Mom and Dad must have gotten tired of the little boys always grappling around the house, wreaking havoc, so they signed them up for wrestling.
That urban legend could very well be the root of the surplus of brother tandems in this year’s Class 2A field at the CHSAA state tournament. Buena Vista has four brother tandems as qualifiers at Ball Arena, while Wray, Meeker and Byers are among the other Class 2A schools with at least one set of brothers.
“There’s a lot of smack-talking that goes on, and that carries from the wrestling room back to the living room,” longtime Buena Vista coach Jared Todd said. “(The joke is) that’s probably why they all got into wrestling to begin with so that parents could save some drywall, save some broken end tables, save some busted-up coffee tables.”
The Demons were represented by the Arellano brothers (freshman Teigan at 113 pounds and senior David at 157), the Montoya brothers (freshman Tucker at 120 and junior Colton at 150), the Camp brothers (junior Caleb at 132 and senior Haden at 190) and the Flowers brothers (freshman Abel at 144 and junior Eli at 215).
Caleb Camp, already a two-time state champion, advanced Thursday as did David Arellano, Haden Camp and Eli Flowers. And the Camps aren’t the only brothers still alive together in the Class 2A brackets.
Wray’s Brady Collins (senior at 138 and two-time state champion) and Austin Collins (freshman at 106) also breezed through their opening-round matches. The brothers are a combined 74-0 this season and Brady is a heavy favorite to win his third crown on Saturday night.
Brady, a University of Nebraska-Kearney commit, is soaking in the sublimity of getting to simultaneously play the roles of brother, teammate and mentor to Austin.
“I got two years wrestling with my older brother Tyler, who was a two-time state champ,” Brady Collins said. “That was awesome, and to have my little brother wrestle with me now, it’s adding on to that feeling — it’s pretty incredible. The biggest thing I learned from Tyler is to push each other, set the bar as high as you can, and make the younger brother try to climb that ladder and match you.
“Everything is a competition and we love it. We scrap every single night. It gets chippy in the room because we both want to be better and I push him. But as soon as we step off the mat, we hug each other, and we’re family.”
Byers senior Lain Yapoujian echoed Brady’s sentiment. In fact, Yapoujian wanted to be that driving force in his younger brother’s wrestling so badly that he told Stanford to wait so that he could do it.
To backtrack: Yapoujian, already a two-time state champion, is committed to Stanford. He was mulling skipping his senior season of wrestling to early enroll at the university. But the pull of being at home this season for his younger brother, sophomore 126-pounder Jon Yapoujian, kept him in Colorado.
This weekend, Lain’s a heavy favorite in the 144-pound bracket, and won his opening match via first-period pin. Jon, who took sixth as a freshman, also advanced with a major decision.
“(Jon) was the main reason I came back,” Lain said. “I didn’t just want to leave him in the wind. I wanted to wrestle with my brother again, and prepare him for this very weekend.”
Like the Collins brothers at Wray, the Yapoujians have a storied brotherly wrestling history. The older Yapoujian brothers, Colton and Wyatt, combined for three state championships.
“My older brother Wyatt would pound me every day at practice when I was a freshman and he was a senior,” Lain recalled. “I wasn’t as tough during my freshman year, so it was trial by fire. So this year, I make it a point to prepare (Jon) in the practice room, and take him to the spots he doesn’t want to go, physically and mentally, and get him prepared for matches like this next one (in the quarterfinals), against a two-time state champ that we believe we can knock off.”
The other notable brother tandem to watch in Class 2A is the Meeker combination of senior Connor Blunt (157 pounds) and sophomore Cade Blunt (165), both of whom have been at the top of the rankings all season. Both Blunts won by first-period pin in the opening round Thursday.
“They’ve pushed each other all year,” said Meeker assistant coach and father Kurt Blunt. “Just watching them mature and put in the work together to get to this point has been the most rewarding thing.”
Other Class 2A brothers to keep an eye on in Day 2 of the tournament are St. Mary’s sophomore Andrew Isek (120 pounds) and senior Anthony Isek (126) and Crowley County freshman Derreck Buford (106) and senior Dillion Buford (138).
And for all these brothers, the watching is usually the tough, nerve-racking part. But the walk from the arena together always serves as a reminder as to why they love the sport.
“Getting to go home and enjoy the wins together is the best part,” Wray’s Austin Collins said. “That, and living life together with (my brother Brady), enjoying the sport of wrestling and the moments like (this weekend) we will talk about forever.”
