Southmont has been the team to beat not only here in Montgomery County, but in the Sagamore Conference the last three seasons as it’s been a three-peat for the Mounties atop the SAC. This season South hopes for more of the same success as they begin the 2022-23 season. The Mounties do lose some key seniors from last years teams as Collin Martin, Zayden Dunn, Noah Benge, and Gerald Hutson all are now gone.
“That was a great group of seniors last year,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “Individually won lots of tournaments & dual matches, great leaders on and off the mat, and just really great young men. We can’t really replace those guys & what they did, but with them graduating it gives new guys a chance to now step up. We do have a couple of experienced seniors this year to lead the way with a great junior and sophomore class that has a lot of experience as well. It’s going to take those seniors and several juniors stepping up to be leaders this year.”
One of those leaders will by junior Wyatt Woodall who has ambitions of wrestling at Gainbridge Filedhouse this season in the IHSAA State Finals. Last Year Woodall was qualified for semi-state but was forced to withdraw do to injury. Woodall will again wrestle at 195 this season for the Mounties and Welliever notes how he’s already seen the drive of his standout grappler.
“I think Wyatt is in a great place right now,” he said. “He certainly had a great football season and looks healthy. I’m sure he will be that much more motivated this year to do well in the state tournament after ending his season with an injury last year.”
Along with Woodall the Mounties have the likes Brier Riggle, Marlin Williams, and Maddox Cade also back as they will look to solidify the Mountie lineup. South’s first meet of the season isn’t until Nov. 29 when they travel to Covington. Goals for this team won’t be set right away, but until the MOunties have a better idea fo what their team will look like.
“Team goals are a bit hard to set at this without really knowing what our lineup will look like. We’ve got some really good talent, but we have to see how this talent can fill the 14 weight classes. We will set team goals as the season goes on.”
