Clayton Roth is in the driver’s seat — on the mat and off — and he knows it. He shows it by not letting his success go to his head.

His recent road trip to the Pepsi Center for the Class 5A State Wrestling Championships ended with the Poudre High School senior capturing the runner-up title.

“It’s not that big a deal. Wrestling is what I do,” Clayton said. “Some guys get cocky, but there’s always someone who can beat you. I’m always training that way: to beat the person that can beat you.”

Always training, period, is more like it. Where other wrestlers might take a well-deserved pit stop after state competition, Clayton shifts into overdrive.

“There is no break for me,” the 171-pounder said. “I run and I wrestle.”

“I run” is Clayton’s modest way of explaining that he’s now operating in marathon mode, gearing up for the May 9 Colorado Marathon. He finished last year’s race — his first ever — with a time of 3:50.

In advising future state champions on their training methods, Clayton’s advice is simple: “Wrestle as much as you can.”

His former Wellington (Colorado) Junior High School coach agrees Clayton knows what he’s talking about and is steering youngsters in the right direction.

“He’s one of those kids I learned more from that I taught,” said Mark Gabbert, wrestling coach at Wellington Middle School. “He’s so experienced and has been in the sport for so long.”

Clayton’s favorite memory of WJHS was taking first at districts in eighth grade. Placing second as a seventh-grader rates a close second.

Hard to believe that when his dad suggested the sport to then-10-year-old Clayton, his response was: “What’s wrestling?”

Daniel Roth wanted his son to pick up a school sport after Clayton topped out in the martial art of tae-kwon-do.

“I was three-time Colorado state champ,” stated Clayton matter-of-factly. “I distinctly remember us sitting in the car and Dad said, ‘You can choose between football, basketball, baseball and wrestling.’ I was messing around with the others, but wrestling, it was an unknown. It sounded interesting.”

A fan of combat sports, Clayton said he immediately liked wrestling, but just as instantly hated wearing the singlet.

“It was definitely different at first,” Clayton said, with a laugh. “Now I wouldn’t redesign it even if I could. For safety reasons, it’s perfect.”

While an undefeated season was his goal at the onset, Clayton ended up with only four losses. That he struggled to remember the number of matches he won, 35 or 36, says it best about the 18-year-old’s constant drive for excellence.

“I don’t know what I’d do differently,” Clayton surmised. “It’s the way it’s supposed to be. You learn more from losses; you learn who you are.”

Clayton knows from experience. Although he qualified for state as a freshman, he went two and out.

“There were a lot of people there, a lot of mats,” he recalled. “I guess it kind of got to me.”

Despite posting a good record as a sophomore, Clayton sat out postseason due to separated ribs. He finished fourth in the state last year and came in ranked third this year.

His run to be the undisputed best got sidelined in a 7-5 contest Feb. 20 against Austin Gabel, whose win helped Ponderosa claim its eighth straight team title. Poudre ended up 20th, thanks to the additional efforts of fellow senior Impala John Stockley, a 112-pounder.

One of the things Clayton appreciates most about wrestling is that it’s a team sport, yet it’s all about individual effort.

“It’s just you and that other kid out there,” he said. “I prepared for my state matches the same way I always have: for 6, 7 or 8 minutes, you plan to wrestle as hard as you can.”

Clayton said he tries to watch each competitor in advance.

“I spot him out and look at what he drills,” he said, adding that he likes working on quick hands and feet drills prior to a match, and sprints to “blow out the lungs.”

“I’m intense,” he said. “I tell myself, ‘I can’t lose. I can’t lose.’ I jump around, get loose.”

As passionate as he is, according to Clayton, Poudre coach Barrett Golyer is even more so.

“Man, he’s intense,” exclaimed Clayton. “He can crank up the heat. He puts everything into it, whatever it takes.”

Golyer called Clayton “an awesome kid, a good leader and an early maturer.”

“Just a lot of things came together with him. It’s been a pleasure to coach him,” elaborated the eight-year PHS coach. “I don’t know a kid I’ve had in better shape.”

Gabbert said Clayton is hard to describe.

“He always was his own man,” Gabbert said. “Extremely responsible. Very coachable. A good teammate.”

Both coaches commented on Clayton’s strong work ethic.

“Being an only child out in the country made me definitely who I am,” Clayton said. “I couldn’t live in town. There’s too much freedom (here).”

The Roths have 20 acres on East County Road 70, where father and son love to work on their “rides,” including a 1992 Camaro with 500 horsepower, a 1990 Cadillac, a 1993 Ford F25 and a 1984 military Blazer.

Daniel Roth, a former motorcycle racer, is a mechanic for Larimer County, and Clayton’s mom, Donna, owns Groomer’s Choice in Wellington.

After graduation, Clayton will study welding at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, where he’s also planning to be on the wrestling team.

That’s good news for the Mustangs and for Clayton, as sports are what he claims kept him out of trouble when he was “a crazy boy running around.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without it,” he said. “I will definitely coach somewhere, someday. I love doing this.”

Clayton also loves fish and fishing, classic rock and shop class.

And being in control. Careening off-course is simply not an option.