App State Wrestling has hired Hunter Richard as an assistant coach, head coach JohnMark Bentley announced Monday.

Richard was a two-time NCAA qualifier for a top-10 program at Cornell, with a top-16 finish as a fifth-year senior at 157 pounds to cap the 2021-22 season. He won three matches at the NCAA Championships that year after also qualifying at 149 pounds in 2020 — Ivy League teams didn’t wrestle during the COVID-affected calendar in 2020-21.

“I’m excited to bring someone of Hunter’s caliber to our coaching staff!” Bentley said. “He has a tremendous knowledge in the sport, and he will be a great workout partner for our lightweights.”

Richard joins a program that finished the 2022-23 season with a dual team ranking of No. 20 in the nation, secured a SoCon regular-season title with an 8-0 league record, earned a SoCon sweep by winning the conference tournament and had six wrestlers qualify to compete at the NCAA Championships.

A staff also including assistants Randall Diabe (App State alum who wrestled at 197 pounds) and Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma alum who wrestled at 125 pounds) combined for 343 victories and 11 appearances at the NCAA Championships during their Division I careers.

“I am very grateful and excited for this opportunity to join the App State community and its wrestling program,” Richard said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Bentley, his staff and the program he has been able to build. I believe in the vision and culture in place and look forward to contributing to further success.”

Richard posted a 67-33 record in four seasons for the Big Red. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Ivy League school and has worked in the financial sector since graduating from Cornell.

He was named to the Academic All-Ivy and EIWA All-Academic teams during his career and also captured an EIWA Academic Achievement Award. His three victories at the 2022 NCAA Championships included back-to-back wins against top-20 opponents.

A native of Barneveld, N.Y., Richard attended Holland Patent High School and was a Fargo, NHSCA and Flo Nationals All-American who posted a 265-26 prep record.