From Franklin to State Champion

As only a sophomore, Garrett Young has set school history, surpassing and advancing beyond what has been seen before in Franklin wrestling and earning himself, and our school, a state title. 

Despite the unrivaled feat, he remains unabashedly humble, thankful, and grateful for every contributor that has shaped his journey and ultimately defined the success of his accomplishment. 

When asked to reflect on the season and whether or not he went in recognizing the potential he had to attain such an accolade, he explains, “So, walking into the first practice I feel like I knew I had a shot. There would be some studs, there was gonna be competition, but luckily I was already in the 5A division because I knew for sure that there were some studs in 6A that had already beaten me freshman year. I ended up with a record of 47-2, losing to some real competitors, one from 4A and one from 6A, but not any from 5A which still left me with a good shot of winning.”

Some of his toughest matches, and ultimately his two losses were, “When wrestling Saint Stevens, Avery Ryhmer, a guy committed to Appalachian State, who I had faced in my freshman year at the regional tournament as my second match and ended up losing 4-5. I went in there this year thinking I had it in the bag and I ended up fumbling pretty bad and lost 15-0 in the second period. He also went on to win state, but it was just a very tough match but something I needed because it opened my eyes. And there was another kid, Landon Pope from Pisgah, that I lost to in sudden death/triple overtime.”

His preparation for this season included, “…building up my endurance, and just really working, I had some very important coaches who I’m very thankful for, alongside a lot of volunteers because I didn’t really have another kid in my weight class that I could practice against so I had a couple grown men go in there and help me, and push me, so that I had a chance to really get in there and compete with the guys at state. I also attend these Round Tree meets early in the season and wrestle with their attendees which included two Olympic gold medalists aged 13 and 14.”

On a daily basis during the season Garrett’s routine includes, “Either going straight  to school, or working out in the morning at 4:30, then going to school followed by an after school practice where I get a very hard two hours in with my coaches and teammates, and again I’m very thankful for everyone who’s helped me. Directly after I go to the weight room and lift for about 2 hours and run at least a mile followed by a trip to track where I would run sprints to work on my speed.”

Balancing a busy schedule isn’t always necessarily easy, in fact he explains that, “Most of my social time is spent participating in athletic events and practices but I also try to put myself in as many clubs as I can. Anything to really challenge myself, and grow into a better person. I put school first and then sports, but I think sports have really shaped my social life and made me who I am, alongside attending church surrounded by brothers and sisters, who really have shaped me as a person. On the weekends I work, mostly with my dad, I have a small business with firewood and hydroseeding during the summer, and that is how I spend most weekends and how I make money to pay for my things.”

He accredits his family and coaches as having played a vital role in shaping his commitment and dedication to his sports, “Really my family, my mom and my dad, they would take me to Virginia Beach for these big nation wide tournaments to let me see that there are levels to this kind of thing. Also my grandma was probably one of the biggest contributors, she would take me to every little practice, to Georgia, Round Tree, everywhere. She’d take me at 11:00 P.M. to go run the track or workout. My coaches had a big impact on the way I am and my mindset, even outside of sports, they push me to get better and I’m very thankful.”

When asked about the most strenuous or difficult part of wrestling he explained that it was, “…evolving from freshman year to senior year, learning that you don’t have to put limits on yourself, being able to perform at a pace that normal high school wrestlers don’t. The biggest thing is conditioning. I’ve done every sport and football is definitely hard because of the length of the game, but [wrestling] is by far the hardest six minutes.”

Handling such a strenuous sport is mentally and physically exhausting, but he explains that his motivation stems from multiple facets, “I’m really thankful that God gave me this mindset that I always want more and more, I never want to just stay the same. Also my family, they have all been very good athletes and that’s what pretty much pushes me, it’s not really pressure, but it does push me to be the best wrestler I can. School too, trying to get the best grades that I can, working on everything I do just to be a better person.”

When looking ahead Garrett explains that, “The next thing I hope to accomplish, would be to go to these national tournaments. One I’m fixing to go to in Virginia Beach, there’s people from all over the country coming, and even people from outside the country, like I know some people from Finland who’re coming. There’s a lot more competition than state, and it’s very competitive, with these people doing it year round. So I’m just excited to get the feel of it and see how I perform against wrestlers from across the country and all over the world.”

And when it comes to setting goals for his junior year his ambitions do not falter, “The goal starting with football would be helping to lead my team to winning a state championship. It’s going to be very tough, but I think we can accomplish it. I think I would like to try and get at least 2,000 yards rushing, and 100 tackles, but I’m just very thankful to all of the coaches that give me opportunities to even do so. Then wrestling, of course I’ve got to try and at least defend the title. I’d like to win three years in a row, but we’ll see how it goes, and God’s got a plan.”

When concerning college, and performing at the collegiate level he remains fairly open minded, “Honestly I would love to go for football, and that’s my number one goal, but if I ever got a great offer for wrestling, and in later years thought that I would really enjoy it in college then I would. I would love to branch off to some other fighting. But the biggest thing if I go that far is providing for my family, and if it was not gonna work I would not do it.”

When asked what advice he would give Franklin’s future wrestlers he says, “The biggest thing would be to push yourself every day, there’s a lot of people who do a lot and have a great plan but the thing they never really do is the hardest part—pushing themselves. In every workout you need to get better and never settle, and that applies to anything, not just wrestling, it could be talking to people, getting closer to God, breaking a habit, anything, you just have to work on it and push yourself. But in the wrestling world you really have to work on your endurance. Strength and athleticism are not everything, I learnt that very quickly. It put me through middle school, but in high school you meet these seniors who’re crazy good and you have to compete with them.”

His own evolution as a wrestler when looking back at freshman year compared to now, “The biggest thing was my mindset, and how I would wrestle each match. Before I would go in there thinking about one move but now I just really try to raise the pace and give it the best I’ve got every time, and switch up my moves. But really it is just using your imagination and trying to do something that you think they won’t know and catching them off guard.”

He has also completely changed his approach upon entering a match, “Normally my freshman year I would go in there having a game plan and watching the wrestler before. But now I just go in there trying to be prepared for anything, you just need to wrestle your match, don’t let them wrestle theirs. And you push the pace and know what you’re about to do every time, and set things up, and that’s normally how you win a match.”

Being able to adapt to different situations and paces is vital during matches, “If they’re slower you never bring it down to their level, but if they’re faster you’ve gotta somehow find a way to slow it down. You’ve gotta lock onto them, keep them from doing their things, you just have to wrestle your match, no matter how they wrestle or what they do, you have to set up what you want to do and never let them dictate the match. 

His goals for the season did change after facing some minor road bumps, although he did recover and still accomplish his main goal. He explained that, “One of my goals was to have an undefeated record, but that ended up getting cut short because I had to wrestle these two studs who were both seniors, very experienced, with way more moves and way more pace than what I had. But ultimately the losses taught me a lot and helped me to improve individually.”

When asked to elaborate on what being the furthest advancing Franklin wrestler and winning this state title meant to him he said that, “I have respect for all of the wrestlers that came through Franklin High School before me. It just means a lot that I could win it one year for them. A lot of the ones that have come through recently have kept in touch, they’re also the ones that go with me, and I’m just really glad I could win it for them.”

The effort, humility, and dedication of this student athlete is inspiring. He really sets a precedent not just for Franklin’s future wrestlers but every athlete currently competing at the same level. So much can be achieved when expressing this kind of dedication, on and off the field.