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HOLLADAY – There was a lot on the line for the 22 teenagers on Olympus Junior High’s wrestling team on Saturday. Not only were they competing for the Granite School District regional title, but they were also fighting to keep a legacy alive.
That is because for 19 years, under the leadership of Coach Robert Brough, the Olympus Junior High wrestling team has dominated the region and won consecutive titles every year. That winning streak was extended to 20 victories for the Bulldogs on Saturday.
“Well, I guess you didn’t jinx us,” Brough said, referring to a KSL.com story about the team’s road to the district title.
As a team, the Bulldogs ended up with 214 points, placing them well in first place, according to Brough. The next highest team was the Bennion Junior High Bobcats in second place with 145 points.
Individually, Olympus wrestlers also performed impressively. Brough said Bulldog wrestlers took first place in 10 of the 17 wrestling weight classes. Of the remaining seven, Olympus had two wrestlers take second place, two take third place and one take fourth place.
Related:
Olympus Junior High wrestling team looks to clinch 20th consecutive district title
Led by coach Robert Brough, Olympus Junior High's 22 wrestlers will compete on Saturday for the Granite School District title.“It was some of the best wrestling I’ve seen,” Brough said.
As a coach and role model, Brough emphasizes fundamentals over flair. He said he likes to “focus on the basics” and doesn’t “teach like fancy wrestling moves or stuff like that.”
"The win was in typical Brough fashion," said Roger Davies, whose son, Malachi, is on the wrestling squad and took second in his weight class at Saturday's competition. Nothing fancy, "just boys who executed the fundamentals of wrestling."
Davies said he “could not hand-pick a better” mentor than Brough for his son. Brough may be a tough coach, but he “doesn’t beat the kid down” when one of his wrestlers fails, but instead “lifts him up and they try again,” said Davies.
When Davies asked his son what the most memorable thing Brough had done for the team was, Malachi responded, "Last week in practice, coach told us he loves us to the moon and back."
"I just know he loves them," Davies said of Brough and his wrestlers.
Wrestling enrollment at Olympus, and throughout the district, is “getting fewer and fewer,” Brough said, “which is kind of sad.” While the team has had 40-50 seventh- through ninth-graders at points in time, there are less than two dozen students on the team this year.
Wrestling changes the lives of students for the better, Brough said, and can change coaches’ lives for the better, too.
“I am very proud of the Bulldogs,” Brough said after winning the 2017-18 district title.
Now that the celebration is over, it is back to work for Brough and the Bulldogs.
