Colorado state champion Britton Holmes signs to “Go Greco” at Northern Michigan-OTS

Holmes with National Coach Matt Lindland, Olympian TC Dantzler and NMU coach Rob Hermann. Photo: Taylor Miller, USA Wrestling

PEYTON, Colo. – Britton Holmes of Peyton High School in Peyton, Colo., has decided to continue his wrestling career, pursuing Greco-Roman at Northern Michigan University, a U.S. Olympic Training Site. He signed with NMU on Feb. 2 in front of his teachers, classmates, family members and several others from the community.


“It means a lot to sign with Northern Michigan,” Holmes said. “I started wrestling at 3 years old, and it’s really exciting to see what’s happening after all these years.


In 2016, Holmes became the first wrestling state champion in Peyton’s history. As a kid, he had dreams of becoming a state champion and then moving onto the collegiate level to win an NCAA title.


Those plans changed when he was introduced to Greco-Roman wrestling by 2008 Olympian TC Dantzler.


“I realized that with Greco, you can’t run away from other wrestlers, and you can’t stall. It’s more of a grind, and when you go out there, you have to fight. That’s what I like about Greco,” Holmes said.


After falling in love with the wrestling discipline, he began regularly driving 30 minutes west after school to practice alongside the resident athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center under National Greco-Roman Coach Matt Lindland and Assistant National Coach Momir Petrovic.


“I’ve gotten a chance to know Britton very well,” Lindland said. “He’s a dedicated athlete. He loves Greco, and that’s why he makes every effort to get in the room. He trains hard, and I know he’s going to have a lot of success and will enjoy working with Coach Hermann, Coach Andy Bisek and the rest of the athletes on that team.”


In November, Holmes traveled with Team USA to the Cadet Malar Cup in Vasteras, Sweden, where he recorded seven wins en route to a gold medal. In 2014, he was a Cadet Nationals All-American, placing sixth.


Holmes joins NMU’s five other signees, including Riley Briggs, Erik Spence, Mason Hartshorn, Reese Dalton and Patrick Ramirez.


“He’s polished and has done a lot of Greco in a short amount of time,” Hermann said. “His experience with the young guys and mixing in with the older guys in the room will really help him grow. He’s got a lot of guys around his weight to help him out like Alex Sancho, Austin Morrow and Sammy Jones, so I think he’s going to develop into a very special wrestler.”


Before Holmes heads out to Marquette, Mich., he’ll look to continue to make history for Peyton High School with a second state title in Denver on Feb. 16-18.


Wrestlers interested in NMU, should contact Head Coach Rob Hermann at rhermann@nmu.edu or Assistant Coach Andy Bisek at abisek@nmu.edu.

NMU-OTS signees

Riley Briggs, Brentwood, Calif.

Reese Dalton, Lilburn, Ga.

Mason Hartshorn, Antioch, Calif.

Britton Holmes, Peyton, Colo.

Patrick Ramirez, Napa, Calif.

Erik Spence, Elk Grove, Calif.