Cloud County Athletics
COLBY - Highlighted by a pair of runner-up finishes and a new career-pin record set by sophomore Joel Ostrom, the number 13-ranked Cloud County Community College wrestling team would qualify seven wrestlers for the 2022 National Championship Tournament as part of a fifth-place team finish at the 2022 NJCAA South-Central District Championships held at the Colby Event Center.
Qualifying for the 2022 National Championship Tournament would be Michael Barfuss (141 pounds), Ostrom (149 pounds), Jonny Crome (157 pounds), Tarik Adkins (165 pounds), Micah Sterling (184 pounds), Zach Ferris (197 pounds), and Ibrahim Ameer (285 pounds). The seven wrestlers qualifying for the national championship tournament is the second-most in program history as nine wrestlers would qualify for the 2019 National Championship tournament.
As a team, CCCC would finish with 104.5 points and finish just five points back of fourth-place Northwest Kansas Technical College (109.5 points) while earning their second-best District Championship finish in the program's five-year history. The top-three team finishers would be Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (192 points), Pratt (167 points), and Cowley College (119.5 points) with Neosho (81.5 points), Labette (78.0 points), Carl Albert State (77.5 points), Colby (51.0 points) and Barton (17.5 points) rounding out the team scoring.
Cloud County's two runner-up finishes would come courtesy of Crome at 157 pounds and Ferris at 197 pounds as both would earn wins in their first two matches before falling in the championship bout. Crome would earn a fall in each of his two wins, taking care of Jaime Mitchell of Labette in 2:27 and Beau Perez of Cowley in 4:57. Taking on Payton Clark of Colby in the Championship match, Crome would fall into a 6-0 hole after one period of action and 8-0 heading to the third as he would never be able to recover and drop an 8-2 decision. As for Ferris, the number-three ranked wrestler in the latest NJCAA poll would defeat Wyatt Wells of Labette by fall in 5:19 before earning an 8-4 decision over Jayshon Hines of Northwest Kansas Tech. Taking on Seth Seago of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in the championship match, Ferris would give up an early takedown before earning a first-period escape and then another escape in the second after choosing bottom position. Tied 2-2 heading to the third, Ferris would give up an escape to Seago and not be able to score again to drop just his second collegiate match to an NJCAA wrestler.
The 285-pound weight class would see Ameer go 3-1 on the day with his only loss coming to number two-ranked Dan Baker of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. After getting an injury win in the second period over Jared Volic of Colby, Ameer would take on Baker and trail 5-0 before finally getting on the scoreboard. Things would sit at 7-1 following a takedown late in the second period, but Ameer would score a reversal to get back within four at 7-3. The Florissant, Missouri native would then get a third-period escape before seeing Baker manage to hold off the freshman in what would become his closest match of the day on his way to a district championship. Ameer would manage to bounce back from the defeat by earning a first-period fall over Babatunde Oroye of Neosho and a 10-2 major decision in the third-place match over Dean Setticase of Cowley.
The busiest T-Bird of the day would be Sterling in the 184-pound bracket as the sophomore would wrestle a total of six matches and wind up finishing sixth. After starting the day with a 16-0 first-period technical fall over James Sharp of Colby, Sterling would drop the first of two matches against Mouhamadou Sene of Cowley by a score of 4-3. Sterling would then get an injury win over Alec Capehart of Carl Albert State before taking down Davis Lee by major decision (10-2) before being sent to the fifth-place match with a 15-5 loss to Logan Allen of Neosho. In the medal match, Sterling would be dealt another loss by Sene with the second match finishing as an 11-4 decision.
Both Barfuss and Ostrom would manage to take fifth in their respective brackets as the two would combine for five wins with four coming by fall. Barfuss would drop his opening match to Trenton Grant of Cowley 16-6 but bounce back with a first-period fall over Ryland Wright of Neosho. Number-nine ranked Jacob Mitchell would then defeat Barfuss 11-2, but a 17-7 major decision in the fifth-place match would send Barfuss to the national championship tournament.
Ostrom's day would feature all three wins by falls to set the Cloud County career pin record as the Burwell, Nebraska native entered the day just one shy of tying the school record. Both of Ostrom's losses would come to number-10 ranked Brandon Kidd Jr. of Cowley in what would otherwise be a strong day. Falling 6-4 to Kidd Jr. in the opening match, Ostrom would earn falls over Morgan Potts (Neosho) and Eric Cain (Colby) before having to take on Kidd Jr. a second time. Things would again end in a decision loss for Ostrom as Kidd Jr. would earn a 10-4 victory, but a big response from Ostrom would get a second-period fall over Kayson Kenney of Carl Albert State in the fifth-place match.
Cloud County's final national qualifier would be Adkins who would be wrestling up two weight classes on Saturday and still manage to finish sixth. Dropping a 7-0 decision to Jonathan Carr in his opening match, Adkins would defeat Trenton Lusk of Carl Albert State by a score of 8-2. Adkins would then be dealt a pair of first-period falls by Jacob Knowles of Neosho and Jonathan Vincent of Labette to finish in sixth despite entering the day with just four matches all year.
What's next?
The 2022 NJCAA Wrestling National Championship Tournament will get underway on March 4 as action will commence at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The two-day meet will feature a full day of action on the fourth with medal rounds and the National Championship bouts set for March 5.