Perkins County wrestling team eight strong

This year’s Plainsmen wrestling team will be eight strong and of those eight, three competed in the Class C tournament last year. 

Coach Tanner Collins said six of the eight are returning letter winners. 

He noted the Plainsmen will compete in Class D this season versus last year when they were in Class C.

One advantage that provides is that he can enter two wrestlers in the same weight class at districts. He can see that happening in a pair of weight classes. 

Senior leadership

Collins will rely heavily on this year’s crop of seniors for their leadership and experience. 

Two of the three are returning state qualifiers—Colton Pouk and Austin Meyer. This season Pouk will move up a weight class to 145 while Meyer will move down a class to 220.

The remaining senior, Ashton Meyer, missed his junior season due to an ACL tear suffered during football season. 

He will wrestle at 285 this season. 

Collins expects these three to be competing for a number of titles this season. 

Ashton Meyer comes back a lot stronger and a lot more solid. Collins said Meyer has cut his body fat percentage 14% over the last four years. 

Last season, his brother Austin competed at 285 but gave up 20-30 pounds most matches. 

The Meyer brothers could have both competed at 285 in Class D districts this year.

Turns out they won’t be competing with each other since Austin is dropping down to 220.

    Collins said Austin isn’t quite there yet so he will likely compete at 285 with his brother here early in the season. 

At 220, Collins is expecting good things from Austin. He’s much bigger and stronger this season and has excellent foot work, which is a key element in a wrestler’s success.

Collins said Pouk battled some sickness late in the season last year but battled through it to qualify for state at 138.

This year, he comes in healthy and will compete at 145. That’s a good weight for Pouk, Collins said.

He’s a really good wrestler and having that extra weight should help him remain healthy.  

Looking for a return to the state tournament in February will be sophomore Mason Toner, who will compete at 120 again this season.     

In addition to a year of experience, Collins said Toner filled out more and definitely got stronger while still staying at 120.

Rounding out the team will be juniors Tony Lyon at 120-126, Bryant Wood at 152, sophomore Henry Taylor at 138 and freshman Isaiah Dunn at 195-220. 

Collins said this is Lyon’s first year of high school wrestling.

Wood added some weight since last season and will compete in a highly-competitive weight class. Collins said he’s definitely capable of holding own at 152.

Taylor wrestled at 160 last season but has leaned down to 138 this year. Despite dropping the weight, Collins said Taylor has still gotten stronger with some hard work over the summer.  Collins describes his lone freshman as “raw” with the potential for some good upside as the season progresses. 

Two meets this week

The Plainsmen open their season Friday at the Hi-Line Invite at Elwood.  They’ll follow that up Saturday at Broken Bow.  Collins likes this first weekend with back-to-back tournaments to get a feel where his team stands this early in the season.