Within Eric Grajales' small frame lies a 26-1 record going into today's Class A, District 10 tournament.
By TERRY JONES
Published February 12, 2004
BRANDON - Temple Heights seventh-grader Eric Grajales started wrestling with his brother and cousins on the living room carpet. He still was in diapers.
He started competing at age 4 and won his first of more than 20 national titles for the Brandon Wrestling Club at 5 even while facing competition as old as 8.
Then, the opponents were close to his weight. Not so in high school.
Grajales, 14 and 88 pounds, wrestles seniors as many as 18 pounds heavier in 103-pound bouts. Yet he takes a 26-1 record into today's Class A, District 10 tournament at Robinson.
His dad, former Brandon wrestler Cesar Grajales Sr., has been one of his coaches and most consistent cheerleaders since the living room days.
"Even in national tournaments, Eric has been so far advanced over his opponents. He could even make mistakes and recover to win," his father said. "In his one loss this season, he was winning 4-1 before making a mistake, getting caught underneath his opponent and getting pinned. So after that loss, he has made adjustments and wrestles smarter."
With his skills and quickness, Grajales can move in, score and back away. He can take down the big guys and even roll them over, but he must stay on the move to avoid getting caught on the bottom.
"He uses every inch of leverage he can come up with and every ounce of weight he has to control an opponent," his father said. "He is a courageous little guy who considers himself invincible. That is probably true with equal weight, even against older opponents. But he is still only a 14-year-old child wrestling 17- and 18-year-old young adults."
In many seeding meetings this season, coaches have seeded him low or left him unseeded. That caused the first or second seed to face Grajales in the first round ... and be eliminated early. (But wrestlers are not seeded at the region and state meets. Champions from previous event face fourth-place finishers in the first round at both.)
Most of the coaches in A-10 know Grajales and won't make the same mistake as coaches who simply see a skinny seventh-grader.
"It is going to be tough for him this year," his father said. "I think he will be happy to just finish the tournament on the podium as one of the top six."
