PCM’s Wheeler, Clark make history with runner-up finishes

DES MOINES — While their final matches did not go as planned, junior Tucker Wheeler and senior Kaden Clark did something as teammates that no other Mustang duo has ever done before.

For the first time in school history, PCM’s wrestling team placed two athletes in the finals.

Unfortunately, neither grappler found the win column as both Wheeler and Clark ended their fantastic seasons with runner-up finishes at their weights in Class 2A.

“Tucker and Kaden are leaders of the team both physically and vocally,” PCM head wrestling coach Rusty Vos said. “That’s why they are here. We’re glad to have Tucker back. He’s in good spirits. The sun will come up tomorrow, and he’ll get back at it. He’s a hard working kid. We’re going to miss Kaden a lot.”

PCM brought five wrestlers to the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships, and the Mustangs scored 52.5 points in 19th place in 2A.

Most of those points came from Wheeler and Clark, who were second at 157 pounds and 285, respectively.

Freshman Bentlee Sloan and juniors Kaliber Fry and Zach Richards also competed. Sloan and Richards were 0-2 at their weights, while Fry finished 2-2 at 126.

Wheeler (41-7) entered the tournament ranked ninth in 2A at 157. But the only wrestler ranked in the top seven to reach the semifinals was top-ranked Tate Slagle of Algona.

Wheeler was 3-1 for the tournament and all four matches came against wrestlers who ended up on the podium.

After a first-round bye, Wheeler opened with a 13-4 win over Carroll’s Owen Klocke (35-12), who finished fifth as an unranked grappler.

In the quarterfinals, Wheeler downed fifth-ranked Cason Miller of Fairfield, 4-1, with a late takedown in the final 5 seconds. It was 0-0 after one, and Wheeler led 1-0 after two.

“When you wrestle some of the better guys, you can’t wrestle reckless and you can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Wheeler said. “The game plan was to push the pace the whole time.

“I’m not into coasting. Bo Bassett says sprint the mile the entire time. I really like that. I like going hard the entire time.”

Miller (39-4) finished seventh in the bracket, but Vos told assistant coach Jake Wheeler going into the second period he thought Tucker could get a single leg for takedown points.

“I thought we could get that single leg. We were able to take advantage of him slowing down just a little bit,” Vos said. “It came later than I expected, but we got it anyway.

“Cason’s a great wrestler. I talked to him after the match. He’s upset. He’s one of the best, but Tucker got him this time. It could go the other way next time.”

Wheeler’s best match of the tournament came in the semifinals where he dominated No. 10 Kaden Wiele of West Liberty, 19-3. It was 6-1 after one before Wheeler defeated Wiele (45-11) by technical fall in the second. Wiele finished sixth in the bracket.

“I thought he could take him down at will just based on what we saw on video,” Vos said about Wheeler’s match with Wiele. “We just didn’t want to get on the mat with him. He’s great on top. It worked out for us.”

The championship bout came against Greene County’s Brent Dennhardt (41-7). The eighth-ranked Ram defeated Wheeler 5-1 to win his first state title.

Wheeler, who is a three-time state qualifier, won his second state medal after a fourth-place finish at 144 last season. He takes a 134-27 record into his senior season.

He broke his own takedown record and was in the state semifinals for the second straight season.

“It feels great. It’s not easy to get here, but it’s something I knew I could achieve,” Wheeler said.

Fourth-ranked Clark joined Wheeler in the state finals. It was the first time in school history that PCM put two in the finals in the same season.

He opened with back-to-back first-period pins against Woodward-Granger’s Alexander Kasner (34-23) and Albia’s Nate Ballard (27-8).

Clark (50-6) trailed Central Lyon/George-Little Rock’s Sam Christensen, 4-1, after two periods. But a big move in the third pushed Clark to the lead and he held on for a 6-5 win to advance to the his first and only state semifinal.

Christensen (33-3), who is ranked 10th, finished fifth in the bracket.

“He was riding hard and had a tight waste on the other side,” Clark said about Christensen. “Every time I went to stand up on the side he was covering, he switched sides on me. So I baited him into the roll that I did. That move got me a few points to win.

“I had to stay smart, in a good stance and in a good position at the end there.”

That come-from-behind win set up a rematch with second-ranked Ethan Wood of Mount Vernon, who Clark lost to by fall at districts despite leading the match 6-1.

Clark again grabbed a big advantage in their semifinal bout, but this time he avoided the big move by Wood in the final period.

The match was scoreless after one period, but Wood (50-2) scored first with a reversal to begin the second.

Clark rallied with a takedown and back points later in the period and then added another takedown in the third to pull away even further. Wood finished third in the bracket.

“I just had to score next. I’m always looking to score and trying to be the aggressor,” Clark said about falling behind 2-0. “I knew I could take him down. Once I got into the third period, it was all about staying in good position and not giving up a big move. That’s how he got me at districts.”

Clark, who registered a career-most 50 wins this past season, lost to top-ranked Jaydin Cooper of Winterset in the finals. Cooper (36-1) defeated Clark by fall in the first period.

“That kid’s really quick and athletic. We knew that coming into it,” Vos said. “We thought we could sprawl a little better, but it didn’t work out this time. That’s the way it goes.”

Fry (37-11) wrestled at state for the second time in his career. He was 2-2 last season at 113 and finished 2-2 at 126 this time around.

Fry opened with a 22-11 win over Estherville Lincoln Central’s Brody Olson and stayed alive with an 18-10 victory over Carroll Kuemper’s Owen Nepple (23-16).

His first loss was a 20-2 technical fall by fourth-ranked Kaydin Jones of Union Community. He was eliminated, 18-14, by West Delaware’s Jarrett Engle. Jones (47-8) ended up fifth in the bracket.

Fry was tied 5-all with Olson (37-13) after one period but pulled away with a reversal, two near fall points and a takedown in the second.

In the loss to Engle (33-21), Fry led 3-1 after one but trailed 12-5 after two. He closed the gap to 13-12 and 14-13, but Engle got a late takedown to close out the win.

“He got thrown at the edge of the mat, and that was one of the best throws I’ve ever seen,” Vos said about Fry’s match with Engle. “But Kaliber let up twice and gave up 10 points in that match. Seven on that one move and three on another takedown. That’s what happens. You can’t do that here. We told him he was going to keep coming after him. He needed to wrestle the whole time, but he didn’t.”

Sloan (28-21) lost twice by fall in his matches at 132. He was defeated by Independence’s Remy Ressler (38-18) in the opening round on Wednesday and was eliminated from competition on Thursday following a loss to No. 7 Charlie Showalter (45-6) of Hampton-Dumont-CAL.

Richards (25-15) missed last year’s wrestling season after spending his sophomore year as a foreign exchange student. He also went 0-2 at 138 after losing to a pair of state-ranked opponents.

He fell 19-3 to No. 9 Jacob Harrison (40-9) of Ballard before being eliminated, 16-0, by No. 11 Dax Koedam of Sergeant Bluff-Luton.

“I missed Zach Richards last year when he was gone as a foreign exchange student, but now he’s back,” Vos said. “He’s been a huge plus to our program this year, and we’ll get him back next year.

“Bentlee really wasn’t supposed to be here as a freshman, but it’s great experience for him. We don’t ever want to be just happy to be here. We are after medals, but if it doesn’t work out that’s fine, too. We’ll move on and get ready for next year.”

Notes: Clark ended his prep career with a 139-47 record. He qualified for state as a freshman, too. “It’s great to be a part of it,” Clark said about having two Mustangs in the finals. “We wanted to go 2-for-2 at the beginning of the day, and we ended up doing it. It’s a great feeling.”