POMONA WRESTLER ROBISON EMBRACES BIG STAGE
Junior wrestler close to third straight title in Class 5A
With that celebration, however, Robison was already acting like he owned Colorado high school wrestling, and while that may have rubbed those Pepsi Center boo birds the wrong way in 2016, the junior has embraced the target that’s been on his back ever since.
“He likes the hype, because he’s a bigstage type of kid — and he’s always been on a big stage,” Pomona coach Sam Frederico said. “Plus, he’s as talented as any kid I’ve ever been around, and he’s con- tinued to prove that since he came into high school as a highly touted middle schooler.”
Robison won three middle school state championships, and Friday he put himself within one win of this third Class 5A championship with an 18-9 major decision over Broomfield sophomore Darren Green in the 132-pound semifinals. The junior will wrestle Poudre junior Job Greenwood for the title Saturday night.
The Panthers are gunning for a team three-peat, which Robison believes adds to the everybody-against-Pomona sentiment that’s permeated Colorado wrestling over the past half decade.
“Win or lose, everybody’s going to have their own opinion about you,” Robison said. “But at the end of the day, they’re not the one on the mat and they’re not the ones going through it, every day in the room and outside of it.”
What “it” composed of this winter, and the offseason prior, was a dedication to biomechanics and fast-twitch workouts by Robison to ensure getting every ounce of speed possible out of his 5foot-6 frame.
“I’ve been doing a lot of explosive stuff in the weight room, as well as running with parachutes and hitting the ladder for footwork drills,” Robison said. “That speed and footwork really helps me with my wrestling and with football.”
As the backup running back to Gold Helmet Award winner Max Borghi this past fall, Robison ran for 833 yards and 13 touchdowns for the 5A state champions,
Two years ago, Pomona’s Theorius Robison had just won the state wrestling title as a freshman, and boos rained down upon him. ¶ Maybe the crowd thought he was too cocky with the way he danced around the mat following his victory. ¶ Or maybe the brashness with which he competed that day as a freshman — and has ever since on the mat and football f ield — was why the relationship between fans and the fast-rising talent started on a rocky note.
and he is projected to be the Panthers’ starter in the backfield next season.
The 17-year-old considers wrestling and football as equally important, and has already received some interest from an array of Division I schools to play both but remains focused, for the moment, on the next step in cementing his legacy on the mat.
“It’d be great if I could get a fourth title, because that would make three middle school state titles and four high school ones — so seven in a row,” Robison said. “It would feel like I left a legacy at Pomona — but first, I have to win the match tomorrow night.”
No one has actually beaten Robison this season in a standard manner — at 39-1, his lone loss came by way of disqualification due to an illegal slam in a semifinal match he was winning at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December. But that lone blemish has been a reminder to the junior that anything can happen out on the mat, especially when there will undoubtedly be those in the crowd rooting for the brash but dynamic Big Black wrestler to get knocked off the top.
“There are always going to be doubters and people looking for you to lose,” Robison said. “That gives me something to prove every time I step out there.”