EVANSVILLE — Southmont’s Wyatt Woodall began his senior season with the goal of not just making the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals, but to stand on the podium with a medal around his neck and bracket in his hand. After taking down the No. 2 ranked Cole Chicione of McCutcheon on Friday night, Woodall was back Saturday at the Ford Center in Evansville to conclude the final day of the wrestling season. The first two matches of the day didn’t go in Woodall’s favor as he narrowly fell to Brownsburg’s Caden Brewer 6-4 before falling to Northridge’s Travis Henke 4-2 in the wrestle back’s for fifth. That set up Woodall’s final match of his career in the seventh place match against Tell City’s Landon Terry. It took overtime, but Woodall was able to secure a take down to win 5-3 and his career with a win.
What’s fitting for Woodall is that his seventh place finish at 215 is the exact same placement that his older brother Riley Woodall furnished in his senior back in 2021. In typical Wyatt fashion, he made sure to thank all the people he had in his corner first.
“I’m just super grateful for every single person who has helped me get on this podium,” he said. “Thank you to all the coaches, all the guys on our team and in the room who make me better, and of course my parents for being with me every single step of the way. I have a really great support system with me and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. I remember coming here my freshman year and watching Riley and it was such a surreal experience. He and I have been doing everything together since we were little so to be able to follow in his footsteps and accomplish what he was able to is pretty cool.”
The career of Woodall is one that will go down in Southmont wrestling history. The laundry list of career accomplishment’s goes miles long for the senior who since coming into the Southmont program as a freshman, set the tone for how the next four years were going to go. Mountie coach Jamie Welliever spoke on how Wyatt has left his mark.
“It means the world to our Southmont wrestling family to see another one of our own get to be on that podium,” Welliever said. “Wyatt just doesn’t mean the world to us as a wrestler, he means the world to Southmont athletics. With what he’s accomplished on the football field and on the wrestling mat, he’s certainly one we’ll remember forever. Life has a way of doing funny things and for him and Riley to place seventh, those two have that special relationship that you can’t break. The entire Woodall family is such a great group of people. I’m sure both Riley and Wyatt will get to share this moment for awhile.”
Along with Woodall, and fellow state qualifier Marlin Williams, and the five other Southmont seniors, this group of Mountie wrestlers won three county titles and three Sagamore Conference team championships in their four years. Both Wyatt and Williams have 100+ career wins and they both got to end their careers on a high note.
“My four years here have been nothing but special,” Woodall said. “The best of the best in Southmont wrestling history get to see their names put up on the board in our room. I started practicing with the high school kids when I was 13 and ever since then I’ve been staring at the board most of my life. The goal was to always get my name up there and to see that dream become a reality is something that’s amazing.”
Of the thousands of wrestlers that begin each wrestling season with the dream of wrestling at the State Finals only, 224 get to make that dream a reality. Half of those 224 get to see the podium and Woodall can say without a doubt he’s one of the best wrestlers at 215 pounds.
The senior goes out with his head held high and his name etched in Mountie history.
