PCM goes back-to-back in HOIC tourney

STORY CITY — Jarron Trausch saw a familiar singlet in his 182-pound championship match at the Heart of Iowa Conference tournament on Saturday.

One year after battling Saydel’s Devin Van Houten for multiple close wins, Trausch had to beat another Eagle to win his third conference title.

This time, Trevor Sprague was in Trausch’s way. And Sprague got the match’s first takedown.

From that point on, it was all Trausch as his 10-3 victory secured PCM’s fifth title on the day and Trausch’s third HOIC title of his career.

The Mustangs tallied a sixth individual title a few weights later and a dominant final round pushed the program to their second straight conference title.

PCM went 6-0 in the finals and another wrestler finished third as the Mustangs scored 223.5 points and were nearly 60 points ahead of runner-up Greene County.

“I thought we had a chance for six titles,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “It was a pretty good day, but I thought it would be a little closer with us not having some guys in the lineup.”

The Mustangs won easily despite missing senior Chase Shirk (132) and freshman Colby Tool (138) because of injuries. Freshman Brian Nicholson also remains out with an injured leg.

“It was a lot of fun today,” said PCM junior Wes Cummings, who won his second HOIC title. “Six out of six champions is really cool, and we didn’t even have all of our guys. We still put on a show.”

Greene County, which had not wrestled in a month because of a team-wide skin condition, did not have an individual champion but sent five to the finals and defeated Gilbert by one with 165.5 points. The Tigers went 2-3 in the finals and scored 164.5 points in third.

North Polk (158) crowned one champion in fourth followed by Roland-Story (121), which had two wrestlers win titles in front of their home fans. Saydel (107.5) had two champions in sixth, South Hamilton was seventh with 70 points and Nevada (63) was eighth.

It was PCM’s second straight championship. The Mustangs only crowned four champions last season, but won all six of their finals matches Saturday.

Eighth-ranked Trausch (32-4) won his third title with a 2-0 day. He won his first match by fall before getting the decision over Sprague (27-4).

Trausch was taken down early but rallied with a four-point move on the edge of the mat. He was in control from that point on.

“I just figured I needed to get on my offense more, and it made me aware that he was able to get in on me, too,” Trausch said. “That (four-point move) was a lot of momentum for me. It helped me recover after being down early.”

The four-point move didn’t come without an argument from the Saydel coaches. Coach Nicholson thought it was a good call, but also felt Trausch was not out of bounds to begin with.

“I thought he had back points, and I wasn’t sure he was off the mat,” Nicholson said. “The takedown and back points were big because it meant he was no longer trailing. Jarron is a cool customer. I think he would have scored more points anyway.”

Juniors Wes Cummings and Lucas Roland and sophomore Payton Drake all won their second HOIC titles. Freshman Landon Fenton and sophomore Jace Smith won titles at 106 and 285, respectively.

Senior Drew Johnson gave the Mustangs a third-place finish at 152, while seniors Noah Anderson and Caleb Peter and junior Clay VanWyk all finished fourth at 195, 120 and 126, respectively.

Freshman Mason Shirk was fifth at 132, junior Cody Wallace placed fifth at 138 and senior Jacob Ponder ended up sixth at 220.

Cummings and Fenton both needed to win three matches at their weights.

Second-ranked Cummings (35-2) spent 158 seconds on the mat, recording three first-period pins at 160.

Fenton (29-6) started his day with a pair of pins and then won the title with a 16-1 technical fall.

“It feels great. It was the expectation but sometimes that makes it harder,” Fenton said.

Second-ranked Roland was 2-0 on the day, recording both wins by first-period pins at 170. He’s now 34-1 on the season.

“It’s just another goal for me to hit, but I am not where I need to be yet,” Roland said.

Smith also was 2-0 on the day with a pair of pins. He won the title despite coming into the day as the No. 3 seed.

“It feels pretty good. It’s been a struggle all year, but I had the right mentality today and was ready to go. I got a good night’s sleep, too,” Smith said.

Nicholson said Smith has been so close to this kind of success so many times.

“I think it was huge for him,” Nicholson said. “He is such a competitor. Things haven’t gone his way this year, but he’s learning and today was a good way to turn things around.”

Drake needed just one win to claim his second title. He won his 113-pound title match by fall and is now 30-3 on the season.

“I was proud to be a conference champion as a freshman, and I am glad to keep it going this year,” Drake said. “I was able to get a good warmup today and was ready to go. That is the key when you have to wait around all day for one match.”

Johnson was 3-1 with three pins at 152. Anderson and Peter both won twice and lost twice with two pins. VanWyk, Wallace and Mason Shirk all finished 1-2.

Wallace has a bit of controversy at this 138-pound consolation match. Trailing big in the third period, Wallace appeared to rally with late-match pin, but the official didn’t award the junior with the fall. He won his fifth-place match by pin, however.

Nicholson held out Chase Shirk and Tool for precautionary reasons. They are expected to be back at least in time for the postseason.

The Mustangs still won the tournament going away, which shows the depth inside PCM’s wrestling room.

“We have a lot of tough kids in the room,” Nicholson said. “There are a lot of kids working hard in the room and looking for their chance to get in there.”

Every PCM wrestler brought multiple singlets on Saturday. The coaching staff didn’t want to take any chances with skin disease that had plagued a few conference teams this season.

Greene County had only wrestled once in a month and South Hamilton had to miss a HOIC triangular on Thursday because of a skin condition.

“We wanted to take every precaution we could,” Nicholson said. “So we had them shower and change singlets after every match.”

PCM wrestles Central Decatur and Moravia at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Moravia.