By his own admission, Ridley Waldo has always loved winning. And winning, it seems, has loved him back.

The Aberdeen Central senior wrestler recently won his 150th career match for the Golden Eagles, translating what came naturally to him as a pre-schooler into a solid high school career.

“I got into wrestling at a very young age,” Waldo said. “I was probably 3-4 years old when I first got out on the mat. My dad was a wrestler so that kind of helped get me into it. I was pretty solid at a young age, and I just loved winning so I would just go out there and have fun.”

Waldo kept up both aspects of the sport – winning and fun – for the next decade and a half, learning to love what the sport had to offer both in and out of the winner’s circle.

“There’s a saying that once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy,” Waldo said. “That can be taken lightly; it doesn’t mean everything in life is easy. But the amount of challenges you face in wrestling gives you a better mindset of the amount of challenges you’ll go out and face in the real world.”

Still, the winner’s circle is fun, and Waldo has worked hard to spend as much time there as possible. The senior is currently 28-2 this season, with well over half of those wins coming via pin, technical fall or major decision.

“Wrestling is an individual sport, but this feat (150 career victories) is 100 percent not completed under my own will,” Waldo said. “It’s thanks to my coaches, Donnie Bowden and CJ Vogeli and Justin Fox and Colton Roth. Big shoutout to all those guys. None of this is possible without them.”

Waldo, who was also a key member of the Central football team as well as the Aberdeen Smittys baseball squad, also pointed out contributions from teammates – those past and those present – along with his family and friends.

“To help me when weight cutting is tough or when I’m having doubts about my success in the sport, they’re always there for me,” he said. “None of this is possible without them.”

Waldo noted a pair of former teammates that helped shape his career into the success that it is.

“As a younger kid, I would say my biggest mentors or guys that were older than me that I hung out with and set the tone for me were people like Mason Schrempp and Rayden Zens,” Waldo said. “Both of those guys are wrestling at (Northern State) right now. I was lucky I had guys like that to look up to.“

That mentorship model has come full circle, as Waldo is now one of the older guys in the wrestling room, and he knows his actions both in and out of the room are up for scrutiny.

It also hits a little closer to home for him. Or rather, at home. Two of Waldo’s sisters, neither of whom had previously shown much interest in the sport, were inspired to lace up their shoes and give it a go this season.

“I think it’s awesome,” Waldo said of his younger siblings taking their shot in the sport he loves. “It kind of lets me know that the stuff that I do, it’s stuff they view and they contemplate. It just lets me know that I’m both a brother to them and a role model, so that’s a friendly reminder that everything I do is seen by them.”

Waldo’s Golden Eagle career, though not over yet, is still butting up against those inevitable last-time moments, including the annual Lee Wolf tournament this weekend. The event will mark the final time Waldo will wrestle in front of a home crowd.

“I hope I’m able to put on a show for the crowd,” he said.

While winning is the more obvious of his goals, not just this weekend but also as the season winds its way toward the postseason, Waldo said he has other standards in mind, as well. Ones that his coaches remind him and his teammates about often.

“I want to be remembered as someone who was able to represent the Golden Eagle well,” he said. “I would rather they remember me for my character and good sportsmanship than my success in the sport. It’s one thing to be successful, but I think people always remember you for how you treated them and the way you acted toward them or toward other people. That’s what sticks.”

Waldo is tentatively headed to South Dakota State next fall to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, though he said he’s open to continuing his wrestling endeavors at the collegiate level should an offer present itself.

In the meantime, he’s taking what’s left of his high school season one match at a time.

“I want to give all the glory to God,” Waldo said. “He’s given us the ability to do this and I just want to showcase all the talents He’s given me that I was lucky enough to receive. It’s all by His grace that I’m able to do this sport that I love.”