Senior Wiley Hegwer of Shoshoni has his sights set on the heavens. The Class 2-A 157-pound state champion has signed a National Letter of Intent to wrestle at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa.
At Morningside, Hegwer will pursue a bachelor’s degree in Professional Flight. Morningside is one of a handful of universities in the United States that offers a degree in aviation.
Hegwer’s grandfather was a pilot, and the urge to fly skipped a generation.
He had other interested schools, including Dickinson State University and the University of Northern Colorado. Western Wyoming and Northwest Wyoming made overtures to wrestle for them, but Sioux City was a better fit.
Shoshoni assistant wrestling coach Andy Wempen has a connection to both Morningside and Dickinson State, his nephew Hayden wrestled for Morningside and was recently hired as an assistant wrestling coach for the Blue Hawks.
Hegwer drew interest from the Bears of Northern Colorado after a tournament in Green River.
“I beat one of their signees at the tournament,” Hegwer said, “They asked me if I was wrestling anywhere and said they’d like to see me in Greeley.”
At Shoshoni Hegwer played football and wrestled all four years of high school and qualified in four events for the state track meet in his sophomore year, the only year he joined the Wrangler track team.
His parents are Sammi and Justin Hegwer and his older sister Abby was a talented sprinter for Wind River a few years ago.
Hegwer will likely wrestle at 149 or 157 for Morningside. He was Class 2-A state runner-up at 138 pounds as a junior in 2024 before winning the title last spring.
Hegwer wrestled a lot in the 2024-25 season amassing an impressive record of 40-13 against competition in all three divisions of Wyoming prep wrestling.
Hegwer enjoys power lifting, hunting, and fishing in his free time.
“I’d like to thank my mom and my coaches,” Hegwer said. “My mom was there all the way to help me with my dreams.”