March 20, 2025

You serious Clark?

PCM’s Kaden Clark rallies to earn first state berth

By Troy Hyde

2-12 2A WR Districts at Knoxville PCM's Kaden Clark, top, wrestles Centerville's Cruize Flanders during the Class 2A District wrestling meet at Knoxville on Saturday. Clark won the third-place bout by fall and then earned a pin in a wrestle back to lock up his first state berth (Photo by Kyle Ocker/Ottumwa Courier) (Kyle Ocker/The Courier/Kyle Ocker/The Courier)

KNOXVILLE — PCM freshman heavyweight Kaden Clark lost the first match of his day the past two weekends.

But no hole was big enough to not dig out of for Clark, who came from the backside of both the sectional and district tournaments the past two weeks to lock up his first-ever state wrestling tournament berth.

Clark’s latest run through a postseason tournament came Saturday when he opened the day with a loss but rallied with back-to-back pins. That’s the exact same path he took at sectionals the week before.

“We have known all along that Kaden had a shot at state,” PCM head wrestling coach Jeff Nicholson said. “He hadn’t wrestled up to his potential consistently this season, and I am sure some of that was because he just turned 15 this week.

“We had a game plan that we worked on all week and Kaden executed it perfectly today.”

2-12 2A WR Districts at Knoxville PCM's Donovan Nickelson, top, wrestles West Marshall's Wyatt Weuve during the Class 2A District wrestling meet at Knoxville on Saturday. Nickelson won the match by pin and finished third in the 195-pound weight class. (Photo by Kyle Ocker/Ottumwa Courier) (Kyle Ocker/The Courier/Kyle Ocker/The Courier)

The Mustangs entered three grapplers into the Class 2A District 3 tournament. Clark was the lone survivor as Donovan Nickelson finished third at 195 pounds and Remington Fry was fourth at 120.

Clark (23-17) opened his 285-pound bracket with a loss by pin against 2A No. 10 Skyler Young of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

Clark gave himself an opportunity at a wrestle back when he pinned Centerville’s Cruize Flanders (17-16) in the third period of their third-place match. Flanders defeated Clark by fall the week before.

With Young winning the championship match, Clark faced West Marshall’s Elijah Meester (21-12) in the wrestle back. He pinned Meester in the first period to clinch the state berth.

“If he wrestles like this at The Well, he may bring home a medal,” Nicholson said.

Nickelson (16-6) and Fry (25-19) both lost their semifinal matches 7-1. Nickelson won his third-place bout by fall but was not given the opportunity for a wrestle back. Fry lost his second match 6-0 and finished fourth.

Albia won the district tournament with 119 points. The rest of the top five included South Tama County (83.5), East Marshall (78), EBF (60) and host Knoxville (52). PCM finished eighth in the 11-team field with 25 points.

The 2A portion of the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.