Cleveland's Colton Landers Finally Gets State Title

Blue Raider Wrestler Had Finished As State Runner-Up Twice Earlier

  • Thursday, March 2, 2017
  • John Hunt

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The third time was certainly the charm for Cleveland’s Colton Landers.

Landers is an 18-year-old senior who was a four-year starter for the Blue Raider wrestling team.

He had finished as the state runner-up for the past two years, but finally put it all together two weeks ago when he finally claimed his first individual title.

It was a huge win for the son of Bobby and Debi Landers and the younger brother to sister Bradlee as he beat Bradley rival and defending state champ Ryan McElhaney in the championship match.

That was the fourth match between the two this year and they each won twice.  Landers won in the championship match of the Cleveland Duals before McElhaney won the regular-season match and then the regional title by a 9-7 final.

Those two losses to McElhaney were the only two defeats for Landers as he finished the season at 46-2 and his four-year career mark of 146-11.

You’ve heard about guys they call gym rats, those folks who spend every waking minute trying to improve their game.  Landers is like that about wrestling.  Even though the high school season is over, he still goes down and works out with teammates in an effort to help them get better.

And he was doing the same thing the afternoon this interview took place.

“Can you give me one more period?” he asked before wrapping up a match with teammate Cody Mathews.

“Winning a state title was a long time coming.  I lost to Ryan 9-7 in the region finals as I gave up a stupid five-point move in the first period I couldn’t come back from.  I beat him 9-4 in the state finals and all four of his points came from me letting him up,” Landers expressed while taking a quick break from his afternoon workout.

“It was finally a goal I reached I had set for a long time.  Looking back, I could have easily been a three-timer and it kind of made me angry that I wasn’t, but winning was nice,” he recalled.

“I was hoping it would be him in the finals with me as I didn’t want there to be any doubt who was better when the season ended.”

Landers is pretty good at most sports.  He played baseball and football for many years before turning his focus to wrestling only. 

“The thing I like about wrestling is it’s an individual sport where it’s just me and one other person on the mat.  I don’t have to rely on anybody else, so when I get beat, I can’t blame anybody but myself.

“My father has every one of my matches on his computer and I watched them all to see the mistakes I made and to learn what I needed to do to capitalize on my opportunities.  I love the sport and wrestle just about every day with teammates like Austin Sweeney, Caleb Eachus and Cody. 

“They all want to get better and to win a state title too.  That’s what Chris DeBien used to do for me.  We worked out at 6 a.m. every day before he graduated,” he remembered.

Landers was the victor at 132 pounds this year and was a state finalist each of the past three years.  Only his freshman year did he fail to qualify for the final tournament in Franklin.

“I really didn’t have to cut much weight this year, but that was a problem when I was a freshman because I was in the middle of a growth spurt.  I got sick right before the region tournament that year and didn’t qualify.”

Cleveland coach Josh Bosken is just thankful he had guys like Colton Landers on his team.

“I’m just really happy for him as you could tell a true weight had been lifted off his shoulders as soon as that match ended.  Colton’s a perfectionist and wanted to be undefeated.  He never won a region title, but he’s a student of the sport and he just loves wrestling,” Bosken said while talking to other Cleveland coaches about what they can do to be better next year.

“He’s here every day rolling around with the younger guys and he was one of our leaders for sure.  He understands his strengths and doesn’t do anything fancy.  He won more than two-thirds of his matches by pin as he gets bonus points most of the time.  It makes dual meets easy to win when you have guys like him in the lineup.

“Colton has developed a style that works.  He stays in his lane as he’s solid in every aspect of the sport.  He’s been good enough to win a state title every year, but always seemed to run into good kids along the way.  He shows no emotion one way or the other and he’s never dodged anyone.

“He wanted to beat the best to be the best and he had an awesome year,” Bosken concluded.

So what’s next for the talented young man?

“I’m planning to take a few trips to check out some schools, but I’m leaning toward UTC.  Coach Heath Eslinger has done a great job with that program and I’d love to be part of it,” Landers said.

He also has bold plans for the future as he wants to major in Biomedical Engineering with the idea of building prosthetics for a living.

One major area of his life will be ending in a couple of months with graduation, but the future is bright and this young man  will successful, no matter what he chooses to do.

He’s had an outstanding career in prep wrestling and he has plenty of stories to share about his experiences.

And the fact that he finally earned that elusive state championship may be the best of all.

(Contact John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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