ARGENTA - Nikko Lang jokes that he's "a ladies' man."

"I do love the ladies," he said with a grin.

Lang is a senior at Argenta-Oreana High School who started his "ladies' man" career early. At wrestling camp back when he was a sophomore, a college student who was helping keep score got a marriage proposal from him.

Laughing, Lang said, "I thought she might be the one for me."

His coach, Gary Cook, just shook his head. Lang is one of his most entertaining students, he said.

Cook spotted Lang as a potential member of the wrestling team when Lang was a freshman and convinced him to give the sport a try. It's the only sport Lang plays. As much as he enjoys wrestling, however, he still knows how to take one for the team, which he proved in February.

"I gave up my wrestling weight class for Bronson (Washburn)," Lang said. "I did it for him and for the team. We thought it was best."

The team had arrived late, and Washburn was too heavy for his usual weight class, according to the scale used at the LeRoy Regional meet. Lang stepped aside to allow Washburn to compete in his place. It cost the team its chance at a regional title and Lang his last opportunity to compete in high school, but he smiles and shrugs it off.

"It just showed his team spirit and the class that has been deeply rooted in his life," said Chris Allen, whose son Brody is a friend of Lang.

When the boys were 12, Allen said, he took them to the Illinois State Fair and convinced Lang, who was somewhat skeptical, to try the rock-climbing wall.

"Once I discovered how easily Nikko could lift his own body weight, I had him promise me he would try out for the wrestling team at Argenta," Allen said.

Lang is a percussionist in the high school band and, during marching band season, he's a drum major. He played Horton in the school's production of "Seussical the Musical" and won the school talent show as a sophomore doing a "spur of the moment" dance with a Hula hoop.

"It was just supposed to be something to fill time between the real acts," Lang said, almost apologetically. That success convinced him to prepare a "real" act of his own for this spring's talent show, however.

He was voted homecoming king this year and named "Biggest Flirt" by his classmates in the senior awards voting. He's also active in church, and Allen said Lang and his sisters, Vanessa and Samantha, are the sweetest kids he knows.

"Their mother (Vanessa Tull) instilled a good and, most importantly, a godly upbringing," Allen said.

Lang plans to attend Millikin University next year, where he will study to be a high school math teacher. He serves as a mentor at Argenta-Oreana Grade School, visiting every other Thursday. He enjoys working with children and toyed with the idea of being an elementary teacher, but he decided a high school environment would better suit him.

"I like the idea of teaching a lot of different classes," he said.

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.