Aaron Brooks is the 2024 Hodge Trophy winner! 🏆#NCAAWrestling x @pennstateWREST pic.twitter.com/S7I5ndwHDR
— NCAA Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling) April 1, 2024
NEWTON, Iowa - Paralleling his coach, Cael Sanderson, Penn State's Aaron Brooks won three NCAA titles at 184 pounds before deciding to move up to the 197-pound weight class in pursuit of his fourth collegiate crown this season.
Partly because his body was growing and the weight cut to 184 was becoming more difficult, but Brooks also asserted that he wanted to make his final season more fun by challenging himself to face new opponents at a higher weight class.
It is that type of mentality, the desire to seek new challenges and never become complacent, that propelled Brooks to a dominating senior season that saw the North Hagerstown, Md. native post a 22-0 record with three major decisions, 11 technical falls and six falls en route to becoming just the seventh-ever four-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion.
With that final stat sheet, Brooks has officially been named the recipient of the 2024 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy awarded to the nation?s top college wrestler.