Zoey Haney’s 5th trip to Fargo, North Dakota, resulted in her best finish year.
The recent graduate from Troy Buchanan High School made the finals in the 95-pound weight class in the 2025 U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals freestyle bracket.
Haney lost a close match, 8-4, to Natalie Radecki from Delaware. She became her state’s first-ever Fargo champion in the process.
Haney, a two-time state finalist in Missouri, battled a tough foe in the finals. Radecki got two takedowns in the first period to build a lead. Haney came back with two takedowns of her own in the second period but couldn’t overcome the early deficit.
Radecki, a junior this past season at Caravel Academy, became the first girl to place in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association individual wrestling championships, finishing sixth.
Haney took sixth last year, representing Missouri and said her goal this year was just to move up the medal stand.
She made a big surge up that stand thanks to a hot start. Her path to the finals included:
- 10-0 TF win vs. Kayla Bonds, Alabama
- 10-0 TF win vs. Kate Hollinger, Pennsylvania
- Fall, 2:15 win vs. Olivia Polansky, Massachusetts
- 12-2 TF win vs. Lillee Denson, Michigan
She gave up only four points total heading into the finals — 2 of those came in her win against Polansky.
The matchup against Denson, a state runner-up in Michigan, almost became an MSHSAA state finals rematch. Denson beat Missouri’s Lilly Breeden in the quarterfinals.
Haney went 50-3 this past high school season, and two of those losses came against Breeden, from Liberty, first in the Wonder Woman finals and then in the 100-pound finals in Class 2. Isabelle Apple of Francis Howell North accounted for Haney’s other loss in the 2024-25 season.
“I’ve never been to the finals before; every year I watched the finals,” Haney said. “It’s just different to be part of it. I didn’t have any nerves. Just go out there and see what happens.”
She said the key to her run at Fargo was just going out there and wrestling and having fun. Haney stayed busy this summer leading up to Fargo with multiple trips to Purler Wrestling and mixed in a few tournaments.
She’s only been doing the sport for six years, having previously participated in a variety of activities such as soccer, swimming, MMA, jiu-jitsu, and boxing.
Her success in wrestling has paved the way for her to compete in college.
Haney won the state championship her junior year, taking home first in the 100-pound bracket. Her 36-1 record was capped with a pin in the finals against Taylor Reiter of Wentzville Timberland.
She medaled in her first two trips to state as well.
She was third in 2023, losing in the semifinals and bouncing back to finish 37-4. Haney went 39-5 her freshman year and took fifth in the single-class setup.
That’s 160-12 in four years competing for the Trojans.
She is headed to Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, where she will join a Warriors program coming off a ninth-place finish in the NAIA finals. Four wrestlers earned All-American honors.
She will join a program that features one Missourian from last year’s team — Rebecca Waterman from Springfield Parkview.
Haney expects to be at 103 pounds for the Warriors. As far as education, she plans to major in electrical engineering.
