Workman holds Wave baseball bat and Wave football helmet on the turf.
Trae Workman doesn’t have to say much to be heard.
He goes to work, does his job and helps where needed. If it’s playing a different position on the football field or showing the underclassmen wrestlers how to win, Workman wanted the Greenwave to succeed. Team championships far outweighed his individual accomplishments.
As a sophomore, he won his first state championship on the wrestling team and then picked up his first team title when the baseball squad went all the way in 2015. Add in the football team’s first title in 40 years followed by the wrestling program’s first-ever crown in his senior season, Workman etched his name into the record book. For his contributions to the team championships in three different sports as well as two individual titles in wrestling, Workman has been named the LVN Male Athlete of the Year.
“Athletes come in Fallon throughout the years that you’ll remember for a long time,” Fallon baseball coach Lester de Braga said. “Trae’s one of those athletes. He’s a great Fallon Greenwave athlete.”
At a young age, Workman knew wrestling would help pave the way to a successful career in Fallon.
His father, Ed Workman, and uncle, Wade Workman, helped him find a love for one of the sports that dates back 15,000 years. Wade Workman ran the Fallon Outlaws wrestling club, which saw many of Fallon’s youth grow into strong, competitive athletes who would go end up winning regional and state championships with the Greenwave.
“My dad took me everywhere for wrestling,” Trae Workman said. “If there’s one thing he told me, it was always if you’re going to do something, you might as well be the greatest at it. That’s definitely something that I’ll pass on and something I’ll live by every day.”
Winning that team title this past winter, though, put an exclamation mark on the hard work that transpired since he put on that singlet for the first time. It was even sweeter to be able to accomplish the championships for his father.
“My dad was the biggest man for that,” Workman said. “He coached me all the way from when I was 5 all the way to high school. To bring home a team championship and all those individuals was the greatest thing I can do for him.”
Workman was nothing short of dominant this season.
He finished with a 49-3 record and won both the regional and state individual titles at 160 pounds after jumping up a weight class. Although Fallon took third in the regional, Workman knew the team was still in position to bring home the school’s first state team title.
“All the Lowry kids were out and we had majority of wrestlers still in,” Workman said of the first round at state. “Going into that second round with only one or two wrestlers knocked out, it was looking up. We had a couple big matches with Juan Ledezma in the semifinals. We were all going nuts and didn’t know what was going on. Going into the final round, the championship, looking at the score we already knew we had it sealed up. Just after that, it was look after yourself and get a title. If anything, you’re going to get a team title.”
For first-year coach Trevor de Braga, who won an individual title in the Class 4A, he knew something special was brewing before he was in middle school.
“I was young, too, so I got to see the success he was having as a little guy,” de Braga said. “I knew he was going to be something great as he got older and older.”
When de Braga came back to Fallon after playing football at Colorado Mesa, Workman was a sophomore going after his first state title with ex-Greenwave coach Mitch Overlie at the helm. Watching him grow while he was still wrestling through his last match in the state tournament in Primm, de Braga is proud of Workman’s progression into an elite Greenwave student-athlete.
“Being able to coach Trae has been a privilege and it’s amazing to see how great of an athlete and young man Trae has become,” de Braga said. “Trae is a kid I got to see every day the past three years since I help coach football baseball and wrestling.”
FINDING WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE
Workman still remembers his sophomore season on the gridiron.
He played on the JV team and then was called up during the playoffs as Fallon chased a state title. The Greenwave powered through the playoffs and earned a date in the championship with Faith Lutheran. Fallon fell short as it was shut out, but Workman was ready for the next opportunity to win the school’s first football title since the 1970s.
“The environment was something else,” Workman recalled. “It was my first state championship in any team sport. It definitely helped me with the second one because I knew what to expect and what the environment would be like. I was a little more confident.”
Workman, though, had a setback to begin his senior season.
An injury kept the starting running back off the field after Fallon lost in the season opener as he watched one of his teammates step up and assume the role. Workman, though, returned and contributed for Brooke Hill’s team as it finished the league season undefeated. It didn’t matter where — quarterback, safety or the line — Workman wanted to help the Greenwave win.
“Getting injured, I wasn’t sure at first if I would come back for the football season,” he said. “I understood I was going to have to earn my spot back and I was going to have to fight for it. The championship game, (coach Hill) wanted to do something different and put me on defensive line.”
Fallon knocked off Chaparral in the state opener before defeating Moapa Valley for the second time in three years as the Greenwave hoisted the state trophy at Reno High School. Workman was third on the team in rushing with 367 yards on 61 carries and for a 6-yard average. He carried the ball into the end zone twice.
Winning state put the finishing touches on Workman’s football career after he played in the Fallon Youth Football League and helped the young Greenwave win six-straight championships.
RISING TO THE TOP OF THE ORDER
He didn’t realize it until late but Workman was turning into Fallon’s best hitter.
After helping the Greenwave win the state title last year, Workman’s bat sparked the offense as Fallon overcame a slow start. Workman, an outfielder, improved on last year’s batting average to lead the team at .454 in 31 games. Workman drove in 23 runs as the team’s leadoff and also recorded four doubles and two triples. Workman was named to the second team in the Division I-A North.
“He’s a gamer. He performs every time he gets to the plate,” Lester de Braga said. “He gets the job done. He’s very approachable and he will be a hard kid to replace.”
Things weren’t looking great for Fallon early in the season but moving Workman to leadoff helped the Greenwave finish strong. Fallon picked up the No. 4 seed and held off Dayton in the regional opener. After a tough loss to Spring Creek, the top seed, Fallon knocked off cross-valley rival Fernley twice to punch its fifth ticket in six years to state. Fallon lost both games in the state tournament.
“Baseball was definitely sketchy starting out. It wasn’t looking good,” Workman said. “Going into regionals, we started getting some wins where we needed them. We get to state and trying to get that first win but after that, it kind of just went downhill. It was definitely upsetting.”
De Braga was pleased with Workman’s leadership this season. Leading by example was all Workman needed to do.
“Trae’s one of those kids who’s quiet and doesn’t talk a lot. He’s respectful,” de Braga said. “His leadership comes from on the field. Every time he came up to the plate, he put the bat on the ball. Leadership was on how he played. We were looking for that in the year. He led by example. That’s something you can’t team. Trae’s always had that. He’s going to be hard to replace.”
FIGHTING FOR THE COUNTRY
Workman has always wanted to continue his playing career past high school.
But after mulling over offers throughout the year, Workman decided on a different route toward achieving his goal. And if it doesn’t work out, his future won’t suffer in the slightest way.
“If I get into the (Air Force) Academy, I do plan on wrestling for them but if that doesn’t work out, then I’ll just serve the country, come home and do my farming stuff,” Workman said. “I went and visited a couple colleges. I just wanted to go see the Air Force and do something.”
Whether he’s wrestling in college or fighting to protect the country, Workman’s left a lasting impression on his coaches, teammates and community.
“I don’t know what it will be like from here on out not hearing the little funny comments and laughs Trae always had,” Trevor de Braga said. “He brought toughness to our wrestling room and laughs on a daily basis. He was truly a leader not only by communication with the other wrestlers but domination on the mat. He’s a wrestler that every kid wants to be and that’s something he earned as a little kid. I’m very excited to see what the future holds for Trae and I know he will be very successful.”
And if there’s a message to relay to the underclassmen, Workman said working on fundamentals in his first two years on campus helped transform him into a three-sport star for the green and white.
“That was when all the hard work was put in,” Workman said. “That’s when all my fundamentals came together for those sports (football and baseball). Wrestling was different. I was already experienced in that field. Freshman and sophomore years were tough years but that’s when my fundamentals in baseball and football helped me become the player I am.”
From winning that first individual state title as a sophomore to collecting three team trophies in his last two years, Workman cemented his name into the Greenwave’s legacy as being one of the few to win a state title in each of the three sports seasons.