Officially a “Most Outstanding Female Wrestler” -- not to mention a 2-time All American and Inside CO Wrestling’s “Wrestler of the Week” -- Eaglecrest’s Blythe Cayko has had the definition of an incredible season.
“When we were in Reno, which is a national tournament, Blythe was voted the ‘Most Outstanding Female Wrestler and so she will be forever the very first outstanding female wrestler to ever be voted for that tournament because this is the first year that women's wrestling is sanctioned. So she'll have that forever,” said girls coach Melissa Myers. Beyond that unique claim to fame, Blythe’s skill is evident in every one of her matches.
“In wrestling, you have three different time periods and so far I haven't made it to anything but the first because I won all my matches in the first,” explained Cayko back in January. This means she is able to pin her opponents in under the two minutes given for the period -- and usually, it actually ends up being under one minute. “Definitely makes all the hard work I put in feel like it's actually paying off,” said Cayko. Her hard work is what serves as the foundation for her success. Much of that work starts with goals.
“I started off the year just trying to carry over a lot of the skills I picked up this summer. And I've been really successful with those skills,” said Cayko.
“A more shallow goal, I guess you could say is I'd like to make it to be 20 and 0 for the sole reason that my freshman year there was a girl, Kristen Kelly. She was 20 and 0, and I remember seeing that on her record and thinking that was just absolutely insane," she explained.
Now, going into the state meet next Saturday, February 19th, Blythe boasts a 28-0 record -- far surpassing her own goal. Having won a multitude of tournaments in her weight class, she is a force to be reckoned with. And this can become a challenging prospect for her coaches.
“With Blythe, she's so good that with one of her matches, I was like, ‘I want you to get better with this match. We already know that this might be an easy win for you. So I want you to try new things. And I want you to score a certain number of points before you pin her’,” said Myers. “So she would take her down and we're like, ‘let her up.’ She lets her up, and she has to do it again. So then she had to work a little bit more and that's what I wanted for her.” Finding new ways to train and challenge a powerhouse like Blythe is not easy simply because she operates at a different level. But neither Blythe nor her coaches are satisfied with stagnancy, so they have to get creative to consistently challenge her like Myers wants to.
“I always say if you're the best person in the room, you're in the wrong room,” said Myers.
She explains how they go about working with Blythe -- which can be a little different than working with the other girls. “I can show her some different things because I come from the jiu-jitsu world, but she also works with Coach H because he's bigger and he can actually work with her and push her physically.” Myers explains that although she works with Blythe when she can, coaching wrestling requires physically demonstrating and practicing moves with the girls sometimes. And doing so with a talented wrestler like Blythe can take a toll on the body. Thus, boys wrestling coach Horacio Vialpando -- or rather, Coach H -- is often the best person for Blythe to practice with.
Clearly, her wrestling prowess has taken her far, but for Cayko, there is another aspect to the season that is just as noteworthy. “I'm starting to look more at the team as a whole and seeing how I'm going to leave my legacy here,” said Cayko, who is a junior this year.
She did earn a poster on the wall in the wrestling room -- a prestigious honor on the Eaglecrest team -- but notes how those posters after a while become akin to wall art, and is not the kind of legacy she wants to leave. “I want to actually leave a legacy and continue the culture because, as a team, we have a really healthy environment,” she said. This healthy environment is crucial to a successful team as well as successful individuals. And Blythe is absolutely seeing success this season…but it is not all it is cracked up to be, according to her.
“Success is so confusing sometimes because I feel like I still have so much room to grow,” explained Cayko.
“And because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, I notice every error I make," she continued. "So sometimes it's hard for me to give myself credit because I still find flaws.” Her perfectionistic tendencies could arguably be part of what makes her such a good competitor, but they can also be an obstacle in themselves.
“The first time I found out that I was ranked number nine in the nation, that was exciting, but my first response was, ‘There are still people that are above me,’” said Cayko. “I won't be satisfied until I'm the best and even then, I'll go seek someone else out that can kick my ass and just keep pushing.” Cayko describes herself as naturally very competitive -- a formidable pairing with perfectionism.
Even still, she is able to find balance and recognize her limits. Perseverance is her secret weapon. “It's weird because I'm not one of those people where wrestling is my whole life. I get burnt out of it. I don't love going to practice every day. In fact, the majority of days, I'm kind of dreading having to walk into that room,” said Cayko. “But it's those highs and those successes that make you want to keep going, even when it sucks.”
