GOODWIN’S GREAT WIN
Crown Point senior goes out on top with state title that eluded him, and Bulldogs repeat as team champion
INDIANAPOLIS — One thing kept Cody Goodwin going this season.
Every time he was ready to stop a workout, every time he thought he couldn’t finish another drill, every time he believed he was out of energy, the Crown Point senior just had to remember that the end was coming.
“Knowing that I’m done after this, that’s what gave me more to finish on top,” Goodwin said. “I had to make sure I was OK with being done.”
The smile on Goodwin’s face at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night suggests he reached that level of satisfaction after winning his first state championship with a 2-1 decision against Brownsburg’s Delaney Ruhlman in the 170-pound final.
Goodwin’s victory was part of another dominant state meet for Crown Point, which won its second straight team championship. Along with Goodwin, three other Bulldogs won state titles: senior Sam Goin at 160, senior Orlando Cruz at 182 and junior Will Clark at 220.
Two other Northwest Indiana wrestlers also won: Kankakee Valley senior Cole Solomey at 138 and Chesterton senior Aidan Torres at 145.
Like Solomey and Torres, Goodwin was in pursuit of his first state title following a fourth-place finish at 160 at the 2022 state meet. But unlike them, Goodwin has no plans to wrestle in college. Solomey is a Purdue recruit, and Torres is an Indiana recruit. So this season meant the end of Goodwin’s wrestling career, only adding to his desire to win.
Goodwin wasn’t walking this path alone, however. Cruz, a state runner-up at 182 last season, and Goodwin have been wrestling
together at various clubs and camps for more than a decade, and the shared goal of working to overcome their disappointment from last season only strengthened the bond between them — and their resolve.
“Not winning — that was terrible,” Goodwin said. “What happened last year is the reason why we’re here because it really gave us something to keep building on. It felt like we deserved it last year, too, but we definitely deserved it this year with everything that we put into it.”
Like Goodwin, Cruz said he used his memories of those moments after the 2022 state meet as the fuel that carried him through this season.
“We cried in each other’s arms after losing last year,” Cruz said. “Every day, for 365 days, we reminded each other of all the work we’d put in for this moment.”
During the season, Goodwin and Cruz spent countless hours battling each other at practice, believing those endless sessions would pave the way to a state championship.
“He’d take me down, then I’d take him down,” Goodwin said. “We were just going at it back and forth, always in each other’s faces, going as hard as we could every single day. For the last three weeks, we were doing extra sprints after practice, too, just to get an extra edge on everyone.”
Crown Point coach Branden Lorek said their contrasting approaches to wrestling also helped.
“Their styles are very different,” Lorek said. “Orlando’s hustle is constant. Cody’s a technician and a grappler. It’s been fun watching those two mix it up since their freshman years, and they’re going to be missed.”
Goodwin said the intensity of his practice matches with Cruz ramped up over the past few weeks, describing them as “state-finals intense.”
“It’s just like we’ve been doing every year we’ve been together,” Goodwin said. “We’re not just doing this for ourselves. We’re doing it for each other.”
Their decade as teammates came to an end Saturday night, but Goodwin and Cruz would have a hard time scripting a better conclusion.
“It’s so surreal for this to turn out the way we envisioned it,” Cruz said. “We spoke it into existence. I’m just so happy right now.”
Goodwin only used one word to sum up his emotions.
“Joyful,” he said.