Dec. 11, 2003: Provo Daily Herald

Timpanogos Wrestler Has 171-Pound Division by the Tail
by Brian Hassler

Randy Callicoat isn't afraid of anything.

Snakes aren't a problem for the Timpanogos High wrestler. Heights are a piece of cake and he's even come face to face with a mountain lion.

Not that staring down a mountain lion is Callicoat's greatest moment. He has plenty of them already. The Timpanogos senior won the 2002 state wrestling championship in the 171-pound weight class, has competed in tournaments around the nation and is preparing to travel to Delaware to face the top wrestlers in the country.

But staring down a mountain lion would still have to rank right up there.

"I touched a mountain lion's tail in a tree," Callicoat said. "My dad has hounds, so we run dogs. The dogs chased the lion up into a tree and the tree was so low. The dogs were barking and the lion wasn't focused on me, it was looking at the dogs, and its tail was hanging, and the dogs couldn't get to it.

"For some reason, I just reached up and touched its tail. It jumped up and scared me. It was a pretty big, average-sized cat. I've been around them forever and watched my dad's friends get close. They're not going to eat you, they're more afraid of you than you are of them. They'll just sit up there and they'll fall asleep in the tree. You can just watch them and take pictures of them."

Mountain lions aren't the only ones that have been the center of a well-timed joke. Callicoat's teammates have felt similar tugs on the tail.

"Last year at Reno, me and Chase (Walker) and Cheney (Haight) were done with the tournament and we went to eat," Callicoat said. "Cheney gets up to grab something, and they had mustard on the table. He hates mustard. When he leaves, I take his straw, dip it in the mustard, wipe the outside off, and stick it back in his drink.

"He comes back and is asking us what we did, and his straw is floating because it can't get any liquid in there. He finally takes a drink of it and just spits it out all over the table. We were laughing so hard that we couldn't even eat after that, mainly because he spit on everything."

Now that Haight has graduated, the role of head jokester and team leader has fallen to Callicoat. It's a role that fits Callicoat just fine. Aside from the jokes, Callicoat can usually be found staying after practice helping any wrestler that needs additional practice or pointers.

"He's really good with other people," said his father, also named Randy. "He's in there working with Josh Smith, and Josh wanted to learn. Randy's the type of person if you ask him, he'll help you. I like that. I wanted to raise my son and see him help other people."

For now, Callicoat is preparing for a season of matches against local teams and a trip to the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware. It will be a good opportunity for Callicoat to showcase the skills that have already made Ivy League schools take notice, and should give Callicoat a chance to impress Arizona State and Boise State, both schools he's interested in attending, which will be competing in the college portion of the tournament.

If a mountain lion isn't going to make Callicoat sweat, then a tournament with the beasts of the east should be no problem. His roommates on the trip should be concerned, because he takes the role of head jokester as seriously as the job of being the team leader.