PCM wrestling downs Colfax-Mingo on Senior Night

MONROE — PCM senior Landon Fenton began the season ranked ninth in Class 2A at 145 pounds. After a strong start to the season, folks at The Predicament are taking notice.

The latest rankings released on Thursday pushed Fenton all the way to No. 3. And a few hours after the jump, Fenton picked up two more wins by fall to help the Mustangs defeat Roland-Story and Colfax-Mingo on Senior Night.

Fenton is now 17-0 on the season with 16 pins. He was one of five Mustangs who went 2-0 in the home triangular as PCM defeated Colfax-Mingo 52-30 and downed Roland-Story 45-24.

“It’s cool to be ranked up there, but I wrestle everyone like they are the best in the state,” Fenton said. “I try not to pay much attention to that because it can get in your head.”

Overall, the Mustangs have exceeded expectations from their head coach Jeff Nicholson. PCM had a down year last year with small numbers, but this season is off to a good start and two dual wins on Thursday kept the train on the tracks.

“I didn’t know what to expect from this group. We thought we’d be more competitive than last year, but they’ve been better than we thought,” Nicholson said. “They work really hard every day. I like their energy and attitudes. We are just trying to get better one day at a time and one week at a time.”

The Mustangs were given four forfeits and went 5-3 in contested matches against Colfax-Mingo. The dual started with a trio of forfeit wins from senior Colby Tool (160), sophomore William Vanderpool (170) and freshman Nate Richards (182) and then sophomore Donovan Nickelson (195) and senior Cooper Sloan (220) got wins by fall.

Colfax-Mingo senior Kenny Schlosser, who was competing for the first time this season, got the Tigerhawks on the board with a pin at 285.

Sophomore Alex Courtney took a forfeit at 106 and freshman Hewitt Brinegar (120), Fenton (145) and senior Garin Padget (138) all earned wins by fall to clinch the dual win.

For the Tigerhawks, freshman John McGill (126) and Austin Lane (132) both took forfeits. Before that, senior Noah Strohmeyer (113) won his match by fall and senior Hunter Stevens (152) ended the dual with a pin.

Nicholson didn’t have to send out freshman Remington Fry to face Strohmeyer, who is ranked sixth in 1A at 113. And Colfax-Mingo head coach Erin Hume could have kept sophomore Tevin Wamsher on the sidelines instead of letting him face Fenton.

But both coaches want to get in as many matches as possible. And both are hoping the experience against tough competition will help their young grapplers.

“It’s about mat time. We are in a year and competing in a time where we don’t know what the season is going to bring tomorrow,” Hume said.

Nicholson was happy with his young wrestler against Strohmeyer. But Fry stopped moving.

“I think it was important to get Remington out there against Noah,” Nicholson said. “He’s got a bright future. He got the first takedown, but we just quit moving. When you don’t move against senior horsepower, it makes it tough.”

One of the most competitive matches of the dual was the finale featuring Stevens and senior Brian Nicholson. It was a back-and-forth battle that saw Stevens win by fall 20 seconds into the third period.

Stevens remembered losing to Brian Nicholson inside PCM’s gym back in eighth grade. He was hoping for a shot at redemption and was able to deliver.

We’ve wrestling each other a lot. The last time I wrestled him in here was the youth club tournament in eighth grade. He beat me on that day, and I have been waiting for another chance to wrestle him.

—  Hunter Stevens, Colfax-Mingo senior

“We’ve wrestled each other a lot. The last time I wrestled him in here was the youth club tournament in 8th grade. He beat me on that day, and I have been waiting for another chance to wrestle him,” Stevens said. “His energy level was up at the beginning and I think maybe he gassed out at the end. I used that to my advantage. He also left his head open.”

Hume liked how Stevens stayed patient despite the ups and downs of the match. Both wrestlers had their fare share of points before the pin.

“He let the match come to him and he’s at his best when he wrestles on instincts,” Hume said. “When someone gives you something, you can take it but don’t force it. I feel like that’s what he did. He was rode tough in the match, but I am comfortable as a coach watching him wrestle from the bottom. I knew that if he could force a scramble, something could end up going his way and that’s what happened.”

Against Roland-Story, PCM got pins from Fenton, Brian Nicholson, Tool, Nickelson, Kinser Sloan (285) and Fry (113). Richards took a forfeit at 182 and Cooper Sloan won his 220-pound match 7-0.

Fenton and Nickelson both went 2-0 with two falls. Tool, Cooper Sloan and Richards also were 2-0.

Fenton is locked in at 145 this season. His next step is to get into better shape for when the tougher matches come.

“I get gassed in the second period right now,” Fenton said. “But I am looking forward to wrestling tougher matches and placing myself among the best in the state.”

Colfax-Mingo defeated Roland-Story 43-42 in criteria to claim its second dual win of the season. The Tigerhawks took four forfeits and their three other wins were by fall.

Strohmeyer, Stevens and Schlosser all won by fall, while McGill, Lane, senior Miranda McGill (160) and junior Shane Aikin (182) all took forfeits.

“When you look at our roster, you see first-year wrestlers or young wrestlers,” Hume said. “Someone just looking at it could say we aren’t very good.

“We haven’t won a lot of duals yet but we’ve been in a lot of duals. We’ve lost several duals by one match. We don’t have a full lineup, but we compete. We take it one position, one period and one match a time.”

Strohmeyer, Stevens and Schlosser all finished 2-0 on the night with two pins. John McGill and Lane were both 2-0 with two forfeits.