Sweat plus sacrifice equals success.
A quote that especially rings true for high school senior athletes who are nearing the end of a historic career.
And something that describes Southmont wrestler Riley Woodall, who will compete at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“Riley has always been a ridiculously hard worker and he sweats like crazy,” Southmont coach Jamie Welliever said. “Which then shows all of that. I don’t know if he’s won practice wrestler of the year on our team the last three years, but I know he’s won it the last two years. So it’s not only obvious to the coaches, but it’s obvious to his teammates, because they’re the ones that vote on that thing.”
Woodall is ranked No. 10 in the state and carries a 24-2 season record into the state finals, after earning a runner-up finish at the New Castle semi-state last Saturday. The senior is full of talent, that’s obvious by his record, ranking and state tourney advancement, but he would be nowhere without his dedication to the sport and willingness to put in the work to become so successful.
As an elementary student Woodall was more interested in basketball than wrestling, but as a seventh-grader, his love for the sport finally clicked.
“Sixth-grade I tried it out full-time and it didn’t really work out, and I kind of went away from it and seventh-grade year I was just looking for a winter sport, and I wasn’t interested in basketball,” Woodall said. “So I tried wrestling and it was really difficult at first adjusting to that, but I knew immediately that it was definitely my place and was something I was going to love to do.”
Woodall’s passion for the sport quickly grew, but not without many lumps and losses along the way.
“Really from seventh-grade all the way to freshman year into sophomore year, I took thousands of lumps as an underclassmen,” he said. “Some of the guys that are wrestling, they start when they’re two or three years old, and I didn’t have that experience growing up to it.”
And then at the end of his freshman season, Woodall’s wrestling career reached a tipping point when he lost the 170 pound varsity spot to junior Jud VanCleave just before the state tournament.
A loss suffered in the Southmont wrestling room that was much more impactful than any one suffered in a meet or tournament.
“It was one of the few times where it really hurt,” Woodall said. “Like a lot. Losses are never easy to take, but especially knowing I was that close. I felt it for a little bit, and as soon as it wore off, I was like ‘it’s time to get back at it,’ and that turned into motivation, and fueled the fire.”
The loss was followed by dominance from Woodall. Three-straight trips to the semi-state at 182, before ultimately qualifying for the state finals in his senior season.
“Kid has a choice, right?” Welliever said about Woodall losing the varsity spot as a freshman. “Some might go the wrong direction with that kind of thing. Riley obviously responded the way you want to, ‘I’m going to earn that.’ We’ve been solid over the years around his weight class and they’ve worked together and figured out what’s best for them and what’s best for the team. We are all talking about Riley right now, but Riley has also been all about the team all along too.”
If there is a loss that’s motivated Woodall more than the one to VanCleave three years ago, it was his only regular season loss this year.
A 5-3 loss to Tri-West’s Dominic Pugliese (30-3), who is ranked No. 9, in the Sagamore Conference finals — was significant for two reasons.
“I took that first loss at conference, and it kind of freed me up a little bit, because I was worried about protecting the undefeated record,” Woodall said. “And once I was able to do that, something just completely switched in my head and I just came extremely aggressive and in his face the whole time, and I think that loss in particular got me there.”
The other reason?
The two SAC rivals will meet in the opening match at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The loser goes home, and the winner advances to the placement round with three more guaranteed matches on Saturday.
“That’s always one of our team goals,” Welliever said. “We never want to lose to somebody we’ve beaten earlier in the year, but also we want to beat someone we lost to earlier in the year.”
Woodall is determined to overcome the earlier loss to Pugliese, and has his eyes set on the podium. With a win over Pugliese, Woodall will wrestle the winner of No. 14 ranked Jacob Sayler from New Haven and Brandon Estepp from Warsaw, with that quarterfinal winner likely to face No. 1 ranked Drake Buchanan from Center Grove in the semi-finals.
“It kind of helps knowing my opponent,” Woodall said. “Kind of knowing where my path is, it’s the same mindset as it was going into semi-state. Under no circumstance am I going to lose this match, and I plan on going in there and grinding every single one of my opponents out until they can’t go anymore.”
