August 2005: South Valley Journal

Draper Wrestlers Win National Honors
by Catherine Garrett

To be the best in the nation is an accomplishment at any age.  To be 8 years old and claim that honor after only a year in the sport is downright remarkable.

Eight-year-old Tayler Johnson, son of Mike and Sheila Johnson of Draper, won two national championships in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling at the AAU Grand Nationals held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 13-16.  Tayler competed in the 60 lbs. weight class in the Bantam Division (ages 7-8).

"We expected Tayler to do well, but he had a flawless tournament," said coach Bill Kilpack, of the Mountain Top Wrestling Club in Sandy.

"It feels great to win.  Wrestling is really fun, competing with other people," Tayler said. 

Tayler got started when his parents noticed him wrestling at home and signed him up in 2004.  His father didn't know anything about the sport, so he went with Tayler to practices three times a week and learned right along with him.

Tayler has progressed rapidly to take gold medals in freestyle, folkstyle and Greco-Roman at the 2005 Utah Summer Games.  He also won a state championship in freestyle at the USA Wrestling Utah State Championships in April in Pleasant View, among many other first-place finishes in the last six months of his competitive season.

Tayler's 6-year-old brother, Devin, earned All-American honors at the AAU Grand Nationals as well by placing second in Greco-Roman, third in freestyle, and second in folkstyle.  In that tournament, he won all placements by fall.

"We really looked at this as experience for him ... and what an experience it turned out to be, earning All-American status," Kilpack said.

Devin followed his older brother to wrestling practices, tried the sport and liked it.  He has placed in several tournaments this year statewide and beyond.  Tayler has been known to give Devin some advice in the sport.  "If you don't want to lose, you need to practice harder," his father quotes him saying.

"It's pretty impressive to see what (Tayler and Devin) have accomplished so quickly.  And as long as it's fun for them, they'll keep doing it," Mike Johnson said.

The Johnson boys are also actively involved in football and basketball depending on the season.  "Whatever sport they are doing, they go full force," Mike Johnson said.  And they're excelling in wrestling because of that effort.