STATE UNIVERSITY — More than six years ago, our perfect relationship started on a whim.
That November day when a future Pennsylvania wrestling national champion and a future Olympic champion met.
Levi Haynes was in the eighth grade at the time. David Taylor had opened his own training center here while developing into what many believe to be the greatest wrestler in the world.
The two talked about it Thursday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center, the night before the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials. Haynes is currently in her sophomore year at Penn State, fresh off an undefeated national championship season. Taylor is aiming for her second consecutive Olympic gold medal.
The instructor and his longtime student will compete together for the first time.
Haynes remembers the day they met. He became a full-time student at his M2 training center in Taylor.
“My dad woke me up on a Sunday morning and said, 'David Taylor just opened a club at State University.' He was like, 'Hey, let's go and check it out.' So I headed there by car.
When they arrived, Taylor “started talking to me as if he had known me forever,” Levi Haynes said. “I remember on the drive home my dad said, 'Is this what you want to do? I'm willing to make the sacrifice and drive you here.'”
Haynes told the story with a big smile on his face. “Yes, I loved it.”
Shortly before Thursday, Haynes said: “When I first met (Taylor), I didn't know much about wrestling. I just practiced hard. So Dave, before I had a lot of equipment, I didn't know much about wrestling. He kind of taught me how to wrestle. I'm forever grateful to Dave…”
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And that will continue for years to come. Teachers Ken and Amy Haines drove their son two hours each way after school to train with the former Penn State national champion and budding world star.
After winning a state title as a junior at Biglerville High School in 2021, when Taylor won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Haynes decided to skip the traditional senior year and train full-time at a state university.
Amy Haynes took a temporary job at a state university and her family rented a place to live. Ken Haynes, also a wrestling coach, remained in Biglerville. Levi Haynes was homeschooled at State University and has won 11 of the past 13 national championships, as well as Taylor, as well as other former Penn State champions such as Jason Nolf and Zane Retherford. He trained daily with the current Penn State team.
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Haynes now calls changing his senior year of high school and skipping wrestling season the best decision he made.
“That situation was amazing. It really prepared me to do great things.
“I got the best training from one of the best wrestlers in the world. … I didn't have that at home.”
Who is it?
Most of the time, it's about learning the finer points from Taylor off the mat. How to lose weight and train smarter, not just harder.
On his way to a youth tournament, Taylor suddenly started belting out a “Backstreet Boys'' song on the radio, trying to break the nerves of the wrestlers by singing it as loud as he could. . Haynes brought it up Thursday.
“It just lightened the mood and that day I was on my first age group world team,” he said. “(Taylor) is very smart about that kind of thing.”
How Penn State wrestling conquers the U.S. Olympic Trials
Haynes remained at Penn State after his unique high school graduation and wrestled for Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions. He lost in the NCAA title match as a freshman, but won it all at 157 pounds in Kansas City last month.
He continues to train with members of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, primarily Taylor.
“The first day Levi came to practice, there was something different about him,” Taylor said Thursday. “Not all wrestlers put up fights like that. People wrestle, but some people are willing to quit or give up. That was something Levi could never understand. He was raised that way. It's not like I was given a break.”
“When you see a kid with that kind of passion, that guy can accomplish anything he wants to do. If he has that tenacity, you just teach him the techniques.”
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Now you're ready for this weekend.
Haynes, who is competing in the Olympic Trials for the first time (he qualified by winning the national championship), joins Penn Staters from Retherford and Nolf to current teammates Beau Bartlett and Mitch Mesenbrink. He will compete in the 65kg freestyle class.
(There are 17 Olympic Trials freestyle wrestlers with strong ties to Penn State. Two others (brothers Chance Marstella and John Stefanowitz) wrestled at YAIAA.
Taylor, now a father of three girls, has a bye into Saturday's No. 3 final in the 86kg division.
The two Nittany Lions say they continue to learn from each other.
“He also helped me understand how to be a good coach,” Taylor said. “The way I coached in the first day and the way I approach coaching now is completely different. He helped me grow.”
As part of this, they regularly compete against each other in the practice room.
Haynes' 14-year-old energy and drive are also helping Taylor grow, he said.
So how many times, if ever, did Haynes defeat “Magic Man”?
“I'll tell you this off the record,” he said, drawing laughter from the media crowd around him.
I asked, and he stopped and smiled again.
“At least once…maybe.”
Frank Bodani covers Penn State sports for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. To contact him, fbodan@ydr.com Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
▶ On the web: For complete coverage and analysis of Friday and Saturday's U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials from the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, visit ydr.com.
