Winter is quickly approaching, meaning all those interested in wrestling this year are getting ready to hit the gym and mats. This means a slew of competitors are returning to the South team with new goals and high hopes for the season.
Wyatt Hepner ’25, the first South student to reach the state level for wrestling, is again aiming to face off against Michigan’s best opponents. Last season, Wyatt Hepner placed second at the state championship, an amazing feat considering he’s the only South wrestler to make it to states. After returning, he’s eager to face some new competition and prove himself again.
“I’m in a different weight class than last year,” Wyatt Hepner said. “So there’s going to be different wrestlers.”
While he’s proud of his accomplishments, he still strives to be better and improve with every practice and match. His goal for this season is to advance even further up the ladder of competitions, meaning there’s nowhere to go but first place.
“I can definitely do better,” Wyatt Hepner said. “I could be the first to win it, not just place second.”
Wrestlers don’t only practice during the season though; Wyatt Hepner’s dad Chad Hepner said he believes Wyatt Hepner has done a great job preparing during the off-season. Through countless pins and cradles, the season looks very promising for Wyatt Hepner according to Chad Hepner.
“He went to the Jeff Jordan camp down in Columbus this summer,” Chad Hepner said. “He also was practicing with his club team most of the spring and summer.”
In addition to Wyatt Hepner, the whole wrestling team practices around ten hours a week, not counting the time they spend competing at meets. Most of them also practice in the off-season and stay in shape by competing in other sports, of which football is the most popular. This year seems to be an especially good one for the squad, and everyone believes they have the chance to accomplish great things.
“It’s the highest participation that I’ve seen,” Chad Hepner said. “There’s a lot of freshmen that have experience and I think the team overall has got some good chemistry.”
Returning wrestler Mats Duffy ’25 said he hopes to display his growth since the last season and continue to advance during the upcoming one.
“This will be my third year wrestling,” Duffy said. “I have started to diet more and try to keep my weight down.”
He said he is also hoping to improve his performance and progress as far as he can before his final season next year.
“I’m going to try and throw in some unique and more complex techniques,” Duffy said. “Just for flair.”
The South wrestling team this year is full of strong competitors who are hungry for victory and will work as hard as they can to achieve it.
“Freshman year, I got bodied every match,” Duffy said. “This year is definitely going to be domination.”
