TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Central Mountain senior Dalton Perry gets his hand raised during the District 6 Class AAA tournament at Altoona on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.

In analyzing the most storied high school wrestlers, the ones of losses often stand out above the scores of wins. It’s rare to see the most dominant wrestlers fall, whether it be by rare upset, injury forfeit or a meeting of greats.

On most occasions, those brighter blemishes don’t form until postseason. Dalton Perry, a Central Mountain great in his own right, isn’t a stranger to those tough losses, particularly when it comes to the latter category.

Since claiming Top Hat gold to kick off his high school career back in December of 2021, Perry has put together one of the most decorated resumes in program history, wrapping up that freshman campaign as a state champion and going on to hit 150 career wins heading of his final postseason.

But though he’s continued making strides, becoming more and more dominant while improving both sides of his game, obstacles have stood in the way of him adding to that first-year title. Five of his 15 career losses have occurred in his last two postseasons, none fresher on his mind than the two narrow defeats he suffered through his junior run.

Against 2022 state runner-up Brock Weiss in the Northwest Regional final, Perry found himself trailing 7-2 midway through the second, as Weiss pulled off a five-point move to give himself an edge. The Wildcat would find a way to battle back, putting together a string of third-period takedowns to tie it at 8-8. But a late escape allowed Weiss to edge out the decision.

Still, Perry found a silver lining when discussing that loss to his good friend one year later. Though it was a tough loss, especially considering the work he put in to fight back, he expressed pride when discussing that effort – another strength amidst his endless array of abilities.

“It just showed me that I could battle back from behind because the match ended up close. So, just good lessons there,” said Perry, who’ll be joining Weiss at Penn State next season. “It was honestly one of the best matches I wrestled last year. Sometimes, you just don’t come out on top.”

One weekend later, he’d find himself in a similarly tight match against two-time state medalist Maddow Shaw in the state finals, with the match going the distance deadlocked at 1-1. In sudden victory, with his second title at stake, it was Shaw that secured the title-sealing takedown, two crushing blows within the span of one week.

Though each loss was grueling to overcome at the time, they aren’t ones that faze him heading into March. Instead, the Penn State commit hopes to use them as building blocks in pursuit of putting together one last title run to close out his illustrious career.

“Going forward, I know I just have to get to my offense and if I start doing that, then I’ll be hard to beat,” said Perry. “I definitely think it was more mental than technical, just kind of getting myself over that hump of just attacking against the best guys and letting it rip.”

Through his senior season, he captured his fourth Ultimate Warrior title, third Top Hat title, and second King of the Mountain title. He heads into regionals fresh off his third District 4 Class AAA championship, four career pins away from 100 with 30 on the season out of his 35 wins.

Though the focus lies on this weekend’s West Regional tournament, he feels that if he woke up in the Giant Center at any moment, he’d be ready for the task at hand. This time is where legacies are built, and Perry feels prepared to leave his mark to close out his high school career.

“I feel like I’m ready now and I feel like the guys on the team are ready now, just kind of staying in good shape and fine tuning,” said Perry. “If we went to the state tournament today or tomorrow, I feel like we’d be ready.”