PCM wrestling sweeps home opener

MONROE — PCM’s not all the way back to full strength. But the top-ranked Mustangs are getting close.

Top-ranked and defending state champion Lucas Roland and sophomore Landon Fenton both made their season debuts, and the added firepower led PCM to a sweep during a home quadrangular on Dec. 13.

The Mustangs opened the night with a pair of wins over Heart of Iowa Conference foes and then finished the evening with a 48-25 victory over Jasper County rival Colfax-Mingo.

PCM defeated Gilbert 46-24 and cruised past Roland-Story 68-12.

“It was tough to go from the high of the football season then to being preseason ranked No. 1 and then not being able to have everyone available,” said Roland, who went 3-0 on the night. “I know the rankings don’t mean anything, but it still stinks to lose duals we may not have lost if we were all healthy. It was disheartening for awhile, but we worked through it. We have most of our guys back now, and I think some really good stuff is going to start to happen.”

Colfax-Mingo began its night with a 47-34 win over Roland-Story. The Tigerhawks lost 42-31 to Gilbert before losing to the hosts in the finale.

While Roland and Fenton made their season debuts, the Mustangs are still without senior Chance Palm, who PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said should fill in at either 138 or 145 when he’s available.

The Mustangs also were without junior and eighth-ranked Payton Drake (126) for contested matches because of an injury. Drake did take a forfeit at 132 against Roland-Story.

PCM had enough to win all three duals in its home opener. The Mustangs were 8-4 in contested matches against Gilbert, 6-1 against Roland-Story and 7-5 in the win over the Tigerhawks. Roland-Story handed the Mustangs six forfeits.

Colfax-Mingo (9-5) opened its final dual against PCM (9-5) with three straight wins.

Tigerhawk freshman Kenny Schlosser rallied from a 10-5 deficit to pin PCM junior Jace Smith at heavyweight.

After a double forfeit at 106, C-M junior Noah Strohmeyer recorded a 35-second pin against PCM freshman Trey Thomas at 113. That put the Tigerhawks up 12-0.

In the most anticipated match of the dual, Class 1A No. 7 Cauy Fitch took on Fenton at 120. Fitch scored first and controlled the match during an 11-5 victory. That put Colfax-Mingo in front 15-0.

Colfax-Mingo coach Erin Hume and Nicholson agreed that the match between Fitch and Fenton, who started the season ranked in 2A at 113, benefited both guys, and each will be better from it.

Nicholson wasn’t originally going to let Fenton wrestle Fitch only because he wanted to make sure the leg he broke during football season was fully healed and ready to go.

“It’s a match that I didn’t think would happen. I didn’t want Landon to go out there and not be able to give 100 percent,” Nicholson said. “Landon wanted the match so I gave him the match.”

PCM sophomore Brian Nicholson put PCM on the board when he pinned C-M freshman Mariah Webster in 54 seconds.

C-M junior Cyden Fitch pushed the Tigerhawks lead to 19-6 with a 14-0 major decision over PCM senior Clay Van Wyk. Cyden Fitch improved to 11-0 this season.

Colfax-Mingo’s 13-point lead would quickly vanish as the dual moved into the toughest part of PCM’s lineup.

Mustang freshman Kaleb Ives opened a stretch of seven straight wins with a pin over C-M freshman Gabriel Gwinn at 138.

PCM sophomore and fifth-ranked Colby Tool then pinned C-M junior Tim Carroll at 145, PCM senior Cody Wallace got a pin against C-M junior Andrew Meinhart at 152, PCM senior and second-ranked Wes Cummings pinned C-M junior Josh Smith at 160 and PCM senior and second-ranked Jarron Trausch recorded a pin over C-M junior Trystin Ross at 170.

With the dual already wrapped up, PCM got a forfeit by sophomore Kinser Sloan at 182.

Roland then moved up to 195 to face C-M senior Damir Gumerov. Roland won the match by fall in 1:25.

The Tigerhawks ended the streak with a win in the final bout. C-M senior Skyler Aikin pinned PCM junior Seth Greiner late in the first period to cap the scoring at 48-25.

Ives, Tool, Wallace, Cummings, Trausch and Roland all went 3-0 on the night for PCM. Fenton and sophomore Brian Nicholson both were 2-1 and Drake, Kinser Sloan, Smith, Greiner, sophomore Cooper Sloan and freshman Trey Thomas all had wins by forfeit. Van Wyk’s lone win came by decision.

Greiner, Smith, Drake, Ives, Roland and Cooper Sloan all took forfeits in PCM’s win over Roland-Story.

Fenton, Nicholson, Wallace and Trausch all won by fall, and Cummings got a 15-0 technical fall win.

The feature match came at 145 where Tool, ranked fifth in 2A, took on seventh-ranked Koby Hassebrock. Tool controlled the match from the start and won 7-1. It was Hassebrock’s first loss of the year.

“I am trying to get better at each practice,” Tool said. “I am not where I want to be yet. I need to be better with my offense. I did a better job scoring tonight though.”

The Mustangs trailed Gilbert 12-0 and 24-12 but rallied behind their stout middle part of the lineup. PCM won seven straight matches from 132 to 182 and won 46-24.

Van Wyk started the run with a 2-1 win at 132. Ives then got a 32-second pin at 138 and Tool pinned Jackson Conway in 1:08 at 145.

Wallace won his match by major decision at 152, winning 12-4.

Wallace (18-5) is not ranked and has never qualified for the state tournament but is off to a strong start in his final season.

“It’s the year to do it. I only have one more year to go,” Wallace said. “I did some freestyle and went to a few different clubs. All that helped me improve.”

Coach Nicholson feels good about what Wallace has done so far this season and is excited that he’ll get to play a big part in what the Mustangs hope is a special season.

“He spent the last two offseasons training. He made a big step last year, but it’s even a bigger step this year and he’s got the urgency because it’s his senior year,” Coach Nicholson said about Wallace. “He’s put his time in. It’s his time to shine.”

Cummings (18-2) followed Wallace’s win with another pin, Trausch (20-3) got a 12-8 decision and Roland pinned Aiden Carr in 21 seconds.

“It’s fun set of weights to coach. When you come through that, it’s going to be tough for any opponent,” Coach Nicholson said. “There won’t be many matches through that stretch that we will lose this year. That’s for sure.”

Mustangs finish seventh at Red Owens Holiday Classic

ALTOONA — With only eight wrestlers in the lineup, Prairie City-Monroe’s wrestling team placed seventh at the annual Red Owens Holiday Classic on Dec. 15.

Tool led the Mustangs with a championship at 145 pounds, while Cummings and Trausch were both the runner-up at 160 and 170, respectively.

Class 2A No. 1 PCM finished with 127 points in seventh. Host and Class 3A No. 1 Southeast Polk won the tournament with 367 points followed by 3A Bettendorf in second with 246 and 3A Iowa City West in third with 178.5.

Class 2A Atlantic-CAM had 11 entered wrestlers and was fourth with 159.5, Southeast Polk’s Black team was fifth with 153.5 and 2A Albia was sixth with 136.5. Albia had 13 wrestlers entered in the tournament.

The Mustangs did not have the services of Roland at 182 or Fenton at 113 and were open at four other weights.

Fifth-ranked Tool was 5-0 on the day. He recorded three pins and a major decision before reaching the 145-pound final. In the championship match, Tool (21-1) claimed a 9-4 win over 3A No. 5 Ryan Strickland of Southeast Polk.

Cummings was 3-1 on the day and Trausch finished 4-1.

Second-ranked Cummings started his day with a pair of pins and then got a 7-2 win over 3A No. 6 Voyen Adamson of Bettendorf. His only loss was a 22-9 major decision defeat to 3A No. 1 Cade DeVos of Southeast Polk.

Second-ranked Trausch breezed through the early rounds and into the championship match at 170. He had two technical falls, one pin and one major decision win on the day. His only loss was a 7-6 decision to 3A No. 5 Will Jefferson of Bettendorf.

Trausch’s four wins moved him into a tie for second with Dalton Kingery on the all-time wins list at PCM. He now has 145 victories in his career. Cummings is fifth on the all-time list with 137 wins.

Drake (16-3) is ranked eighth at 126. He wrestled at 132 on Dec. 15 and finished third at 3-1. He won his first match by fall, his second match 9-2 and his third-place match 11-2. His only loss came by pin.

Drake is six wins away from 100 for his career.

Wallace was 3-2 on the day and he was fourth at 152. He started his day with two pins and then won a 7-3 decision. He lost 11-3 to 2A No. 10 Connor Pellett of Atlantic-CAM to reach the third-place bout and then was defeated 3-2.

Smith, Greiner and Ives were the other three wrestlers entered in the tournament.

Smith went 1-3 and was sixth at 285, Greiner was 1-3 and finished ninth at 220 and Ives was 0-5 and ended up 10th at 138.

PCM’s final contest before the holiday break was against Newton on Feb. 18.