Mustangs crown three champs at Centerville

CENTERVILLE — The Prairie City-Monroe wrestling team brought just nine wrestlers to the annual Centerville Big Red Wrestling Invitational on Saturday.

That didn’t stop the Mustangs from finishing in the top three of the 14-team tournament.

Senior Xavier Miller (145) and sophomores Wes Cummings (152) and Lucas Roland (160) all won titles, while freshman Payton Drake (106) and sophomore Jarron Trausch (170) were both second and senior Clayton Welch (220) finished third.

Despite not having a full lineup, PCM still scored 189.5 points and finished third behind Class 2A No. 3 Creston/Orient-Macksburg (248.5) and 3A Iowa City High (217).

Interstate-35 was fourth with 141, and Winterset finished fifth with 138.5.

The rest of the field included Knoxville (129.5), Pella (118), Bondurant-Farrar (111.5), Fairfield (111), Mount Pleasant (109), Ottumwa (108), Centerville (97.5), Columbus Community (86.5) and Chariton (53).

Miller inched closer to the school’s all-time career wins record with five more wins. He won his first two matches by fall and then claimed a 17-1 technical fall in the final match of pool play.

Miller (25-2) advanced to the finals with a 9-2 win over Knoxville’s Joe Hollinrake. In the championship match, Miller, who is ranked fourth in 2A, edged third-ranked Mitchel Swank of Creston, 1-0.

Swank (30-5) defeated Miller earlier this season at the DCG Invitational, but Miller won both meetings last season.

Cummings, ranked No. 7 at 152, improved to 21-1 on the season with five more wins. He claimed four wins by fall and another by a 16-0 technical fall.

Roland had the toughest time claiming his championship at 160. He won his first two matches by fall and then won his third bout by technical fall.

Roland (14-1) advanced to the finals with a 6-4 victory in SV-1 over Ottumwa’s Joey Mitchell and claimed the championship following a 4-2 win over Kyle Hefley of Iowa City High.

Trausch and Drake both advanced to the finals but each lost to ranked foes.

Trausch (24-4) won his first four matches by fall. In the championship match, Trausch lost 3-1 in SV-1 to No. 3 Tucker Morrison (25-2) of Columbus Community.

Drake (20-6) won his first three matches by fall before running into No. 10 Jared Kadel of Columbus Community.

Kadel defeated Drake 7-0.

Welch won his two matches by fall. He settled for third in the weight class after losing 3-1 in SV-1 and by fall in his final two matches.

Senior Jakeb Fenton went 2-3 at 120 pounds and finished sixth, while junior Chase Shirk finished seventh after a 2-3 performance.

The ninth wrestler to perform for PCM was senior Leevi Telfer (15-10).

Telfer finished 10th in the weight class after winning once and losing four times.

The Mustangs wrestle in a non-conference quadrangular at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Pella. PCM battles for the Heart of Iowa Conference dual title at 6 p.m. Tuesday when they face Collins-Maxwell/Baxter and Saydel.

The Mustangs and Eagles are both undefeated in HOIC duals this season.