Greenbrier senior on verge of 4-for-4

The circle of four-time state wrestling champions is small. In 13 years as a sanctioned sport, just seven wrestlers have claimed individual titles in each of their high school seasons.

Before he even took to the mat as a freshman at Little Rock Christian, Caleb Winston knew he wanted to join that elite group.

Then, he lost.

"I was slacking a little bit going into that season," Winston said, recalling the third-round pin in his high school debut. "The second I lost that first match, I decided I was never going to let that happen again. ... That first loss was eye-opening, but it helped me a lot because I ran into even tougher competition later on."

If it was tougher, Winston's results didn't show it. He won all of his 38 final matches that season, capturing the crown at 126 pounds.

Winston then returned the following season at 132 pounds and ran through the competition again, winning his second title with a 56-4 mark at Greenbrier.

Even after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his L5 vertebrae that spring -- one that kept Winston in a back brace for more than half a year and caused him to drop weight -- he rediscovered his form late last year. He finished his junior campaign 37-6 and won again at 126 pounds.

That goal Winston set as an 8-year-old, just beginning his time at Arkansas Wrestling Academy, is now mere minutes away.

Winston, along with Bentonville's Jake Adams, is two wins from collecting his fourth individual state title today at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Jack Stephens Center. The Greenbrier senior advanced to the Class 5A 132-pound semifinals of the state wrestling tournament after a first-round forfeit and a comfortable 62-second fall against Jonesboro's Joshua Williams in the quarterfinals.

Pat Smith, Winston's personal coach and the director of the Arkansas Wrestling Academy, is plenty familiar with four-time champs.

In fact, he's coached each one of them.

The first, Cabot's Tyler Kurtz, came back in 2013, and the others have since followed. Last year, Maumelle's Dregen Smith joined the club -- one that also includes current Arkansas State quarterback Layne Hatcher.

Much of what Smith saw in each of those competitors are traits he recognized in Winston from an early age.

"A lot of [being a great wrestler] is being able to know how to scramble on their own and having high mat awareness," Smith said. "There's about half of that you can't teach. You just have to have it ... and that's what [Caleb] has."

Those skills have carried Winston this far, and each year along the journey, the mission has been the same: Come home with a state title.

But there are many more two-time and three-time champs. Winston is fully aware of the rare air he's hoping to join.

It's why his approach this season has been all the more heightened.

"Everything I've done has been to get that fourth one because it's so close and I can't afford to slip up at all," Winston said. "It's been on my mind a lot. Almost every single time I'm at practice I'm thinking, 'What do I need to do to win here?' But I've also tried to make myself realize that I'm the three-timer and I'm in a situation that everyone else wants to be in.

Being in that position, plenty of chatter comes Winston's way.

"A lot of times it'll come from people who have no chance of wrestling me, which is the funny part -- they'll be in a different weight class or magically in one class below me," Winston said. "The one good thing about being on top is the satisfaction of beating someone who is trash-talking me."

For his final go-round, Winston has taken on extra responsibility. Greenbrier Coach Reid Cone has leaned heavily on his senior standout for guidance in his first year as head coach after serving as an assistant in 2019-20.

Although he doesn't take much credit for Winston's development, Cone has worked with Winston to hone his strengths and parlay them into success -- both for Winston as an individual and the Panthers as a team.

Greenbrier has placed fifth in Class 5A the past two years, and it will be right in contention for a top-five finish again today.

"Caleb is definitely pretty strong-willed," Cone said. "If he sees something that's right, he's going to go ahead with it and I commend him for that. I think that makes a good wrestler -- some of the more hard-headed individuals in a sport like this are what you want."

Winston said he's always loved teaching the sport, and as Cone explained, the rest of the Panthers have been more than willing to take advice from their teammate.

It's balancing being both a friend and a mentor, all while staying focused on his own mission.

And Smith is excited to have been a part of the journey from start to finish.

"This is a goal for any high-school wrestler, to be a four-time state champ," Smith said. "I'm happy he's accomplished three state titles already and he's on the brink of four, and if he goes out and wins, I'll just be proud of him.

"For anyone at my club, they know it's about working hard and setting goals and setting your goals high. And when they achieve them, that's when I feel a lot of satisfaction."