Mustang seniors poised for final shots at state titles
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PCM senior wrestlers Dalton Kingery and Jake Tool have spent the entire season ranked near the top of their respective weight classes. Now, after months of duals and tournaments, they’re facing their final chances to win what they’ve been after all along — a state title.
For the Mustangs and many other area schools, the road to state begins this weekend at sectional tournaments. While it may be just another tournament to some, it’s symbolic of the beginning of the end for the seniors, as well as the last chance to get what they’ve been after for four years.
“I’ve got a good group of seniors that has been with me for four years, so they know what I expect,” PCM coach Matt Teeter said. “They know how it works and we throw in little motivating factors here and there, but as a senior your goal is always to go to state and get a medal.”
Teeter has sent 15 qualifiers and four medalists to state in his time as coach. Some of those qualifiers are still around on this year’s team as Kingery (31-0, Class 2A No. 4 at 126 pounds), Tool (28-1, No. 3 at 285) and fellow senior Bryce Wignall (145) all have experience at the big show. It’s exactly that experience that has them hungry to return from day one of this season.
“The season’s gone pretty quick, but I went into the season wanting to have a lot of fun, so I’m ready to hang the shoes up when I’m done,” Kingery said. “I’ve felt like I’ve taken care of business so far but I have a couple more weeks, and I’m confident that I won’t let anyone come close to getting in my way.”
“I’m definitely getting really excited and ready to hit state,” Tool added. “I’ve been looking forward to this year for a long time and I’m ready to make things happen.”
Along with their good memories of wrestling at state, Kingery and Tool also have some memories they’d like to leave behind. After making it as a sophomore, Tool missed out on state as a junior last season. Saying that he was just 38 seconds away from qualifying for the second time, Tool has a renewed focus starting with this weekend.
“State’s definitely my biggest goal right now, but as soon as Saturday rolls around I’ll be taking it one match at a time,” he said. “If you don’t do that, it’ll catch up to you. It caught up to me last year, and I was thinking too far ahead and got sloppy with my wrestling.”
After a seventh-place finish in last year’s tourney, Kingery is hoping to not only improve his finish, but ultimately take the top prize. He has been close in the past after a third-place finish as a freshman in the 103-pound weight class, but he’s also not dwelling much on what has happened prior to this season.
“It’s a kind of a fresh start. This year I’ve just been rolling with it,” Kingery said. “I’ve had some adversity and bad things happen in the past like getting close but not quite there, but that’s all done and over with. You can’t change the past, but you can most definitely change what’s going to happen.”
As part of a strong senior class that also includes Wignall, Zach Waddell and Josh Drew, Teeter is expecting a strong finish this weekend. With many of the wrestlers taking top seeds and some of the underclassmen taking cues from the seniors, the Mustangs are hoping to advance to districts next week.
“They always help the guys know what to expect for weigh-ins and know what to expect for this, that and the other thing,” Teeter said. “It’s good to see that.”
The Mustangs have had some down time since the Heart of Iowa tournament, with their only meet action coming against Bondurant on Tuesday. These few weeks have mostly been filled with practice, but mental preparation has undoubtedly been in the mix for the PCM seniors.
“We’re drilling a lot, wrestling hard in the room and some guys wrestled really well again Bondurant, which was nice to see,” Teeter said. “They’re also in our sectional, so it was big for a few of our guys that had to win to get a seed above them. It’s just been business as usual around here.”
Weather permitting, PCM will travel to South Tama for its sectional this weekend. Also on the slate are area teams Colfax-Mingo, Collins-Maxwell-Baxter and Lynnville-Sully, who will travel to Pleasantville for their sectional meet.
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