Deyuan Trueblood clearly remembers the time when he had braces and would rather “sit in the corner and read a book” than get on a wrestling mat.
Though he’s in Gateway’s International Baccalaureate program and keeps his Grade Point Average near 4.0, the only thing even remotely “nerdy” about the Olys’ sophomore wrestling star is the signature argyle socks he’s worn for every single match since middle school.
Trueblood’s blossomed this season on the mat, as he’s 23-1 after winning the championship and Most Valuable Wrestler at the Alamosa Invitational on Jan. 18 and On The Mat has him ranked No. 4 in the Class 5A 160-pound weight class in its most recent ratings.
But he’s not far removed from a time when competing in a sport as mentally and physically demanding as wrestling seemed a world away.
“In elementary school, I was the nerdy kid, the wimpy guy who sat in the corner and read books,” Trueblood said during a recent Gateway wrestling practice as he prepared for his toughest tournament to date, the Jan. 25 Northglenn Norse Invitational.
“I think I’ve gained athleticism from wrestling; it gets you into such a tough mindset,” he continued. “You really have to familiarize yourself with uncomfortableness and with sacrifice.
“Now that I know I can do wrestling, I can do anything.”
Trueblood didn’t start out loving wrestling, as he only did it primarily to just roll around with his younger brother who was getting into the sport. As he spent more and more time on the mat, wrestling finally got a hold on him.
“I used to hate going to practice, but I think that was more of a childish mentality because I didn’t like to work too hard,” Trueblood said. “It’s not fun when you’re not good and losing all the time, but when I actually started putting in more work and putting myself into it, that’s when it really started growing on me.”
Wrestling has fully engulfed Trueblood, who is always looking to train or work out in some way, even at odd hours of the night. He rarely heeds the encouragement of his mother to take a break.
When he’s not at practice, Trueblood’s lifting weights — sometimes disturbing his mom’s plans to peacefully read a book — heading out for a run, watching film of himself or other wrestlers and honing his technique at the RiNo gym in Denver.
“He does it because he wants to; I keep telling him ‘rest today,’ but he’s like ‘I’ve gotta go, I’ve gotta go,’” said his mother, Rachel Willis-Trueblood. “He said I’m tired of coming in second and third.”
Trueblood’s fire was stoked last season, when he was one of very few freshmen to reach the medal podium during the 5A state wrestling tournament the Pepsi Center — as he took sixth at 145 pounds — but took it as more of a disappointment than an accomplishment.
Gateway coach Steve Burns is constantly surprised by his sophomore and sees big things ahead come the end of the season.
“Trueblood’s a freak. He’s crazy. I’ve never had a kid like him before, he’s just so focused and goal-oriented; all he sees are goals,” Burns said at the start of the season.
“I’ve had kids in the past who think they know more than I do or what is best, but Deyaun is just a sponge,” he added. “Anything you throw at him, he just sucks it up. He’s always prepared and he looks really strong, so I’m hoping he’s the next state champion for Aurora.”
Trueblood started the season ranked No. 6 at 160 pounds, but has worked himself up a couple of spots with just one loss, which came in overtime on a referee’s call that Burns disputed.
Returning state champion Grant Neal of Regis Jesuit — who is undefeated and ranked No. 1 at 220 pounds — and Eaglecrest’s Trevon Beauford (ranked No. 3 at 182 pounds) are the only two Aurora wrestlers ranked higher than Trueblood, who has company at No. 4 in Cherokee Trail’s Danny Constant (No. 4 at 106) and Smoky Hill’s Dexter Bess (No. 4 at 220).
Burns plans to have Trueblood get enough certified weigh-ins at 152 pounds as well as 160 pounds so he can choose the best place for him to wrestle when regionals and state arrive.
For the Northglenn Invitational on Jan. 25, that means 160 pounds, where Trueblood could face Pueblo County’s Keenan Willits — who is ranked No. 2 in 4A — and hopefully top-ranked Jacob Trujillo of Grand Junction, who beat Trueblood in the semifinals of state last season.
“I’ll wrestle wherever they put me,” Trueblood said.
With a wrestler as talented as Trueblood — a rarity in the Gateway program — Burns has to adapt in order to sharpen him. In practice, that means having Trueblood not only wrestle coaches, but go against teammates of all different sizes, one after another until he’s completely exhausted.
Lifting weights and conditioning with coach Ashour Peera’s Gateway football team has added much more strength to Trueblood, who found himself overpowered on occassion last season by wrestlers two or three years older and more mature.
He still runs into some more powerful opponents — such as Eaglecrest 160-pounder Aldin Puris — but the added strength has been a benefit. On top of that, he has some athletic genes, as his mom was a sprinter on some of Aurora Central’s state championship-winning track teams in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
One thing Trueblood won’t wrestle without is his argyle socks, a tradition that dates back to his time as an eighth-grader at Aurora Hills Middle School.
A teacher asked Trueblood’s whole class to wear the distinctive diamond-patterned socks in hopes it might started a trend.
It caught on with Trueblood, who used the ugly, light blue pair he wore to class during a match and has ever since. He now has two pairs of orange and black socks to wear during his matches with Gateway and a pair to match every one of his singlets.
“I’ll say they are my signature; when you think of Trueblood, you think of the guy with the socks,” he said. “I was at a tournament once and a guy in my bracket said ‘look at that guy with the purple socks.’ He was trying to get in my head. I pinned him and my mom said ‘he got pinned by the guy with the purple argyle socks, how does he feel?’”
If he continues to take care of business and finds the right weight class, Trueblood hopes to take his socks to the top of the medal podium at the state tournament.
“That’s what I really want to do this year, be in the finals at state and get my hand raised; then it’s time to work and get better from there,” he said. “Then maybe I’ll take a week off. Actually, not even a week.”
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
