Hazard wrestler Davin Nusspickel signs with Kentucky Wesleyan College

Hazard wrestler Davin Nusspickel signed with Kentucky Wesleyan College, giving Hazard High School a history-making college wrestling moment and putting Perry County back in the conversation as a place that can send athletes beyond the local mat.

Nusspickel’s high school résumé helped make the jump possible. He posted top-10 finishes at the Clash of the Vikings and the Clipson Jones Classic, then added a top-eight finish at region. FloWrestling listed him as a Hazard wrestler at 215 pounds with a 2025-26 record of 6-5, while also showing a 12-17 high school mark, a reminder that college attention can come from steady improvement as much as from gaudy win totals.

The next stop is Kentucky Wesleyan, an NCAA Division II program in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference that is still building its identity. The Panthers named Jacob Lorentz head coach on Aug. 7, 2025, making him the fourth head coach in program history. Kentucky Wesleyan’s 2025-26 schedule opened at the Glenville State Invite on Nov. 1, 2025, and the Panthers later took a 0-56 loss to Tiffin in a home dual on Feb. 14, 2026, underscoring that Nusspickel is joining a program in growth mode rather than a finished product.

That context matters for a Hazard athlete. Kentucky Wesleyan has also made community engagement part of its wrestling identity. In October 2024, the program was reported as the top Division II wrestling team in the country for community service for the second straight year, with 525 hours logged the previous year and more than 90 percent spent at local youth clubs. Then-coach Brandon Crawford said the point was “giving back,” a culture that may resonate with a small-town recruit stepping into a college room.

For Hazard, the signing carries meaning beyond one athlete’s next roster spot. Hazard High School, at 157 Bulldog Ln. in Hazard, sits at the center of a sports culture where individual milestones are shared publicly and watched closely by younger wrestlers coming through the program. Nusspickel’s move shows that strong regional finishes and tournament results can still open doors from Perry County to the college level.

For the next group of wrestlers at Hazard, the message is plain: the path is real, the standard is measurable, and a Bulldog can still build a career that reaches well past the county line.