'He does everything the right way': Kuhn’s historic season forged by impeccable work habits
OLIVESBURG – If Crestview coach Steve Haverdill were creating the perfect wrestler in a lab, he’d start with Hayden Kuhn.
To be more specific, Hayden Kuhn’s noggin.
Developing someone whose brain is wired like his – fully aware that the hardest work is done behind the scenes – is half the battle.
Maybe more.
You’ve heard the phrase luck is when preparation meets opportunity? In Kuhn’s case luck is when preparation and perspiration meets opportunity, just to drive home the point that he spent the last four years leaving it all on the mat.
And that’s just in the practice room.
“It all goes back to his work ethic since he was a little kid – his desire and the work he put in during the off-season,” Haverdill said. “He does everything the right way.
“When you take the prototypical wrestler, that’s the kid you want to start with.”
In a 2022-23 season where eight area schools produced state medalists and nine boast at least one first team selection on the All-News Journal Wrestling Squad it is Kuhn who stands above the crowd as the News Journal’s Wrestler of the Year.
He will leave Crestview in a couple of months as one of the most decorated wrestlers in program history.
Kuhn is also a two-time All-Ohio quarterback and competes for his dad, Tim, on the Cougars’ two-time defending Firelands Conference champion track team. And yet he proved over and over again during the last four winters that wrestling is his best sport.
By becoming the first three-time state medalist in school history.
By becoming the first four-time lightweight MVP in Firelands Conference history.
By breaking school records for most career wins (181) and most career takedowns (534).
By finishing 42-4 this season and 181-22 overall.
By sandwiching a fourth-place finish at the 2022 state meet between a pair of third-place showings.
By coming within seconds each of the last two years of reaching the state finals in Division III.
By twice winning the J.C. Gorman Invitational, north central Ohio’s showcase event.
He does everything 100 percent
“A lot of the kids he goes against wrestle all year long,” Haverdill said. “Not only that, but in the last two years as our starting quarterback, he’s 24-2. And we’re going until mid-November (because of extended playoff runs), so he’s missed out on all that time when we wrestle and work on things.”
Nobody knows better how much time and energy Kuhn had to sacrifice than Haverdill, who doubles as head football coach.
“I take a week off (between seasons),” he said. “He’s back the next day. He puts everything he has, 100 percent, into every practice and into his diet. Everything he does is 100 percent.”
Kuhn blocked out any distractions and temptations that might derail the typical high school kid.
“It’s his mindset,” Crestview assistant Nate Godsey said. “He’s one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve coached high school for 10 years. He takes and absorbs everything you say and is willing to try and apply and fine-tune it to work for him.
“He’s the hardest worker. Many people, when they get to that level where they’re really good, it’s easy to step back. But he continues to try and find a way to get more out of his practice.
“If you came to any of our dual meets, he was the first one warming up. No matter what you told him, he’s got to do it his way. He just continued to impress me with the way he pushed himself. And he did a great job of taking care of his body to make sure he was feeling good for each match.”
Godsey, a three-time district qualifier for Division I Vandalia-Butler near Dayton, coached at his alma mater and at Olmsted Falls before landing at Crestview, where he is a high school math teacher.
He and his family live in Ashland and he used to coach in the youth program there, so he knew about Kuhn. But they never interacted until he joined the Cougars’ staff this season.
So what was the first thing that struck him about the News Journal’s WOY?
“The level of respect he had for the sport and himself and the coaching staff … and his work ethic,” Godsey said. “He’s the hardest worker in the room. That mindset is rare in a student-athlete, let alone someone who is at an elite level.”
Kuhn needed someone to push him in practice, so one of Godsey’s main responsibilities was serving as Kuhn’s primary drill partner.
In return, Kuhn got to train on a daily basis with someone who, even in his mid-thirties, was a collegiate wrestler this winter for Ashland University. It just so happens that is where Kuhn is headed next.
“(Godsey) definitely helped me out a lot this year,” he said. “I don’t think I would have been where I was at the end of the year without him. He definitely pushed me every day in the room to get better and prepared for the state tournament.”
Life works in different ways
Two of Kuhn’s four losses this year were to eventual state champion Brodie Dominique of Archbold, by scores of 3-1 in overtime at the renowned Walsh Ironman (where he also lost to an out-of-state opponent) and 5-1 in the district semifinals. His other loss was 3-2 in the state semis to Boede Campbell of Division III team champion Legacy Christian.
Kuhn was on the verge of executing a takedown when time expired. It was the second straight season he suffered a gut-wrenching loss in the semis.
“Some of the conversation we had after he lost that match was about how life works in different ways,” Godsey said. “In that situation you can react in more than one way. You can shut down. But I told Hayden this is what defines you. Yeah, you had a chance to win a state title. I get it. But tomorrow morning when you step on the mat (for the consolation semis), that will define you. That shows your moral character. That shows who Hayden is. That’s what you need to show people because it’s not easy to get third.”
Haverdill calls the consolation semis the toughest match in wrestling for the loser in the championship semis. He’s still licking his wounds from that match when he has to refocus against someone who got bounced earlier from title contention and has built up a head of steam by fighting back through the consolations.
Well, Kuhn rebounded from bitter disappointment to go 2-0 the rest of the way and ended up being the area’s highest finisher with his third place medal. He finished 4-1 in the tournament, making him 12-4 at state during his three years of reaching the podium. His four losses were by a grand total of nine points.
“My goal was to come out strong and finish with a win this year and ride that momentum into college,” Kuhn said. “I’ve got a good thing going right now. I know I’m going to bust my butt to make the lineup next year and try to be an All-American … whatever I have to do.”
Best is yet to come
That could make 2021 Madison grad Nate Barrett the perfect role model for him at AU. Just two years removed from finishing third at state for the Rams, Barrett became an NCAA Division II All-American for the Eagles this season and was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
“He’s destined for greater things because of what he does and how he handles himself in the classroom,” Haverdill said of Kuhn, who will enter the nursing program at AU. “He’s a two-time All-Ohio football player, a three-time All-Ohio wrestler and he runs track. He’s also a 4.0 student; everything you could ask for. There’s not a heckuva lot he can’t do.”
It was Tim Kuhn who stirred some of the passion Hayden and his freshman brother Liam, a district qualifier, developed for wrestling. Tim wrestled up until his sophomore year of high school and stayed involved by coaching youth wrestling for 23 years.
“My appreciation for the sport came when Mike Skelton gave me an opportunity to coach with him at Northmor from 2000-2007, with guys like (state champion) C.B. Dollaway,” Tim said. “I really grew to love the sport and how it was something I wanted to expose my children to.”
Hayden and his older brother, Ross, started swimming at the same time, but Hayden eventually veered off into wrestling while Ross stayed in the pool.
It became a somewhat daunting task for Hayden to follow his brother, an All-Ohioan in football, swimming and track. Ross was a state champion in the 800 meter run en route to becoming the News Journal’s 2020-2021 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
“I definitely embraced the challenge,” Hayden said. “He was such a great quarterback and really pushed me to be as good as him. Then I went off on my own path and it wasn’t as tough in that aspect because I had wrestling and he had swimming. That made it harder for people to compare us.”
The comparisons will take a different twist come fall when they will both be athletes for rival schools in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Ross runs for Hillsdale (Mich.) College and Hayden joins an AU wrestling program that recently sent four to nationals and was ranked No. 20 in the country.
“Definitely my best days are ahead of me,” Hayden said. “A lot of guys, when they’re on top of their game in high school, their only sport is wrestling and they focus on that year-round. With me, I had three sports, so definitely once I get to college and focus solely on wrestling, I feel like I’ll be able to make tremendous strides."
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 'He does everything the right way': Kuhn’s historic season forged by impeccable work habits
