Randleman’s Walker content to pin future on baseball after becoming state wrestling champion

Wrestler Braxton Walker of Randleman had control of the situations in becoming a Class 2-A champion as a senior during the state tournament. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

RANDLEMAN — When Braxton Walker left the mats in late February at the state tournament in Greensboro, he had just put on a dominating performance across three days.

As a Randleman senior, he demolished the state’s best 215-pounders in Class 2A in alarming fashion.

That turned out to be satisfying enough for Walker.

“This is it for me,” he said at the time. “On to bigger things with baseball.”

So he was finished on the mats, picking up 130-some victories in high school. Three of those in this year’s state tournament were technical falls, with the other a 14-2 manhandling of Seaforth’s Ethan Kuball in the championship match.

“My goal was to try to tech fall everybody in the state tournament. I almost got it,” he said. “I definitely kicked into another gear. Obviously, I had a lot of wins in the regular season. I got to the state tournament, had the most confidence I ever had in my life on the mat, and it showed.”

He finally experienced the ultimate thrill at the states, something that perhaps had been brewing.

“Wouldn’t trade nothing to be standing here,” he said at the time. “It has been a long journey. All this time in my life, worked hard seven days a week, two or three times a day. There’s nothing like it.”

Walker established credentials the past few years that made him a state contender. He also took determined and calculated approaches well in advance of his final season.

He said he had been at about 180 pounds as a junior, when he placed fourth in the states at 190. The willingness to go to the 215-pound class required certain preparation.

“I’m going to lift as hard as I can,” he said. “Everybody says I’m pretty tall for my size. You see anybody else my height (at 6-foot-4), they’re usually pretty big. In my mind, I was undersized, so I did everything I can to make sure I was going to be the right size to come here and compete at the highest level. And it worked. It’s not just that. Mindset is a huge thing, too.”

He weighed in at 215.6 pounds on the last day, when there was an allowance for a slight increase.

At the beginning of the season, he suffered an ankle injury in the first tournament. That meant he missed about three weeks of action.

He returned as good as ever.

“It’s always about improvement for me,” Walker said.

Finishing on top

Ever before he obliterated opponents, Walker was hard to miss at First Horizon Coliseum. His flowing blond hair whipping around as the tossed foes to the mat.

That stemmed from an annual rite for baseball’s postseason at Randleman. He has been going blond since he was a freshman.

“I love the way it looks,” he said.

More importantly, he had the right complexion of wrestling moves.

And the mindset was on point as well.

“A quote that I said through my mind for every match: ‘Birds don’t think about flying, they just do it,’ ” Walker said. “This is my last tournament, why not let it fly? Going to give it all I got.”

The motivation came from all angles, even in the form of what Walker considered a lack of respect.

“It appeared that I came in there as an underdog in the rankings, for some reason,” he said. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t count on me, but they know it now.”

On the day of the state finals, there was a baseball presence – Randleman’s team turned out. Walker gave them something to get excited about.

“I didn’t know the whole team was going to be here. I thought a few guys were coming,” he said. “It’s just awesome. … I look up and I just see a wave of orange and blue. They were all up there screaming and yelling.”

Then came the senior baseball season with the Tigers and a late spring and summer as a first baseman and pitcher for Randolph County Post 45 in American Legion baseball. The next stop will be with Division II Wingate’s baseball program.

For Walker, wrestling had been a huge part of his teenage years, complete with a state championship.

“Not just three days, the last six years of my life,” he said at the state tournament. “I’m going to miss it, but now I’ve got to switch to baseball, leave this in the past. Nothing I can change about it now, but I ended it completely the way I wanted to.”

So even with the rousing success, it was fine to let that be the lasting impression.

“Countless hours of work. Late nights, early mornings,” he said. “Doing everything I possibly could to make sure I was going to end up on top. Wrestling, finished on top, want to stay that way.”