Plainsmen qualify six for state wrestling

The Perkins County wrestling squad topped last year’s district performances and qualified six for this week’s State Wrestling Championships. Districts were held last Friday and Saturday in Bridgeport.
Mason Toner, Colton Pouk and Austin Meyer repeat as qualifiers from last year. Joining them in Omaha will be Tony Lyon, Juan Perez and Ashton Meyer.
The Plainsmen finished fourth as a team.
Lyon finished third in the five-man 120 lb. bracket. Lyon lost to 32-14 Oliver Nutter of Sutherland in his first match, but bounced back with wins over wrestlers Lyon had beat earlier in the season.
PCS Head Coach Tanner Collins said they knew Nutter was tough but Lyon gave him a run and even had him on his back once.
“Tony was leading the match when he made a small mistake that took him to his back and got pinned,” Collins said.
    “He had a small bracket but did a good job making sure he didn’t make any key mistakes against those two guys,” Collins added.
After a first round loss to 17-13 Brock Burry of Bayard by decision, Toner won two matches by decision and advanced to the third place match where he lost to Burry by decision once more.
“Mason had a tough path and wrestled smart and disciplined to get two clutch, close wins,” Collins said.
Colton Pouk advanced through the 11-man 145 lb. bracket with wins over 29-20 Adam Hill of Garden County and 33-9 Daniel Kohel of Morrill.
Pouk gave up a late reversal but held on for a 4-3 win over Kohel.
“That was nice to win since he lost to that kid four weeks earlier,” Collins said.
Pouk was injured early in the championship match and was forced to forfeit the match.
Collins said Pouk is feeling better, but will probably be a game time decision in Omaha.
Austin Meyer faced seven other wrestlers at 220 lbs. and was one of four with winning records. After winning his first two matches with pins, Austin Meyer fell to 36-3 Gavin White of Sutherland by pin in the championship match.
Despite a semifinal matchup, Perez and Ashton Meyer both qualified at 285 lbs.
Perez won his first match with a second-period pin.
Ashton Meyer won his first match with a first-period pin to set up their semifinal matchup.
As has often been the case, Ashton Meyer took the win by decision, this one 7-2.
Perez picked up a heartbreak round win with a pin and took third place thanks to a medical forfeit.
Ashton Meyer finished second after a three-period battle with 45-1 Isaac Welch of Mullen. Ashton Meyer lost by pin with six seconds left in the match.
The senior made an early mistake in the championship match and had to try to make up five-point deficit.
“That’s just too much to come back from. Ashton can beat those top guys like that if we can put a clean and aggressive match together,” Collins said.
Collins said he couldn’t remember when the rule changed to allow multiple wrestlers from one school to go to state in the same weight class, but said they did it to make Class D a little more competitive.
“The bracket worked out well and Juan was able to wrestle a beatable kid to qualify,” Collins said.
Also wrestling in Bridgeport were Henry Taylor at 132 lbs., Brient Wood at 170 lbs. and Issiah Dunn at 220 lbs.
Despite going 0-2, Collins said Taylor gave great effort.
“He always does. He is young and is starting to mature and come into his own and I am excited to see what he does in the offseason and moving forward,” Collins said.
Collins said Wood had a deep weight class to go through.
The junior went o-2.
Results of last week’s meets are as follows:
District D4
Team Scores—1. Sutherland, 229.0; 2. Mullen, 175.5; 3. Hitchcock County, 103.0; 4. Perkins County, 75.0; 5. Bayard, 71.0; 6. NPSP 67.0; 7. Kimball, 65.0; 8. Morrill, 48.0; 9. Wauneta-Palisade, 45.0; 10. Bridgeport, 34.0; 10. Crawford, 34.0; 12. Garden County, 29.0; 13. Hemingford, 25.0; 14. Leyton, 21.0; 15. Hay Springs, 20.0; 15. Hyannis, 20.0; 17. Banner County, 13.0; 18. Dundy County Stratton, 9.0; 19. Medicine Valley, 8.0; 20. Sioux County, 4.0; 21. Minatare, 2.0; 22. Paxton, 0.0.
Individual Results
120—Tony Lyon (20-17) lost by fall to Oliver Nutter (Sutherland), fall 3:27; won by fall over Nicholos Arroyo (Morrill), fall 2:57; 3rd Place Match - won by fall over Cody Brinkman (Kimball), fall 2:02.
126—Mason Toner (27-17) lost by decision to Brock Burry (Bayard), dec 11-5; won by decision over Chase McGrath (Bridgeport), dec 4-3; won by decision over Ethan Nussbaum (Garden County), dec 6-3; 3rd Place Match - lost by decision to Burry (Bayard), dec 5-1.
132—Henry Taylor (9-20) lost by fall to Wesley Jacobs (Hay Springs), fall 1:13; lost by fall to Gabe Kohel (Morrill), fall 2:12.
145—Colton Pouk (25-6) won by fall over Adam Hill (Garden County), fall 2:48; won by decision over Daniel Kohel (Morrill), dec 4-3; 1st Place Match - lost by injury default to Samuel Foster (Sutherland), Inj. 0:18.
170—Brient Wood (15-15) lost by fall to Dallas Miller (Garden County), fall 3:31; lost by fall to Josh Gage (MV), fall 2:54.
220—Austin Meyer (26-11) won by fall over Cole Hamilton (WP), fall 0:37; won by fall over Casey Miller (Bayard), fall 1:11; 1st Place Match - lost by fall to Gavin White (Sutherland), fall 1:38.
220—Issiah Dunn (2-26) lost by fall to Tel Kvanvig (Mullen), fall 0:42; lost by fall to Braxton Richards (NPSP), fall 0:52.
285—Ashton Meyer (28-9) won by fall over Brayden McGowan (Hemingford), fall 0:41; won by decision over Juan Perez (PCS), dec 7-2; 1st Place Match - lost by fall to Isaac Welch (Mullen), fall 5:54.
285—Juan Perez (19-10) won by fall over Anthony Running Hawk (Hay Springs), fall 2:48; lost by decision Ashton Meyer (PCS), dec 7-2; won by fall over Ben Melton (NPSP), fall 2:27; 3rd Place Match - won by medical forfeit over Taylor Hubl (Hitchcock County), M. For.
Up next
Collins said, from what he’s seen and knows, he thinks PCS got some good matchups in first round at state.
“I hope we come out aggressive and go after guys,” Collins said.
The first round in Omaha will begin Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. MT. Matches will run throughout Friday and Saturday.
Lyon’s first match will be against the D2 second-place finisher, Ethan Kipp (32-6) of Twin Loup.
Toner will take on the first-place finisher from D3, Carter Beckman (29-6) from Elgin/Pope John.
If he’s able to go, Pouk will take on Cody Mayfield (19-9), the D3 third place finisher from Burwell.
Waiting for Austin Meyer is Summerland’s Wyatt Chips (31-16), the third-place finisher in D2.
Perez will face Jordy Baland (17-9) of Doniphan-Trumbull in the first round. Baland finished second in the D1 district.
Syrus Snow from Hi-Line will be Ashton Meyer’s first round match. Snow was third in the D1 district and is 27-9.
If Perez and Ashton Meyer could win their first two matches, they would meet up in the semifinals.