Mustangs claim second straight HOIC dual title

MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe junior Wes Cummings claimed his 100th career victory without actually having a match on Thursday night.

Cummings was given two forfeits on the night, and after the Mustangs dispatched Saydel 61-9 to win their second straight Heart of Iowa Conference duals title, Cummings shrugged off the 100 wins.

He has bigger goals.

“It’s pretty exciting, but the ultimate goal has always been medals at state,” Cummings said. “Getting 100 wins is great, but I would rather have 30 losses and a medal from state. That’s always the most important thing.”

The Class 2A No. 7 Mustangs (15-3 overall, 5-0 in the HOIC) had an easy time on the mat Thursday night. After their HOIC-clinching win over Saydel (9-16, 2-4), PCM took care of Collins-Maxwell 78-6.

“You don’t want to take anything for granted, but we came into the season expecting that we’d be

conference champions,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “That was one of our goals. We have other goals still in front of us, too.”

The Spartans had just four wrestlers, and PCM was 3-1 in those matches with three pins.

PCM took seven forfeits against the Eagles, last year’s HOIC runner-up. The Mustangs were 5-2 in contested matches.

Seniors Caleb Peter (120) and Drew Johnson (152) both came through with wins by decision at their weights.

Peter was down 2-0 before defeating Ryan Hynick 8-3.

Johnson had the most exciting match of the night. He trailed Trent Stephenson 2-0 after one period but rallied to take a 3-2 lead after two.

With 30 seconds to go, Johnson trailed by one and started down on the whistle. An escape would force Sudden Victory, but Johnson did more than that, squeezing his way around Stephenson for a reversal just before time expired. He won the match 5-4.

“​I heard the crowd cheering,” Johnson said. “They pumped me up, and it was Senior Night. I have hit that move before in practice and thankfully it happened for me out there tonight.”

Johnson and Peter joined eight other wrestlers who went 2-0 on the night.

2A No. 2 Cummings, sophomore Jace Smith (285), junior Clay VanWyk (126) and freshman Mason Shirk (132) all took a pair of forfeits.

Junior Jarron Trausch (182/195) and freshman Landon Fenton (106) each won one match by forfeit and the other by fall.

Junior Lucas Roland (170/182), sophomore Payton Drake (113), Peter and Johnson were all 2-0 with a win by decision and a win by forfeit.

Senior Jacob Ponder won his only match by fall against Collins-Maxwell’s Zach Martinez at 220. Junior Kaeden VanSoelen (160) took a forfeit against Saydel.

Every Mustang wrestler won at least one match on the night. Junior Cody Wallace, senior Noah Anderson and freshman Colby Tool were all 1-1.

Tool (28-7) was the only Mustang to wrestle twice. He scored a first-period pin against Saydel’s Jake Van Houten, but lost to Collins-Maxwell’s Caleb Fullerton by an injury default. Tool trailed Fullerton 8-4 at the time of the injury.

Nicholson is unsure when Tool will return to action.

“It’s an arm injury,” Nicholson said. “He has been battling a shoulder injury prior to tonight, and it was aggravated again. He’s a tough kid. He may not wrestle in the conference meet Saturday. We’ll see how he feels. But we want him to be ready to go for sectionals in two weeks.”

Cummings was the third Mustang to go over 100 wins this season. His two wins Thursday improve his season record to 32-2 and his career mark to 101-9.

Roland’s two wins pushed his season tally to 32-1 and his overall record to 111-9. Trausch is now 30-4 this season and 111-18 in his career.

Roland stayed at No. 2 at 170 in this week’s Predicament rankings, and Trausch moved up to No. 8 at 182. Cumming also went from No. 3 to No. 2 at 160 this week.

All three wrestlers were recognized before the Collins-Maxwell dual for their efforts in getting to 100 wins. They were all given framed posters by the PCM coaching staff.

“Those three guys, and we had some success before them, but they have caused a lot of excitement in our program amongst their teammates,” Nicholson said. “They see what it takes to be successful. It brings our whole team up a notch.”

There was proof in that with Wallace’s match against 2A No. 8 Klayton Keller (32-4) of Saydel. Wallace lost the match 4-0 but was in on two shots and did not give up bonus points to a ranked wrestler.

“I think Cody Wallace goes out there tonight and battles because he’s worked so much with those guys in the room and has gotten better because of it,” Nicholson said. “They have set the bar higher for everybody.”

Nicholson bumped Roland up to 182 against Saydel to give him better competition. Roland faced Trevor Sprague (27-4) and came away with an 11-4 win. He led 10-0 in the match.

“This might be the last good match Lucas will get before the postseason,” Nicholson said. “We needed to see where he was at with his conditioning. I put him out there to push him against a guy who was 12 pounds heavier than he is. It was a quality opponent. When you wrestle up like that, it’s physically harder and it takes more out of you. But he will have matches like that at state where he will have to be more physical and this one tonight helps him to know where he is at.”

Roland wasn’t expecting the match but enjoyed the challenge.

“I didn’t know I was wrestling this match until I had my clothes off and was walking up to the table,” Roland said. “It’s good to get a quality guy before the postseason. I started well, but I hit a wall at the end of the match for sure. It was probably a combination of some stuff. I definitely still have some work to do.”

The Mustangs will be the prohibitive favorites to win their second consecutive HOIC tournament title on Saturday. PCM enters the weekend with four ranked wrestlers, and eight wrestlers with at least 22 wins.

Fenton (26-6), 2A No. 6 Drake (29-3), Cummings, Roland and Trausch are all favored to win individual titles. Tool would be favored at 138 if he wrestles. The Mustangs may also not have senior Chase Shirk (22-8) at 132 because of a minor injury. He did not wrestle Thursday.

“I don’t mind going there as the favorites,” Nicholson said. “I think that our guys have to be on their game because everyone will be after us.”

The HOIC tournament is hosted by Roland-Story this season. The meet starts at 10 a.m. Saturday in Story City.

PCM 61, Saydel 9

106: Landon Fenton (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 113: Payton Drake (PCM) over Nico Garcia (SAYD) (MD 10-2) 120: Caleb Peter (PCM) over Ryan Hynick (SAYD) (Dec 8-3) 126: Clay VanWyk (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 132: Mason Shirk (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 138: Colby Tool (PCM) over Jake Van Houten (SAYD) (Fall 1:47) 145: Klayton Keller (SAYD) over Cody Wallace (PCM) (Dec 4-0) 152: Drew Johnson (PCM) over Trent Stephenson (SAYD) (Dec 5-4) 160: Kaeden VanSoelen (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 170: Wes Cummings (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 182: Lucas Roland (PCM) over Trevor Sprague (SAYD) (Dec 11-4) 195: Jarron Trausch (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.) 285: Andrew Malone (SAYD) over Noah Anderson (PCM) (Fall 1:33) 285: Jace Smith (PCM) over (SAYD) (For.)

PCM 78, Collins-Maxwell 6

106: Landon Fenton (PCM) over Jacob Pierick (CM) (Fall 1:51) 113: Payton Drake (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 120: Caleb Peter (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 126: Clay VanWyk (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 132: Mason Shirk (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 138: Caleb Fullerton (CM) over Colby Tool (PCM) (Inj. [time]) 145: Cody Wallace (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 152: Drew Johnson (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 160: Wes Cummings (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 170: Lucas Roland (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 182: Jarron Trausch (PCM) over Cody Galbraith (CM) (Fall 1:43) 195: Noah Anderson (PCM) over (CM) (For.) 220: Jacob Ponder (PCM) over Zach Martinez (CM) (Fall 2:26) 285: Jace Smith (PCM) over (CM) (For.)