On May 18, Linganore High School (LHS) senior Cash Wheat signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his wrestling career at the University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Wheat began wrestling a decade ago and has continued all the way into high school. He fell in love with the sport with the help of his family, who also competed.
“My dad wrestled, and then when we were little, my brother started when he was 5, so I was kind of around the sport all the time and decided to start,” Wheat said.
Wheat’s dad and coach, Jeffrey Wheat, recalls that Cash has always had a hardworking mentality. Where other parents favorite memories of their kid’s sports are winning championships, Jeffrey Wheat’s was watching Cash overcome the difficulties of wrestling.
“[My favorite memory was] when [Cash] was young and was down big in a short match,” Jeffrey Wheat said. “He worked his way back to tie the match to go to overtime and ended up winning it.”
Once Cash Wheat reached high school, he decided to try out for the school team, not knowing all the opportunities it would bring him. Between winning individual states and winning two state titles with his team, Wheat has accomplished much at LHS and has a lot he will miss.
“I will miss all the team, the freshman year guys, who I’d been wrestling with since I started all the way up to senior year,” Wheat said.
Wheat and his team did not win those state titles through pure luck. Weekly practices at the school proved to be draining for Cash Wheat, but Jeffrey Wheat was there to coach him through it.
“[The biggest challenge I had to help Cash overcome was] the mental side of the sport, to keep working hard and keep wrestling,” Jeffrey Wheat said. “[He had to learn] to not let something get you sidetracked if it did not work out. Score one point at a time and just work to score the next point.”
This proved to come in handy for Cash Wheat, as he learned to stay in the game and continue to work. Luckily for Cash, the work effort he learned to develop was seen by a variety of recruits.
Wheat will continue wrestling for the 2026-27 season at Lynchburg, where he will join the second class of wrestlers to be members of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference varsity athletics at the school.
“I was recruited to about five other schools,” Cash Wheat said. “But the facilities [at Lynchburg] are super nice, best around, and the food is really good there, too.”
According to Jeffrey Wheat, Cash is fully prepared for the next chapter. After years of watching his growth, from the age of 8 to 18, Cash Wheat is ready to take on wrestling at the collegiate level.
“Win or lose does not matter,” Jeffrey Wheat said. “This is the mentality of champs in wrestling. It was great to see that happen on and off the mat.”
