4-time state champ helping to create new champions at Colony High

PALMER — It’s been nearly 10 years since Hollan Gravley helped the Colony Knights wrestling program make school history.

Gravley, the most decorated athlete to ever don a Knights singlet, led Colony to its first state championship in wrestling as a senior in 2007. He also won his fourth individual state title in 2007, becoming the first Colony wrestler and just the sixth in state history to accomplish the four-peat. And Gravley was also named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the state tournament as a senior.

Gravley posted a record of 154-9 with 85 pins in four years. He added fourth Northern Lights Conference titles to his four state championships.

Not too bad for a career.

A few months later, Gravley, who continued his wrestling career at Division II Western State in Colorado, became the first Colony High athlete to be named a high school All-American in wrestling.

As Gravley approaches the 10-year anniversary of his greatest accomplishments as a high school athlete, the 2007 graduate of Colony High School is most focused on the present, and his current work as an assistant coach for the Colony wrestling squad.

How much does Gravley reflect on the past?

“Not too often,” Gravley said earlier this week.

Gravley — who won individual state titles at 112 pounds, 125, 120 and 135 as a senior — was more eager to talk about the team title.

“My senior year, that was the first time we won,” Gravley said.

But that humility is part of what makes Gravley special, Colony head wrestling coach Todd Hopkins said.

“It’s not something he brags about,” Hopkins said of Gravley and his achievements.

But along with his accomplishments, Hopkins said, Gravley brings a lot of credibility.

“I guess the big thing is, he’s been there and done that,” Hopkins said. “He has credibility. He’s won it four times. He was a Division II top recruit and wrestled all four years.”

Hopkins said there are a number of reasons why Gravley is thriving as a coach.

“He has a higher level of technique. The bigger things are the intangibles, the attitude,” Hopkins said of Gravley.

Among what stands out the most, Hopkins said, is what Gravley brings to the mental side of the sport.

“A lot of strategy, thinking about things, other ways to utilize physical strengths,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins said, as an athlete, Hopkins was good at realizing what his strengths were in relation to opponents being able to capitalize. He’s now using these mental strengths to help guide the current crop of Colony wrestlers.

Gravley said he didn’t really think about a future in coaching while he was still in high school, but began to consider a different role on the mat while studying at Western State in Colorado.

“In college I helped at wrestling camps and enjoyed it. In one of the years in college when I was hurt, I was rehabbing. I couldn’t really totally compete, but could still help people on the mat,” Gravley said.

Hopkins said Gravley and his assistants are a big reason why the program and its wrestlers are having such great success.

“I definitely rely on him and our other assistants to do a lot of the work. They’re definitely a big part of our success,” Hopkins said.

Gravley has experience as high school head coach. He spent two years at Cordova in between his first stint and his current stretch as an assistant with the Knights. But Gravley said he’s happy in his current position in the Knights wrestling program. Hopkins said Gravley’s role will expand in the future. Gravley will serve as the head coach of the Colony Middle School program, Hopkins said.

“We want to get him more involved with the entire program, not just the high school level,” Hopkins said.

Gravley said he started his own wrestling career in the second grade with the Mid Valley program. He didn’t see immediate success, but it didn’t take him long to become hooked on the sport.

“I liked it right away. I was able to handle all the energy I had as a little guy. It’s something I could do without getting into trouble,” Gravley said.

It’s family that brought Gravley to the mat. His father, Ed, is a former wrestler and coach, and is still very active in the sport in Alaska. Gravley’s older brother, Hunter, also wrestled at Colony.

And it’s the people that keep Gravley involved in the sport, he said.

“A lot of the people involved, they’re now my good friends now,” Gravley said. “It’s good to be back in a program that helped me out in life.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.