Sallisaw High School’s Bodie Adams
For Sallisaw High School senior heavyweight Bodie Adams, wrestling has always been more than a season-by-season sport. It has been a long pursuit of a family standard set years ago by his father, Kevin, a two-time state champion whose legacy quietly shaped his son’s goals.
“Since I was seven years old, I had wanted to be a two-time state champion like he was,” Adams said. “He pushed me and would take me to practices over the summer for years so that I could continue to get better.”
That work paid off this winter when Adams capped his Black Diamonds career by winning his second state title, matching the achievement that once seemed so distant. The milestone, he said, was less about the medals and more about finally seeing years of early-morning workouts, travel and training come together on the biggest stage.
“Being a two-time state champion is awesome,” Adams said. “I was ecstatic when I won because all of my hard work throughout the years finally paid off with me completing my goals.”
Along the way, Adams developed into a technician in a division often defined by power. He points to his low single as the move that took the longest to master, recalling one summer when a coach demanded he drill only the entry for half of every practice, over and over again.
“The move that took me the longest to get good at would probably be my low single,” Adams said. “For one summer I had a coach that would make me practice just getting to the shot without finishing it for like half the practice every practice.”
Adams also soaked up knowledge from high-level mentors. He spent time on the mat with Shawn Schreck, a University of Central Oklahoma alumnus and the program’s first NCAA heavyweight champion, an experience that showed Adams exactly how far the sport can go and how high the bar really is.
“It went rough,” Adams said with a laugh. “I only ever wrestled him in practice, and it was clear that he took it easy-ish on me, but I could barely do anything to him.”
Away from the circle, Adams is a well-rounded student whose favorite class was AP English with Mrs. Wilson his junior year, and he enjoys hiking, reading and spending time with family and friends. Still, the lessons from athletics shape how he approaches every challenge.
“Athletics has taught me that I can push my body further than my mind wants, and that through hard work and dedication anything can be accomplished,” he said.
For Adams, that belief extends beyond wrestling. He laughs that he “can’t make a basket in basketball” and would “never want to be a sprinter in track,” but he insists wrestling is a sport where anyone willing to invest the time and grind can find success just like a kid who once chased his dad’s dream and made it his own.
