Predictably, 6-year-olds are mostly consumed with the likes of moms and dads, friends, snacks, toys, pets, videos and games, playtime, their ABCs and reading … and probably not interested in the solitude necessary to become a top-flight wrestling champion with the possibility to emerge at the sport’s highest levels.
Then there’s Tyler Graff. Now a junior at Loveland High School, Graff as a tyke may have been having fun with the annual thousands here and nationally who are introduced to the joy of wrestling, but he seemed to enjoy its rigors as much as anything.
“Yeah, I liked the hard work, too,” Graff admitted. “There was a lot of discipline with it. That’s just who I am.”
Who is Graff? This isn’t “Jeopardy!” although the correct responses are worth repeating.
What are some of his credentials? The Class 5A 130-pounder is 33-0 in 2006-07, a big-time 108-1 in his career. The loss – by a 3-2 score – came as a freshman during the regular season and he avenged it in the state semifinals en route to his first title, at 103 in 2004-05.
He won Colorado’s 5A 119 the past season (44-0, 35 by pin), so he’s working on a third and is hopeful of becoming a four-timer, still a rare feat despite eight of 13 coming since the expansion to four classifications in 1990-91.
Does he have other goals? Graff, the son of a career military man, has his eye on the Junior National Freestyle Championships in Las Vegas in April – he was second in the summer and won a lower national title in 2005 – and competing in the world championships in China in August.
Are we talking about a goal of making the Olympics? “Most definitely,” Graff said.
Last weekend, Graff, the nation’s top-ranked schoolboy at 130 by USA Wrestling, ripped through the No. 7 grappler, Max Ortega of Rio Rancho, N.M., 17-3 in the Top of the Rockies tournament at Centaurus – Graff also has defeated Ortega’s brother – in as good of a regular-season gathering as there is in the Rocky Mountains.
No, Graff wasn’t that impressed with his overall performance.
“I was pretty pumped up, but it didn’t seem to be going good for me in a few (earlier) matches,” he said. “The only way to make up for it was to turn it on in the finals.”
If it takes a high school All-American to know one, then Loveland coach Jim Sanchez, who starred at Cheyenne Central High School in Wyoming, qualifies.
“There’s no doubt about him,” Sanchez said of Graff. “He’s a great kid who has the discipline and work ethic, and he’s focused on wrestling.”
Basically, Graff, who is about a B student, wrestles. And when he isn’t wrestling, he’s training for wrestling.
“You have to be different,” Sanchez said.
Different? Graff is ripped physically, standing 5-feet-3 1/2. He can bench-press 300 pounds, more than twice his body weight and is willing to bend like Gumby if necessary.
He studies film like he’s an NFL coach. When he has lost a match, it was about understanding why and getting better.
In action, he’s one of those guys millimeters and a microsecond from his foe as the referee blows the opening whistle.
Basically, he’s a cat-quick mauler who understands – and can implement – the sport’s technical side.
“He uses a little bit of both,” Sanchez said.
Recall the exceptional wrestlers you’ve seen. Every one of them knew what to do when touched on any part of their body. They reacted and countered automatically. Some were resourceful enough to know what was coming before it came.
Graff is in the process of joining them.
In what is standard procedure for a special breed, he seeks the top foe. He wants your best possible match.
“You need speed, strength and quickness, and it also takes lot of smarts,” Graff said. “You have very few mistakes, usually, at (the national) level.”
Graff knows: One-mistake-and- done is part of the national creed.
And to think it all started as a first-grader, when Graff actually welcomed the mind-numbing drills and work that led to constant tests of mind, body and soul.
As for the high-school level, Graff refuses to kid himself. The native of Washington, with budding majors in law enforcement and nutrition for college, can be beaten – just like anyone else.
“I prepare for every match like I would in anything else,” he said. “Becoming a four-time champion is something I would enjoy.”
On tap
Denver Post staff writer Neil H. Devlin looks at the weekend ahead in high school sports:
BASKETBALL
CLASS 5A-3A BOYS: Wave of DPL’s big games on tap
The first of Denver’s significant games was Tuesday between Class 5A East and two-time defending 4A champion Thomas Jefferson. Get into another today at 7 p.m. with 5A Montbello at 4A Abraham Lincoln, and don’t be fooled by the different-class thing. The upper end of the Denver Prep League continues to have rivalry games contested with emotion in front of a loyal following as well as having meaning throughout the state’s top classes. (This isn’t city football.) Friday’s 5A Continental will have Rangeview, bidding for a place among the league’s elite, at Levi Knutson-led Arapahoe. Also Friday is a biggie in 5A Colorado Springs, Doherty and Garrett Fiddler at Palmer at 6 p.m. Last weekend, Palmer knocked the Spartans from the top spot in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll with an overtime victory. Saturday will have two matinees worth seeing: undefeated Aurora Central at neighboring Hinkley at 3 p.m., a standard, suburban rivalry in the 5A-4A Skyline; and 3A top-ranked Faith Christian at Kent Denver (featuring Kyle Lewis) at 4 p.m. in the 3A Metropolitan.
CLASS 5A-3A GIRLS: Jones, Tuomi to go head-to-head
Many of the stars will be out beginning today, and that goes for individuals and teams as league play will shape the stretch run. As is often the case, in-state females have a clear edge on male counterparts concerning Division I talent, and some of it will be going head-to-head to determine league leads and top playoff seeds. Today at 7 p.m., Legacy and Melissa Jones (bound for Baylor) will be at Horizon and Hannah Tuomi (Vanderbilt) for the inside track of the 5A Front Range. Also Friday at 7 p.m., Chaparral hosts ThunderRidge in the 5A Continental. Saturday’s highlights should include Holy Family at Colorado Academy in the 3A Metropolitan at 7 p.m.
WRESTLING
BERTHOUD: Spartans head back to the mat
Berthoud, which is dealing with the losses of Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros the best ways it knows how, will have its first competition since the accident that forced both team members to have their legs amputated below the knee. The Spartans will face Northridge today at 7 p.m. in what should be an emotion-filled dual meet for area locals.
ICE HOCKEY
CONFERENCE RACES: Prep ice is nice
It’s true. Colorado’s ice age has expanded, even if it has little to do with five consecutive weekends of snow. Now with 25 teams, the game’s depth over two conferences is being tested. Catch some of it in Colorado Springs on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. when Cheyenne Mountain will meet Lewis-Palmer at Sertich Arena.
