Johnston native and Bishop Hendricken alum Adolfo Betancur continued to add to his historic wrestling resume this winter season as he helped lead Johnson & Wales to its first-ever Division III National Championship crown.

Betancur finished the tournament with a 5-3 record, placing sixth in the country at 285 pounds and earning All-American honors. It was Betancur’s second time competing in the national tournament, as he qualified last year and finished 2-2.

“I got to experience last year and it was an awesome experience. I knew that I wanted to do better than I did last year and that’s exactly what I did,” said Betancur. “It definitely prepared me, just being at that tournament and witnessing that environment, that’s something that can make someone crumble. To qualify last year and make it back this year was awesome.”

Betancur wrapped up the season with a 29-10 overall record. After a successful sophomore year, Betancur knew he and the Wildcats would have a chance to go on a special run this season and worked hard on and off the mats to get the job done.

“I just had to work hard. Everyone wants it. I knew I had to gameplan for this tournament, gameplan for every match. I knew I had to leave it all out there,” said Betancur. “We had some bumps in the road, had some family issues freshman year and sophomore year, but I used that as fuel and motivation for this year.”

Looking at his senior year, Betancur hopes to take first place as both an individual and again as a team.

“It’s the same goal as this year. To win it. To win it as a team. We have a good team coming back so hopefully we can win it,” said Betancur, who was proud to represent Rhode Island as it has slowly crept its way into the national spotlight in recent years, with grapplers like him leading the charge.

“Rhode Island is the best with wrestling. Everyone knows each other, everyone is with each other. Whenever we go other places, we cheer for each other as one team and are rooting each other on. We’re a small state and it’s great,” said Betancur.

Betancur also gave a shout out to the Bishop Hendricken team, who recently took second as a unit at the high school state championships.

“I talk to the coach (Kevin Hennessy) every day, I love him. I can’t be happy enough for them,” said Betancur.