How Sunnyside HS wrestling star Roman Bravo-Young became an NCAA champion and Olympic qualifier

Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published in the Arizona Daily Star and at Tucson.com in May 2023. The Star has updated the story and is republishing it as an accompaniment to coverage of local wrestler Roman Bravo-Young securing his spot in the Summer 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where he’ll represent Mexico in the 125-pound weight class.

Whenever Roman Bravo-Young visits Tucson, he finds a way to sneak in a trip to one of his all-time favorite restaurants, BK Tacos.

At the Tucson food chain, Bravo-Young’s go-to order includes toritos (grilled bacon-wrapped peppers stuffed with ham and cheese) and taquitos. One could call it the meal of champions, but the nationally renowned wrestler is conscious of his caloric intake nowadays.

“I keep it simple, but I’m trying to go 57 (kilograms), so I’ve got about 25 more pounds to lose,” Bravo-Young said.

Time in Tucson is always a moment of reflection for the Old Pueblo native and former Sunnyside High School star, who concluded his illustrious, championship-winning career at Penn State last spring, and has since turned his sights toward an even bigger stage — the Olympic Games.

Wrestling in the Olympics 'a huge stepping stone' for Tucson's Roman Bravo-Young

Roman Bravo-Young will represent Mexico — and Tucson — in the 2024 Olympic games in Paris this summer.

Bravo-Young — also known as RBY — ended his five-year wrestling career at Penn State as a four-time All-American, three-time Big Ten champion and a two-time national champion; his quest to three-peat as a national champion in March 2023 fell short in the freestyle title match against Cornell’s Vito Arujau. The setback snapped Bravo-Young’s 56-match win streak; he finished with a 101-10 career record for the Nittany Lions.

“This year was the most I’ve ever felt pressured and had so much weight on my shoulders,” Bravo-Young said last year. “This year was the toughest year for me mentally.

“People just expect you to win, especially when you get to the highest level and keep winning. People expect you to win by this many points, and if you don’t, then something is wrong.

“I took the ‘L’ and I was like, ‘Why did I put so much pressure on myself? My family is still here, and I still get to wake up and do what I love, which is wrestle everyday.’

“That third NCAA title was a dream ripped out in front of me, and it was something that I really wanted. … I needed that for something bigger to happen, because now it’s really on.

“Losing at that level with all of those eyes on you is not easy.”

Life hasn’t always been easy for Bravo-Young, who is now transitioning into his post-college career, where he’ll represent Mexico — not to mention Southern Arizona and South Tucson — on the global stage in the next several years before pivoting his career down a different path.

Born into it

Sometimes genes are unshakable. Bravo-Young’s bloodline is littered with championship wrestlers. Two of his uncles were state champion wrestlers at Sunnyside long before Bravo-Young became the most decorated wrestler in Arizona history.

Bravo-Young has “minimal — if any — interaction” with his father, Romego Young, a two-time state champion at Sunnyside who currently lives in Minnesota. His grandfather, or “Tata,” Michael Bravo wrestled at Tucson High before coaching at Cholla and Sunnyside. Bravo-Young was destined to wrestle.

“He wasn’t given the choice,” Bravo said.

Bravo-Young often accompanied his grandfather to wrestling tournaments across the state on weekends.

“I was always with him at all of these tournaments, and he kinda just led me into it,” Bravo-Young said. “He pushed me really hard and was really hard on me and showed me that you could never do enough. No matter what it is, there’s always more that could be done, especially in a sport like wrestling.”

Bravo-Young “has always been a very quiet kid, but he never refused a direct order and I just pushed him,” Bravo said.

“It was almost like God was telling me to do all of this extra stuff and not to let up. Roman always grew up with this: ‘No matter what we do, Roman, it’s not enough. I don’t care how much we think we worked, it’s never going to be enough.’ And that still drives him to this day.

“I was rough on him, but he never refused a direct order from his grandpa. … I drove my sons hard, but no one as hard as Roman.”

At 5 years old, Bravo-Young and his older brother, Romego Young, entered a Phoenix-area wrestling tournament for their first-ever bouts.

“The first tournament he entered, we didn’t even get together and practice or anything, but we heard there was a freestyle tournament for all age groups,” Bravo said. “So we showed up to (Mesa) Red Mountain High School, and I had bought him shoes and everything he needed to wrestle with.

“Wouldn’t you know it, they both won. They won the tournament the first time ever stepping on the mat. Then it got real serious after that.”

Bravo shouldered the responsibility to train his grandson and turn him into the latest family member to have wrestling glory.

Starting at 6 years old, Bravo-Young jogged up A Mountain in the harsh Arizona summer conditions while his grandfather drove a truck behind him, chirping at him to run faster.

“He never refused a direct order from his grandpa, no matter how big the task was or how bad he didn’t really want to do it,” Bravo said. “He didn’t really have a choice. That’s how I drove him. ... Now he’ll go to A Mountain and call me when he’s at the top.”

For nearly a decade leading up to his high school career, Bravo-Young dominated regional wrestling tournaments.

“He saw what was on the other side of the tracks, and I think he wanted it,” former Sunnyside wrestling and football coach Richard Sanchez said. “Everyone knew he was a good wrestler. His grandpa did a pretty damn good job with him.”

‘Things were pretty tough in his home’

Sanchez is the godfather of sports at Sunnyside, winning seven state championships as leader of the wrestling and football programs before becoming the athletic director of Sunnyside Unified School District. Sanchez emerged as a father figure in Bravo-Young’s life after his freshman year at Sunnyside.

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Bravo-Young’s mother, Sarah Bravo-Cruz, battled drug addiction and was in and out of rehab facilities during his teenage years.

“Things were pretty tough in his home, so he came to stay with me throughout high school,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez was approached about Bravo-Young living with him while driving to practice with current Sunnyside wrestling head coach Anthony Leon.

“He said, ‘Hey, Roman needs a place. Would you be willing to take him in?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ That weekend, Roman and I got together and he moved in,” Sanchez said. “Roman had trust issues, and he didn’t trust many people. He kept to himself a lot. It probably took him three months until he said hi to my wife or spoke to her. He was real quiet, real reserved.”

Bravo said Sanchez “had a great impact on my coaching career,” and Bravo-Young living with him “was one of the greatest blessings of our lives.”

“My daughter had her struggles, but Roman never changed. He never lost focus,” Bravo said. “He realized that everything was a godsend and it was supposed to happen. … He didn’t have the distractions he had prior to moving in with Sanchez. It’s a beautiful blessing.”

Sanchez said that “as a coach, it was my responsibility to help kids develop in every aspect of their life, because it made it easier on them and sometimes easier on their parents.”

“It’s tough being a kid,” he added. “There was always something in the back of their mind — something always bothered them.”

Sanchez “gave me support that my other family couldn’t give at the time,” Bravo-Young said. “He’s always been someone in my corner, so I have a lot of love and respect for him.

“It’s easy to fall off the tracks and follow the wrong crowd.”

Joining the Sanchez household was a “quiet place for him where he didn’t have to worry about anything,” Bravo said. Bravo-Young focused on two things: school and wrestling. During his final two years at Sunnyside, he held a 4.0 GPA. His prowess in the classroom, coupled with his dominance on the mat, turned Bravo-Young into one of the most sought-after recruits nationally.

Bravo-Young posted an unblemished 182-0 record at Sunnyside, a program that has 36 Arizona state championships, and was a four-time individual state champion in his weight class. After one of his state title victories in Prescott, a rehabilitated Bravo-Chavez approached her son about coming back home to raise him before he bolted for college.

“His mom looked at him and said, ‘OK, Roman, it’s time for you to come home, I can take care of you now.’ Roman looked at her and said, ‘No, I’m going to stay with Sanchez,’ ” Sanchez said. “So she came in and said, ‘Hey, I think Roman doesn’t want to come home, he wants to stay with you.’ And I said, ‘Hey, he can stay with me as long as he wants.’ So he continued to stay here and did well. And then he went to Penn State.”

‘He’s a role model now

Bravo-Young signed to Penn State in 2018 to compete under Cael Sanderson, an Olympic gold medalist and world champion for the U.S. who has won 14 NCAA championships — four competing, 10 coaching.

“He already knew he was going to Penn State,” Sanchez said. “That’s where he wanted to go. He bought into their coaching staff and program, and he developed into a great wrestler and a good, good person.

“Just sitting there and listening to his coaches and watching how they dealt with kids and their problems, and how they carried themselves around those kids, I started to think, ‘This is great for Roman. This is exactly what he needed.’ I thank God he wanted to go there.”

Unsurprisingly, Bravo-Young experienced culture shock when he first moved to State College, Pennsylvania.

“I didn’t like it at first. It was like, ‘Dang, do I really want to do this?’ I got my butt kicked out there, and it was just on a different level,” Bravo-Young said. “I don’t really talk unless spoken to, so I had to learn how to adapt and trust the coaches. … Going to Penn State was the best thing I could’ve done.”

On the mat, as a true freshman, “I got thrown into the fire,” Bravo-Young said.

“I really didn’t know what wrestling was until about sophomore year,” Bravo-Young said. “College wasn’t really the plan, because no one in Tucson really wrestles at the highest level.”

Through it all, Bravo-Young continued to win. He won his first national championship in the 134-pound class in 2021; he was named Penn State Athlete of the Year that same season. The following year, Bravo-Young won another national title.

After his college career ended, Bravo-Young signed with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which allowed him to continue training at Penn State for international or domestic competition.

Bravo-Young’s aspirations shifted at that point from national championships at Penn State to gold medals at either the world championships or the Olympics in Paris.

Once his wrestling career is complete, Bravo-Young hinted at the possibility of training for mixed martial arts (MMA) and following fellow Tucson natives Dominick Cruz and Anthony Birchak — two fighters who’ve trained and mentored Bravo-Young — into the UFC.

“I know I have the skills and ability to, but I can’t go fighting until I get the world medal,” Bravo-Young said. “That’s my last thing, but I definitely want to do MMA in the future.”

Someday, Bravo-Young is hopeful to open an academy in Tucson to coach aspiring local wrestlers. Sanchez said Bravo-Young “knows it’s his time to give back now.”

“I want to start giving back, and I think I can raise the level of wrestling intensity out here, especially with my name,” Bravo-Young said. “I know I can make a lot of these kids better.”

It’s unlikely Bravo-Young will train the next RBY, but he has given hope to a sector of kids in Tucson. He’s living, breathing proof of someone overcoming childhood trauma to accomplish their lofty dreams.

“Most kids in our area don’t think much good is going to happen to them when they grow up the way he grew up,” Sanchez said. “They have doubts about how much success they can have.

“Those kids don’t know there’s more after high school that they can achieve, and I think he was one of those. Him leaving and doing so well, it’s really opened the door for a lot of wrestlers at Sunnyside now.

“Kids think there’s life beyond Sunnyside. He’s a role model now.”

Wrestling in the Olympics 'a huge stepping stone' for Tucson's Roman Bravo-Young

Roman Bravo-Young will represent Mexico — and Tucson — in the 2024 Olympic games in Paris this summer.