NEW CASTLE — A season ago, Wyatt Woodall had to sit and watch his Mountie teammates compete at the Semi-State as an injury cut his sophomore season short. Ever since then he’s been determined and more focused than ever and it showed Saturday at the New Castle Semi-State as the Southmont junior officially punched his ticket to Gainbridge Fieldhouse and is now State Finals bound as he placed third overall at 195.
Woodall began his day with win over Perry Meridian’s Andy Warren and in the ticket round pinned New Castle’s Luke Joplin to qualify for the State Finals. In the semi-finals Woodall saw a fellow unbeaten in Roncalli’s Luke Hansen. The two undefeated wrestlers were both ranked in the top 10 in the state at 195 (Hansen 4th, Woodall 9th) and Hansen got the better of Woodall in a narrow 5-3 decision. Rounding out the day in the third place match Woodall bounced back with a pin against Clinton Central’s Cael Albaugh.
Overall Woodall is just happy and thrilled to get to wrestle another week on the state’s biggest stage.
“Last year’s Regional left a sour taste in my mouth for sure and now to be going to the State Finals is just a rewarding feeling,” Woodall said. “That injury instead of letting it get me down, I just used it as fuel to work harder. It’s nice to get to have something to show for all the work and hours that we’ve put in.”
Southmont coach Jamie Welliever knew that Woodall wouldn’t let the injury define his standout junior and talked about what has gone into him getting to show that he’s one of the top wrestlers at 195 in the state of Indiana.
“He was very mature about the whole thing,” Welliever said. “He wanted to show everyone what he was capable of and it shows out here on a stage like this what he’s done to get here. Even that loss in the semi-finals, it shows that he can go out and compete with anyone. He’s already said how he’s going to watch the film and see what he can do differently.”
The Mounties had three other wrestlers qualify for the semi-state in juniors Brier Riggle, Maddox Cade, and Marlin Williams. Unfortunately for Cade, he would be unable to compete as he was forced to medically withdraw. Riggle fell in his opening match of the day at 106 to Cathedral’s John Bissmeyer. Williams at 138 defeated Hamilton Height’s Alex Furst in the opening round before falling to Warren Central’s Christian Arberry in the ticket round. Arberry went on to take third place overall.
North Montgomery senior Dylan Braun fell in his opening match to Lawrenceburg’s Colton Roth. The Charger senior ends his season with a record of 32-9 as first-year coach Lincoln Kyle noted how it was a bitter-sweet end to what’s been a fantastic career for his senior.
“I was very happy that he got the chance to wrestle on this stage,” Kyle said. “I was proud of how he wrestled because even though he got pinned, there were plenty of points in that match where the tide could’ve shifted in his favor. He’s been nothing short of a great leader, a great person and someone that our younger guys can look up to.”
Crawfordsville had sophomore Braeden Hites compete in his first semi-state of his career. Hites was the 1st CHS wrestler to compete at the semi-state since 2019. He ended up falling to Michael Cain of Hamilton Heights in the opening round at 160. First-year coach Aaron Keller mentioned how Hites and the rest of his young team can see what he accomplished and what it takes to wrestle at a big time semi-state level.
“Just to get him this experience was huge,” Keller said. “It give us more to work on because the job is never over. Braeden is a hungry kid and I know he’ll only be motivated by this going into next year. We brought the team here too so they can see what the competition is like at a stage like this.”
Fountain Central’s Waylon Frazee narrowly fell in his opening match of the day at 132 as Perry Meridian’s Keaton Morton scored a reverse in the final seconds of the match for a 3-2 win. Frazee’s junior season ends with a record of 31-4.
Woodall will now get to follow in his brother’s footsteps ad Riley Woodall qualified for the State Finals back in 2021 and placed 7th at 182. The opening round of the State Finals get underway Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The 152-285 weight classes will begin at 5:30.
