Fairfield leads area at Southern Iowa Classic

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield High School played host to the 2023 Southern Iowa Classic on Saturday. The tournament serves as a de facto Southeast Conference championship, but the one team present that isn’t in the SEC ended up on top.

Prairie City-Monroe won the tournament with 202.5 points. The Trojans were the top Union area team on the day, finishing fourth with 135.5 points. Washington was fifth, with 111, and Mt. Pleasant finished sixth, with 56.

The Trojans had two champions on the day. Cael McCabe won at 113 pounds, and Zach Westercamp took home the championship at 132 pounds.

McCabe won all five matches in a round-robin style tournament, and he won by pinfall every single time. McCabe pinned Mt. Pleasant’s Landon Beckler in 1 minute, 32 seconds. He beat PCM’s Charlie Sitzmann in 1:21, Washington’s Jace Sanders in 37 seconds, Keokuk’s Jayce High in 22 seconds and Burlington’s Lathan hand in 39 seconds.

Westercamp won three matches to take the 132-pound title. He pinned Mt. Pleasant’s Ramzy Davis in 2:59, and followed that with a pinfall over Keokuk’s Robert Howes in 5:45. In the championship, Westercamp beat Washington’s Caden Greiner via a 7-1 decision.

The Trojans also had two second-place finishers. After a dominant start, Cason Miller was edged in the 145-pound championship 4-3 by Nolan Riddle of Fort Madison. Dre Smithburg picked up two pins at 220 pounds before losing by pinfall to Burlington’s Julian Perez-Hall in the championship match.

Washington had two champions on the day, including Aaron Boone, who had one of the more dominant runs of anybody. Boone started his day with a pinfall of Fort Madison’s Noah Swigar, and then won by technical fall in his next two matches, beating Burlington’s Buxton Carlson and PCM’s Zach Richards.

Washington’s Chase Greiner won five matches to win the 160-pound tournament. He pinned Fort Madison’s Emmett Kruse in 5:32, Fairfield’s Cam McClain in 2:51 and PCM’s Wyatt Wheeler in 3:33 to start his day off. He then nipped Burlington’s Tanner Burchett 1-0 before pinning Keokuk’s Conrad Kirchner in 3:13 to wrap up the title.

Along with Caden Greiner, Washington also had a second-place finisher in Jack Kleese at 138 pounds. Kleese won his opener by decision and pinned two wrestlers before getting pinned by PCM’s Tucker Wheeler in the fifth round.

Mt. Pleasant’s best wrestler on the day was William Birsell, who took second place at 182 pounds.

Birdsell had a tough start to the day, getting pinned by Donovan Nickelson in 1:10, but he bounced back in Round 2 of a three-man round robin tournament by beating Fairfield’s Calvin McClain 10-5.

TEAM SCORES

1. PCM 202.5

2. Burlington 168

3. Fort Madison 165.5

4. Fairfield 135.5

5. Washington 111

6. Mt. Pleasant 56

7. Keokuk 51