LINDSBORG – Seeing two wrestlers fall just shy of earning top-three finishes, the number eight-ranked Cloud County Community College wrestling would stay in the Sunflower State to compete in the Bethany College Swede Open in Lindsborg on Saturday .
Cloud County would take on a mix of wrestlers from NCAA Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA as the meet would see the T-Birds take on a large number of opponents that they will see later in the year as the meet consisted primarily of teams from Nebraska and Kansas.
The heavyweight division would be well represented by Cloud County as number four-ranked Elwin Trejo would win his first three matches of the day and go 4-2 overall to finish fourth in the division with both losses coming to opponents from four-year schools.
Following pins over Nick Feely of Neosho Community College and Lyndon Flax of Fort Hays State, Trejo would then earn a 9-2 decision over Angelo Damian of Hastings before falling by a final of 12-6 to Korinthian Nabors of Lindenwood-Belleville in the semifinal round.
Battling through the consolation semifinals to earn a pin of unattached Marlique Trumbo, Nebraska-Kearney's Lee Herrington would get the best of Trejo in the third-place match with the sophomore taking fourth.
Also competing at heavyweight would be Jose Lopez as the sophomore would earn a 10-3 win over Alex Pena of Neosho and Carlos Sanchez who picked up a 7-5 tie-breaker win over Marco Valdivia of Hastings College and pin of Justin Mcgough of Labette before falling to Trumbo in the consolation quarterfinal round.
Nationally-ranked Blayne Harris would also put up a good showing for the T-Birds on the mat at 125 pounds, earning a pin over Gabe Eades of Labette in his opening match before falling 13-4 to Jackson Neilsen of Nebraska-Kearney in his second match. Working his way back through the consolation bracket, Harris would earn a 9-6 win over Tyler McKeefery of Ottawa University and medical forfeit over Mason Turner of Fort Hays State before ending his day with a 7-1 defeat to Parker Avendano of Newman University in the consolation quarterfinals.
Toby Gavette would also represent CCCC at 125 pounds, earning wins over David Boucher of Benedictine (10-1 major decision) and Yves Worou of Bethany College (pin at 2:49) while Blake Leiszler won matches over Kaden Goff of Bethany (7-2 decision, Alec Segarra of Nebraska-Kearney (7-0 decision) and Jaxon Miller of Oklahoma Wesleyan (4-0 decision).
Joel Ostrom would earn a pair of pins over wrestlers from four-year schools to go 2-2 on the day, earning a 23-second pin of Blake Hall from Central Christian College and 1:22 pin of Nick Coria of York College while falling in a pair of matches to wrestlers from Nebraska-Kearney. Tristin Hauck (149 pounds) and Micah Sterling (184 pounds) would both pick up one win on Saturday while Nate Normandin would earn a 9-5 sudden death overtime win over Austin Mitchell of Hastings College and an 8-7 decision over Mouhammad Sangariev of Colby Community College to go along with a pair of defeats to unattached wrestlers.
What's next?
Cloud County fans will finally get an opportunity to see their nationally-ranked T-Birds compete at home when CCCC hosts Wayland Baptist in a dual meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The dual will be the first of three home meets for the T-Birds in 2019-2020.
--cloudtbirds.com--