Mustang wrestling trio has medals on their minds

MONROE — There’s only one way to make this weekend a success for the Prairie City-Monroe trio who will be wrestling at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships.

“We want to bring three guys down and come back with three medals,” PCM coach Cory Waddell said. “I woud say anything other than that is not a successful week as a group. I definitely think we are top eight in every weight class we are going in at.”

The Predicament’s rankings all season is proof PCM senior Xavier Miller and sophomore Lucas Roland should compete for a medal.

Miller goes into the state meet ranked third at 145 pounds, and Roland is fifth at 160.

The third qualifier, sophomore Jarron Trausch, spent the early portion of the season ranked in the top 10 but has since fallen out. Still, he’s only lost five times and three of those came against state qualifiers.

“Jarron is much better as an underdog,” Waddell said. “He would rather have the target be on the other guy’s back.”

Miller got the best draw among the Mustangs. He takes a 35-match win streak into the state meet and will face No. 7 Tate Battani of Ballard in the first round.

Miller’s teammate, sophomore Wes Cummings, defeated Battani by major decision earlier this season at the Ankeny Centennial dual tournament.

“(Wes and I) have completely different styles, but I think I will be able to handle him,” Miller said when asked if he can use the Cummings’ win to his advantage. “I just have to go out there and do my thing and wrestle my match.”

Miller (45-2) has not lost since Dec. 10. The most positive news in regards to his draw is two-time champion Ryan Leisure (35-0) of Clear Lake is on the other side of the bracket and would not face Miller until the finals, if both guys get there.

Leisure is ranked No. 1, is the overwhelming favorite in the weight class and will wrestle for Iowa State in college.

“He’s excited and ready to go. He’s working hard. We just need to get it going,” Waddell said. “We know a lot about (Battani). (Cummings) beat him by a major decision. If we wrestle our match, we should be fine.”

Fifth-ranked Roland (32-2) also drew a ranked opponent in the opening round. He will face No. 7 Kolton Bartow of Dubuque Wahlert. Bartow (27-10) helped eliminate, along with No. 3 Julien Broderson of Davenport Assumption, No. 1 ranked Luke Hageman of Dyersville Beckman.

“I do like my draw. I have a solid kid right off the bat. He beat the No. 1 ranked wrestler so he’s has my attention,” said Roland, whose only two losses this year are to wrestlers who also advanced to the state meet. “That would be a solid win to start the tournament if I can pull it off.”

Waddell said the key in Roland’s first match is beating Bartow on his feet.

“That’s our bread and butter,” Waddell said. “He wants to wrestle us on our feet, but we want to do that, too.”

Trausch will see a familiar face across the mat in his opening bout at 170. Trausch faces Solon’s Mike Hoyle (37-16). Hoyle defeated Trausch 11-6 in a match on Dec. 22.

“That was a long time ago,” Waddell said. “He was coming off another tournament that he underperformed in. I fullly believe this match will go differently.

“He threw himself to his back twice. That’s 10 points. Take those away and he wins 6-1. He outwrestled the kid for the most part.”

A win over Battani (31-10) in the first round pushes Miller into the quarterfinals against an unranked opponent.

The two potential opponents in Miller’s second match are Mount Vernon’s Paul Ryan (35-9) and Carroll Kuemper’s Tim Sibbel (43-8). Sibbel went 0-2 at 138 last year at state.

Miller also has No. 8 Austin Hazelett of Washington and No. 9 Carter Block of Oelwein on his side of the bracket. Hazelett went 0-2 at 138 last year and lost to Roland 11-4 in a first-round consolation match.

Miller’s two losses this season came to Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s Mitchel Swank, who he split with this season, and 3A No. 5 Drew Sams of Oskaloosa.

Swank, ranked fourth in 2A, and Sams are both in the state tournament field in their respective classes. Smith went 1-2 at 145 last year and lost to Miller in overtime. Sams finished seventh at 132 in 3A last season.

“The only way for this tournament to be successful for me is to win it,” Miller said. “I have to win. I have to believe I can do it, and just wrestle.”

Miller, the school’s all-time leader in career wins, went 1-2 at the state tournament last year.

“I don’t want to feel this year like I felt last year,” Miller said. “Losing at state last year was one of the worst feelings I have ever felt.”

A win against Bartow would push Roland into the quarterfinals potentially against No. 8 Thomas Bentley of Red Oak. Bentley (42-8) faces unranked Zach Williams (35-23) of Osage in his opening match.

Second-ranked Ryan Gorman of New Hampton and sixth-ranked Tristin Westphal-Edwards also are on Roland’s side of the bracket. Gorman (52-3) and Westphal-Edwards (39-5) face off in Round 1.

Gorman was 1-2 last year at 152, while Westphal-Edwards finished 0-2 at 160.

“I defintely want to be in the finals. I have been thinking about that all offseason and it started after last season really,” Roland said. “I want to be in the finals, and I want to be on TV. That’s all I am thinking about right now. You have to take it one match at a time.”

Roland is the only Mustang who returned home with a medal last year, placing seventh at 138 pounds. His only two losses this season came against Interstate 35’s Mason Woosley and South Hamilton’s Luke Peters, and both of those wrestlers qualified for the state tourney.

Trausch (43-5) was the only Mustang who did not win a match at the state tournament last year, but he was underweight at 170 pounds. This year, he’s much closer to 170 and stronger in every aspect of the sport.

“I think I should feed off the fact that I didn’t win a match last year,” Trausch said. “I felt happy to just make it, and I thought that was a great feeling. Then I lost twice and realized that it wasn’t good enough. And that feeling of losing both matches down there was not a good one.”

If Trausch can avenge his loss to Hoyle in the opening round, he’ll face either No. 10 Noah Glaser (50-8) of New Hampton or Tyler Zieman (35-10) of Cherokee.

“I know how he wrestles, and I think I can beat him,” Trausch said of his first-round opponent. “I wrestled terrible in that first match. That might have been my worst match of the season.”

The only other ranked wrestler on his side of the bracket is No. 1 Brock Jennings (52-2) of Osage. Jennings was fourth at 152 last season.

Three of Trausch’s five losses came before Christmas. Three of his losses came against opponents who qualified for the state tournament in Ottumwa’s Joey Mitchell, Hoyle and No. 3 Tucker Morris of Columbus Community.

Morris beat Trausch 3-1 in overtime. He was seventh at 170 last season.

“We aren’t looking ahead at all. We know the three guys we are wrestling and that’s it,” Waddell said. “We take six coaches down there for a reason. Some of these coaches’ jobs are to watch the next match and figure out who we are wrestling. Then we have Thursday night to Friday afternoon to do the scouting. You don’t know who you are going to get and you don’t look ahead.”