After an appearance at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota, in July 2025, then-Brown Deer High School rising senior Makhi Rodgers began noticing strange symptoms.
“I was wondering why I was always getting tired so fast,” the wrestler and football player said.
A doctor visit led to tests that revealed a shocking diagnosis for the 2025 state runner-up at 285 pounds – cardiomyopathy. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the genetic condition impacts the heart’s ability to pump blood efficiently to the rest of the body, leading to fatigue, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. If not managed properly, the condition can lead to heart failure and stroke among other risks.
Rodgers was immediately sidelined for three months as he sought to manage the condition, which had gone previously undiagnosed for his entire career.
When he returned for a follow-up ahead of the start of the high school wrestling season, doctors said it would be another three months before he could return to wrestling. Suddenly, Rodgers’ dream of making one more run at a state individual title were cast into doubt.
“I figured I wasn’t gonna wrestle at state,” Rodgers said. “I wasn’t able to train, I wasn’t able to lift, I wasn’t able to do anything at all.”
At a subsequent follow-up visit the week of WIAA sectional competition on Feb. 14, Rodgers got doctor approval to return to action. For a grappler who saw his sophomore season cut short by injury after placing sixth at 195 pounds as a freshman, regaining autonomy over the conclusion of his high school career meant “everything.”
“I felt like this could have been my year, but things happen. I’m just grateful I was able to be on the mat for the time that I was able to,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been going through it my whole career, but I know I’m going to shine.”
Rodgers qualified for state at 285 pounds by winning three matches by pin at Brown Deer/Messmer/Shorewood’s sectional. At state, he pinned Kettle Moraine junior Omarion Dennis in his preliminary round bout before falling into the consolation bracket by pin in 5 minutes, 26 seconds.
In wrestlebacks on the morning of Feb. 28, Rodgers defeated Bay Port senior Luke Weyenberg by pin, Fond du Lac junior Quinton Ortegon by 5-3 decision and Verona junior Ethan McIntosh by 13-3 major decision to secure a fifth-place finish.
While admitting the three consolation bracket matches taxed him, Rodgers was glad to have seen his high school career through to its end.
“My last match, I couldn’t really breathe. Honestly, I couldn’t really breath in the match before that,” Rodgers said. “But I always like to say, ‘Don’t quit, just keep pushing.’ “
The Gardner Webb University (NC) commit has no plans to stop wrestling, or allow his diagnosis to hold him back.
“Everybody loses, [it’s] just about how you come back and how you do better in the long run,” Rodgers said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rodgers reaches state wrestling podium despite heart condition
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
