Mark Perry of Iowa is an immensely talented sophomore who remains extremely confident in his abilities. The nephew of Lee Roy, John, Pat, and Mark Smith, arguably the most successful wrestling family in the U.S. during the modern era — Perry grew up bleeding Oklahoma State orange. His father, Mark, was also a long-time assistant coach for the Cowboys. Perry was born and bred to be a Cowboy. But to everyone’s surprise, when it came time to choose a college, the former Blair Academy standout chose Iowa over Oklahoma State.
Last season, as a freshman, Perry entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed and proceeded to knock off the defending national champion and heavy favorite, Troy Letters of Lehigh, in the NCAA semifinals. In the NCAA finals, Perry lost to Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State.
In an exclusive interview with RevWrestling.com, Perry discusses his move up to 174 this season, his thoughts on Steve Mocco, his relationship with Jim Zalesky, his expectations for the Hawkeyes this season, and his future aspirations.
There has been a lot of speculation that you’re moving up a weight class to wrestle 174 this season. Is that a done deal?
Perry: I would say that I’m about 95 percent certain that I’m moving up. Unless, somehow, in the next month I lose 15 or 20 pounds just naturally, that’s the only way I’d go back down. I lifted real hard this last summer with the team. It’s a lot better with me going up, because we have two guys who are tough competitors at 165 — Cole Pape and Eric Luedke, who is a JUCO national champion. So it’s just better for me “¦ and it’s better for the team.
So how much are you weighing these days?
Perry: I’m weighing about 190 right now.
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