LYMAN — Lyman High School senior Dryden Menck spent a significant amount of his childhood on the basketball court.

But during his sophomore year, he decided to leave the hardwood and try his hand at a new sport.

“It’s not like I was starting varsity for basketball or anything,” Menck said. “I like to compete and win.”

Menck has done plenty of winning since his joined the wrestling team in 2016. He won the state title that year in the 195 division when Lyman competed in Class 2A. He repeated as champion at 195 when the Eagles moved up to Class 3A in 2017.

“He’s a good person for these kids to look up to, and I think it helps our program overall when we turn out state champions,” said Lyman head coach Travis Ayres, who enters his seventh season at the helm. “It helps more kids get involved.”

Menck is now looking for his third straight title.

‘It’s going to take hard work, dedication and pushing yourself in practice, working outside of practice, running and eating healthy,” Menck said. “It’s going to take everything you can possibly do to better yourself.”

The two-time state champion is already receiving interest from schools who want him to wrestle. 

Menck isn’t sure what his plans are at the moment, but Ayres believes the two-time state champion is more than capable of competing at the collegiate level.

“To me, the sky’s the limit for him. If he wants to go on and wrestle in college, he’s definitely talented enough,” Menck said. “With the success that he’s had, people realize that, so it opens a lot of doors for him.”

Menck has also played an important role in helping to build the wrestling program at Lyman. He tries to lead the team by example, and his resume speaks for itself. 

“They look up to that,” Menck said. “They say, ‘well, he pushed himself that hard. Maybe I want to do that, so I want to push myself that hard.’ I feel like I just need to push everybody to be the best they can be. I try to work as hard as I can, so they can see that and work hard, too. I’m just trying to keep up the motivation in the room.”

Lyman had 23 athletes come out this season, which is an improvement over last year. But this year’s Eagle’s team does not feature any juniors.

“We’re finally filling all the weight classes, so we’re moving in the right direction as a team,” Ayres said. “The numbers, per class, are up. If we had some juniors, we’d have 30 kids. But getting the younger kids out is promising.”

That wasn’t always the case.

Lyman had one of the largest enrollments in Class 2A. Now the Eagles have one of the smallest enrollments since they made the transition to Class 3A last season. It wasn’t until seven years ago Lyman got its own wrestling program. Prior to that, the Eagles were part of a co-op with Mountain View.

“It’s going to take a lot of extra work in the wrestling room,” said senior Colten Ellison, who finished sixth at state last year and was third as a sophomore in Class 2A. We’re going to put in the hard work week after week to get better.”

Lyman placed 12th at the state tournament last season after tallying 64 points. Star Valley won the title with 266.5 points, while Powell (174.0) and Riverton rounded out the top-three teams. 

The Eagles placed fourth in Class 2A in 2016 and were third in Class 2A in 2017. 

“It makes it pretty tough to compete as a team,” Ayres said.

But the Eagles aren’t making excuses. They feel they are on the right track to becoming a top-tier team in the state, regardless of class.

“We definitely feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” Ayres said. “We just need to keep on growing and keep on getting better. I’m pretty happy with what we’ve seen so far. It’s a good group of kids. They’re working hard.”

Ayres said he is looking for another big year from sophomore Hagen Lamoreaus after he placed second at state last season while earning All-State honors. 

Roy Collins could also be a force in the heavyweight division this year. The senior suffered a knee injury at the first tournament of the season and wasn’t able to wrestle for the rest of the year. 

“We’re definitely looking for him to come back and stay healthy this year,” Ayres said.

Lyman will open the season today at the Evanston Invitational.