By Michael Smith
Francis Howell North senior Wyatt Dannegger is establishing himself as one of the best pound-for-pound high school wrestlers in Missouri.
Not only has he won two Class 4 state championships as a sophomore and junior, he proved himself on the national stage at the U.S. Open Championships last April in Las Vegas.
He earned a gold medal in the under-17 Greco-Roman 51-kilogram weight class at the event that featured some of the best high school wrestlers in the country.
The U.S. Open win earned Dannegger a spot on the U17 World Team and he will represent the United States at the World Championships which will take place July 27-Aug. 2 in Baku, Azerbaijan. He is the first wrestler from Missouri to qualify for the tournament since Zan Fuggitt, who currently wrestles for the University of Missouri and wrestled at Nixa in high school, did it in 2022.
Winning the tournament wasn’t easy. He had to cut weight and was also battling a knee injury that he suffered at the Missouri Freestyle State and Greco Tournament in May. Because of that injury, he decided to compete in the Greco-Roman division only in the U.S. Open.
“So I think I busted a bursa sac or some kind of the blood vessel in my knee,” said Dannegger, who also was a national champion in the 16-and-under, 106-pound weight class at the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior & Cadet National tournament. “So my knee was just a super big balloon. I was out for a month and you know, just trying to get healthy. And then I was talking with some of my coaches and we made the decision it would just be better to try and stay away from getting on my knees.
“I could only do Greco because you’re not touching knees as much. I focused on Greco for a month and prepared for it.. My preparation for the tournament went well.”
Dannegger noted the injury didn’t affect his movement, but he only hurt when his knee came in contact with anything. It also affected his cardio and he initially struggled to walk. In the U.S. Open, he had to wear knee pads while wrestling.
“I was really trying to keep up with my cardio because you’re out for a month, you can lose your stamina real quick,” Dannegger said, “and that’s one thing that I would say really helps me get through some of these big matches is I got a really good gas tank, which helps in the long game.”
Dannegger made winning the bracket look easy as he won by tech fall in every match and only surrendered a total of two points in six matches. The senior said his toughest matchup came against Evan Restivo of the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School in the semifinals. His opponent was a U17 Pan-American champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, but the Francis Howell North prodigy won the match 8-0.
In the championship round, Dannegger earned two 8-0 wins to take his bracket in a best-of-three series against Garrett Bjerga of Staples-Motley High School in Minnesota.
He said the key to his victories was staying patient and not being overly aggressive.
“I didn’t really have a match where I was in a super tough spot,” Dannegger said. “I got a really good lead in the beginning and then just chipped away to get the tech. Smart wrestling got me through the finals.”
Now Dannegger is going to turn his attention to showing what he can do on the World stage in Baku.
“This is the first time I’ve been out of the country too, so it’s gonna be a little bit different, but I’m super excited to see what it looks like over there,” Dannegger said, “and obviously just get a different feel of facing different competition. I am super excited.
“I want to place in the top three and bring a medal back home.”
Now that Dannegger has made a name for himself in the sport, he is going all in. For his senior year, he will be spending his time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to learn from some of the best wrestlers in the world.
“I was talking with the USA Greco developmental coach, and he’s kind of the guy that got me into it,” Dannegger said. “He saw me perform at (the U.S. Marine Corps Junior & Cadet Nationals), which was a super big tournament.
“He saw me win that. That was another big thing that helped me get in there, because it’s very limited how many kids they bring (to the Olympic Training Center). It’s honestly probably the best place I can be to grow and be the best.”
