Poplar Bluff's Robertson grappling with historic success on mat

Let’s cut the pretense, shall we?

Lucas Robertson is quite a dang good wrestler.

The senior from Poplar Bluff High School is slowly scorching his way up the all-time wins list in program history and just based on what everyone knows about him, the opportunity to become No. 1 likely won’t go begging.

Robertson is now at 134 total wins — with 24 coming in December — and stands only 31 victories away from capturing the top spot and surpassing Matt King (165, met in 2015) and has a very good chance to do so, according to PBHS head coach Kelton Thompson. Thompson is now sixth on the wins list, having been bumped down a spot after Robertson surpassed him before Christmas.

“He’s a pretty special kid: He gets both sides of wrestling with an extremely high IQ and he is able to apply that to his mat wrestling,” Thompson said. “He is a great leader as well and leads by example. He’s helpful to the younger kids and all of the kids in the room, but he is not a rah-rah guy. He helps with a lot of the technical aspects.

“He constantly fills the gaps in his game. He keeps getting better. He finished fifth (at 145 pounds) last year at State, but he is always working to fill those gaps.”

Thompson said his senior is able to do well out of a neutral position and is also a holy terror when Robertson gets on top of his opponent.

“He’s got great character and is a once-in-a-generation talent honestly,” Thompson said. “He would like to get to the state finals this year and so he spent the summer and fall mastering his craft.”

To do that, Robertson decided to step away from soccer which he had played through his junior year.

“I am a wrestler who happened to be a soccer player — and played soccer all my life,” Robertson said. “Wrestling is what I want to be good at. All the conditioning and the skill footwork (in soccer) could have helped me a little bit.

\“I would also say you could switch the roles that the wrestling part of it made me a better soccer player.”

Robertson admits he has an eye on the school record, but his priority is to get ready for a run to a state crown.

“It would be cool, but I am looking at getting that first or second at state,” Robertson said. “Obviously, I want to win.”

He started on the mat in his first grade and has been involved in the travel circuit since then.

“I love every aspect of it — the grind especially,” Robertson said. “The actual preparation. Like in practice and the satisfaction after walking out after a hard session, you feel accomplished and I feel good about myself. As a wrestler, you have your team, but everything you do is individualized. No one can tell you that you didn’t win or like in basketball someone dropped 50 for your team. But in wrestling, you win because it’s all about what you’ve done and what you put into it.

“There is also no blame game. You get what you put into it.”

Robertson admits to being a detail-oriented competitor.

“I have always been like that,” he said. “I’ve never once wanted to do something wrong. Coach tells me, ‘you do this, you make a bad habit.’ I’ve seen a lot of kids develop poor habits from a lack of attention to detail in practice. If it’s a bad habit, it’s hard to break.”

Robertson said that with his ability to scrutinize so specifically, he can find what works well while also nitpicking everything he is falling short of.

“You are always looking for the solution,” Robertson said.

He has been pleased with being part of this Poplar Bluff wrestling renaissance.

“I love being a part of the team — all the guys and the coaches are awesome,” Robertson said. “The environment is fantastic. We go in and get serious and work hard, but no matter what happens and things get heated at practice, we are back to being teammates.

“It is nice to be part of this and it feels good to know that I am playing a part in making the program better. A big one I’ve (learned) is that a lot of our guys are new and a lot of the guys come to me with a question, they are looking at it from different perspectives and viewpoints and it helps me look at different ways to do things. I would never have thought about some of this because of the questions they ask. It challenges me to think about things in different ways and what do I need to do and apply it to my own wrestling.

Robertson feels he’s reciprocated where he can for his fellow Mules.

“I feel I’m not very vocal, but I would say I set an example on how to do things right,” Robertson said. “The big key is not always harping on things, but showing them the right way and leaving it up to them. If I have to harp on you or yell at you to do decent things, you aren’t going to make it anyway.

“You have to want it and do it yourself.”

Robertson has done that to the tune of 134 wins and more likely on the horizon.