The Grateful Champion: Simon Fraser’s Alex Hedrick Breaks Through To Her First College National Title

Hedrick at the 2020 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, the first-ever national tournament for NCAA programs hosted by the WCWC.

(L to R) Pete Hedrick, Alex Hedrick & Andrew Barth at the 2018 U.S. Open. Photo courtesy of Alex Hedrick.

by Derek Levendusky, AWW Staff

“It was honestly a relief,” admitted the junior from Simon Fraser after she won her first college national title last month. 123-pound Alex Hedrick finally broke out and stood at the top of the podium as a national champion at the inaugural NCAA event in Adrian, Michigan, the 2020 Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships.

It was a long journey to this point. After two losses in the WCWA finals to now-graduated teammate Dominique Parrish, 5-4 in 2018 and 7-2 in 2019, Hedrick will now have the title “national champion” in front of her name. Second place had been a theme for her since high school, not only taking second in the national college finals twice, but falling at Final X in 2018 to Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis. She did win the U.S. Open in 2018 and won world team spots on the Junior World Team in 2018 & 2019, though a college title had eluded her.

“My second year it hurt more losing in the finals,” remembers Hedrick when reflecting on the 2019 WCWA Nationals finals against her teammate. “I have a ton of respect for Dom, and of course I am proud of her as a teammate, but it still was very frustrating losing again. This year I wasn't really sure if I was going to red shirt or not but I eventually decided against it. Once I made that decision I stared really focusing on NCAAs, which I knew would be a good way for me to prepare for Olympic Trials. I was pretty motivated and determined to improve on my performance, and I was also motivated a lot from the loss I had at national duals.”

With her national title victory, she avenged a loss to sophomore star Cheyenne Sisenstein of King University at the 2020 NWCA National Duals, where Sisenstein took over the #1 spot in January with a convincing 5-1 victory in the team semis. The event hosted an NCAA women’s division for the first time.

Hedrick is a California product, coached by her father throughout her youth and high school career, where she won two state titles and was a national finalist twice. Her father Pete was a college wrestler at BYU under 2x world champion Mark Schultz.

“I started wrestling in 6th grade,” she explains, even though her father was uneasy at first because of weight cutting and his own experience with injuries. “I tried wrestling at a sports summer camp and I won my pool against three boys, so I decided to try it on the junior high team that year. After a couple months I loved it and was hooked, and my dad got on board!”

Her proudest accomplishment in those years was placing 7th at the junior high Northern California Tournament of Champions against boys as an 8th grader in 2013. Besides her father’s steady influence, she developed under a variety of coaches. First it was Coach Dana Smith at Carnegie Junior High, followed by Bella Vista High School coaching staff Mike Lee, Garrett Lane, Jake Briggs, Mike Nishimura and others that helped with the program. Hedrick started in the boys’ varsity line-up three of four varsity seasons and had a winning record, including an 85-5 record against other girls.

So why Simon Fraser? Why go to Canada?

“I lost to Dom Parrish in the high school state finals my sophomore year and she showed a lot of class and sportsmanship towards me,” remembers Hedrick. “I knew she'd be a great partner for me to work out with. I also was friends with Lauren Mason in high school and she was there. Mike Jones was recruiting me and I had heard great things about him as a coach. So I knew I'd have great coaches and partners. I honestly got some much better offers financially from other schools, but I felt like paying for the wrestling program at SFU would be worth it.”

But that wasn’t the only reason.

“As a religious person too, I prayed about the decision a lot and I felt that SFU was where I was supposed to be,” she added. “I have had a confirmation that I made the right decision too, through the experiences I've gained through wrestling there, as well as through the friendships I've made there.”

SFU coach Justin Abdou also played a significant role in helping Hedrick secure sponsorship from Titan Mercury, and the SFU team has also given her some of her closest friendships, including Alyvia Fiske, Emily Cue, and Abby Chufar, whom she considers her best friend.

The partners, the program, the work ethic, the faith, the journey—it all led to the top of the podium at nationals this year. “I knew I was capable of doing it, but I'd need to perform well,” says Hedrick. “After the tournament I honestly just felt so much gratitude. I am so blessed. I felt like God had blessed me with the ability to perform smart and tough, and with so many people to help me prepare. I also felt really grateful that my dad was able to come and watch, and help keep me focused. He was very calming at that tournament for me.”

Hedrick says that gratitude is an important virtue for a wrestler. “Thinking back to that day I still just feel so grateful. Sometimes we work as hard as we can and things still don't work out, so I think it's really important to feel gratitude when everything just falls into place.”

MOVING FORWARD
Like all wrestlers, Hedrick feels a sense of uncertainty about what’s ahead. “Right now it's pretty hard to plan anything,” she says, not that she minds. “It's actually pretty nice though. I feel like we're always planning the next tournament and it's a nice mental break to just not know when the next thing will be. Of course right now I'm planning and still training for Olympic Trials, whenever they are. I'm looking at this extra year [for the Olympics] as extra time I've been given to prepare, so Olympic Trials is what I'm looking ahead to.”

She’s continued training during the quarantine with SFU pal Abby Chufar, who is now graduated, North Central true freshman national finalist Yelena Makoyed, and some local high school girls in the area. “We have all been doing strength and conditioning workouts together and trying to push each other,” explains Hedrick. “It's been awesome! We've even done some wrestling drills in the grass! I've also done some of Coast Wrestling Academy coach Frank Mensah's home workouts that he's been posting online.”

At the end of the day, though there’s uncertainty, Hedrick is fearless. “During this time of social distancing/quarantining due to COVID-19, I think that we need to remember that in life there's really no reason to fear if we are prepared for whatever's coming. That's a life lesson that I think wrestling can teach us.”

Hedrick is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and her religious faith has shaped her experiences in wrestling and life. “I feel like wrestling has strengthened my faith and my faith has strengthened my wrestling,” she reflects. “I definitely have had some experiences through wrestling, especially during hard times of adversity that have helped me feel closer to God. I feel like I see God's hand constantly throughout my life, so of course I see it in wrestling. I just feel so blessed and grateful for the opportunities God gives me through wrestling. I also think that understanding faith in a religious setting has helped me to understand faith on the wrestling mat.”

The Simon Fraser junior qualified for this year’s Olympic Team Trials at Senior Nationals in December, where she placed 5th with wins over 2019 Fargo champ Xochityl Mota-Pettis, 2019 Menlo national champion Grace Figueroa, and Colorado Mesa’s Marissa Gallegos. She took losses to 5x US Open All-American Shauna Kemp and 2x WCWA champ Abby Nette.

USA Wrestling has postponed the Olympic Team trials due to the COVID-19 quarantine, and has not yet announced a new date. The IOC postponed the Tokyo Olympics to 2021.

8th grade Alex Hedrick taking 7th at the junior high Northern California Tournament of Champions against the boys in 2013. Photo courtesy of Alex Hedrick.