March 29, 2024

PCMs Clark survives overtime thriller in Class 2A 126 division

DES MOINES — Just win and advance.

That’s the name of the game at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Arena.

And that couldn’t have been more true for Prairie City-Monroe senior Tristan Clark on Thursday.

Clark had to bounce back from a second-period deficit and a controversial takedown near the end of the mat in the first Sudden Victory period was the difference during a 4-2 opening-round win.

Perry’s Gisaveri Niyibizi gained a 2-1 lead with a takedown in the second period, but another escape by Clark evened the match at 2-all. Clark then rode out Niyibizi in the third period and scored the necessary two points in overtime.

“One thing I never worry about with Tristan is his heart and his desire to win,” PCM coach Cory Waddell said. “That kid took him down fairly easily in the second period. When you get to overtime, you are both on your feet and the first one to score wins. He showed a lot of heart and that was a great spin around.”

The spin around happened because Clark essentially knew what was coming. He watched enough tape and talked to enough people in the sport to know that Niyibizi’s two main moves are a duck under and a double-leg.

When Niyibizi (34-11) showed that move in the overtime, Clark was ready, and the spin around gave him the winning points near the end of the mat.

“He is definitely one of the strongest and fastest kids that I have ever wrestled. I knew he had a duck under and a double-leg so I was just watching out for that,” Clark said. “I was going to let him shoot and then shuck him around. It worked out for me.”

There was some question as to whether or not both wrestlers stayed in bounds on Clark’s match-winning takedown. Waddell admitted it was a tough call to make, and the Perry coaches thought the wrong call was made.

“It was really close. The call could have gone either way,” Waddell said. “I can’t say that I wouldn’t have argued if it went against us because I probably would have. Just like their coach did.

“Winning is the most important thing. He gets to rest now and has plenty of recovery time.”

Clark, who is ranked fifth and now 42-3 on the season, has already done better than he did last year at the state meet. He lost his first match in 2013 and ended up 1-2.

The Mustang senior will face Decorah’s Devin Stortz in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Stortz (31-9) defeated Spirit Lake Park’s Adam Skopec (35-12) in their opening-round bout by a first-period fall.

“Everyone who is here is going to be good, so I can’t overlook anyone,” Clark said. “I will learn about him tonight and stick to the plan that we set.”

Waddell knows his senior grappler is going to have to be more aggressive on his feet if he wants to continue to advance.

“He needs to open up more offense,” Waddell said. “(Niyibizi) took some of our offense away from us, but we have to find ways to score. It won’t get any easier to score as we move along. It’s going to be very important to score first in the matches ahead. That is what we will work on and that is what we will talk about.”

Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com