When Roger Taylor walked into the halls of CHS as a freshman, he appeared quite a bit different than he does now. He was smaller, heftier and did not look much like an athlete.

But, with hard work and dedication, Taylor, now a senior, has grown into an athletic specimen on pace to receive ten varsity letters.

Doug Verby, the head wrestling coach, feels that the growth Taylor has shown both mentally and physically is outstanding, and can set an example for younger students on putting in effort.

“He was just kind of a rollie pollie kid with a lot of baby fat, and he grew and he worked hard,” Verby said. “Basically you can take away his commitment to get in shape. You never know what your body is going to do in terms of growth.”

Taylor has wrestled for the varsity squad all four of his years at CHS, but was forced to fill in for heavier weight classes his first three years. As an underclassman, Taylor was often paired against more experienced wrestlers and, as a result, did not win many matches.

However, his junior year, his skills started to come together, and he began to beat tougher opponents.

“I feel a lot more pride in last year [than other years] because I was wrestling up weight and I won a lot of matches that I probably shouldn’t have,” Taylor said.

Taylor ended up winning over 30 matches his junior year, and barely missed qualifying for state.

Now, as a senior, Taylor has had a standout season, but was forced to sit out a month with an ankle sprain, preventing him from wrestling in most of the district tournament.

Aside from growing physically, Taylor has also emerged as a team leader, and was named co-captain of the wrestling team with fellow senior MJ Milbourn.

“As a freshman I did not expect him to be a captain, let alone a senior leader,” Verby said. “He has really shown a good knack for telling the younger guys ‘Hey, stick with it. Keep pushing,’ telling a lot of his stories about how he didn’t have a lot of success his freshman and sophomore years.”

Sophomore wrestling standout Jacques Painter agrees that Taylor has been a strong captain, and considers him one of the strongest leaders on the squad.

“He has played a great role as a leader of our team,” Painter said.

Verby feels that Taylor’s story is one that others can follow, and that the sport of wrestling has helped him along his way.

“I think Roger’s story shows you how far someone can come in four years with dedication and the toughness and the guts to go out for wrestling. It shows what wrestling can do,” Verby said. “It’s not completely responsible for it, but I think Roger is a perfect story of how wrestling has helped him come in as a boy and leave as a young man.”

Taylor agreed that wrestling has made him tougher, and strongly encourages students to engage in extracurricular activities.

“Clayton is such a great place,” Taylor said. “If you can be a part of any club or anything herem … try and take part in it because it is really something special.”