MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Noah Adams’ perfect season didn’t have the perfect ending.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic kept Adams from competing in the NCAA national championship tournament.
Before that, the WVU 197-pound wrestler had racked up a 32-0 record and was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Year.
That came off the heels of a redshirt freshman season that saw Adams — a former Independence High standout and three-time state wrestling champion — finish with a 19-15 record.
“His success is certainly deserved,” WVU head coach Tim Flynn said. “While some people look at his record and his ranking and are shocked, believe me, if you saw what he did all summer, the amount of work he put in, how hard he trains, you wouldn’t have that reaction at all.”
Adams became just the second WVU wrestler to go undefeated in a season (former standout Greg Jones did it twice) and he won the title with a 5-1 decision against South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan.
While it will never be known how Adams would have fared in the NCAA tournament this season, the sophomore was honored Sunday with the Hardman Award, which goes annually to the state’s top amateur.
The award is voted on by members of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Adams and Jones are the only two wrestlers to have ever been honored for the award, which has been handed out since 1934.
“My work effort has gone up and I’ve stepped it up in practice,” Adams said. “I took my offseason work seriously and really worked on my conditioning. Those have been the big things I really wanted to work on heading into this season.”
In winning the Hardman, Adams edged out WVU baseball pitcher Alek Manoah, Parkersburg South wrestler Braxton Amos and Ripley distance runner Tori Starcher.
Manoah guided the Mountaineers to hosting a NCAA regional and was the Big 12’s Pitcher of the Year after finishing 9-4 with a 2.08 ERA.
He was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays as the 11th pick of the first round in the 2019 draft.
Amos, a 220-pound wrestler with the Patriots, won his third state title and finished undefeated and unscored upon as a senior.
He has signed to wrestle at Wisconsin for next season and is a two-time Dutton Award winner as the state’s top high school wrestler.
Starcher broke two state records in the 800 and 1,600 meters at the state track meet, while also winning the state title in the 3,200 meters.
She ran the 800 in 2:08.40 and then broke her own record in the 1,600 with a time of 4:46.61. Her winning time of 10:32.75 in the 3,200 was seven seconds off the state record.
Starcher, who also set a meet record in the 1,600 at the Penn Relays has signed with Stanford to continue her running career.
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