PCM wrestlers open season with sweep in home quad

MONROE — Freshman Mason Hjortshoj simply didn’t want to let his team down.

With the Mustangs clinging to a seven-point lead with two matches to go, a win from Hjortshoj would lock up the dual victory against Van Meter on Tuesday.

Another freshman, Bentlee Sloan, was in a similar situation in the opening dual against conference rival Greene County.

Both Mustang grapplers came through in the first big matches of their young careers, and it helped the PCM wrestling team go 3-0 for the night during a home quadrangular.

“They did well. They learned. It’s different than middle school and AAU,” PCM head wrestling coach Rusty Vos said about the talented freshmen class. “Mason Hjortshoj looked great tonight. I’ve seen him wrestle for many, many years and that’s the best he’s wrestled to me.

“The lights turned on for Bentlee Sloan, and he looked great in those first two matches but then he made a mistake. That’s all right though. He learned and apologized for it.”

The mistake from Sloan came after his only loss of the night in the Van Meter dual. He threw his head gear as he exited the mat and cost PCM a team point. That’s why the margin was seven and not eight, but the hosts downed the Bulldogs 42-36.

PCM opened its season with a 42-33 win over the rival Rams and then downed Ogden 54-24. The three freshmen in the starting lineup finished 7-2 in their nine matches.

“I think they did great, but it’s not super surprising,” said Tucker Wheeler about the freshmen class. “Maybe a few of them surprised me. I’m excited for them and to see how much better they can get.”

Wheeler, Kaden Clark and Kaliber Fry all begin the season in the IAwrestle rankings. All three grapplers went 3-0.

Clark was 3-0 with two pins and Fry and Wheeler both won once by fall and once by technical fall. All three accepted a forfeit against Greene County.

The Mustangs dominated their contested matches. Two of the duals were close mostly because PCM gave up at least 18 points in forfeits in all three duals.

“I really like how hard the kids fought,” Vos said. “They got into some tough positions but fought through them. They’ve been working pretty hard in the room the last few weeks.

“The practices have been hard and they didn’t like it, but I told them it would pay off, and it did tonight. We’ll see how it goes moving forward. Hopefully we can stay at that level and keep getting better.”

PCM was 4-3 in contested matches against Greene County and each team took three forfeits. All four contested wins came by pins from Hjortshoj (144), Jeffery McDanel (165), Sawyer Bouwkamp (190) and Sloan (138).

The Mustangs led 36-33 before Sloan’s pin sealed the team win. Fourth-ranked Wheeler (157), 12th-ranked Fry (126) and fifth-ranked Clark (285) all accepted forfeits.

In the 30-point win over Ogden, PCM was 9-1 in contested matches but gave up the three forfeits. The Mustangs were open at 106, 113, 120 and 132.

All nine contested wins against Ogden came by pins from Hjortshoj, Wheeler, McDanel, Bouwkamp, Clark, Fry, Sloan, Danson Drake (175) and Kaiden Valcore (215).

Hjortshoj, Wheeler, Bouwkamp, Clark and Drake all won by first-period fall.

“It’s nice to compete against someone new and not busting the same face in practice,” Clark said. “The team wrestled really well. I think some of them surprised and others underperformed to be honest. It’s OK. We have plenty of time before we need to peak.”

Clark’s season ended early last year due to a wrist injury. He made it through football season almost completely healthy and is dealing with a few bumps and bruises but showed no signs of hinderance in the season openers.

One of Clark’s wrestling partners in the room is Valcore, who showed marked improvement from last season. He was 3-23 last winter but picked up two wins on Tuesday.

“I’m so proud of that kid,” Vos said. “He’s worked really hard and looked great today.”

The Mustangs were 7-2 in contested matches against Van Meter. They led 33-0 before three straight forfeits at 106, 113 and 120 and another at 132 got the Bulldogs back in the dual.

Van Meter got within 37-30 with two matches to go. The final PCM win came from Hjortshoj, who needed just 2 minutes, 19 seconds to secure the pin and clinch the team victory. He was 3-0 with three pins and two first-period pins in his varsity debut.

Getting a lead with the dual on the line against Van Meter was crucial for Hjortshoj, who admitted to being nervous before the match started.

“It was really important to get a lead in that one,” Hjortshoj said. “I was super nervous before the match and the team was nervous because it was close. Getting an early lead just helped everyone relax a little bit.

“I feel like we did really well today. We were sloppy in a few places, but we’ll clean that up in practices and be back at it on Friday.”

The Mustangs produced four pins, two technical falls and one major decision in their seven contested wins against Van Meter.

McDanel completed his 3-0 night with a third straight pin after Wheeler won by a 19-4 technical to open the dual. Drake scored a 32-second pin at 175, Bouwkamp accepted a forfeit at 190 and Valcore posted a 13-4 major decision win at 215.

Clark’s pin at 285 came in 1:01 and Fry followed with a 20-4 technical fall at 126.

Wheeler made sure to score plenty of takedowns in each of his two matches and tried to take advantage of the mat time he got. He also wants to set the school record for takedowns for a third time.

“I like to get mat time and just more work on the mat. Plus, I have the takedown record and breaking that again this year is the goal,” Wheeler said. “I think it went well. I felt good. There wasn’t a lot of great competition yet, but I felt like things went well.”

Fry wrestled much more aggressive than he had in previous seasons. He says that’s by design.

“I just tried to come out mean tonight. I want to be mean,” Fry said. “I didn’t like how I wrestled last year, so I’m trying to change it up. I was practicing on being aggressive. That’s how I want to wrestle this season.”

Hjortshoj and McDanel both were 3-0 with three pins, Bouwkamp and Clark finished 3-0 with two pins and Wheeler and Fry both were 3-0. Sloan and Drake won twice by fall and Valcore scored a pair of bonus-point victories.

“I saw some things we’ve worked on in the room that we’ve never done before and now I’m seeing it out on the mat, which is awesome,” Vos said. “They are listening and learning, and that’s how you get better.”