Despite missing most of his junior season with an injury, senior Cody Sandridge reached the 100-win milestone for his career Wednesday on his home mat. Sandridge defeated state-ranked Kyle Caldwell of Willard 1-0 to capture his 100th victory.
Sandridge’s victory was a bright spot in an overall loss for the Tigers, who fell to undefeated Willard 41-30.
“Cody is the wrestler that you dream of having. He’s always going to put in the extra work. He’s always going to work hard when he does it, and it shows in his wrestling,” says coach Jerry Morton. “He had a little setback last year, but we’re right back to where we need to be this year, and he’s wrestling good right now.”
Sandridge downplayed the accomplishment, but says it happened because of his desire to keep improving.
“It’s just another match, but it’s a milestone in wrestling,” Sandridge says. ” a lot of hard work and positive attitude toward everything. Even your losses, you can learn from them. You lose and you figure out what you did wrong… Every match has different things that I do wrong, and usually I try to not make the same mistake twice.”
Other Republic wrestlers to pick up wins Wednesday were Johnathon Beckett, Ian Malone, Hunter Pyle, Austin Noblitt, and Shayne Piles. Morton says a slow start cost his inexperienced team (featuring three freshmen) an opportunity to win against a good Willard team.
“We came out kind of sluggish and they were taking it to us with those lower weights,” says Morton. “We were down too much to come all the way back.
“We saw the aggression from Willard that we need to be having.”
The Tigers travel to St. Louis for the Fort Zumwalt East Invitational this weekend.