BONDURANT — Prairie City-Monroe wrestling coach Cory Waddell added another note to his swan song Saturday.
It’s Waddell’s final year at the helm of the Mustangs’ program, and after claiming conference dual and tournament titles earlier this season, he tallied a regional dual appearance to his final tally.
Missing one of their top wrestlers due to injury, PCM couldn’t once again best Heart of Iowa Conference foe Saydel, but the Mustangs placed second at the Class 2A Sectional 9 tournament. PCM lost to the Eagles by five points but both squads advanced to Tuesday’s regional duals at No. 2 Solon.
Champions in four different weight classes and another runner-up finish propelled the Mustangs. Senior Xavier Miller (145) and sophomores Lucas Roland (160) and Jarron Trausch (170) won their second sectional titles, while freshman Payton Drake continued to roll along at 106 pounds and won his first championship.
A fifth qualifier, junior Chase Shirk, advanced to districts after rebounding to win two straight after losing in the semifinals.
“It was going to be difficult winning the sectional without Wes Cummings in the lineup,” Waddell said about his ranked 152-pound wrestler. “It was a good day. We wanted to get to regional duals, and we did that.”
With Cummings in the lineup, the Mustangs defeated Saydel in HOIC dual action earlier this season. Helped by a conference championship by Cummings, PCM rallied past the Eagles in the traditional tournament.
The Eagles got the best of PCM on Saturday despite losing to the Mustangs in both the head-to-head title bouts. Saydel won the sectional with 190 points. PCM was five points back in second followed by Knoxville (177), No. 4 South Tama County (170.5), Grinnell (156) and host Bondurant-Farrar (141.5).
The top two finishers in each weight class advance to Saturday’s district tournament in Knoxville. The top two finishing teams compete at regional duals at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Mustangs open regional duals against Mount Vernon, while Saydel meets No. 2 Solon. The winners face each other for the right to advance to state duals.
“It’s an honor to get to go,” Waddell said. “We may not wrestle all our of qualifiers. That will depend on matchups and where we are in the dual. In my last year, this is one of the things that we haven’t done yet. It’s nice to be recognized and get to go.”
Drake won his first sectional title following a 2-0 win over No. 6 Brock Beck of Grinnell in the title match. He won his other match 9-1 and is now 38-6 on the season.
“We wrestled a lot back in the day,” Drake said. “We know each other well. This is the first time I beat him in a while.”
Trausch won his 40th match of the season when he claimed the title at 170 pounds. He won his first match by fall and then defeated Saydel’s Devon Van Houten (38-7) for a third time this season, this time by an 8-4 decision.
Van Houten scored first on Trausch in the two previous meetings before the Mustang sophomore rallied each time for the win.
There was no need to rally in third match. Trausch fared much better on his feet, scored first and never trailed.
“I was better on my feet today and that allowed to me to not have to wrestle from behind like the first two times,” Trausch said. “We know each other. I just tried to change things up a little bit.”
Roland needed just one win on the mat to clinch his second straight sectional title. He spent less than a minute on the mat, winning by pin in the semifinals and then earning an injury default win over Saydel’s Chance Rice in the finals.
“I really want to wrestle good guys. I need to be ready for those matches. I was hoping to wrestle him today,” said Roland, who is now 29-2 on the season. “This one feels good to be honest. I have been worried about going up so much in weight from last year. This just re-assures me that I can do this. This title gives me more confidence.”
Miller added to his school record in wins Saturday. He has 151 wins after defeating Knoxville’s Joe Hollinrake, 6-4, in the semifinals and then rallying to defeat Grinnell’s Jevin Wyatt by fall in the championship.
Wyatt got Miller (43-2) in a cradle in the first period and nearly stuck him for the upset. Miller got loose, recovered and eventually pinned Wyatt in the third period.
“Xavier got into a little trouble in the finals, but he came out of it like it always does,” Waddell said. “Once he didn’t get pinned, I thought we’d be fine. He was pretty close.”
The third-ranked Miller added, “I took him down pretty easy. I tried to turn him and then he reversed me, and the next thing you know, he put me in a cradle and I went to my back. I was a little nervous at that point. It wasn’t a very good match to be honest. I am just glad I won. I have two more to win now.”
Shirk advanced to districts as the No. 4 seed. He is now 23-18 on the season after rallying following a loss by fall to No. 4 Colton Vest of South Tama in the semifinals. He won two matches by fall and then won his second-place wrestleback 11-7 to advance.
Seniors Jakeb Fenton (126) and Clayton Welch (220) both finished third and lost second-place wrestlebacks. Senior Leevi Telfer (195), freshman Jace Smith (285) and sophomore Clay Van Wyk (113) all finished fourth.
An injury prevented Telfer from finishing his third-place match.
Junior Brady Fagen replaced Cummings at 152 and finished fifth. Sophomore Dalton Schlangen (182) also finished fifth, while sophomore Cody Wallace (132) finished sixth.
Cummings only lost twice this season but an injury sustained against Central Decatur earlier this season puts the sophomore out of action for about six months with a torn labrum.
Drake opens the district tournament with a match against Albia’s Michael Thomas (24-6). Shirk faces sectional champion Blake Ryerson of Winterset in his opening match at 138.
Miller faces Albia’s Bryce McKim (39-9) in his first match, and he’ll also have to get by Winterset’s Justin Smith. Smith is ranked sixth.
Trausch starts his run to the district title with a semifinal match against Centerville’s Stephen Wardlow (36-19).
First things first, PCM faces Mount Vernon in a regional duals semifinal match at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Solon.
“It’s awesome,” Trausch said about wrestling in regional duals. “Waddell wanted to win as much as he could on his way out. This is really cool for him and for the program. “