Taylor’s the One: Ohio’s Coaches Pick Graham Ace as 2008 Ohio Wrestler of the Year

(above): Don't be fooled: He may look like he's in trouble, but David Taylor converted this state final's scramble into a takedown- followed by a flurry of backpoints. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

In 2006 and 2007, it was an easy choice for naming this site’s Wrestler of the Year.  Lance Palmer garnered the award with his four state titles and Senior National Title two years ago, while Colt Sponseller was an easy choice last year after his brilliant senior season.  This year, the decision proved much trickier- so, I decided to pass the buck.  Rather than make such a tough call myself- with so many deserving candidates, but no clear-cut choice- I decided to have a coaches vote.

The coaches made their voice heard- loud and clear.

While Tony Jameson, Logan Stieber, Chris Phillips, Chase Skonieczny, Eric Cubberly, Richie Spicel, and Dustin Carter all received a significant amount of support, David Taylor was the clear winner of this year’s Wrestler of the Year honors.  With 153 Coaches voting, the following were the final results of the voting:

David Taylor: 36 Votes
Tony Jameson: 24 Votes
Logan Stieber: 18 Votes
Chris Phillips: 18 Votes
Chase Skonieczny: 14 Votes
Eric Cubberly: 13 Votes
Richie Spicel: 12 Votes
Dustin Carter: 9 Votes
Cody Magrum: 4 Votes
Jedd Moore: 2 Votes
Collin Palmer: 2 Votes
Chris Kline: 1 Vote

Upon thinking on it more, Taylor is an obvious choice.  Since entering the ninth grade, Taylor has competed in the Ironman, the Beast of the East, twice in the freestyle nationals and twice in the Greco Nationals in Fargo, and of course in three state tournaments.  Simply put, he’s nine for nine.  It’s tough to do much better than that.  In fact, until he lost to an outstanding wrestler three years older (winning one bout against Zach Sanders of the University of Minnesota in their best-of-three series) Taylor had not lost a match to an American with a title on the line since entering the ninth grade. 

You could say that David Taylor has stamped himself as the ultimate big match wrestler time and time again.  At the Ironman, his record has been incredible.  As a freshman, he beat the much larger Boris Novachkov- himself a multiple champion in Fargo at the time- to win his first crown.  Then, he used superb riding to defeat Logan Stieber- in what will surely go down as one of the biggest matches of the decade. This year, he handled the outstanding Jamie Clark 7-1, scoring all three takedowns.  Just once has he been pushed at Fargo in the past two years- when he trailed Mark Rappo- but once again, young Taylor showed that he had icewater in his veins and got the job done, scoring a late takedown and turn for his 5th crown in Fargo.  The only thing stopping him from a possible ten for ten in Fargo was a fluke loss by fall in the Greco-roman Final (he was approaching a technical fall victory when he got headlocked) in the 8th grade.

Of course, there are many wrestlers who have entered the “greatest wrestler in Ohio history” debate- and depending on how the next year plays out, Taylor will likely enter that elite group.  What will be almost beyond debate though, is that Taylor should go down as the most dominant mat wrestler to grace the mat in Ohio.  There are two kind of great mat wrestlers in my view- one, the “leech” that nobody can escape from- (think Chase Skonieczny), and two, the guy who can turn virtually anyone (think Palmer brothers or Logan Stieber).  What makes Taylor so good on top is that he is combines both of these talents.  That puts additional pressure on his opponent from the neutral position- give up an early takedown, and the match may be virtually over as Taylor will likely turn, and certainly wear down, his opponent from the top position.  In any close match, his opponent faces a virtual Hobson’s choice: if you take neutral, you need to win the takedown battle by two as he will get his escape, but if you take down, you may lose the entire period (and likely a lot of points) getting worn down in his leg rides.

While most great wrestlers have one or two “go-to” moves that they can hit on anyone, Taylor has an arsenal as vast as any competitor I’ve seen- a virtual encyclopedia of wrestling who can make the most obscure move look routine.  Without question, since he has entered the high school ranks he has been one of a handful of wrestlers whose match you don’t miss.

But despite his often unconventional style, Taylor has been unbelievably consistent in his domination of all but the very best.  Wrestling Graham’s incredibly tough schedule, in the past two seasons, only Logan Stieber, Jamie Clark, Cam Tessari (who lost, 12-2) and Cody Neff ( lost 14-1 and got teched in their other meeting) have gone the full six minutes.  

Among the wrestlers who failed to go the full six minutes with Taylor have been:

Shane Gentry: State champ from Virginia ranked as high as #8 in the nation.
Jerome Robinson: State 3rd in 2007 and nationally ranked that season.
James Inghram: State 3rd and 2nd (has suffered five technical fall losses to Taylor)
Nathan Westfall: 3x state placewinner
Jacob Strasbaugh: State 4th place finisher
Alex Minnard: State 5th and 3rd

(above): David Taylor recorded a major decision here againt the excellent Cam Tessari. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

In short, with the exception of the 14-1 win against Neff, the Graham junior has pinned or technical falled every non-nationally ranked opponent he has faced, and a few nationally ranked ones as well.  This record of dominance, in my view, is unsurpassed by any competitor.  What’s really intriguing about Taylor’s career is that he has achieved his record of dominance without the early physical maturity that accompanies most who achieve much early in their career.  As he adds strength in the years to come, there is no telling how good he may become- but I can honestly say that it would surprise me to not see Taylor win an NCAA Title before his career his finished.

Ohio Wrestling Site had the opportunity recently to speak to David Taylor about his career thus far and future plans.  Throughout the interview, Taylor’s passion and enthusiasm for the sport was unmistakable:

Ohio Wrestling Site: David, so far you have won three state titles, three Ironman titles, and five titles in Fargo.  You have made a junior world team as well.  Is there a single achievement, or match that you look at the most proudly?

David Taylor: As far as tournaments, probably Ironman my freshman  year, everyone said I was too small to compete and not strong enough.  

OWS: How much did you weigh at the time?
David Taylor: I weighed about 100 lbs.

OWS: Of course your opponents weighed about 110 by match time.
David Taylor: Yeah, probably so.

OWS: I’ll cut to the chase- It’s safe to say that the big question that everyone has is- have you narrowed down your college choice yet?

David Taylor: Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State.  From those three, it’s going to be a really tough decision.  I don’t know how I’m going to make the decision out of those three.

OWS:  Well those are certainly three great options.  Does the decision of Logan Stieber to attend OSU make you more or less likely to attend school there yourself?

David Taylor: I don’t know if it does, it wouldn’t make me decide one way or the other. That’s one of the reasons it’s been tough competing against him, we are good friends.  It could make a little bit of difference for sure, but wouldn’t be the deciding factor.  It’s always nice to go to a college, to wrestle with guys you know and are friends with. There was a time, before I moved to Ohio, that he came out and stayed with me in Wyoming. 

OWS: So you the two of you have trained together quite a bit?
David Taylor: Yeah, a lot when we were younger.  Not as much now, but we still do train- we go to the same camps a couple times a year and so forth.

OWS: Speaking of Stieber, of course you are the only person to be able to defeat him thus far in his high school career, and he has yet to lose at freestyle- which pretty much means that you are the only person to defeat him in quite a few years.  What was the key to victory for you in that match?

David Taylor: (Pause, and then nervous laugh) Oh man, ummm….I don’t know, that’s a really tough question I guess. I just wrestled a good match I guess. Oh man, I don’t know…. (pauses again).

OWS: No problem, it’s fine if you want to take a “pass” on that question!  Moving on, who did you think has had the biggest influence in the success that you have had so far in your wrestling career?

David Taylor: I’d have to say, that my parents have had a lot to do with it.  They are the ones who have made the sacrifices, they moved out here from Wyoming.  They’re really supportive.  Also, my first coach, back in Evanston, Wyoming, Mike Lonsway, for some reason he saw something in me when I was younger, and really worked with me.

OWS: When you were in grade school your family moved from Wyoming to St. Paris.  Was wrestling for Graham and Coach Jordan a part of that decision?

David Taylor: Yeah, well my dad is an airline pilot and got transferred to Cincinnati for work.  I’d been coming to Coach Jordan’s camps prior to that.  We talked about it, and we thought it was a good fit and would be pretty neat to wrestle for coach Jordan and to win a national title at Graham High School.  Thankfully, we were finally able to do that last year.

OWS: Speaking of Graham, any idea how we see their lineup shaking out next year?
David Taylor: Very tough to say right now, a lot of guys are really growing, honestly I couldn’t even guess right now.

OWS: Fair enough.  What weight can we expect to see you at for Graham next year?
David Taylor: (Pauses) I have no idea, I’m one of those people who are growing myself.  Anywhere from 125 to 135.  

OWS: 119 is not even a possibility?
David Taylor: No way I’m making that weight (OWS Note: Inghram, Neff, Strasbaugh, Minnard, and Westfall, read here).  I’m probably about 132 to 133 right now.  All the colleges I’m looking at right now are recruiting me for 149-165.

OWS: Wow, that is quite different than what many fans of the sport would have guessed.  What weight can we expect you to be competing at in Fargo this year? 
David Taylor: You know, it just depends on how much I grow.  I’ve already put on 8-10 lbs. since last month.  119 or 125 probably though.

OWS: With the dominance that you have had in high school wrestling these past two seasons, what aspects of your wrestling do you think you can improve upon?
David Taylor: There’s actually a lot of my wrestling that I want to get better at.  One area that I want to get better at is on my feet, because once I take a guy down I think I can usually turn them.  But there are so many things in wrestling I can improve upon.  I try to be like a sponge. I like to watch videos of the upper-level guys, try to learn from them. You know, part of the thing that goes with growing and the weight gain, right now I feel like a lot of guys have more maturity, so once I start to gain maturity and strength, it will level the playing field and make me that much better.

OWS: And if anything, it’s a benefit to you that you’ve had to develop your technique more because you could not rely on strength.

David Taylor: Exactly, I’ve never been able to wrestle based on strength.  That is something I have never been able to rely on.  Also, I think that wrestling as a lightweight, once I become a middle weight I will still be wrestling like a lighter guy, and that will help me out a lot as I move up.

OWS: I have no doubt about it. David, many feel that you are the best technical wrestler to ever compete in this state, or certainly among the best.  What have you done to build your technique to such an extreme level.

David Taylor:  I think it’s a combination of things.  When I was younger, in Wyoming, I didn’t have the workout partners…my dad would put me through a lot of drilling.  My dad was a pilot, he would go on trips, and watch wrestling, study the technique and we would come back and work on it in the basement.  Finally, we started driving an hour and a half to wrestle in Utah, and I would go and work out with Jason Chamberlain (OWS Note: Ironically, Chamberlain may be the nation’s best senior today and Taylor the nation’s best junior).  About the same time, we kind of ran into Steve Sanderson- that’s how I met Cael (Sanderson).  He was a redshirt freshman at the time- so before he was amazing, pretty much.  And wrestling here, with all the people coming to camps, it gives me amazing opportunities to wrestle a variety of people. 

OWS: You mean working out at Coach Jordan’s Camps?

David Taylor: There are great workout there.  And, I go to the Olympic Training Center about once a month in the off-season.  I get to receive a lot of top coaching there, and I get to wrestle a lot of top guys   Like, for example, I was just out there last week wrestling with Dylan Alton (OWS Note: Pennsylvania High School sophomore who is among the nation’s premier middleweights).

OWS: Speaking of top competition, last year you had the opportunity to compete at the Junior World Championships.  What was that experience like for you?

David Taylor: A lot different actually, than anything I’ve ever experience before.  First of all, we went out a week and a half early to acclimate to the time change.  So many things you don’t think about, for instance, you couldn’t use their ice because you couldn’t trust their water.  And once you get in the tournament, they are wrestling a completely different style than the Americans do.  They are wrestling freestyle year-round, and with the new rules, they have their tactics perfected.  With their style, they slow it down- almost lull you to sleep- and then they explode, and it’s usually for three points.  In freestyle, that’s pretty much the match.  They all have lead management perfected.  Every one of them has a great fireman’s.

OWS: Sounds like a great description of the “international style”.  Looking forward, what goals do you have past high school?

David Taylor: Ultimately, I want to be an Olympic Champion, before that I’d like to be an NCAA Champion.  I think that’s the ultimate in wrestling. You know, you start out at the little kids tournaments, and then you go to the national level. Olympic Champion, that’s the ultimate in wrestling and what everyone works for, and that’s what I want to do.

OWS: David, of course you recently competed at the FILA Junior World Team Trials where you finished 2nd, losing two out of three bouts to Zach Sanders. What can you tell us about your matches with Sanders?

David Taylor: You know, it was kind of frustrating  I was actually winning every period that I lost.  The scores look worse than the match actually was.  It’s that kind of that thing that I was saying the international wrestlers have perfected, the lead management stuff.  I kept attacking with the lead because that’s how I’m used to wrestling, but you almost have to wrestle defensive when you get the lead in freestyle now.  What would happen is I’d be up 1-0, and there would be like 30 seconds left and Sanders would get in on a shot, so if he gets the takedown it’s a tied match and he wins on last point scored criteria, so I would battle and flurry not to give up the tying takedown and end up giving up a two or three-point exposure in the process.

One of the problems was, I’m pretty good on top, but part of his game plan was to beat on my head and wear me down and he was able to do that, so when I did get the takedown, I was too wore out to work on a turn……and I think a little bit of a factor was- though I don’t want to make excuses- he got to sit out until the finals, so his third match of the day, that was my fifth match of the day.  It was frustrating for me because I’m a competitor. 

OWS: No question about that!  Final question, if you had to give a single piece of advice to young wrestlers who want to achieve what you have, what would it be?

David Taylor: Never think you know too much.  There’s always something for you to learn.  Don’t ever think that you’re good enough, because there is always somebody better, and you should always be training to beat that better guy.

OWS: David- Great interview, thanks for taking the time and good luck in Fargo and next season.
David Taylor: Thank you.

(above): Taylor won here, in the Ironman Finals, 7-1 over archrival Jamie Clark. Photo Credit: Bob Tuneberg, Villager News

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