Connect with us

More Sports

Wisconsin Badgers Wrestling Faux Senior Day for Dean Hamiti

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Wisconsin Badgers wrestling
Mar 5, 2023; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers wrestler Dean Hamiti celebrates his win during the Big Ten Championship at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

In the new age of the transfer portal there can be so much movement. For those not on top of social media apps you may find it hard to keep track who goes where in any given sport.

While wrestling has a good amount of transfers – it’s far less prevalent than in football and basketball.

One thing that I find saddening with the transfer portal is often when a young person decides to move on – people are quick to be angry or apathetic – I find the latter to be the worst. Sports are supposed to be fun. Reminiscing about the good times, the incredible athletes we watched, and the moments that brought us to our feet.

While our negative feelings can be understandable as fans – I feel for the athletes that don’t get the proper send off they earned.

Saluting Former Wisconsin Badgers Stand Out Dean Hamiti

I’ll admit it – it still hurts to type ‘former’ in the header. After three seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers wrestling program Dean ‘DJ’ Hamiti decided to move on. He heads to Stillwater to wrestle for new Oklahoma State Head Coach David Taylor. For me, until Hamiti signed I held out hope — bleak as it may be — that he would come back.

What gets lost in the transfer world is that Wisconsin Badgers fans were not able to thank DJ for his three seasons representing the ‘W’ with the class and respect he did. Surely, the Oklahoma State fans will honor him but any Cowboy Senior Day festivities surely won’t hit the same as they would have in Madison after a four year career.

This post today is for DJ and his family. He has given his blood, sweat, tears for the Wisconsin Badgers wrestling program and brought so many joyous memories for the Wisconsin faithful.

Hamiti was a three-time NCAA Wrestling Championships qualifier, a two-time All-American, 2023 Big Ten Champion at 165LB and was a dazzling 81-14 in his three seasons for the Badgers.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, DJ was a two-time winner of the Man of the Mat Award by Badger Notes given to the most outstanding Wisconsin wrestler from the dual or tournament.

The former Wisconsin Badgers hammer has been ranked in the top ten of every weekly InterMat rankings poll since landing at No. 8 in January of 2022.

When you watch DJ wrestle you knew you would see some funky styles, odd scrambles, and a flurry of points.

We also saw a lot of winning from Hamiti.

I feel safe speaking for all Badgers fans in being extremely grateful for his time in Madison. I am thankful I got to cover him in this role albeit for just a season — but have been a fan his entire career.

As the wise philosopher Dr. Seuss once said “don’t cry because it’s over — smile because it happened”.

Thank you for the memories, DJ. It was a helluva ride!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read our work at BadgerNotes.com. For more Wisconsin Badgers Athletics and Big Ten content, follow us on Twitter & Facebook. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also follow Ryan Eilers on Twitter: @E1LERS

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and listen to the BadgerNotes After Dark podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. Because of your incredible support, we have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets!

Related Topics:

Ryan Eilers covers the Wisconsin Badgers football and wrestling programs for BadgerNotes.com and has had his work published on Bleacher Report. He also makes up 1/4 of the BadgerNotes After Dark podcast crew.

Trending