2025 Times Boys Wrestler of the Year: Seneca’s Raiden Terry

In his first two seasons wrestling for Seneca, sophomore Raiden Terry has made a pretty good name for himself.

Coming off a freshman season where he went 41-10 and advanced to the State Finals at 106 pounds, Terry put together a record-breaking season in his second go-around.

This past season Terry was the top-ranked wrestler at 106 by Illinoismatmen.com for much of the season, finished with a program record 52 wins against just three losses, and despite dropping his opening-round match, he bounced back to earn a third-place medal at the Class 1A State Finals in Champaign. For all of his accomplishments, Terry was named the 2025 Times Boys Wrestler of the Year.

“It was tough,” Terry said of his opening loss at state to Newman’s Landon Near. “Going down there, ranked No. 1 and then losing to a kid I had already beat during the season, it was hard to process what had happened.

“From there I had to switch my goal, and that goal was not to lose another match. I went to state as a freshman and went 1-2, so getting a medal this year was the main goal above everything. I was able to battle back, get to the third-place match and beat [Near], who I’d lost to at the start, to finish third. I’m happy with how I finished.”

During the season, Terry won titles at 106 pounds at the Seneca Invitational [also Lower-Weight Most Valuable Wrestler], Erie Invitational, Reed-Custer Invite, Chicagoland Prairie Conference and 1A Herscher Regional, as well as placing third at the Coal City Sectional. He also earned first at 113 at Rochester.

He earned 24 wins by technical fall during the season, surpassing the previous Irish career mark of 20.

“We are always talking about how it’s good to get mat time,” Seneca coach Todd Yegge said. “For dominatant wrestlers like Raiden, if you go out and pin someone in the first 30 seconds every time you step on the mat, you’re not getting the reps or practice in to compete against the really good opponents. Pins like that are great, but you’re not getting the conditioning you need or time to work on your techniques during the season. The fact Raiden broke the career mark in tech falls in one season is outstanding.

“While losing that opening match at state was frustrating, I couldn’t be prouder of how Raiden came back. Winning five matches in a row, outscoring his opponents 50-7 in those matches and eventually beating the kid he’d lost to in the first round. He really battled.”

Terry, who is also a member of the Seneca boys golf team in the fall, said wrestling gives special challenges on and off the mat, but that it keeps pushing him to excel.

“I walk around heavy, so for duals and throughout the week I’d mostly wrestle at 113 or sometimes even 120,” Terry said. “But for the state series I knew I wanted to be at 106.

“I started wrestling in fifth grade when it became a school sport, mainly because I was always wrestling with my [senior] brother [Ryker] at home. It’s a hard sport both mentally and physically, but especially when you’re trying to cut weight. There have been times when I’ve wanted to give it up, but the competition of the sport always brings me back. There’s is just something about competing against one other person that makes the sport special to me.”

Terry said while winning a third-place medal and how it was attained was special, he wants more next season and plans on working to get it.

“I’m going to work hard this coming offseason, Terry said. ”Looking back, I feel I could have worked harder before last season. My plan is to wrestle more, get in the gym more, wrestle in more tournaments during the summer and focus more on becoming a better wrestler.

“The way this season finished makes me even more focused on getting back to state and using this season’s experience to finish even higher.”