Junior wrestler writes his name in history books for Grosse Pointe South

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Last year was a history-making season for Grosse Pointe South junior Wyatt Hepner as he competed in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 wrestling state championship in the 126-pound weight class, but it wasn’t good enough for him.

The then-sophomore sensation was the first Blue Devil to ever reach the state finals stage for wrestling, but a 12-2 loss to Davison’s Caden Horwath wrote the ending to Hepner’s impressive storybook season.

Horwath now wrestles for the University of Michigan, so it was a difficult bout from the start for Hepner, who was only in his second year on varsity, but he said there was a major takeaway from the matchup.

“I kind of took being at the state finals as a huge, huge thing, but in the end it’s just another match,” Hepner said. “I think just going into that match like it was any other match was my biggest takeaway from that.”

On March 2 at Ford Field, Hepner became the first South wrestler to ever win a state title, as a 1-0 win over Utica Eisenhower’s Sam Agnello earned Hepner the MHSAA Division 1 individual state championship in the 138-pound weight class.

Hepner and Agnello battled it out just two weeks prior at regionals on Feb. 17 with Hepner earning the win in a 3-0 decision, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when an escape by Hepner in the second period would be the deciding factor in the match. An escape is when a wrestler gets out of the bottom position and faces the opposing wrestler.

From there, it was celebration time for the three-time state qualifier as a slew of supporting fans cheered him on.

“It was awesome,” Hepner said. “Just all the support was pretty amazing. It was just an awesome environment to be in.”

Also representing South at the state finals were Josh Lemanski, who placed eighth in the 165-pound weight class; Paul Wilson, who placed fourth in the 175-pound weight class; and Milania Rodriguez in the girls division. Four state finals qualifiers and three state placers were the most in school history for South, and Rodriguez was the first female wrestler to qualify for states in school history.