Arkansas Wrestle (All images via obutigers.com)
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist University senior Jimmy Anderson has carved out one of the most remarkable climbs in NCAA Division II wrestling. The returning All-American enters his senior campaign as the National Wrestling Coaches Association Preseason No. 1 ranked 133-pounder, becoming the first Tiger to ever open the year atop the national poll.
Walk into the Hatcher Wrestling Complex, the 6,700-square-foot training ground for the Ouachita wrestling program in Arkadelphia. The first visual is a thick, 50-foot climbing rope hanging from the ceiling. Envision the sudden urge to step up and climb the rope as far as possible, with the caveat that once you climb to a certain level, there’s no room for error.
It’s a challenge that mirrors the journey of the Pittsburgh native, hand over hand, inch by inch. No shortcuts, no safety nets. Once a wrestler steps through those doors at the national tournament with the tunnel vision to earn All-American status, there’s no more room for error. The climb to the podium is never supposed to be easy.
Four years ago, Ouachita head coach Kevin Crutchmer built a training plan for the lightweight freshman. Anderson struggled with the uphill battle at first, even questioned it at times, but he flipped the switch when he started to realize this is a plan that is working.
“He used to wrestle so hard to win that he’d put himself in bad positions and lose by one or two points,” Coach Crutchmer said. “Once he figured that out, his confidence just took off. That’s when the lights really came on.”
Anderson began his junior season winning 15 of his first 16 bouts, highlighted by a career-best 10-match win streak. He capped it off with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Indianapolis, where he went 3-2 and cemented himself as an All-American at 133 pounds. Anderson delivered a stout performance. beating four-seed Hector Serratos of Nebraska-Kearney 6-5 in the quarterfinals, then defeated six-seed Sam Spencer of St. Cloud State 3-0 to advance to the third-place match at the Corteva Coliseum. He finished the year 23-7 overall, including a 16-6 mark against Division II opponents.
Anderson’s breakthrough performance was revealed last December at the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, a grueling mid-season test that regularly features the nation’s best wrestlers and programs. He outscored his first three opponents by a combined score of 31-0 and ultimately went 6-2 for a fourth-place finish, which Crutchmer says flipped a mental switch for his star grappler.
“That’s a tough tournament, and it’s where I saw a real change in him,” Crutchmer said. “I have noticed with a lot of our athletes at the Midwest Classic being in December, it gives them time to feel where they are at until they run into that main competition that we are going to see the rest of the season. Once they reach the Midwest Classic and see some level of success, we see a lot of confidence built from that event.”
Anderson’s confidence is now matched by his technical precision and relentless pace. Crutchmer described him as a “hammer on top”, who lacks no confidence scrambling against the best attacks in Division II wrestling.
“It’s unique, unlike anyone,” Crutchmer explained. “I’ve been doing this for 29 years, and I haven’t seen anybody as confident in his scrambling as he is.”
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) has the most top-ranked D2 wrestlers with three, including Anderson, 157-pounder Gabe Johnson of Central Oklahoma, and 197-pounder Jackson Kinsella of No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney. Off the mat, Anderson’s consistent routine and discipline earned him a selection to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll last season, while balancing the rigors of training and competition.
“When Jimmy hits the floor in the morning, he is good to go,” Crutchmer said. “He’s got everything lined up. Good with his grades, his weight, his faith, he is good with everything. That is what makes him special.”
Anderson’s rise mirrors the ascent of the Ouachita wrestling program, which begins the 2025-26 campaign tied at No. 25, sharing the spot with Newberry in the NWCA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll. The top-ranked 133-pounder headlines a deep roster that Crutchmer believes features the strongest collection of wrestlers during his nine-year tenure. Ouachita returns several impact grapplers, including Anderson (133), Sam Schmidt (165), Luke Brooks (184), Parker Henry (197), and BK Sego (285). Ouachita also brought in Carl Albert State transfer Ethan Day (174), who earned JUCO All-American in 2025. Crutchmer mentioned his team’s philosophy remains simple but effective to focus on what can be controlled.
“We train to win one period at a time and work on what we can control,” Crutchmer said. “When you go to the national tournament or the regional tournament, or you go to the Midwest Classic, when you walk in that door, you’ve got to lean on your training. You can only control what you can control. You’ve got to take it one opponent at a time. We really even get down to where we are taking our matches and we wrestle to win period by period. So, that’s a philosophy we have always had and it seems to be working.”
Ouachita opens the 2024-25 wrestling season next Sunday against No. 11 Central Oklahoma in Little Rock. The lifestyle of a college athlete is difficult to maintain but it is nothing less than the best opportunity an athlete will have at this point in their lives. For a wrestler who’s spent four years scaling up another mountain, there’s only one direction left to go and Anderson intends to keep climbing.
