Three champs lead PCM wrestlers to fifth at HOIAC tourney

MONROE — Tucker Wheeler, Hewitt Brinegar and Kaden Clark all won their first conference titles and seven Mustangs finished in the top five of their weight brackets during the Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference tournament on Friday night.

PCM hosted the tournament and finished fifth overall with its 12 wrestlers. The Mustangs and Perry each had a tournament-high three individual champions but ended up fifth and fourth, respectively, in the final standings.

Roland-Story won the conference championship with 190.5 points, which edged runner-up Greene County (180) by 10.5 and West Marshall (164) finished third.

Perry (141.5) edged PCM (140) for fourth while Nevada (121), South Hamilton (86) and Saydel (78) completed the eight-team field.

Wheeler bounced back from his first loss of the season on Tuesday with three first-period pins at 144 pounds.

Brinegar and Clark both finished 2-0 to win their brackets at 150 and 285, respectively. Clark won both of his matches by fall in the first period and Brinegar won a pair of decisions.

Both Wheeler and Clark finished second in the conference tournament last season. Remington Fry (138) also was the runner-up for the third straight season, while Wyatt Wheeler (175) took second for the second straight year and Kaliber Fry ended up third for the second time.

Wyatt Wheeler won a pair of decisions at 175 and Remington Fry was 1-1 at 138 with his lone loss coming to 2A No. 5 Shane Hanford of West Marshall.

It was an up-and-down night for the Mustangs, who were second last year, sixth in 2022 and fourth in 2021. PCM qualified five for the finals but four wrestlers went 0-2.

Kaliber Fry was 2-1 at 113 with two pins. His lone loss came after he was whistled for an illegal throw and his opponent couldn’t continue.

The other top-five finisher was Sawyer Bouwkamp, who placed fourth at 157. Trent Nickelson was sixth at 190. Bouwkamp ended up 2-2 with one pin and Nickelson finished 1-3.

Charlie Sitzmann (126), Jackson Overton (132), Harrison Brinegar (165) and Kaiden Valcore (215) all went 0-2 at their weights.

Clark leads Mustangs at loaded Ed Winger Classic

URBANDALE — Clark’s 285-pound bracket at the Ed Winger Classic featured six ranked 3A wrestlers and the Mustang junior still found a way to finish third on Saturday.

Clark’s day featured two pins over a pair of ranked opponents and 10 Mustangs scored 61 points in 11th place during the annual tournament that featured four of the top six ranked teams in 3A and 21 total teams.

Bettendorf and Fort Dodge came into the weekend both ranked No. 2 in 3A and the Bulldogs edged the Dodgers by five points in the final standings.

Bettendorf’s 10 wrestlers scored 199.5 points, while Fort Dodge’s eight grapplers scored 194.5. The rest of the top five feature No. 6 Ankeny Centennial (186.5), No. 4 Waverly-Shell Rock (140) and Johnston (133).

Waukee Northwest (101.5), West Des Moines Valley (95.5), Urbandale (73.5), Norwalk (6) and Dowling Catholic (62.5) competed the top 10.

Clark was 4-1 with four first-period pins. He finished third after scoring a 56-second pin against 3A No. 10 Luke Fierke of Bettendorf. Before that, he pinned 3A No. 11 Dawson Rheingans of North Scott in 42 seconds.

Clark’s lone loss was an 8-2 defeat against 3A No. 6 Drew Campbell of Cedar Falls. The 285-pound bracket also featured the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, No. 7, No. 8 and No. 12 ranked wrestlers in 3A.

The next best finisher was 2A No. 11 Hewitt Brinegar, who placed fourth at 150. He was 3-2 with victories of 12-4 and 4-1. Both of his losses came against 3A No. 11 Cole Hemmingsen of Dallas Center-Grimes.

Both Kaliber Fry and 2A No. 4 Tucker Wheeler finished fifth at their weights. Fry was 3-2 with victories of 16-3, 10-6 and 11-8 at 113, while Tucker Wheeler was 3-2 with victories of 15-3, 8-6 and a pin at 144.

Sitzmann went 1-2 with a pin at 126, Harrison Brinegar was 1-2 at 165 and Remington Fry (138), Bouwkamp (157), 2A No. 10 Wyatt Wheeler (175) and Valcore (215) all finished 0-2.

The field included four ranked wrestlers at 126 and 150, three ranked at 144 and five ranked at 120, 138, 165, 175 and 190.