March 29, 2024

HOIC Sweep: Mustangs claim conference tourney team title

PCM wins four titles, CMB finishes ninth

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ALLEMAN — Saydel had a 17.5 point cushion over the Prairie City-Monroe wrestling team heading into the final consolation round Saturday at the Heart of Iowa Conference tournament at North Polk High School.

But for the second time in three days, the advantage was too small.

PCM won four individual titles, three others placed second and the Mustangs claimed the HOIC tournament title by 10 points over the Eagles.

PCM won the conference dual title over runner-up Saydel on Thursday. For the first time since 2011, the Mustangs completed the sweep a few days later.

“We faced some adversity again,” PCM coach Cory Waddell said. “We lost some matches that I didn’t think we were going to lose, but the boys battled back in that consolation round that set up the placing matches.”

Senior Xavier Miller (145), sophomores Wes Cummings (152) and Jarron Trausch (170) and freshman Payton Drake all won individual titles, and runner-up finishes by senior Clayton Welch (220), junior Chase Shirk (138) and sophomore Lucas Roland (160) helped the Mustangs score 220 points.

“(Saydel) had 12 left and we had 13 heading into the placing matches so I knew it would come right down to the end,” Waddell said. “The boys got it done.”

Saydel advanced eight to the finals but won just two of those matches in scoring 210 points in second. Gilbert was next with 199.5 points. Greene County (130) and South Hamilton (117) rounded out the top five, while Roland-Story (103), Nevada (82), North Polk (71) and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter (59) completed the field.

The Raiders’ top two finishers were seniors Evan Bianchi (160) and Archer McFadden (285), which both placed third in their respective weight classes. CMB brought just seven wrestlers to the tournament.

“We just wanted to clean up the small mistakes before sectionals,” CMB coach Mike Leslie said. “We cleaned up most of them actually. We looked a lot better today than we did Thursday. We definitely made improvements.”

Class 2A No. 3 Miller (35-2) won his third HOIC title for PCM and inched closer to the all-time school record for career victories. He recorded two pins to get to the 145-pound final and then dominated in the title match, winning by a 15-0 technical fall.

“It feels good. I am satisfied with the win, but I still have three tournaments to focus on,” said Miller, who was the runner-up as a sophomore.

Traush (33-5) won his second HOIC title in as many tries. He won his first match by fall and then edged Saydel’s Devon Van Houten (28-6) 3-2 in the finals.

Trausch had to rally against Van Houten for the second time in three days, but a two-point reversal in the second period gave him a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. Trausch rode out Van Houten for a large portion of the second period and remained in top of the Eagle senior for the entire third period.

“Considering how tired I was it made it even harder,” Trausch said of the long ride. “It was just all heart.”

Waddell added, “As soon as he walked off the mat, we told him that was a heck of a gut check. To ride a kid who is that good for that long was great. That takes heart. He stayed aggressive, tried to turn when he could, stayed off his hips and stayed to the side.”

No. 7 Cummings (31-1) ran into a buzz saw in Greene County senior Tommy Bradshaw last season. Most of his losses came to Bradshaw, but Cummings earned a trip to the top of the HOIC podium this season following three wins by first-period falls. He spent of a total of 2 minutes, 28 seconds on the mat.

“My maturity level from one year to the next got better. That helped this year,” Cummings said of falling a little short of a HOIC title last year. “This is just the first step toward the rest of the season.”

Drake (30-6) won his first conference title in his first season of high school wrestling. He made it look easy, too, winning all three of his matches by fall. Drake pinned Saydel’s Dylan Becker in 1:06.

“The kid’s got two losses since he went to 106,” Waddell said. “He started things off in the finals with a pin against Saydel. That was a big momentum win for us.”

The Mustangs trailed by 17.5 points heading to the final consolation round. PCM went 4-2 in its six consolation matches but every win came by pin. Saydel had just four wrestlers in that round, and PCM managed to take a slim lead into the final round.

“Getting all of those pins were huge,” Waddell said. “That got us a lead and were able to pull away a little bit.”

Getting those consolation pins were sophomores Clay Van Wyk (113) and Dalton Schlangen (182), senior Leevi Telfer (195) and freshman Jace Smith. Van Wyk and Telfer (22-13) both went on to finish third in their respective weights, while Schlangen and Smith settled for fourth. Senior Jakeb Fenton won a pair of matches at 120 and finished fifth.

No. 5 Roland (21-2) went 2-1 on the day but fell short of a second HOIC title when he lost to South Hamilton’s Luke Peters, 6-2, in the 160-pound title match. Shirk and Welch (19-11) both went 1-1 with the lone loss coming in the finals at 138 and 220, respectively.

Telfer defeated CMB’s Cody Galbraith by pin in the final consolation round. Galbraith finished fifth after receiving a forfeit in his final match.

Two other matches featured a pair of area grapplers. At 138, Shirk defeated CMB sophomore Caleb Fullerton in the semifinals. Fullerton (16-7) went on to finish fourth.

McFadden pinned Smith in the third-place match. McFadden (18-6) was 2-1 on the day with the lone loss coming to Gilbert’s Eli Harris, 6-3, in the semifinals. Harris went on to win the 285-pound title.

“I definitely would have liked to have taken first place in my senior,” McFadden said. “The last three years this tourney has come down to me and him and one other guy. It wasn’t a bad day. I didn’t get pinned, and I will see him in a few weeks at sectionals. It’s another learning experience. I need to be more aggressive and work for more takedowns.”

Bianchi also finished third for CMB. He won three matches on the day and is now 15-7 on the season. His lone loss came to eventual champion Peters, 9-0, in the semifinals.

“He’s a good competitor. I have wrestled him since eighth grade,” Bianchi said. “We have had a lot of close matches. Unfortunately, it wasn’t close today. I know I can do better.”

Leslie was hoping for better results from his two seniors, but the Raiders simply ran into better wrestlers.

“It didn’t end the way they wanted to,” Leslie said. “Those are guys that they have been facing for a long time, and they just can’t get over the hump to beat them.”

For PCM, winning two titles should give the Mustangs a big boost of momentum heading into sectionals. Waddell’s final year at the helm will now included two HOIC championship plaques.

“It feels great. He hasn’t been able to win one since he’s been the coach, so I am not sure this can be any better for him,” Waddell said. “It feels great to achieve our team goals finally this year.”

PCM wrestles at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Moravia and then competes against Colfax-Mingo and BGM at 6 p.m. Thursday in Brooklyn.

CMB’s only competition this week is Thursday night at the Southeast Warren duals.