|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Braumon “Cade” Creighton prides himself on the details.
The Palo Alto High senior has spent most of his wrestling life in the company of the country’s top coaches and players, including his father, Braumon, who was a two-time NCAA Division II champion.
Creighton, who will wrestle for Cal Poly, which competes in the Pac-12, in the fall, retains a few goals as he focuses on the journey. He’d like to enjoy his final year at Palo Alto, win a Central Coast Section title and finish on the top of the podium at the state meet.
Currently wrestling at 197 pounds, he hopes to make weight at 180 in time for the CCS tournament. He placed fourth at 145 pounds as a freshman and second at 160 pounds as a sophomore.
Creighton wrestled at 182 over the weekend in Gilroy, where he finished third at Mid Cals, which tends to attract some of the best wrestlers from around the state. He’s currently ranked sixth in the state at 182 by the California Wrestler.
Last season, without a scheduled CIF-sponsored state tournament, he skipped the invitational state meet in favor of the Junior National Duals in Tulsa, where he helped California finish seventh overall.
Since then, Creighton placed first at the World Challenge in Fresno in the Elite High School category, was third at the USA Wrestling Brian Keck Memorial Preseason Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa and won his division at the Webber Lawson tournament in Sunnyvale and the Lou Bronzon Invitational in Brentwood.
“His strength is his will to win,” Palo Alto coach Jonathan Kessler said. “He grew up with wrestling and it’s instilled in him. His dad took him around the nation to see great wrestling. He’s getting ready for the freestyle season and getting battle-tested for college wrestling.”
Traveling the country became one of his favorite things to do.
“My dad is from the Midwest and has a lot of resources,” Creighton said. “I get to do a lot of traveling.”
Usually a quiet guy who goes about his business, Creighton asked Kessler to be one of the team captains this season.
“He’s been more vocal and he still leads by example,” Kessler said. “He does things the right way and he wants to show people how it is done. He maintains his weight and he maintains his grades. He’s our ticket and we’re all behind him.”
With the lockdown in place and few places to go last year, Creighton worked out in his garage, focusing on his body instead of gaining weight.
With his father as his first coach, Creighton acknowledged the partnership had its ups and downs. These days it’s all good.
“My dad started me on the path of wrestling but it wasn’t always easy,” he said. “The dad/coach dynamic was hard to balance. I’ve gained a lot of confidence now and we have a great relationship right now.”
As for his senior season, Creighton wants “to make the most of what we have. The team is not super big but we have some good seniors. Max (Felter, who wrestles at 170) is my drill partner and we’re having fun and doing the best we can.”
As for Cal Poly?
“I’m excited about the next chapter,” he said. “I don’t focus on results. It’s more about the journey. Self-improvement is like a performance thing. It’s an art to me and I want to wrestle as beautifully as I can.”
