Sparks

PARK CITY, Kan. — Wrestling can be the cruelest of sports or deliver on a lifelong dream. Hunter Sparks has experienced both in about a year.

The Eastern Oregon University senior entered his final season determined to avenge the loss he suffered in the NAIA National Championship finals a year ago. The tears fell Saturday, March 2, and his shoes were laid in the center of the mat by the end of the night because a championship was finally in his hands and he refused to let the grip break.

Sparks beat fellow Cascade Collegiate Conference foe Nicolas Aguilar, 6-5, to win the 125-pound national title. He is the Mountaineers’ first national champion since the program was reinstated in 2016 and also the first in 55 years. Sparks joins Brick Woodward, who claimed a national title in 1969, and Rollin Schimmel, who accomplished the feat in 1967.

“Getting my hand raised was pretty surreal,” Sparks said. “I had always dreamed of it and I took my shoes off and put them in the center of the mat. That moment (signifying his retirement from competitive wrestling) was when the tears flowed pretty good. My whole life has been waiting for that moment, 20 years of wrestling and a storybook ending.”

Road to the final

Sparks, the third seed, began his tournament with a 10-1 major decision over Doane’s Nathan Rizek before downing Life’s Antonio Saldate, 12-7, to reach the semifinals.

That set up a championship rematch from the previous year against Life’s Brandon Orum. The two were teammates at Life before Sparks transferred to EOU, only to suffer the 5-4 loss a year ago.

The two wrestlers traded escapes through three periods of near takedowns that never came to fruition. After another scoreless two minutes in overtime, the match went to rideouts where Orum rode Sparks for the entire 30 seconds. That’s when Sparks decided to use some strategy.

“It was a lot like last year because I got a takedown and all I had to do was ride him for 14 seconds, and I couldn’t do it,” he said. “I decided to let him up and knew I needed a takedown to win. Before we started, there was a delay as they fixed the clock and I was super calm and looked at my coach and just said I would get him.”

Even with Life coaches yelling at Orum to watch for the sweep single, Sparks got to the leg.

“The difference from all the other takedown attempts was that I was able to get to my feet cleanly and I finished it,” he said.

Sparks got the win, and a little revenge, to advance to the final, 4-2, after 10 grueling minutes of wrestling. The crowd erupted in support of Sparks, many aware it was a final rematch, and even more who cheer anytime a Grand View or Life — the two NAIA wrestling powers — wrestler suffers a loss.

“I waited a whole year to get that match back, and it was awesome,” Sparks said.

The finals

Sparks had beaten Aguilar 7-2 at the conference meet a couple of weeks earlier, but this would be no easy walk to a title. Sparks said he told Aguilar after the conference meet that the two would meet up again for a national title. It ended up coming true for two wrestlers who missed each other at Clackamas Community College by just one year.

“There was a point in the match in the second or third period where I could tell he was getting tired and I knew that my gas tank and conditioning would help me,” he said.

Sparks went into the third period trailing 4-1, but an escape and a stalling point closed the gap to 4-3. Sparks would secure the national title with a shot and takedown to make it 6-4, but that was just the beginning of the final 15 seconds of the match.

“When I took him down, I needed to hold him down to eliminate riding time,” Sparks said. “He did a funky switch, scramble and I am just locked round his leg listening to the ref count. They gave him a point (making it 6-5) for loss of control escape but not the reversal which would have tied it.

“Their coaches threw the brick to challenge the call saying it was a reversal, but the call stood. I looked at the ref and coach and they said I won. I dropped to my knees and tears started to come, but three seconds later there was another brick.”

This time, the Menlo coaches said that riding time should still be at a minute, giving Aguilar a point and tying the match. Again, the challenge was denied.

Championship secured.

“It is unbelievable because the reason I lost last year was because I couldn’t hold on for the two or three seconds I needed, and this year the two or three seconds of time to eliminate riding time saved me,” he said.

Sparks was named the 2024 NAIA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year, marking the first time a Mountaineer has ever held the coveted award. Sparks finished the year 20-1 with his only loss coming to an NCAA Division I opponent.

Greater calm

Sparks said that several times during the national title run his faith allowed him to stay calm, take in the moment and enjoy the ride even if his coaches dubbed him the “cardiac kid.”

“Probably the biggest thing that helped me is my relationship with God because I have struggled with mental health and being a second-string guy or a second-place guy,” he said. “Moving to La Grande helped solidify that relationship with God, knowing no matter what I have that support system. No matter what happens I have my goals, win or lose, place or not place, who I am in God’s eyes is most important.”

Sparks wasn’t the only Mountie to earn a prestigious honor on March 2. Eastern Oregon’s Kyle Knudtson added to his resume once again earning his second NAIA All-American honor finishing eighth overall.

Knudtson, who finished fourth in 2022, returned to the podium in 2024 after another strong run. The junior worked his way back to the seventh-place match after a close decision to Grand View’s Jameel Coles, 8-6.

As a team the Mountaineers finished 12th overall with 41.5 team points. Eastern’s highest-ever team finishes came in 1968 and 1969 when they finished sixth both years.

“I waited a whole year to get that match back, and it was awesome.”

— Hunter Sparks, EOU wrestler, national champion and 2024 NAIA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year