At Apex High School, the wrestling team is full of talented athletes, but there is one senior athlete that really shows out. Isaiah Williams is a senior at Apex High School who has shown a lot of success. Currently just starting his Senior season, he brings a lot of energy to the match, and we have high hopes for when the playoffs come around.

Isaiah is homegrown in the Apex area, and he is raised around some high-level athletes. His mother Suzanne Williams was a long time and elite level soccer player who competed for Canada’s National Team in the 1995 World Cup. His father, Steve Williams, was a high level freestyle wrestler who went to the Olympic trials two times, his last one being in 2000, and he was NCAA All American Wrestler. Isaiah also has two older brothers Kaleb who competes at Cornell University and went to states twice in high school as well as Noah who now competes at Mount Olive and won states in high school. 

Having a family who are quite successful in the world of athletics, how did this affect Isaiah in his own thoughts on sports? Isaiah said, “ Yes definitely the pressure of success makes it difficult to see a sport as a sport and not something I feel obligated to do. It feels like I have to reach up to a certain expectation from others and the stress that comes with gives me a more negative emotion towards wrestling”. Isaiah believes that it is just hardship that a lot of athletes have to work through and that his perseverance will be all worth it. 

Isaiah has played other sports like soccer and lacrosse, but wrestling stood out to him because he loves the concept of an individual sport. Isaiah says, “ Wrestling is a sport where you can’t blame anyone but yourself. When you lose, the only person you can blame is yourself, which isn’t the best. Even though losing sucks, when you win, the glory is all yours.”

Through Isaiah’s sophomore year and beginning of junior year he battled through a long string of injuries. Being constantly injured through a long period of time is very difficult for a competitive athlete physically and emotionally. When athletes in high school and even at professional levels reach this point a lot tend to put the dream down, but Isaiah definitely did not choose that route. 

Isaiah said, “ Dealing with injury is difficult, but I have dealt with many through life, and I have learned that you just have to trust the process and keep working towards getting better and taking shortcuts will just come back and bite you in the future. It is hard for the mental but everytime I come back I come back mentally stronger.”  

Isaiah is a great athlete, student, and friend to everyone. He is very active in his school community, and he works very hard to be where he is today. Isaiah is an athlete that younger and high school athletes can look up to. We hope to see him have a great senior season; go out to matches to support the wrestling team and him! To all athletes Isaiah says, “If you feel like giving up don’t because if you continue you will see better results.”