St. Paul’s senior Kurt McHenry left the Brooklandville school last week to enroll early at the University of Michigan, Crusaders wrestling coach Rob Eiter confirmed to the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday.

His last competition with St. Paul’s was Jan. 15 against Gilman and Calvert Hall. Eiter said McHenry’s decision to leave early for Michigan ultimately came down to resources.

“Kurt is going to be Michigan’s guy so they want to make sure he puts the size on and is getting in the weight room,” Eiter said. “To be honest with you, there’s not enough time to do that out here at St. Paul’s.”

McHenry could not be reached for comment.

McHenry, of Leesburg, Va., is a two-time United World Wrestling freestyle cadet national champion, as he won the 46-kilogram (101 pounds) title in 2017 and the 42-kilogram (92 pounds) crown in 2016, and is a three-time Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and Maryland Independent State champion.

He also won titles previously at Powerade and Beast of the East, finished second and third at National Preps and is a Fargo All-American. The two-time first-team All-Metro selection committed on April 3 to Michigan over Penn State, Cornell, North Carolina and Stanford.

McHenry is a consensus top-three prospect in the 2019 class and spent the majority of the summer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs before returning to Brooklandville for his senior year in the fall. But he has been undersized throughout his high school career and competed mainly at 106 and 113 pounds. With the lightest weight class in college being 125 pounds, an opportunity to train at University of Michigan’s Cliff Keen Wrestling Club and at the Michigan Regional Training Center under new head coach Sergei Beloglazov while also getting a head start on a collegiate weight lifting and nutrition program was too much to pass up.

“He’s at a much higher level,” Eiter added. “I just think for his future he needed to get out there and start banging heads with those guys. ... Kurt is one of the most talented kids I’ve ever seen and that’s coupled with my 20-plus years of college coaching. There are very few kids who have the talent he has.”

Eiter said he believed McHenry leaving early for Michigan was “a done deal” once Beloglazov was named head coach at Cliff Keen WC on Aug. 31 but added that he and his star grappler had constant communication during the decision-making process.

“It would’ve been nice to having him finish his career with us but things happen. At the end of the day this is probably what’s best for Kurt. That’s all that matters,” Eiter said. “As long as he’s happy and getting what he needs then I’ve got to be happy.”

As for the legacy McHenry leaves behind, Eiter called it “an interesting one.” McHenry never won a National Preps title — he did not compete at the tournament as a sophomore after being ejected from the MIS tournament — but claimed a pair of world titles. He suffered just two defeats since the start of his sophomore season and is ranked No. 3 in the country at 113 pounds by FloWrestling, although he previously held the No. 1 spot.

“He’s got to go down as one of the best ever. Aaron Brooks and Kyle Snyder and even Helen [Maroulis], they didn’t [win world titles] until later on,” Eiter said. “He’s obviously the best to ever come out of our school but he’s got to be one of the best to do it in Maryland.”

timschwartz@baltsun.com

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