Washburn Rural senior 195-pounder Gavin Carter was ranked first in Class 6A throughout the winter by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association. Mill Valley senior Tyler Green opened fourth in the rankings.
Green bumped to second on Jan. 29 behind Carter, a NCAA Division I University of Arkansas-Little Rock signee and consensus favorite. Carter had pinned Green at the 2019 state tournament and had decidedly defeated Green in a dual in the ’19-20 season.
On Feb. 6, Green broke his nose in a 39-35 loss to Olathe South. Two days later, Green, bothered by the nose, took fifth at Eastern Kansas League with a pair of defeats. He dropped out of the rankings.
“We couldn’t get it to stop bleeding,” Mill Valley wrestling coach Travis Keal said.
The pair had a short conversation after the EKL. Keal told Green to not worry about the results and that he could still win a state title. They focused mainly on improving Green’s nose. With the help of Blue Valley Southwest wrestling coach Cody Parks, Green eventually had a Velcro mask for regionals.
Green took third at regionals and qualified for state. His only regional loss came by fall to Gardner-Edgerton’s Gus Davis.
“That’s how Tyler is,” Keal said. “We forgot about league, and then he wrestled a lot better at regionals.”
Entering the state, Carter ranked first, Davis second, Wichita West’s Jerome Ragin third and Green sixth. After a 13-1 first-round victory, Green defeated Ragin, 7-4. In the semifinals, he again matched Davis and earned a 5-2 win.
Green faced Carter, with his 40-0 record, in the finals. He knew Carter “was an amazing wrestler.”
“It was like a David and Goliath story,” Green said.
Green, well-known for his leadership and faith, said a prayer before the final. He asked God for strength and confidence to relax and have fun. Keal had coached Carter in the summer. He wanted Green to extend the match to a full six minutes, use his quickness in space and avoid Carter’s underhooks and double-unders.
After a scoreless first period, Green scored points in the second en route to a 6-4 win.
“An opportunity to show what God can do through me, and especially in that match, it just really showed, on paper, I was very outclassed, and yet, God let me prevail,” Green said.
Green (21-6) became the lowest-ranked wrestler to win a state title at the Class 6A meet. The win tilted the team race in Mill Valley’s favor. Mill Valley eventually won its first ever team wrestling crown with 161.5 points, 13.5 ahead of runner-up Washburn Rural.
“He just persevered, and he and I and the team were probably the only people in the whole building that thought he could win the match,” Keal said. “Because everybody else thought it was a done deal, and he just rose to the occasion and believed in himself and wrestled a really smart, technical match. And then when he had an opportunity, he seized that opportunity to go score points, and that’s what we talk about in our program all the time.”
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The match marked the last time Green competed for Mill Valley – and punctuated an outstanding two-year career after he transferred from Lansing. A rare large-school, three-sport standout, Green paced Mill Valley with 193 carries for 1,375 yards and 15 rushing scores on the gridiron in ‘19. He also qualified in the state track meet on relays for Lansing as a sophomore and the Jaguars as a junior. Mill Valley football coach Joel Applebee said Green “earned a lot of respect” with his work ethic.
Notably last fall, Green had a key 60-yard run midway through the fourth quarter of the Class 5A state championship game versus Wichita Northwest. The play eventually led to a Jaguar touchdown that broke a 31-31 tie and led to a 40-31 victory.
“One thing that I have always appreciated about him is that he never shied away at any point in time on working as hard as he possibly can in that (weight) room, no matter what season,” Applebee said.
In December, Green achieved a longtime dream when he signed to play football at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school. It’s rare for a Kansas football player to sign to an Ivy League school. The last Kansan to play Dartmouth football was Wichita Collegiate offensive lineman Chris Mathewson from 2000-03, according to school archives.
“They were the first Ivy League school that I talked to who was completely honest about everything,” Green said. “They wanted me, and they pursued me, and they offered me. It wasn’t back and forth, we want you, we don’t want you, whatever. They saw me. They wanted me.”
For his all-sport success, goal-oriented and faith-based nature and zeal for life, Green earned this year’s Dylan Meier Get Busy Livin’ Player of the Year Award. The GBL Award is Kpreps’ most prestigious honor and is awarded to one senior football player each school year. It’s in honor of Dylan Meier, a former All-State quarterback at Pittsburg High School and starter at Kansas State University who died in a hiking accident in 2010 at the age of 26.
The annual award goes to one high school senior who not only has shown excellence on the field but has also demonstrated the values that Dylan embodied and GBL strives to promote: adventure, fitness, curiosity and a daily zest for life experiences.
Applebee and his wife Amanda have three children: Haden, a ninth grader; Holden, in sixth grade; and Lola in third. They all have great respect for Green.
“He always had a self-confidence in him like no other kid I’ve ever coached, and so my kids saw that right away,” Applebee said. “…Our entire family just came to really love and enjoy Tyler on a daily basis.”
In a letter of reference, Mill Valley principal Tobie Waldeck said in 31 years of academics, he would “be hard-pressed” to find a better scholarship candidate.
Green finished with a GPA just shy of 4.0. He completed Advanced Placement classes in Literature, Biology and Calculus. This spring, Green has kept busy even during the COVID-19 quarantine. He has worked out twice a day. Green has no access to a weight room, though has used dumbbells and a weighted backpack to help keep up with the Dartmouth workout program.
“He has the ability to succeed, even through adversity,” Waldeck said. “I have great expectations for him as he tackles classes and challenges one at a time. Mr. Green is a dedicated athlete and he has modeled the work ethic expected at Mill Valley High School.
“He is truly a leader by example,” Waldeck added. “I believe he will be a successful college athlete. It is without a doubt that Tyler has a bright future. Student/Athletes like Mr. Green are not common, and he will represent the scholarship well.”
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Green is the youngest of three brothers. The older two graduated from Lansing High School. His parents are Floyd and Rita; she is the Lansing school nurse. Green has had the Ivy League goal since at least his freshman year.
At one point in his high school career, Green’s parents told him to look at other schools “just to be safe.” Green didn’t want to. He attended Yale and Harvard summer football camps in ’18, and Princeton and Columbia in ’19.
“The best schools that no one goes to, and I wanted to challenge myself to get there, and it was my dream,” Green said.
As a sophomore, Green qualified for the 5A state wrestling tournament at Lansing. On a 2-7 football team, he rushed 39 times for 200 yards and three scores in six contests. Lansing has consistently struggled with no more than six victories in a season from ’11-19. Mill Valley has won three state titles, including ’15 and ’16.
“If you told me that I was going to move from where I have been for 16 years prior to that, I probably would have laughed,” Green said.
Green said a few coaches, especially Byron Mays, a Lansing assistant and “close family friend,” guided him through the recruiting process and talked about transferring to Mill Valley, 17 miles south.
Green called it a “risk.” For the ’18 season, Mill Valley returned Cameron Young, who rushed for 836 yards and 13 scores as a junior. Green had doubters.
“They didn’t think I had a chance at playing, let alone being a starting back, because they already have a great running back, a great culture,” Green said. “And we just said, ‘You know what, we are going to look for this house, and if it goes through, then it’s God telling us that we have to make this move,’ because there’s only one house available to get into Mill Valley.”
The Green’s offer was accepted. His mother still drives back and forth to Lansing. Green first joined Mill Valley in the summer of ’18.
“It ended up just changing my life,” Green said.
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Applebee immediately learned of Green’s Ivy League goal.
“You could just tell right away that he was a very goal-oriented kid,” Applebee said. “Every day, he has a goal in mind and how’s he going to achieve that goal, and he lives by that. He’s a very disciplined kid. One thing that we talk about in our program all the time is be the best version of yourself. … Tyler truly did that.”
Young had a hamstring issue entering the fall and played in six games with 437 rushing yards. Green led with 134 carries for 695 yards and nine scores. This past year, Green shared carries with junior Quin Wittenauer. Applebee said Green understood and “embraced” the need to have multiple running backs.
However, in the fourth quarter against Northwest, Mill Valley turned to Green. He made several defenders miss early in the 60-yard run and then evaded another Grizzly on the sideline. Green gave credit to the entire offense for the run and labeled the cohesive effort “like an orchestra.”
“His teammates believed in him,” Applebee said. “We believed in him, and it’s just that time where you just knew, ‘Hey, we need to give the ball to Tyler here.’”
In wrestling, Green followed coach Keal’s ethos of not showing weakness and being tough in all situations. Down the stretch, Green battled his nose. Ethan Kremer, Green’s training partner and Mill Valley’s 285-pound top-ranked junior, fought a knee problem half the season. He tweaked the knee again a few days before state. Keal’s son, Zach, was sick the week of state and was diagnosed with mono three days after state.
All three won state championships, though none more surprising than Green. Applebee watched the match from the floor.
“Everybody thought there was no way, and we needed that match to win the team title,” Applebee said.
At the end of the match, coach Keal stood up from his mat-side chair and delivered a big celebration. Keal has coached Mill Valley wrestling since the school opened 20 years ago. Green saw his coach enjoy the victory, a win that pivoted the team race.
“I was blessed to be in that position, and that was one of the greatest memories,” Green said.
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Along with Green, other 2019 GBL award finalists include: Quinn Buessing of Axtell, Turner Corcoran of Lawrence Free State, Landon Everett of Canton-Galva, Jordan Finnesy of Plainville, Beau Foster of Dodge City, Max Kalny of St. James Academy, Bryce Krone of Bonner Springs, and Ty Lindenman of Shawnee Mission Northwest.
Past winners of the Dylan Meier – GBL Player of the Year Award:
2018 -- Jace Friesen, Basehor-Linwood
2017 – Carter Putz, Bishop Miege
2016 - Will Schneider, Shawnee Mission North
2015 - Tucker Horak, Rossville
2014 - Denzel Goolsby, Bishop Carroll
2013 - Austin Chambers, Shawnee Mission West
2012 - Brad Strauss, Lawrence
2011 - Kole Schankie, Madison
In addition to the award, the Dylan Meier Foundation will host the tenth annual Get Busy Livin’ 5K at 9:30 AM on Saturday, September 12th at Hutchinson Field in Pittsburg. The race was postponed from its original date of May 11th given the COVID-19 public health crisis.
For more information, visit https://www.getbusylivin.org/2020gbl5k
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ABOUT DYLAN MEIER & THE GET BUSY LIVIN’ FOUNDATION
Dylan Meier, a 2002 graduate of Pittsburg High School, was a two-time All-State quarterback for the Purple Dragons. He continued his football career at Kansas State University and started 11 games from 2004-06 as the Wildcats’ signal caller.
On April 19, 2010, Meier died at the age of 26 in an accident while hiking with family in Arkansas.
In addition to his time in Kansas, Dylan played professional football in Germany and Italy, served as a bodyguard for Italian fashion models, worked in a vineyard overseas, ran with the bulls in Spain and went skydiving in the Alps. His next plans included coaching football in Europe, teaching English in Korea and possibly a return to Kansas State as a graduate assistant.
“He had a real zest for life,” Merle Clark, Dylan’s high school coach and family friend said days after the accident. “He lived a lot in his 26 years.”
That zest for life is the basis of the Get Busy Livin’ Foundation that was established in Dylan’s honor. The mission is to provide support for individuals and groups that embody the values that Dylan pursued: adventure, fitness, curiosity, generosity and a daily zest for life experiences.
The GBL Foundation is determined to break down the boundaries that keep people from living life to the fullest, whether those boundaries are social, economic or imaginary.
GBL uses donations to promote these values in the following ways: student/athletic scholarships, sport camp sponsorships, student travel abroad scholarships, community service needs and other activities that inspire and build character.
For more information, please visit http://getbusylivin.org.
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