South Haven News

By Carley Russell

On Saturday, Feb. 22, freshman Kody Wartick, a student at South Haven High School, wrestled in the regional tournament. Wartick got second place in this tournament, which sent him to wrestle in the state tournament. He then wrestled three matches in state.

Wartick started off the year wrestling with the Oxford Wildcats Wrestling team, coached by Hayden Crawley, due to the fact that South Haven didn’t have a team.

“They definitely didn’t do the greatest but a few of the kids definitely got a lot better,” Wartick said when asked about his team.

Wartick has been wrestling for nine years, with his junior high being with the Wellington Crusaders team. This year, Wartick’s record was 11-8 and he got second in all tournaments except for one.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, South Haven had a send off for Kody. All grades attended this send off, the band played, and even some people made signs.

On Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, Wartick started state wrestling at Fort Hays State University. Around noon, he wrestled his first opponent. Sadly, he lost that match, but he still had a chance, because at 3 p.m. he wrestled another opponent and he won, which meant he still had a chance and would wrestle the next day. All of the opponents he was wrestling were seniors in high school.

On Saturday, March 1, 2025, Wartick wrestled another opponent, but sadly he lost this match, so he didn’t place in the state tournament. Wartick was the very first wrestler in South Haven to go to state. Since Wartick is just a freshman, he still has four more years to go to state and try and place.