Wabash College senior  Jack Heldt capped his career by winning the 285-pound national championship Saturday evening at the 2023 NCAA Division III Wrestling Tournament at the Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

Sophomore Chase Baczek joined Heldt as a two-time All-American after placing seventh at 184 pounds in the tournament. 

Heldt joined four-time national champion Riley Lefever as the only Wabash wrestlers to compete for a national title in consecutive seasons. Heldt placed second in the 197-pound weight class at the 2022 championships.

Heldt scored a 6-1 victory over third-seeded Kaleb Reeves from Coe College. The Wabash senior dominated the match, owning the lead from the outset to claim his second consecutive All-America award and the eighth national title in Wabash program history.

Heldt also received the NCAA Division III Most Dominant Wrestler for the season. The Most Dominant Wrestler standings are calculated by adding the total number of team points awarded through match results and dividing that number by the total number of matches wrestled. Heldt came into the championships with an average of 5.56 points per match.

Heldt scored his second tournament pin with his Saturday morning semifinal win over fourth-seeded Tyler Kim from Augsburg. Heldt put Kim on his back 2:46 into their semifinal bout to score the pin and advance to the championship match against Reeves from Coe College. Reeves upset second-seeded Donovan King from Olivet in the semis with a pin at the 2:16 mark of their bout.

"There is not a way in the word to describe this feeling," Heldt said. "It's amazing. Riley Lefever is the best Division III wrestler who has ever competed in this sport. To be in the same company as him and do it representing Wabash and the 'Wabash Always Fights' mentality means a lot to me. 

"I wasn't always the biggest. I wasn't always the best. I weighed 115 pounds as a freshman in high school. I had to battle my way up the ranks. It just shows you can achieve any of your goals through hard work."

"Jack capped off an amazing career," Wabash head coach Brian Anderson said. "He just kept jumping levels like Riley Lefever did. Guys like them can make those jumps because they do the right things daily. Jack's win tonight shows all of our guys that being a national champion is very attainable, but you must be willing to do the work. We keep producing national champions, and wrestlers can come here to train with national champions. It's a doable thing here at Wabash College."

Baczek held a tight 2-1 lead late in the third period until Colby Giroux from the Rochester Institute of Technology scored a takedown for a 3-2 final, sending Baczek to the seventh-place bout against Mahlic Sallah from Roanoke College. Baczek scored the early takedown in the match and claimed his seventh-place finish and second All-America honors of his career with an 8-0 major decision. 

Wabash finished in tenth place in the team standings with 35.5 points thanks to the efforts of the six wrestlers who earned trips to the national tournament. The Little Giants have earned top-ten team finishes in each of the last seven NCAA DIII tournaments.

"We are very blessed with talent and depth," Anderson said. "We knew we would be young this year. We lost a lot of firepower from the 2022 team that finished a point away from winning the national title. Our goal is always to stay in the top ten in the team standings if we have a young team, then charge back to the top next year. With what we return next year, we will surely be in a position to do that."