In his first event after a four-year career with UNC wrestling, A.C. Headlee competed in the 2020 U.S. Senior Nationals as part of his path to a bid to the Olympic or World Championship team.
Headlee graduated last year after an impressive college career with UNC wrestling, where he was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier. He continued his wrestling career with the Tar Heel Wrestling Club — an organization for wrestlers to continue their training for a World or Olympic championship.
Headlee said continuing to wrestle after college was an easy decision for him and something he always wanted to do.
“I realized really early on in my life that I wanted to be involved in wrestling for as long as my body will let me,” he said.
Headlee said his decision to join the Tar Heel Wrestling Club was an obvious choice because of his relationship with Kenny Monday, the U.S. Olympic Regional Training Center head coach at the club. UNC alumni also helped set Headlee up with a job at Milwaukee Tool as a sales representative to support himself outside of wrestling.
Senior Nationals is the biggest open tournament for wrestlers in the United States who are competing on a senior level. It was also the first major senior-level event USA Wrestling has hosted since the cancellations brought on by COVID-19.
“I think being off for that long was probably longer than a lot of us have ever gone between competition," Headlee said. "But it was just good to get back and just feel that adrenaline that you get during a match. I think a lot of people needed it."
Headlee prepared for the event with Monday, who had a training regiment for him to follow.
“It’s a transition from college-style wrestling to Olympic-style wrestling, so it takes a little longer to make that change, and that's what he's in the process of doing now,” Monday said.