Miranda focuses on having fun wrestling while preparing for Junior Worlds

Randon Miranda in the semifinals at the UWW Junior Greco-Roman World Team Trials at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. Photo By: John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com

For the second straight year, Randon Miranda of the U.S. Olympic Training Site at Northern Michigan reached the finals of the UWW Junior World Team Trials in Greco-Roman in Las Vegas.

In last year's tournament, Miranda dominated his competition at 50 kg by himself four technical falls, two of which occurred in the best-of-three series against Dack Punke from Illinois.

This year, Miranda gave up more points, but he still manhandled his weight class by picking up four technical falls and a pin

Miranda faced Gage Townsell of Stanford-California RTC in the best-of-three series this year. In bout one, Townsell was the first to score, but Miranda came back quickly to rack up eight points before he secured the fall in the final seconds of the second period. Miranda followed his performance in the second match with a technical fall.

“I knew it was gonna be tougher than the other ones for sure. I didn’t know how tough because I wasn’t able to experience his strength or power or explosiveness. It took me until the end of the first period to set what the game plan was,” he said.

His coach Rob Hermann shared some advice with him before entering the Junior World Team Trials. It's those words that helped Miranda to stand above the competition.

“Rob told me, ‘you have to wrestle everyone like a World champion. Just go out there and have fun,’” he said.

The result was Miranda making his second straight UWW Junior World Team.

Miranda qualified to compete in the Senior World Team Trials this year but decided against entering the tournament to focus on his final year in the Junior division.

Domination is nothing new for Miranda. Winning a Junior Triple Crown in 2014, Miranda holds success in not only Greco-Roman but also in folkstyle and freestyle.

Greco-Roman wasn’t always his chosen style but with the easy achievement he had in the style, he started to pursue it more.

“At first it was a little nerve-racking because I was always into freestyle until I started winning in Greco. I was in the finals my sophomore year and then won the Triple Crown my junior year of high school and just found success in Greco when I was barely doing anything. I started to find it really interesting. Then met Rob Hermann, and he’s the one that really pushed me to [train Greco-Roman]. Ever since then I found a new love for it and the sport itself,” he said.

It’s Miranda’s new found love for Greco that brought him to Northern Michigan University’s Olympic Training Site. He moved from a sunny city in California with over 160,000 people to Marquette, where the winter months are less than unforgivable and the population is just hitting 21,000.

The move added to Miranda’s training not only by offering an excellent program but offering a more secluded town that allowed him to stay focus in his training.

“Marquette is small. You go there and you realize there isn’t much and it’s so small but you don’t realize that it’s like the perfect town. There are not many distractions, the training is good, and you’re there for what you need to be there for. It’s a good time because you’re with your teammates,” he said.

In Marquette, he trains with many of America’s Greco-Roman athletes including 2017 Senior World Team Trials runner-up Alejandro Sancho and fellow 2017 Junior World Team Trials champion Jesse Porter. Alongside Rob Hermann, Miranda is also coached by two-time World bronze medalist Andy Bisek.

“When Andy came, we then had a younger coach too and he’s now gonna do what he can to have an impact on us. Having [the Senior level wrestlers] and some of the younger guys that will develop into being future Senior athletes or World teams is good because we’re all on the same level. We’re all going after the same goals so we bond really well,” he said.

In August, Miranda will head to Tampere, Finland to compete in the Junior World Championships. After punching his ticket to Worlds he’s taken the time to reflect on last year's Worlds experience and build on his seventh place finish in 2016.

“Going overseas and seeing all the different countries and seeing all these different wrestlers you start to see their mindset. This is all they live for. They don’t have very much from where they come from. Seeing the determination of them, it’s a must see. You need to see what other people go through so you can grow as a person for yourself,” he said.

The attitude toward Miranda’s goals moving into the World Championships has shifted from last year.

“Of course my goal is to win, everyone wants to win. But, I think the mindset is different because last year was my first time at Worlds. It was my first time seeing the Iran fans, it was the first time seeing anyone. Going overseas to wrestle was overwhelming. Now this year, I’ve done it before, I’ve done it a couple times. I’m taking it as a business trip. They’re sending me over there and I have to represent well for my country and for myself,” he said.

In the next three months, Miranda will continue to prepare for the biggest tournament of the year. As August creeps closer, the focus on Worlds will become narrower and the mission to become a World Champion will be just a step away.

“I have a different mentality this year. I’m not nervous when I wrestle, I’m not overthinking anything I’m just going out there and doing what I do best. I’m just going out there and having fun just wrestling,” he said.