The redshirt junior has literally been counting down the days.
With cuts and bruises up and down his body and across his face, Cody Walters looks every bit like a college wrestler.
And then there’s his baby blue shirt.
As a senior at St. Peter Chanel High School in Macedonia, Walters’ best friend, Ricky Orrill, died in a car accident. Ever since Orrill’s death, Walters has worn a baby blue shirt commemorating his friend before every match.
“It’s just a little relief thing, little motivation,” Walters said. “It’s like he’s there with me, he’s pushing me through it.
“Every time I wrestle, I feel like he’s there with me and guiding me, and that he’ll get me through the tough times.”
Carrying that tradition throughout his collegiate career, Walters gained another tradition after last year’s NCAA Championships.
For the past 361 days, he’s tweeted out the number of days remaining until this year’s national tournament begins Thursday.
“I made a promise to myself to put everything I had into all the time I had left,” Walters said.
“I remember when I got down to about 20, (my teammate) Harrison Hightower said, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you’re already down to 20, I remember when you were at like 350.’ It flies by, man. It’s amazing.”
Walters, who competes at 174 pounds, assembled an incredible redshirt junior season while he was counting down to the NCAA Championships.
Seeded ninth in his NCAA Championships bracket, Walters heads into his national competition 30-1 on the year. He’s also coming off of a third consecutive Mid-American Conference championship and is undefeated in tournament competition this season.
Walters defeated Missouri’s John Eblen for the 174-pound MAC crown two weeks ago in Columbia, Missouri.
“He was ranked ahead of me, and Missouri is ranked No. 1 in the country,” Walters said. “John Eblen had a lot of swagger to his name when I went out there, and I had a few fans say some things to me before I wrestled, so to go out and beat him in his home gym in his senior year meant a lot. It was pretty cool.”
But the road to Walters’ second All-American season hasn’t been easy, and he still has to place within the top eight in his weight class during the NCAA Championships to earn the distinction.
He suffered a head injury during the 2013-14 season and was in and out of the Bobcats’ lineup as a result.
Walters was back on the mat in time to win his weight class in the MAC Championships for the second time but wasn’t able to earn All-American status, as he had during his redshirt freshman season.
“To come up short last year and get upset in the first round, I was just disgusted with myself,” Walters said. “I was injured, but none of that really matters when you get there. It’s all about mental toughness and getting past your comfort zone.”
Walters will head to St. Louis this week again seeking All-American status, and — more importantly — a national championship.
“Nothing means more than this week,” Walters said. “This is what you trained for, what all those wins and losses prepare you for. I’m ready for this week.”
Some Bobcats felt Walters was under-seeded, as Missouri’s Eblen is ranked fourth in the weight class — five seeds ahead of Walters.
Walters, however, said it doesn’t matter how he’s seeded as long as he wrestles well.
“All it is, is where I am in the bracket,” Walters said. “My plan and goal has been to win a national title, so to be a national champ you have to beat everyone anyway, so I didn’t really care where I was at, as long as I’m in that bracket.”
When Walters wakes up Wednesday, his countdown will be down to one. He and five other Ohio wrestlers are already in St. Louis preparing to take the mat beginning Thursday morning.
“(I) let that countdown fuel me,” Walters said. “There’s no more time left. Everything I have for seven minutes, for however long I’m out there, for however many matches.”
@AGill072
ag079513@ohio.edu
