Neosho County Community College Wrestling Release
Released by Aaron Sweazy
Assistant Wrestling Coach

Jan. 13, 2009

The Neosho Panther wrestling squad traveled up to the University of Northern Iowa to take on the best of the NJCAA in the Cliff Keen National Duals on January 10-11. The event which amassed a 2 day viewing total of over 15,000 featured teams from all varieties of collegiate divisions, from Women's teams to the top tier of Division 1. Action started at 1pm on Saturday for the Panthers taking on the 3 time defending NJCAA Champion Iowa Central. Neosho quickly grabbed an early 2-1 decision at the hands of Michigan freshman and 5th ranked Alex Gorton at 125, when he pulled an upset over the 2nd ranked wrestler in the nation. At 133 Stephen Kendrick had his hands full and was trailing 10-1 in the 2nd to top ranked Billy Murphy. Kendrick shot in and Murphy countered and at that moment Kendrick's neck jammed backward and he fell to the ground withering in pain. Kendrick was deemed to be hurt bad enough that he was injury defaulted out of the match, giving Central Iowa 6pts on the scoreboard. With Kendrick's injury fresh in the mind's of the young Panther team, the focus tried to shift back to wrestling , but that was easier said than done. The Panthers would give up 6 bonus point victories in the last 8 remaining matches and fall to the Triton's by a final score of 40-3.
Iowa Central (IC) 40 vs. Neosho County Community College (NEO) 3
125 Alex Gorton (NEO) WBD Patrick Hunter (IC) D 2-1
133 Billy Murrphy (IC) WBF Stephen Kendrick (NEO) DEF
141 Vinny Pisiani (IC) WBF Montana Carson (NEO) F 1:45
149 Tanner Kampen (IC) WBD Justin Ringgold (NEO) M 11-2
157 Carrington Banks (IC) WBD Zac Taylor (NEO) D 9-4
165 Brad Lower (IC) WBD Dustin Burton (NEO) M 10-0
174 Brad Banks (IC) WBD Derek Heckel (NEO) D 16-13
184 Joe Johnson (IC) WBD Matt McNabb (NEO) M 11-3
197 Phil Hawes (IC) WBD Jason Mellies (NEO) M 19-5
285 Phill Mandzik (IC) WBF Kris Powell (NEO) F 1:07

Later that night the Panther's returned to action at 7pm to take on fellow West/Central region foe Colby who is currently ranked 6th in the Nation. Gorton used momentum from earlier to establish a nice 6-1 lead after the first period, from there his opponent closed the gap with an escape and a takedown and also secured riding time, but in the end Gorton won 7-5 when the final whistle blew giving Neosho a 3-0 team score. Next up was Ethan Bates filling in from the reserve 125 spot to fill in the void left by Stephen Kendrick. Although outsized, Ethan kept on attacking only to be countered and taken down with each attempt. Trailing 4-2 after the first, Colby's Apollo Harris decided it was a no brainer to take things neutral. Once again speed paid off for the Colby opponent who seized a quick two. However, as he was trying to secure a tilt for nearfall criteria, Ethan slipped out of his grasp, and put him in a headlock and soon thereafter gained the fall. Neosho lead 9-0 after 2 matches and looked to be playing the spoiler. Fumed by his twin brother losing, Jernato Harris came out on a mission for the Trojan team and picked up a first period fall over Montana Carson at 141. Justin Ringgold having already lost by major decision to the 4th ranked 149 would next have to face #1 Ganabayar Sanja who hails from Mongolia. Sanja dictated the pace early, but lack of fully understanding the American style of wrestling allowed for Ringgold to chalk up points on the board. It was late in the match then when Sanja used an illegal international style move leaving Ringgold wincing in pain. After Ringgold couldn't get to his feet in time, the ref ruled that Ringgold was the winner by virtue of an illegal hold resulting in him being unable to continue. Neosho lead 15-6 at this point and still had 3 foes coming up in the final 6 matches with National rankings attached to their credentials, one of which was at the following 157 lb weight class. Bekzod Abdurahkmanov coming in at 5th in the Nation for Colby via way of Uzbekistan was taking on Neosho's Zac Taylor who is a former California Junior College champion. Bekzod striked with a takedown only to be reversed by Taylor, with an escape quickly following that as well to end the scoring in the first. With a 3-2 lead Bekzod took down position and escaped and got yet another takedown to widen the gap6-2 going into the final stanza. Tayor went neutral and Bekzod striked again with a 2 and secured riding time to win 9-2. Neosho fortunately still had the lead, but that would quickly change as Derek Enloe at 165 would be downed by 5th ranked Ronnie Tetrault 16-5 putting Colby in a 16-15 lead in which they wouldn't look back. Derek Heckel quickly scored on a takedown in the first several seconds of his match at 174, but was shutdown the rest of the way and lost a 9-2 decision with 7 of those being awarded in the 3rd period. 184, 197 and Hwt would all succumb to bonus point losses and ending day one of competition with an 0-2 mark and setting up a 9am Sunday meeting with Harper College.
Neosho County Community College (NEO) 15 vs. Colby CC (COL) 32
125 Alex Gorton (NEO) WBD Justin Gardener (COL) D 7-5
133 Ethan Bates (NEO) WBF Apollo Harris (COL) F 4:00
141 Jernato Harris (COL) WBF Montana Carson (NEO) F 2:39
149 Justin Ringgold (NEO) WBF Ganbayet Samja (COL) DQ
157 Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (COL) WBD Zac Taylor (NEO) D 9-2
165 Ronnie Tetrault (COL) WBD Derek Enloe (NEO) M 16-5
174 Jaksen Cotterell (COL) WBD Derek Heckel (NEO) D 9-2
184 Brennan Ward (COL) WBF Matt McNabb (NEO) F 1:09
197 Nick Kriss (COL) WBD Jason Mellies (NEO) M 12-1
285 Julian Hightower (COL) WBF Kris Powell (NEO) F 2:11

After a dismal first day showing, the Panthers were pumped up to get things going against Harper College who was the only NJCAA Non-Scholarship team to be competing in the duals and coincindentally have been the only Community College invited to the National Duals competition every year since its inception. Harper entered the competition ranked 6th in the NJCAA N-S division and like Neosho, only had 1 wrestler ranked in the Nation, wither their guy being 184 lb Mike Lukowski. Red hot Alex Gorton coming in at 2- 0 in the competition quickly nabbed a takedown before giving up an escape and a takedown to trail 2-3 after the first. The Harper foe took down to start period 2 and hit a reverse straight to Gorton's back for 2 more nearfall to bring the score to 7-2 in favor of Harper's unranked DJRackley. Gorton scored 5 more big points in the 3rd nearly picking up the fall in the process, but a late escape was enough to ensure the upset and hand Gorton a 7-8 setback, both wrestlers were deducted a team point following what was a very competitive match due to unsportsmanlike conduct. Ethan Bates picked up a forfeit at 133 before Montana Carson came back out at 141 and lost a 5-1 decision, thus giving an odd 5-5 tie after 3 matches were in the books. Justin Ringgold recovering from an injury default the day prior came out and made a statement by pinning his opponent a mere 29 seconds into the 2nd period to put the Panthers on top. Zac Taylor and Dustin Burton couldn't add to the momentum with both losing, Taylor by a 7-1 decision and Burton by a fall. Derek Heckel stepped onto the mat and was quickly taken down , only to reverse and stick his foe's shoulders flat to the mat for the fall. Now up 17-14 the Panthers had a chance to put the dual away, but faltered losing the final 3 matches all by fall. The Panther's currently are 4-6 on the season and will next be on the road this Thursday at Pratt, before heading to Warrensburg, MO for the Roger Denker Open on Saturday.
Seventh Place 220
Neosho County Community College (NEO) 17 vs. Harper College (HAR) 32
125 DJ Rackley (HAR) WBD Alex Gorton (NEO) D 8-7
133 Ethan Bates (NEO) WBF FORFEIT F FOR
141 Chuck Green (HAR) WBD Montana Carson (NEO) D 5-1
149 Justin Ringgold (NEO) WBF Nate Stedaker (HAR) F 3:29
157 PJ Sternes (HAR) WBD Zac Taylor (NEO) D 7-1
165 Jordan Bakley (HAR) WBF Dustin Burton (NEO) F 6:21
174 Derek Heckel (NEO) WBF Travis Kroll (HAR) F 1:45
184 Danny Miller (HAR) WBF Matt McNabb (NEO) F 1:22
197 Mike Lukuwski (HAR) WBF Jason Mellies (NEO) F 3:59
285 Lee Herndez (HAR) WBF Kris Powell (NEO) F 0:57