It may have only taken six minutes on a wrestling mat outside of Albany, New York, for Brandon Daniels to cement himself among the best wrestlers in Gateway Regional history, but the buildup to that moment was years in the making.
The junior reached the 100-win plateau in the third-place match at 113 pounds in the Joe McCabe Invitational, Jan. 14 at Maple Hill High School in Castleton-On-Hudson, New York. Daniels beat David Austin (Whitehall-Fort Ann) 5-0 for the milestone.
“Any kid that gets a hundred wins in their junior year is working pretty hard,” said Gateway wrestling coach Michael Forand. “Brandon works his tail off, always the first one to start and the last one to finish. This year has been tough since we have a lot of young wrestlers, but he has been taking on that leadership role and trying to show the guys some moves.”
Daniels has been improving every year. In his freshman and sophomore year he qualified for states, and in his sophomore season he finished as the runner-up at 106 pounds in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament.
But when he first stepped on the varsity mat as a seventh-grader, the road to success looked bleak and narrow. He had to spar with wrestlers who were sometimes five years older, which was not an easy task. Forand believes that experience helped grow Daniels into the wrestler he is today.
“When he was coming up a few years ago he had a couple really tough kids that he could always rely on and fight with,” said Forand. “Being the little guy he was, he was always taking a little bit of a beating, but it has made him better and made him stronger.”
There is a banner on the gym wall at Gateway that lists the names of wrestlers who hit the 100-win milestone. Not only is Daniels proud to be one of those people, but he is also proud to have his name alongside his mentor — Andrew Hawley.
Hawley coached Daniels the first two years at Gateway. Daniels said that Forand has without a doubt helped him develop his style, but Hawley was the one who helped lay the groundwork for the type of wrestler he would become.
“From day one it was always one of my goals to get a hundred wins and get my name up on the banner with my mentor,” said Daniels. “He helped me learn the basics of wrestling, like what a ‘takedown’ was. When I came in he was one of the people that taught me the basics.”
Daniels said Forand helped him build on that foundation.
“He has taught me a lot of the more complex moves and how to read my opponent during a match,” said Daniels. “He has helped me figure out during a match the style of wrestling that best suits a matchup as well, whether it be aggressive or passive.”