PCM finishes eighth at state dual tournament

DES MOINES — Chance Palm sat out the past two wrestling seasons for personal reasons.

Palm decided in his senior season that it was time to get back on the mat. And the half season he was able to wrestle landed him inside Wells Fargo Arena for the Iowa State Wrestling Dual Championships on Feb. 13.

Palm’s pair of wins were one of a few highlights No. 12 PCM got to enjoy as the Mustangs went 0-3 on the scoreboard and finished eighth in Class 2A.

“It would have been cool to wrestle all season but the half season I did get was fun,” Palm said. “I am glad I got to end it here. It was nice having the support of the team and nice seeing so many fans here today, too.”

The sixth-seeded Mustangs opened the tournament with a 47-21 loss to Osage and then they suffered a narrow 39-36 loss to Independence.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton finished seventh with a 70-12 win over the Mustangs.

“It’s a neat experience. We have to get down here so the kids can believe we can do this,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “We were able to show some younger kids what it’s like to be down here and they can now add this to their goal sheets.”

Osage went on to finish third, and Independence took fifth. Top-seeded West Delaware defeated second-seeded Solon 45-12 in the championship.

PCM was without 2A No. 2 Wes Cummings at 160 because of an illness. That really hampered the Mustangs’ ability to keep pace with the other top dual teams in the class.

The Mustangs’ first two duals against third-seeded Osage and seventh-seeded came down to the end. PCM sent mostly junior varsity wrestlers to the mat in the team’s final dual against eighth-seeded Sergeant Bluff-Luton.

“It’s a big deal,” Nicholson said about not having Cummings. “That’s about nine to 12 points with him in there. I think we win those first two duals with him.

“We didn’t match up well on paper even with Wes in the (SB-L dual). It would have been close probably. Without Wes and because Landon wrestles their 113-pounder tomorrow we decided to just rest some of our guys. The difference between seventh and eighth isn’t that big of a deal to me.”

Palm was one of four wrestlers who won two matches on the day. Second-ranked Colby Tool was 2-0 as he split time at 145 and 152, fourth-ranked Lucas Roland was 2-0 at 182 and sixth-ranked Jarron Trausch finished 2-0 at 170.

Palm was 2-1 on the day. He was 1-1 at 138 and 1-0 at 145. Palm had to cut weight to get into the varsity lineup, and Nicholson said without him the Mustangs don’t make it to state duals.

“We knew we were going to be a guy or two short coming into the year,” Nicholson said. “Once Chance came back out we tried to see where he fit. He didn’t want to cut weight, but he did it for the team. He’s a big reason we are down here at all.”

Osage grabbed an early lead on PCM with wins in the first three matches of their quarterfinal dual.

Palm and Tool won consecutive matches to put the Mustangs (16-8) on the board but Cody Wallace wrestled up a weight and lost 9-3 to fourth-ranked Zach Williams.

Trausch got a big 6-2 win over fifth-ranked Spencer Mooberry at 170 and then Roland scored a 29-second pin at 182.

“Anytime you beat a ranked guy, those are big wins,” Nicholson said. “Confidence is huge this time of year.”

Osage countered with consecutive wins, including a victory in a swing match at 220 before Jace Smith got the Mustangs six points with a win by fall.

After a loss at 106, the dual was out of reach for the Mustangs. They then forfeited weights at 113 and 120.

Palm and Tool each got pins in the first three matches against Independence. Wallace then lost to seventh-ranked Matthew Doyle 5-2 before Kaeden Van Soelen lost by fall at 160.

Trausch and Roland scored quick pins at 170 and 182, respectively, and then Cooper Sloan won his match 10-6 at 195 to put PCM up 27-15.

Roland spent a total of 60 seconds on the mat in his two wins.

“This is his time of year. He gets in here and knows what it sounds like and smells like,” Nicholson said. “He gets all of our juices going. He’s a gamer and it’s game on for him.”

Independence got wins by fall at 220, 285 and 106 to go back in front. Fifth-ranked Landon Fenton defeated eighth-ranked Isaiah Weber 9-5 at 113 before sixth-ranked Payton Drake put PCM back in front with a pin at 120.

The dual came down to 126 but the Mustangs lost after Brian Nicholson was pinned by Thomas Matteson.

The only varsity wrestlers who took the mat for PCM against Sergeant Bluff-Luton were Palm, Greiner, Smith, Trey Thomas and Brian Nicholson.

Greiner won his match by fall at 220 and Thomas took at a forfeit at 106 to get PCM’s only points.

“There are some kids who won’t be able to get down here again so it was a good experience for them to be a part of this,” Coach Nicholson said.