ALBIA — The Prairie City-Monroe wrestling team made a big statement at the Class 2A Sectional 12 tournament here Saturday.
The Mustangs filled 11 of the 14 weights but still managed to send seven to the next round and three PCM grapplers wound up as sectional champions.
PCM’s freshmen trio of Lucas Roland (138), Wes Cummings (152) and Jarron Trausch (170) all won titles in their first high school sectional meet, and those victories helped the Mustangs nearly claim a spot in the state’s regional duals next week.
The Mustangs, who also advanced Jakeb Fenton (106), Clay Van Wyk (113), Chance Palm (120) and Xavier Miller (145) to districts, finished 1.5 points behind Knoxville for second place.
Top-ranked Albia won the meet with 237 points. Knoxville grabbed the other regional dual spot with 174 points, while PCM had 172.5 points despite having open weights at 160, 220 and 285.
Cummings, ranked 10th at 152, had the Mustangs’ most impressive win of the day. He went 2-0 on the day and blasted fourth-ranked Blake Lawless of Albia, 10-1, in the championship match. Lawless is now 30-3 on the season.
Cummings improved to 33-2 on the year, and his only two losses have come against No. 2 Tommy Bradshaw of Greene County.
Roland is 38-2 on the year after two easy wins at 138. He won his first match by fall and then clinched the title with a 14-3 major decision victory in the finals.
Trausch, also seeded second in his bracket, won his opening match by fall, then claimed the title with an 8-3 win. He improved to 36-5 on the year.
Miller (39-5) won his first match 8-3 and then nearly knocked off top-ranked Bryce Leshen of Albia in the finals, losing 6-5. Leshen is 25-1 on the season.
Fenton and Van Wyk each had two matches at 106 and 113, respectively. Both lost by fall in the championship matches. Fenton won his opener by fall and Van Wyk claimed a 13-3 win by major decision.
The final district qualifier was Palm, who went 3-1 on the day. He won by technical fall and then lost by technical fall.
Palm won his third-place match by fall and then claimed an 11-2 win by major decision in a true-second wrestleback.
Brycen Rogers finished third at 126, Nathan Trausch was fourth at 182 and Dalton Schlangen and Drew Johnson were fifth at 195 and 132, respectively.
The Mustangs compete in 2A District 6 at noon Saturday in Knoxville.