Tenoroc's Darian Gillins chooses wrestling early, prepares for state

A change in direction early in Darian Gillins' career sparked him to be the most productive wrestler in Polk County over the past two years. And now the Tenoroc High School wrestler is gearing up for the 2023 IBT Wrestling State Championships slated for Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee.

Gillins (220, 56-1) won his second regional championship by defeating Crystal River’s Tim Gray in a 7-4 tiebreaker last Saturday at Palm Bay High School in Melbourne. With a whopping record of 56-1, for the second straight year, Gillins is leading the county in wins. He also is the career leader in wins with 174.

Additionally, Gillins is the only two-time regional champion in school history. And he has been ranked No. 1 in Florida as a 220-pounder the entire season.

“It feels really good to be a two-time regional champion, going to state my third year. But this time, (I’ll) hopefully go to states to win it all,” Gillins said.

The decision that changed Gillins' life

Gillins didn’t have this wrestling mentality four years ago. Raised in a family comprising siblings who playing football and basketball at a high level, Gillins grew up playing football and basketball as well.

In fact, current head coach Anthony Cerullo was the head coach when Gillins played on the junior varsity team as a fullback and defensive lineman four years ago.

On a Monday following a Thursday night football game in which Tenoroc lost, Cerullo suggested to Gillins to compete in wrestling.

“My thought process was, ‘Wrestling, wow, I never tried it' … or attempted to try it until he came along to me and brought it up to me,” Gillins said.

And from there, Gillins competed in wrestling. One of the first experiences Gillins had as a wrestler was when he tried the sport for the first time in the wrestling room. The multisport athlete showcased his abilities, overpowering his competition.

Cerullo was impressed, as he witnessed Gillins overpower his competition right from the get-go.

“He said he saw something in me that nobody else seen, and he was like … ‘I got a feeling you are going to be great at this sport,'” Gillins said.

Gillins didn’t hit the ground running record-wise though; as a freshman, he posted a record of 36-37.

Shifting his focus to being the best wrestler he can be despite eventually playing football all four years in high school, Gillins attended a Florida USA wrestling camp comprising many Division I wrestling coaches to augment his talents.

By the time his sophomore year rolled around, Gillins exhibited the knowledge he gleaned from some of the best high school wrestling coaches in the nation.

“I started taking down people within seconds, knowing how to take down people — knowing how to defend shots (and) knowing how to wrestle (well),” Gillins said.

This camp ― along with many other high-competitive camps as well as having the opportunity to train with Division I wrestlers at such an early age ― assisted Gillins in incrementally developing as a wrestler. Gillins had the chance to wrestle with Florida Gulf Coast University national champion Jabari Irons amid this process. Other accomplishments his sophomore year include qualifying for state and winning a match in the consolation bracket.

“The tip he (Irons) gave me was, ‘Keep your mind focused, and don’t let anybody hop in the way of (your goal),'” Gillins said.

He took that advice to heart heading into his junior year.

Traveling well over 8,000 miles to seek the level of competition Gillins wanted to become, Gillins attended even more wrestling camps with Cerullo, including going to Atlanta, Miami three times, Jacksonville, North and South Carolina and Orlando. At first, he wrestled talented student-athletes, but Gillins was still leaps and bounds better than that competition. So Cerullo took him to camps with wrestlers who were better than Gillins, including the Christmas Knockout Tournament, which includes some of the best wrestlers in the nation. Gillins lost these matches, but in these moments, he learned how to be a better wrestler.

This process seemingly worked, as in Gillins’ junior year he won a regional championship and placed third in state.

This past summer, the regional champion competed in USA Wrestling in Fargo, North Dakota, where he, again, wrestled some top-notch wrestlers from around the nation, exposing him to moves that would eventually bolster his wrestling skill set.

More:Lake Gibson, Auburndale wrestlers win regional championships; Braves win title

Cerullo taking Gillins to these seminal camps was instrumental in the maturation process. But the senior also attributes Lake Gibson Hall of Fame head wrestling coach Danny Walker for his growth, as Gillins traveled with Walker and the Braves to summer camps, while also attending some open high school practices.

“He’ll (Walker) tell me how to do, how not to do it, and stuff like that,” Gillins said. “If I hit my low single, and my head’s down, he’ll tell me … to keep my head up and stuff.”

All the family support and coaches have helped Gillins become a three-time district champion, a two-time regional champion, a three-time state qualifier, a freestyle-Greco champion, and a county champion, among other accolades.

"All of this prepared him to embrace this moment," Cerullo said. "He is ready to go make history."

The No. 1 220-pounder in Florida has a bunch of scholarship offers lined up thanks to the choice he made as a wrestler four years ago.

“If you keep God first, anything is possible,” Gillins said. “For the youth out there that’s trying to do great things and trying to be a wrestler, work with the people that know what they are doing, (and) great things will come.”

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Tenoroc's Darian Gillins chooses wrestling early, prepares for state