PCM to add girls wrestling this winter

Girls wrestling has been on a steep incline the past few seasons in the state of Iowa.

Colfax-Mingo was at the forefront of that growth, and wrestlers from PCM High School helped the Tigerhawks win three conference championships the past few seasons.

But on June 10, Colfax-Mingo announced it was breaking off from the sharing agreement.

That left PCM with a decision to make, and its school board voted recently to approve girls wrestling in the district, and the Mustangs will have their own team starting this winter.

“We were informed a few weeks back that Colfax-Mingo would be terminating the sharing agreement with us, which prompted us to have conversations on what would be next,” PCM Activities Director Jeremy Swink said. “We landed on starting our own program and giving our kids the same opportunity they’ve had the past few seasons at Colfax-Mingo.”

Girls wrestling currently has two classes, and part of Colfax-Mingo’s decision to end the sharing agreement was to make sure the Tigerhawks can remain in Class 1A.

According to a post on Facebook, PCM could have up to eight wrestlers who competed at Colfax-Mingo last season as well as at least one middle school wrestler joining the squad.

Allison Minteer, Hadley Millang and Alauna Wells all won individual conference titles last season. PCM wrestlers accounted for 147 wins the past three seasons.

Millang finished 41-16 as a freshman, while Jozlyn Wells was 21-11 and Minteer finished 18-14. Emma Beyer won 17 matches and Samantha Wheeler was 11-10.

Swink said the girls and boys wrestling programs at PCM will have a different schedule and a different set of coaches.

The sharing agreement PCM had with Colfax-Mingo was always meant to be temporary, too.

“I love the girls we had,” Colfax-Mingo head girls wrestling coach Erin Hume said. “Getting to know them and teaching them to wrestle is one of the best coaching experiences I’ve had. Yes, I do believe wrestling in 1A suits us better but also sharing was never my long-term goal.

“If we continued to share, would there have ever been a good time for them to start their own team? They return a good core of wrestlers like Allie, Hadley and Emma who had been with us since seventh grade. Now as sophomores they get to experience wrestling with their school logo on their singlet and they deserve that opportunity and the growth our sport deserves that, too.”