How rough freshman season helped mold Seneca Valley wrestler Riley Smith into one of PA’s best 107-pounders
Win or bust was not Riley Smith’s mindset as a freshman wrestler at Seneca Valley two years ago.
He competed in the lightest weight class of 107 pounds, but weighed just 87, and was facing opponents who were, in many cases, 20 pounds heavier than he was.
“I wasn’t strong enough to hit a lot of the moves I knew how to do, and knew I was going to struggle,” he said. “I went out and did my best, tried to win every match. But if I lost, I wasn’t too upset about it.”
Smith went 3-2 at the WPIAL northern sectional tournament that year and placed sixth to qualify for districts. He finished the season with a record of 7-20.
“Being undersized forced him to rely more on technique than just going strength on strength with guys,” Seneca Valley coach Kevin Wildrick said. “We celebrated with him last year when his weight hit triple digits.”
Smith is now celebrating winning consistently at 107 as a junior. He is 20-1 and ranked No. 3 in the state by insidepawrestling.com. His lone defeat came against Leonidas Murillo (20-2) of District 3’s Trinity High School at the Panther Holiday Classic tournament in December.
Five of Smith’s wins have come by pin, six more via technical fall.
“I’m seeing good things out of Riley,” Wildrick said. “He brings the match to his opponents, and I like his intensity level.
“The amount of extra time Riley puts in outside of our room and the regular season has helped him a ton.”
Smith estimates he puts in 18 hours per week into wrestling this time of the year, which includes time with Gladiators Wrestling, a club in Imperial.
Smith worked toward making a big jump as a sophomore, and it yielded 21 more wins over his freshman campaign and another trip to WPIALs.
“Going from 7-20 to 28-14 was a welcome change,” he said. “I’m now at 107, maybe a pound over. I can’t eat everything I used to, but it’s nice to be wrestling at the weight I’m competing at.”
His father, Drew Smith, wrestled in high school and at the U.S. Naval Academy. Riley’s older brother, Connor, tallied 120 wins at Seneca Valley and is currently a sophomore competing for Columbia University.
Riley has hopes of wrestling in college, too, but is currently focused on making the most of his high school career.
“My goals this season are to win a section title, make it through WPIALs and regionals, and hopefully place at states,” he said.
