Mustangs take third at Centennial tourney

ANKENY — After facing four consecutive Class 3A schools, the Prairie City-Monroe wrestling team got a chance to face a 2A program currently ranked ahead of it in the state tournament rankings.

The dual would come down to the Mustangs’ three most decorated wrestlers. With PCM trailing by 15 with three matches to go, junior Wes Cummings, Lucas Roland and Jarron Trausch came through with consecutive pins to seal the win for the Mustangs.

The 42-39 win over 2A No. 2 Ballard locked up third place on the day for the 10th-ranked Mustangs. PCM also defeated 3A Dallas Center-Grimes 45-28 an 3A Carlisle 57-21 in pool play.

“Our wrestlers competed hard today against stiff competition,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “

The Mustangs (8-2) opened the day with a 51-22 loss to 3A Centennial and then 3A No. 8 Dubuque Hempstead sent PCM to the third-place match with a 42-28 win.

Centennial defeated Hempstead 39-29 in the championship dual.

Roland and freshman Colby Tool each went 5-0 on the day. Cummings, Trausch, freshman Landon Fenton, sophomore Payton Drake and senior Chase Shirk all finished 4-1.

None of Roland’s wins were bigger than the one he had against Ballard.

After Cummings earned his pin, the Mustangs were still down 39-30. Roland, who is ranked second in 2A at 170 pounds, wrestled up to face the third-ranked wrestler at 182 pounds, Ben Lee.

Roland (13-0) stuck Lee in 52 seconds to stay unbeaten on the season.

Cummings’ pin against Gerald Gute at 170 took only 36 seconds.

Trausch won the meet with his pin in 3 minutes, 41 seconds at 195 over Joe Andrews. Cummings and Trausch both wrestled up a weight from the weight they are ranked at.

“I’m so proud of these guys for never quitting,” Nicholson said.

The Mustangs were 6-6 against Ballard in contested matches.

Ballard was given one more forfeit victory, but PCM won the dual because all six of its wins were by fall.

The other three falls came from Tool, Shirk and Drake. Fenton took a forfeit at 106.

In the opener against Ankeny Centennial, PCM began with Roland getting a 12-5 win over Nic Leo at 170.

The next two wins didn’t come until Fenton and Drake earned back-to-back falls at 106 and 113, respectively. Shirk then got a major decision at 132 and Tool won 10-5 at 145.

“The dual with Centennial was a tough one, it could have been much closer but a few things didn’t go our way and it got away from us,” Nicholson said.

The Mustangs moved guys around all day to compensate for the absence of senior Jacob Ponder, who was taking the ACT test.

Cummings, Roland and Trausch all moved up a weight and got wins by fall against DCG.

Fenton then gave PCM a 24-12 lead after a 25-second pin at 106. Drake got another fall at 113 to push the advantage to 18.

PCM also got a win by decision from junior Clay VanWyk and pins from junior Cody Wallace and Tool to close out the dual victory. The Mustangs went 8-5 against DCG in contested matches.

The record went to 9-2 in contested matches against Carlisle. And 12 of the 21 points Carlisle scored were due to PCM forfeits.

Eight of the nine wins on the mat by PCM came by way of pin. Those were recorded by Roland, Trausch, Smith, Fenton, Shirk, Wallace, senior Brady Fagen and Cummings. Tool also won his match 6-0 and Drake took a forfeit.

With five ranked wrestlers, Hempstead came into the day ranked eighth in the 3A state tournament rankings. And they defeated PCM in eight of the 12 contested matches.

Earning the four wins were Trausch and Shirk by decision, Tool by major decision and Cummings by fall. Roland and senior Drew Johnson each took forfeits.

“This was tough matchup for us they where strong and deep at most of the weights,” Nicholson said.

Tool’s unbeaten day included two pins, two decisions and a major decision. He is 12-1 on the season at 145.

Cummings (12-2) won all four of his matches Saturday by fall. Trausch (12-2) earned three pins and one decision, Fenton (10-3) and Drake (12-2) both had three pins and one forfeit and Shirk (12-3) scored two pins, one major decision and one decision.

Cummings, Drake and Shirk all had one loss to a ranked wrestler. Cummings, who is ranked third at 160 in 2A, lost 10-5 to 3A No. 10 Logan Neils of Centennial at 170. Drake lost 7-3 to 3A No. 6 Dillon Gottschalk of Dubuque Hempstead at 113. Shirk lost 8-3 to 3A No. 6 Max Tracy of DCG at 132.

Trausch, who is ranked seventh in 2A at 182, wrestled all five of his matches at 195.

PCM wrestles in a triangular hosted by Gilbert at 6 p.m. Thursday. Roland-Story also is scheduled to compete.