Lucas Messinger has an interesting goal this wrestling season. After 21 pins, three technical falls and a major decision comprised his 25 victories last year, the Robbinsville High junior wants win more matches by less points.
“It may sound weird,” he said. “I didn’t have a single match where I didn’t win by bonus points. Every other match that there were no bonus points I lost, so I want to get better at going the distance and winning those close matches.”
Make no mistake, the two-time region qualifier still wants to put his opponent to the mat, but he would also like to reverse most of those 13 defeats that he lost by an average of six points (he also suffered three pins and a t-fall).
Dan Hughes feels it can happen.
“His goal is to make states,” the Ravens coach said. “I think that’s a very appropriate goal for him and we’re looking forward to him chasing it down.”
Messinger has been chasing down wrestling success for a long time.
His dad, Scott, grappled for Marlboro High School. When Lucas was 4 Scott signed him and older brother Alex up for the Robbinsville Wrestling Association.
“At first it was just fun for me,” Messinger said. “As a kid you like to do things. I just got thrown around until I got the grasp of it and realized what I liked and didn’t like.”
The brothers—who stuck together throughout their career—moved on to Elite Wrestling Club before arriving at Robbinsville. Through it all, Alex, had an impact on his younger brother.
“Immeasurable, I couldn’t overstate it,” Hughes said. “They are best friends and Lucas really looks up to Alex and tries to follow his footsteps.
“Alex is one of the best leaders we ever had. From the time he was a freshman until he was done (after last season) he was always a leader for us. Lucas watched that for a few years and got to learn from it. Now that Alex has moved on Lucas gets to step in and be like his brother and mentor the other kids, which is cool.”
Lucas felt he could not have had a better influence.
“He’s a big brother so everything he does I think it’s great to do,” Messinger said. “Him sticking with it kind of helped me stick with it. He’s a role model for me and an example as well.”
Considering Alex has about 30 pounds on his brother, the home wrestling bouts never quite went Lucas’ way.
“He was a good bit heavier than me so it was a bit of a struggle,” Messinger said with a laugh. “But when we got the chance we would do it.”
It certainly couldn’t hurt going against a future collegian, as Alex now wrestles for Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. He leaves behind a brother who hopes to build on the success of his first two seasons.
As a freshman, Messinger fractured his elbow at the season’s outset and “I didn’t get off to the best start.” He hung in but Blaise Grippa had a lock on Messinger’s regular weight at 113. After putting on some weight he won a match at 120 to conclude the regular season.
Showing an amazing ability to come up big with precious little experience, Messinger won several wrestle-offs to earn the 120-pound slot in the District 21 tournament. He finished third to advance to Region 6; where he lost in the first round.
“We were loaded at his weight class, and he was hurt,” Hughes recalled. “All that was going on, so he goes into districts, nobody knows who he is and he wins a medal. He really came on late that freshman year and that gave him confidence moving forward to a really good sophomore year.”
Upon entering districts, Messinger just went with what he knew.
“To me it’s really just a sport,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it my whole life. I knew what I had to do going into it. I was pretty advanced with wrestling when I was younger. I wrestled with high school kids a lot. Even in middle school I came to high school practices when I could. It kind of just helped me get a gauge on where I’m at.
“I knew I could place, there was never a point where I doubted myself. I know the ability I have so it’s all about believing in myself and trusting I can do it.”
That trust paid off big-time last season.
Messinger won the Walter Woods Tournament at 120 pounds in December. He dropped to 113 for the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament and posted three sub-one minute pins, including a 31-second fall over Hopewell’s Dean Meissner in the championship bout. The Bulldog had just beaten Messinger in a dual meet four days earlier
“I really wanted that match back,” Messinger said. “I saw the bracket; saw he was the one seed and I was the two seed. I knew what I had to do.”
He just didn’t expect to do it that quickly.
“I didn’t think the match would go like that,” Messinger continued. “He’s a really good wrestler. I was in the right position at the right time and stuck him. It felt really good to win that match, I wanted it really bad. It all kind of came to fruition.”
A month later Messinger took second in District 22 at 113, and had a better showing at regions as he won twice before falling in the sixth-place match. He gained five region matches, which should help this season.
“I’m gonna have a lot of experience,” Messinger said. “But honestly it’s always just one match. You gotta win one to get to the next. That’s the mentality I have. In regions if you don’t get a bye, you lose one and you’re out. You know what you have to do going into a really good tournament. There are obvious expectations for me this year. It’s my goal to live up to them.”
And while he wants to turn around some of those close losses, neither he or the Ravens mind watching those first-period pins; of which he had 18 last season.
“The word I use to describe him is electric,” Hughes said. “He can go out there and end a match quickly. It’s something that he gets excited about. He likes to go out and put people down quick. He’s got a lot of fun stuff. He likes to throw; he comes out when the whistle blows like he’s shot out of a cannon.
“We want our kids to attack the whole time. That’s his mindset when he’s out there. I hope as our younger kids watch him, that’s what rubs off on them, like ‘Oh I love the way he wrestles, I want to be like that.’”
As a starter on Robbinsville’s state finalist soccer team, Messinger brings great stamina to the mat. He feels one sport helps with the other, and credits soccer for allowing him to go long or short in matches.
“It’s just kind of ending the match when you can,” he said of his early pins. “I’m not the type of wrestler to try to rack up points. You just gotta put your all in every period. I think soccer helped me a lot. I have a pretty good tank and I can just keep on going when other wrestlers can’t. It gives me a big advantage, even in the first period. That’s what helped me rack up those pins.
“It’s really important that I do each of those sports. Both help with stamina, wrestling helps with perseverance. Every quality from both sports goes hand in hand. I’ve done it my whole life so it would just feel weird doing one without the other.”
Despite wrestling being an individual sport, Messinger feels the team success in soccer carries over on to the mat.
“One hundred percent,” he said. “I want to do what I can to make everyone in the school proud, my family proud, my teammates proud. We have a really good soccer program. It just gives me more firepower to keep it going with wrestling as well.”
When it comes to his favorite starting position, Messinger prefers neutral.
“That’s where I got most of my pins,” he said. “I’m a weird wrestler, so I’ve gotten good in weird positions. It’s just fun. It’s where you can create the most. On top and bottom it’s cut and dry, but in neutral you can do whatever you want and hope it goes your way.”
Hard work helps it go the right way. Hughes was impressed by Messinger’s regiment last summer and the constant example he sets in the wrestling room during the season.
“He’s a good person and a good leader in the room, the kids look up to him,” said the coach, who hopes to keep Messinger at 126 pounds this season. “He’s a happy kid; he loves to compete and practice and learn. When he competes he’s energetic, exciting, explosive. He’s exactly what you want from a wrestler in your lineup.”
When he’s not in the lineup, Messinger is giving back to the sport as he works with the younger wrestlers in the middle school.
More than just an athlete, he’s also a member of the Agriculture Club, Ping Club and Jewish American Heritage Club. A member of the Jewish faith, he enjoys what that club entails.
“We go over different stuff,” he said. “Where the religion is from, the food, the customs. It develops your knowledge and it helps you appreciate your heritage more.”
Much like he appreciates the heritage of the Messinger brothers when it comes to Ravens wrestling.