John Carroll coach Keith Watson recalls a story in Greek mythology in which a kid is given a baby bull. Every day, the kid picks up the bull. By the time the kid is 16 and the bull is 2,000 pounds, the kid is unimaginably strong.
When Watson thinks about Mathew Miller, his 152-pound wrestler, he thinks about the strength Miller has developed over years of wrestling, the past three in Watson's program at John Carroll.
"We do 100 to 200 sit-ups a day," Watson says. "Matt does those, and he is constantly working to get stronger. He's 17, but he has the strength of a 40-year-old diesel mechanic. Once he has his hands on you, it's hard to get them off."
It's part of the reason Miller has 99 pins among his 140 career wins, a rate of better than 70 percent. Watson says it is a "ridiculous" ratio.
Miller, a junior, won his first Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association title last weekend and will be going for his 100th career pin Friday when the Independent Schools State Championships begin their two-day run at McDonogh.
"I've never heard of anyone else having that percentage of pins," Watson said. "He's a funky wrestler who has really good leverage, flexibility and strength."
Miller also has a good grip on his studies, carrying a 3.8 grade-point average.
Question: How long have you been wrestling?
Answer: Since I was 8 years old. I was supposed to play basketball, but my mom kept forgetting to sign me up. My dad wanted me to be involved in some sport, so they signed me up for wrestling. My dad had no idea what wrestling was, and after a year he asked if I wanted to change [to basketball], but I didn't.
Q: Why not?
A: At the time, I remember liking being able to say: "I did this. I did that." It was all about me. There were no excuses if I lost, and if I won, I did it.
Q: Your coach says one of the things that makes you not only a fine wrestler but also a major asset to the team is that you are not big-headed. ... What happened between the time you were 8 and now?
A: When I first came to high school, I was still "Me, me, me." But then I got close to the other kids on the team. When that happened, I never really wanted to be that guy who was all about himself. I don't even like to talk about my accomplishments.
Q: Are you what wrestling fans call "a funky wrestler"? And what is that?
A: Funky is being unorthodox. A funky wrestler doesn't really go by the basic moves. ... When I was a kid, I'd watch [two-time NCAA champion and 2008 Olympian] Ben Askren wrestle at Missouri. I'd see him on the Internet and on a few television channels. He'd do crazy things people never saw before, and I'd say, "I want to be that guy!"
Q: Do you have some innate sense of when you're about to be grabbed in a match?
A: I can see, like, little twitches. I started to realize that when guys were setting up to take fake shots, I wasn't moving. I started thinking about it in practice one day. ... When guys are really about to make a move, they have little twitches in their muscles. And I said, "Oh!"
Q: Does that help explain how you have come by 99 pins in 140 victories?
A: I think most of the ones I got as a freshman were luck. The other guy would work hard and get gassed. I'd be losing, and then with 50 seconds left I'd toss them to their backs and it was over. Now, I'm strong and have a good grip, and I just toss them as soon as I can.