Former state champs building possible future champs

Erick Starkey
Posted 12/15/17

Three former Torrington Trailblazer teammates, who all are state champions, have returned to the sport of wrestling as coaches, with two taking on roles for the Blazers.

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Former state champs building possible future champs

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TORRINGTON – Three former Torrington Trailblazer teammates, who all are state champions, have returned to the sport of wrestling as coaches, with two taking on roles for the Blazers.

Four-time state champion Jared Hatley has returned to the Blazer program as an assistant coach for the high school, while four-time state placer Gerald Wilmoth is the new middle school coach in Torrington. Three-time state placer JoJo Ojeda is the head coach for Cheyenne South High School.

Hatley had the most successful high school career for the Blazers, winning a state title each year. As a freshman, he won the title at 119 pounds, followed by a championship at 135 points as a junior in 2006. In his junior year, Hatley posted an undefeated record, going 41-0 on his way to a state title at 140 pounds. He ended his high school career with a 33-1 record and a championship at 152 pounds in 2008.

Hatley was the 11th wrestler in state history to win a state championship all four years of high school. He was the second Blazer to do it, with Cody Grant completing the feat in 2004. Since Hatley won his fourth title, eight wrestlers have done the same, bringing the total to 19 wrestlers in history to win four state titles.

“It still means a lot to me. It’s something I’m proud of, but there are other things I’m more proud of now,” Hatley said. “At the time, there probably wasn’t anything better to me than being a four-time state champ. That was pretty cool.”

Wilmoth picked up his state championship as a junior in 2007, going 34-8 and winning the championship at 145 pounds. As a senior, he jumped up to 160 pounds, going 31-6 and finishing third. Wilmoth wrestled at 130 pounds his first two years in high school, finishing fourth as a freshman and third as a sophomore.

“You know it’s just you out there. You can’t really depend on other people, you just have to rely on your training,” Wilmoth said. “You’ve got six minutes of battling. If you work hard in practice and dedicate your time, it a lot easier to be out there.”

Ojeda’s title came the same year as Wilmoth’s but he was a senior, posting a 40-2 record and winning the 112-pound championship. He also finished third at 112 pounds in 2006 and second at 103 pounds in 2005.

“Wrestling was my background,” Ojeda said. “It was all about my physical and mental abilities. Just the mental part of it – if you don’t believe in yourself, your taking shots at yourself before you even get out there.”

All three of the Blazers also picked up a team state championship in 2005 when Hatley and Wilmoth were freshmen and Ojeda was a sophomore. Hatley and Wilmoth also helped the Blazers finish second in 2006 and fourth in both 2007 and 2008.

Following his stellar high school career, Hatley wrestled for the University of Wyoming for a year before transferring to the University of Nebraska – Kearney, where he wrestled an additional two seasons. Following college wrestling, he made his way back to the area.

Since coming back to Torrington in 2012, Hatley has taken a back seat in area wrestling until this season.

“(Coaching) has really relit a fire for me that has kind of been burnt out for a few years,” Hatley said. “It’s a whole different experience, but it’s really neat.”

Coaching in the town that he got his start in has not gone past Hatley. He relishes the fact that he is helping coach wrestlers in the same shoes that he was in.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to begin this journey,” Hatley said. “When I got the phone call asking if I was interested in the position, I didn’t feel like I could say no. I truly do feel in debt to this community and this program because they gave me a lot. I was given every opportunity to get better that anybody could ever ask for.”

After Wilmoth graduated from Torrington, he joined the Navy for four years and then he went to Chadron State, where he got his degree in teaching, along with a coaching endorsement. He graduated in the spring and is currently a special education teacher at Torrington Middle School.

“This is like a dream come true for me,” Wilmoth said. “I would have coached anywhere that I could have got a job at… but I want to be in Torrington. I’d do my best anywhere I went, but it’d be tough to go maybe to Wheatland and try to make the Bulldogs beat Torrington.”

Whether it was ingrained into all three coaches when they were high school Blazers, or it is a part of all three of their personalities, they all look for effort on the mat.

“I just want the kids to work hard. I like to motivate them,” Wilmoth said. “We work hard, but I want them to fall in love with the sport. As a middle school coach, that’s my job – getting them to love the sport of wrestling and teaching them the basics.”

“You don’t have to be the most athletic guy to be a successful wrestler, but you have to be willing to put in the extra work,” Hatley said. “You have to be willing to do more than the guy next to you… If you can give me one thing, you can give me 100 percent. I don’t like cutting corners.”

One thing that was instilled into all three coaches during their high school days and even before, is a love for the sport of wrestling.

“It goes to show that if you love the sport and you enjoy it, you will find a way back to it,” Ojeda said of he and two of his teammates returning to wrestling as coaches. “I just want to give back to the kids.”

Hatley and Wilmoth have the added advantage of coaching for the same program. Wilmoth said he is working toward getting his wrestlers prepared for high school and Hatley said Wilmoth and the middle school team is a huge resource.

Hatley and Wilmoth both spent two years under Doyle Meyer, Torrington’s current head coach at the high school level, during their time as wrestlers. Mark Sims was also on the coaching staff during that time span and he remains an assistant coach for the high school Blazers.

“Everybody seems to be on the same page and we all have the same goals in mind,” Hatley said. “It’s been pretty easy to come into this program because there is not a lot of debates about what we want done. Everyone sees the same light at the end of the tunnel.”