Washington’s Medlin wins 2026 CSM Boys Wrestler of the Year

Washington’s Wyatt Medlin admits he’s not the biggest, strongest or fastest athlete out there. 

But he found a sport that let him control his own destiny, keeps him regimented and rewards those that work hard. He ended up being pretty good at it too.

Medlin is Clutch Sports Media’s 2026 Boys Wrestler of the Year after winning his third straight Class 2A state title, going 43-0 and etching his name as one of the all-time greats in one of the state’s most successful programs. 

After plowing his way through regionals and sectionals, Medlin won the 165-pound state title by winning all four of his matches at state, beginning with a pin of Lake Villa Lake’s Michael Flatley. From there, he used his highly technical approach to earn tech falls over Mahomet-Seymour’s Talon Decker (19-4), Chicago St. Rita’s Micah Spinazzola (21-6) and New Lenox Providence Catholic’s Jasper Harper (19-3).

Medlin won state championships in three different classes. As a sophomore, he took the 138-pound title in Class 2A, going 45-4 and leading Washington to a dual team state championship as well. He won it all at 157 pounds in 2025, going 48-3 and leading the Panthers to a Class 2A dual team state runner-up finish. 

He’s won two U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals titles and went undefeated this season at Walsh Jesuit’s Ironman tournament in Ohio, featuring some of the best wrestlers in the country. He will wrestle at Illinois alongside Washington alum and All-American Kannon Webster and current Panthers teammate Josh Hoffer. 

Hear from Medlin about his season and career in our interview with him below. Some responses have been minimally edited for clarity.

What have you been able to reflect on in the days since the season has ended? 

“It's just something I'm really proud of looking back on, being in the question or in the category of the greats and the people I looked up to when I was younger,” Medlin said. “But now we're still back in the room, just trying to give back to the community and the little kids of the program and the underclassmen of the program while I'm still around. A lot of my actual practices are in Champaign nowadays, but as much as I can get in the Washington wrestling room, the better.”

What are you doing to help the next generation of Washington wrestling?

“I'll just come into a practice with some eighth graders coming in or some underclassmen, whoever it is that needs a partner,” Medlin said. “I know the week after state, it was the guys getting ready for the freshman and sophomore state and I’d come in and work out with them. I'm going to be running some clinics over the summer here.”

What inspired your love for wrestling?

“It's just a very self-driven sport and the fact of it is, I'm not the fastest kid, I'm not the strongest kid, but it's just that you get what you put into it,” Medlin said. “There’s obviously great role models through the Washington wrestling program, Jacob Warner and Kannon Webster, but just growing up in the room, idolizing those guys, you're obviously going to want to follow in their footsteps. And those are great kids on and off the mat.”

“I cannot do any other sport, it's kind of funny,” he added. “These broad jumps in the wrestling room, you get five broad jumps and you get to see how far you can go and it's a little competition in the wrestling room. You mark it off with tape on the wall and that's your spot and you try to beat it the next day. It would be like everyone else way down the line and then it would be like me and Symon Woods way behind everyone. In a lot of other sports, it's like you can be a great football player but if you're not 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, then you're not getting looked at by any colleges. With wrestling, you're as good as you want to be. I've had great opportunities, but you can make opportunities for yourself, stick to a schedule and you're as good as you want to be.”

What’s been your favorite tournament to wrestle at?

“Washington goes to the Ironman tournament at Walsh Jesuit [in Ohio] and that's a great tournament, I mean, it's one of the hardest tournaments in the country, if not the hardest,” Medlin said. “It's got a great historical background and some of the best guys in the sport have won it. It's a two-day tournament and you make weight each day. You're just getting a ton of matches. It's not like the biggest venue, it's in a high school gym and in a high school fieldhouse so when you're down in that fieldhouse, it's kind of like a grind out there just scrapping with some nationally-ranked kids. That's for sure, hands down, my favorite. Then [on] day two, everyone's super tired [after] making weight and wrestling the whole day before so then it's like, who's tougher and who wants it more?”

What’s a motto or mindset you take when you’re competing?

“Surrender the outcome, I would say,” Medlin said. “To expand on that, sometimes you get too focused on the wins and the losses. Especially when I was an underclassman, I kind of needed to work on this. But it's no matter what, surrender the outcome, no matter what if you win or you lose, don't be focused on the result, but be focused on what you can do and just wrestling to your potential. Because I know as long as I wrestle to my potential and my skill set, I put in the work [and] I can beat anyone in the country. So you might as well just surrender an outcome being the best version of yourself in a match and in a practice.”

Aside from winning, what was your favorite memory of the season? 

“Oh man, it would definitely be like the card games of Mafia on the bus rides to tournaments,” Medlin said. “We play this game called Imposter on the way home from tournaments or even, when it's like two in the morning, the talks on the way back from The Clash. The Clash is at LaCrosse [Wisconsin] and the talks get really deep. You just came from a two-day wrestling tournament and at two in the morning, everyone's super tired so the conversations are definitely pretty interesting and funny and deep.”

You’re headed to Illinois to wrestle in college, what made you choose them and what are your goals there?

“It has a great culture,” Medlin said. “I knew a bunch of the guys in the incoming recruiting class, obviously Josh Hoffer [is my] Washington teammate and I know a bunch of guys up by Chicago, we're good buddies, Kannon Webster, a Washington alum, is there so the teammates, you don't get much closer than that with a team. I've also grown up around it since 2017 when my dad took the job there. I'm very familiar with the guys there and the coaches. The coaching staff is willing to put everything into you and give you every opportunity you need to improve and become a better wrestler. That's pretty rare for a program, so I mean [there’s] high-level coaches, high-level partners, high-level teammates there.”

“After ending my high school career as a state champ, I feel like I would want to be a national champ,” Medlin said. “That's that next step, right? It'll be some adjusting and it's definitely a full-time job being a collegiate Division One athlete but if I put in the work and seize every opportunity given, then I don't see why not. Like I said earlier, wrestling is a very individual sport. You're as good as you want to be so if I want to be a national champion, which I do want to be a national champion, it’d be great for the program and it's a longtime goal of mine.”