By Mike Finn, WIN Editor

By winning this year’s Junior Hodge Trophy as the nation’s most dominant high school wrestler, according to WIN, Chris Perry also became the first brother of a former Junior Hodge winner to duplicate his sibling’s honor.

            “I didn’t even know that Mark won this award,” said a candid Chris Perry, the younger brother of Mark Perry, the 2003 winner of this award, which is named after Dan Hodge, the former NCAA champion from Oklahoma University during the 1950s.

            Call it youthful bliss. The four-time Oklahoma state champion from Stillwater High School is six years younger than Mark. He rarely got a chance to see his older brother though this last decade. Mark left home at age 15 to compete at Blair Academy in New Jersey before winning two NCAA championships for Iowa in 2007 and 2008.

            It’s about the same thing for Chris when it comes to comparing him to John Smith, the current coach at Oklahoma State, the six-time World/Olympic champion, who also happens to be Chris’ uncle and the brother of his mother, Kathy.

            “To be honest, I really don’t know what John did,” said Chris, the top-ranked 189-pounder by WIN. “Outside of the Olympics, I don’t know what he did in high school because I wasn’t born yet.

            “Growing up, even though John Smith is my uncle and Mark Perry is my brother, it’s always been a goal for me to do what they’ve done,” Chris added. “I never look at it as pressure. I look at it as a possible accomplishment for me.”

            And Chris also sees no pressure in signing to compete for Oklahoma State, where his father, Mark Sr., was an assistant coach while Chris was young.

            “Both of my boys are very independent,” said Mark Sr., who helped coach Chris during high school. “Obviously, we’ve grown up in this family with a lot of tradition.”

            The father of the talented duo said his sons’ personalities were as different as their sizes.

            “Mark was 103 pounds as a high school freshman, Chris was 160. When they were little kids, Chris was short and stocky and kept that horsepower look,” Mark Sr. said.                                        

“Wrestling-wise, Chris is your straight-on basic wrestler with great fundamentals doesn’t give up a lot of points or make many mistakes. Mark was more of a wing-it kind of wrestler. He let his natural ability take over. Instead of staying with basic technique, Mark was funkier.”

            Chris said wrestling seniors when he was a freshman helped him during his prep career and will help him in college.

            “Weighing 160 as a freshmen was a good thing for me, especially to play football,” said Chris, who also earned All-State honors. “For high school football it’s good to be big. I knew it would be a big advantage in my future. If I could beat seniors as a freshmen, later on down the road, I’d be wrestling the same size of kids.

            “Ever since I was a high school freshmen, I’d be working out with college guys. I had the opportunity to work out at OSU during the summers.”

            In winning four state championships for Stillwater High School, Chris compiled a 133-1 career record with 70 falls. He was named the OW at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December and competed at both the Dapper Dan Classic and the Dream Team Classic.

            Chris said he expects to redshirt next year but hopes to compete at 184 pounds for the Cowboys, who are coming off a school-low 16th place at the NCAAs.

            “Obviously, we had a down year,” Chris said. “All teams have their down years, but people know the recruiting class that we had. We have some unbelieveable kids coming in.

It’s going to take a while. You can’t count on freshmen to come right in and light it up.”

            Since Mark was gone his entire high school career, Chris developed his own reputation, but admitted it was hard when Mark left.

            “Having Mark away for the first year was a struggle for me because I always grew up around a big brother,” Chris said. “When I was little, I still got my beatings by him. He picked on me like every other brother does.

            “Having him away was also a good thing, knowing that I didn’t always have to have him around to help me wrestle. I could do it myself. For Mark, it was the best thing for him at the time.”

            Oddly, Mark, who spent the past year assisting at Penn State, coached against Chris in Las Vegas in April, when the younger Perry won the FILA Juniors in freestyle against PSU freshman Quentin Wright.

            “Before the match, I looked over and kind of laughed at him,” said Chris, who also won a Junior National title last summer in Fargo. “Freestyle is more of a relaxed sport for me.

            “Deep down, he had to do his job. I understand that. He was coached against by John and my Dad coached against John. Honestly, when I heard his voice, I thought he was talking to me.

            “When you are out there, you can’t tell if you are focused. He came and talked to me about the match like he was coaching both of us.”