NEOSHO COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

WRESTLING

By Aaron Sweazy

The Panther wrestling team of Neosho hosted the Wichita State Shocker club team in a dual on Sunday afternoon.   The varsity squads from both teams took to the mat with the action starting off at the 125 pound weight class.  Derek Steeley a freshman out of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was able to rack up 3 takedowns in the 1^st period before disposing of Evan Amaro at the 3:40 mark by fall.   WSU was open at 133, so the action went on to 141 where Josh Wolfe of Neosho went into the 3^rd period up 8-4 on Columbus native Nick Thomas, before rattling off 7 points late in the match and adding riding time to win 15-4.  At 149 sophomore captain Justin Ringgold of Wichita, KS  trailed 2-1 after the first period, but could only make it to a 2-2 score before giving up 2 more takedowns and suffering the first defeat of the day to the Shockers 8-3.    Josh Isam a freshman from Sapulpa would get things going again for the Panthers who were up 16-3 in the team standings by picking up a 7-4 victory,  before Hollis, NY freshman Derrick Ageday went on a rampage with  12 points alone coming off of takedowns in a 18-7 major decision.  At 174  Aaron Butler of Little Rock, AR would take on 3 time Club National Qualifier Nate Alvarez of the Shockers.  After  as scoreless first period,   Alvarez took a quick reversal to go up 2-0,  however,  Butler earned an escape and a takedown to go up 3-2 before adding on more escape and winning 4-2 .   At 184 Ralph Manous a freshman from Okmulgee, OK  showed that he had very little rust from being away from the sport for a year,  by recording a 35 second fall of the Shocker’s Jake Fox.  The dual would end with back to back matches by Inola, OK natives Kris Powell and Jon Arnold.   Powell down to 197 this year after being 285 last year struggled to get any offense going early and was trailing 7-1  after the first period to Kenny Brown who spent the last few years wrestling with the Marines.     Powell continued to struggle and Brown was on the verge of a tech fall when Powell’s shoulders went flat and WSU recorded the victory by pin.    Finally at heavyweight Jon Arnold made things a lot more exciting then it should have.  With under a minute to go in the match Arnold gave up a takedown to trail 4-3,  but  with time close to the end Arnold escaped, turned and pounced at his opponent and nabbed a 2 pt takedown to seal a 6-4 victory.   Neosho  would defeat Wichita State 35-9  in varsity action and then go on to compete in 9 exhibition matches  with freshmen Alfonso Osuna and Trey Vicknair picking up victories at 141 and 197,  as well as sophomore Powell who won by fall at 4:32 bumping back up to his old heavyweight class.  Neosho is next on the road at Pratt on Thursday before heading to the Baker Open on Sunday.

NEOSHO  35    WICHITA STATE 9

Exhibition Matches