Miller wins title at national tournament

ROYAL CITY — Darrin Miller, who has dedicated his senior year at Royal High School to his future in wrestling, swept through a field of 64 to win the 170-pound division of a Las Vegas national tournament known as the Freak Show Saturday night.

“What a crazy weekend,” said Royal High coach Randy Miller, Darrin’s father. “This tournament was huge. There were about 3,000 kids.”

Before accompanying his son to Las Vegas, Randy said the freak show would be Darrin’s first true test nationally. He trained five days a week for more than a month; running, lifting, wrestling.

All the work paid with a clean run to the title. There were some tough matches and some not so tough. And there were countless college coaches looking over the talent.

“It was an awesome experience,” Darrin said. “There were wrestlers from all over the country. I wrestled kids from California and Arizona.”

Randy noted there are a dozen colleges that have Darrin on their radar. Randy talked with coaches from Colorado State and Fresno State at Las Vegas.

One of the colleges that was interested in Darrin before the Las Vegas meet was North Idaho College. Darrin went to NIC practices to work out with college wrestlers as part of his training.

“There were some late nights and long weekends; we put the miles on the car,” Randy said.

At Las Vegas, Darrin jumped right into the fire, taking on Jordan Taylor of West Lake High School of Saratoga Springs, Utah, a runner-up at state. Darrin won the grueling test, 3-0.

Darrin’s next match was against Christian Sosa of La Sierra High School in Riverside, Calif. He pinned in 1:49.

Eric Ponce of the Top Dog Wrestling Club of Bakersfield, Calif. was next. He put up a bigger battle, but Darrin took him out in 3:48.

That put Darrin in a quarterfinal against James Plante of Meza, Ariz. He won that match with a 49-second pin.

The semifinal match was against Tanner Shields, a Utah state champ from Delta, Utah. Darrin scored a 54-second pin.

Darrin’s final match was like the first. It was tough, against a fifth place state finisher from Thornton, Colo. Darrin won the match, 3-0, and the crown.

Darrin’s long-stated overall goal is to become a college All-American wrestler. His immediate goal is to win the Washington class A title at 170 next spring. He has placed his freshman, sophomore and junior years.