March 28, 2024

Mustangs crown three champs, finish second at Red Owens tourney

PLEASANT HILL — The Class 2A No. 9 Prairie City-Monroe wrestling team doesn’t shy away from tough competition.

And on Saturday, the Mustangs proved they can compete against some of the best teams in the state.

PCM sent six wrestlers to the finals, crowned three champions and finished second overall at the Red Owens Holiday Classic hosted by Southeast Polk.

The host Rams, who are ranked second and are the defending state champions in 3A, won the tournament with 288.5 points. The Mustangs also cleared 200 points, finishing second with 201.5.

PCM was nearly 40 points better than 3A No. 5 Glenwood, which ended up third with 164 points. Plattsmouth, Neb., finished fourth with 154 and the Southeast Polk JV was next with 148.5.

Albia (142), Atlantic-CAM (129), OA-BCIG (86.5), 1A No. 6 Underwood (82.5), Cedar Rapids Jefferson (75) and Des Moines Roosevelt (29) completed the 10-team field.

Leading the way for the Mustangs were juniors Wes Cummings (160) and Jarron Trausch (182) and sophomore Payton Drake (113), who all won titles at their respective weights.

Junior Lucas Roland (170) and freshmen Landon Fenton (106) and Colby Tool (138) all finished second.

The Mustangs were second overall despite having one open weight and five wrestlers failing to win a match.

Cummings and Trausch were both undefeated on the day with a combined nine pins, but Drake scored the biggest wins of the tourney.

Drake won his pool match by fall and then opened bracket play with a 57-second pin. In the semifinals, Drake (18-2) defeated 2A No. 5 Jake Niemann of OA-BCIG, 6-3. He then took down Plattsmouth’s Anthony Long, 4-2, in the finals. Niemann is 17-2 on the season and Long, a ranked wrestler in Nebraska, fell to 15-2.

Third-ranked Cummings was 5-0 on the day and is now 19-2 on the season.

His first three pins at 160 pounds came in 56, 32 and 16 seconds. He won his semifinal match by fall in 1:11 and then secured the tourney title with a pin in 4:20.

Ninth-ranked Trausch (18-2) had a 27-second pin in pool action at 182 pounds. His three pins in bracket play came in 2:55, 2:29 and 5:10.

Second-ranked Roland (17-1) lost for the first time this season in the finals at 170.

Roland won his first two matches by fall in 48 seconds and 1:27.

In the 170-pound finals, Roland scored a takedown with 8 seconds to go to take a 3-1 lead, but 3A No. 3 Thaddeus Breitsprecker (11-2) of Southeast Polk won the match with a takedown in the final seconds after Roland gave him a free escape point.

Tool is now 19-2 on the season after losing 5-4 in the 138-pound finals. He won his two pool matches 4-0 and by fall before earning a technical fall in the first round of bracket action and then won 4-0 in the semifinals.

Fenton (15-4) won his first three matches by fall before losing 7-3 in the finals to Southeast Polk’s Ayden Kingery.

His quarterfinal match took 1:07 and his semifinal bout ended in a 41-second pin.

Two other wrestlers finished in the top five as junior Cody Wallace was fourth at 145 and senior Chase Shirk took fifth at 132.

Wallace (13-8) won his first two matches by fall before losing the final bouts by technical fall and fall. He lost his semifinal match to 3A No. 1 Cade DeVos of Southeast Polk.

Shirk (16-5) lost his first two matches by decision but he recovered to win his third match by fall and his final bout 7-0.

The Mustangs return to the mats for a dual against Newton at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Monroe.