Cody Hood has some tasks remaining before he joins the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team next year.

The Ooltewah High School senior met with Chris Bono earlier this week to tell the Mocs coach he was coming, but he first wants another state medal.

The Owls’ 130-pounder is working to qualify for his fourth state tournament and an improvement on his state medals cache, which includes a sixth-place finish two years ago and a third-place finish last season.

“In addition to his work ethic and vision and desire and the other buzz words, Cody is nonstop,” Ooltewah coach Wendell Weathers said. “He smothers opponents and never lets them regroup during a match. When he’s on, and that’s most of the time, he never gives them a chance to reload. He likes to pressure his opponents and force his will, and he does that better than anybody I have coached.”

Through Wednesday’s meets, Hood was 25-2 this season. He didn’t know how many wins he had but he was fully aware of the two losses.

“I lost to (Red Bank’s) Tony Tolbert at 140 in the first match of the year. It was a close match — one point, I think,” Hood recalled. “Then I lost to (Soddy-Daisy’s) Taylor Witt by major decision. He wrestled well. It was the first time I had lost by major decision in two years.

“You remember the losses. They make you work harder. You take it on yourself that you haven’t been doing all that you need to do.”

He followed the loss to Taylor with a late rallying victory over Baylor’s Cole Hayes, one of the state’s top-ranked Division II wrestlers.

“I was excited,” Hood said. “That was a big win.”

Wrestling is a team sport but one where outcome is based on individual achievement, and Hood likes the feeling that comes with winning. He tries to dominate, to impose his will.

“I’m a laid-back person but I like to wrestle aggressively,” he said. “My freshman and sophomore years, the coaches said I was pushing the limit of aggression, and they were worried about me getting penalties for being unsportsmanlike. It wasn’t that I was doing anything dirty. I was just being aggressive.”

Boundaries for his approach were never a major concern to his coaches.

“Cody has a nasty attitude on the mat, but it comes with good sportsmanship, too,” Weathers said. “I have never seen him push another guy after a whistle or when they go out of bounds. He wants to win but he doesn’t have any ill feelings toward the person he wrestles, and while it isn’t personal, he doesn’t give anybody any slack. We may not always be champions at Ooltewah, but we’re going look like it and act like it.”

If Hood has had a fault, it might have been a tendency to prepare slowly for a match.

“He warmed up but he went through a mental preparation that was slow to evolve. He often gets stronger as a match progresses,” Weathers said.

He knows, though, that Hood is ready once he starts pacing.

“I bounce around, do some jumping jacks, and then I start walking back and forth thinking about what I am going to do and what my opponent likes to do,” Hood said.

“Yep, when he starts pacing I know it’s only a matter of minutes before he’s ready,” Weathers said. “He likes to play around a little in the practice room before we start, but once we begin you see that focus and work ethic. His practice partners prepare for it because they know they’re going to get the best of Cody Hood, and sometimes we have to remind him that he is in the practice room.”