Wyoming’s Joseph Novak in the first period in the second round.
On Saturday night, facing Hidlay for the fourth straight year at the NCAA tournament, Brooks scored a takedown with four seconds left in the opening period to take a 3-0 lead and methodically controlled the match the rest of the way.
Brooks beat Hidlay 3-2 in the finals in 2021, 6-4 in overtime in the semifinals in 2022 and 6-3 in the semifinals last year.
Hidlay entered the finals this year with a 28-0 season record, looking for a storybook ending to his career against his biggest nemesis. But he ended up being just another chapter in the legend of Aaron Brooks.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Penn State wrestling: Aaron Brooks wins fourth NCAA title
