After going 39-0, winning his second state championship, Ty Watters was riding high going into his freshman year at WVU, but very few could have predicted the success he would have in his first season of collegiate wrestling.
Watters posted a 98-8 overall record, wrestling for West Allegheny High School and even won a Powerade Championship in 2023. Watters is a part of some of the top prospects brought in by coach Tim Flynn since taking over the WVU wrestling program in 2018, joining redshirt freshman Brody Conley, redshirt sophomore Jordan Titus and senior Peyton Hall, all of whom were NCAA qualifiers in 2024. On top of that, Flynn signed three more wrestlers in the class of 2024 ranked top 75 in the nation regardless of weight, Hoke Hogan, Shawn Taylor and Rune Lawrence, who will join the team next season.
“Ty (Watters) is a real high-level talent, and certainly I think he can do some damage pretty quickly,” Flynn told me preseason in an interview. “He’s going to be a guy that before he’s out of here, I don’t know how quickly, but he’s going to be competing for a national championship, and we need more guys like that.”
After earning the starting spot at 149 in wrestle-offs Watters backed up his coach’s claims. He would go on to rack up win after win, most of them for bonus points. In one of their first tournaments of the year, Watters was the runner-up at the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship, helping West Virginia finish third as a team, the highest they’ve placed at Midlands in program history.
As the season went on and Watters got more experience, he would find himself as one of the top-ranked wrestlers at his weight, while also ranking constantly in the top 10 of DI wrestling for pins. Towards the middle of the season, Watters was starting to make a name for himself in college wrestling, picking up wins over ranked opponents and soon enough being ranked within the top 10 at 149.
Entering the Big 12 tournament to kick off the postseason, Watters was the No. 3 seed at 149. He picked up three bonus-point wins on his way to the finals match, including two technical falls, where he was matched up against Jordan Williams of Oklahoma State, the No. 4 seed. Watters would win by injury default in the second period, becoming the first Mountaineer wrestler to win a Big 12 championship at 149 and the fourth to do it all time.
Watters’ impressive showing in the Big 12 tournament, would automatically qualify him for the national championships and earn him the No. 5 seed. In the first round, Watters picked up another TF to add to his resume, defeating a familiar opponent in Mizzou’s Logan Gioffre, whom he beat when the Tigers came to Morgantown for a dual. In the second round, it would be another bonus point for Watters when he picked up a 9-0 major decision over Willie McDougald of Oklahoma. Watters ended day one of the NCAA’s as the lone Mountaineer still remaining in the championship bracket.
That wouldn’t last long however as Watters would be defeated on day two, in the quarterfinals by the eventual champion and No. 4 seed in Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson sending West Virginia’s true freshman to wrestlebacks. Watters wouldn’t waiver, however, as he picked up a pin in his first wrestle-back match securing his status as an All-American. He wasn’t done either, he continued to rally in the consolations, picking up an MD and a late come-back pin to advance him to the third-place match.
In the third-place match, Watters faced the No. 7-seeded Tyler Kasak of Penn State. The match was tight throughout, with Kasak getting an early takedown and Watters two escapes. In the end, Watters was unable to turn the tides and fell to Kasak 3-2, giving him a fourth-place finish.
Watters became the third true freshman to become an All-American for WVU and the first since 2015. He ended his season with a 26-5 record, with more than half his wins resulting in bonus points. After his strong showing as a freshman, Watters has provided optimism for not only his individual success but for his team’s success in the near future.
Photo courtesy of WVU Athletics
