Sigourney-Keota’s Mason Dye’s junior wrestling season was an adventure.  He started off the year ranked fourth in the 120-pound weight class, which is a weight that he only ended up wrestling eight matches at.  He spent a little time at 126 pounds as well.  But once the season started going, another weight class seemed to suit him better.

He entered the top ten at 113 pounds immediately after he moved weight classes, taking the fifth spot in the next rankings from The Predicament.  He would stay firmly planted at number five in the 113-pound rankings through the rest of the year.

Dye continually proved that he deserved a place among the top ten wrestlers in the land throughout the season.  He won match after match; his only losses came against wrestlers who would end up placing at state, including Class 2A’s state runner-up at 120 pounds.  He rolled through his sectional and his district, securing his district championship by pinning the tenth-ranked wrestler in the state.  He had punched his ticket to the tournament for the third straight year.

Once there, Dye turned up the heat in the scoring column.  He won his first-round match by a 19-4 tech fall.  His second-round match would end in a 6-3 victory, the fewest points he scored in a single match all weekend.  That got him to the semis, where he lost to the eventual state runner-up by an 18-11 decision.  According to head coach Cory Van Den Heuvel, that loss took a bit of the wind out of Dye’s sails.

“We had the kid on his back for a pretty good amount of time and just didn’t get the fall,” Van Den Heuvel said.  “After that loss… that is the hardest thing to do in wrestling, is come back after a loss.  You basically just get your heart torn out because you have your goal set to be in the finals.  And to come back after that is tough, and we weren’t able achieve the Saturday morning victory.”

Instead, the Saturday morning match ended in a 13-6 victory for the other guy, sending Dye to  vie for fifth place.  He wouldn’t lose again.  Instead, he came out revving at full throttle, taking it to West Sioux’s Cullem Koedam and winning via an 18-2 tech fall in four minutes and 11 seconds.  Fifth place was his.

Losses like the one Dye took in the semis are tough.  Although the season may not  have ended the way Dye wanted, coach Van Den Heuvel was more than happy with the way he responded to that situation.

“It was back to same old Mason, and game on.  He went very handily through his last match getting the tech fall, and that’s the Mason everybody knows,” Van Den Heuvel said.  “So at least you go out with a big victory, a tech fall with a lot of points scored.  Very proud of Mason, no doubt.”

Dye finishes his junior season with a 31-6 record.  He’ll be back next year for his senior season, and one last shot at a state title.