ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Wood River High School senior Drake Champlain is no stranger to hard work. His dedication drove him to be one of the best athletes out of the area.
“Wrestling is a hard sport; I’d say it’s one of the toughest,” Drake said. “You really got to put the work in. Going to every practice. Going to the gym early in the morning; that’s what pushes you to be the best.”
Drake started wrestling at seven years old for the Bethalto Bulls. From there, he began his high school career at Wood River High School in East Alton, Ill. During his freshman year, Champlain earned freshman wrestler of the year, and was a state qualifier.
“He’s by far the hardest worker we’ve ever coached, and we’ve coached a lot of kids,” Assistant head wrestling coach Kyle Langford said.
Throughout his career, Drake has been a state qualifier, and he broke the single season record with 172 wins.
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“I knew that I had to come in and be more aggressive to my senior year, because I would always wait to the last minute to score, and I knew I had to come in, come at it, and be ready for it,” Drake said.
During his junior year, Drake came up short in the state finals.
“He was down, but we had to remind him like ‘Hey man you got one year left. Let’s do everything we can to get it done,’” Langford said.
The lost fueled the fire in him to bounce back and win it all during his senior year. And he became Wood River’s first state champion since 2017,
“Ever since I was younger, I’ve never been able to be on top of the podium,” Drake said. “I put my mind to it, knowing next year I was going to be at the top of the podium, and I did.”
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The city of Wood River through a celebration for Drake, even giving him his own day.
“Definitely felt awesome coming to school and seeing everyone congratulate me. It just makes me known for this school and my name will always be on that board.”
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