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

Mar. 2, 2009

The Neosho Wrestling team went up to the 50th NJCAA National Wrestling Championships held in Rochester, Minnesota over the weekend. Athletes competing for the 14th ranked Panthers were freshman and 3rd ranked Alex Gorton from Rockford, Michigan at 125 pounds, sophomore and 5th ranked Rory Kendall from Vinita, Oklahoma at 133 pounds, sophomore Zac Taylor from San Jose, California and freshman Derek Heckel from Ulysses, KS. Day one started off with a bang as Rory Kendall picked up a fall over an opponent from Ridgewater. Zac Taylor followed suit and scored an impressive 15-3 victory in his opening bout as well. Derek Heckel gave up a reversal late in his opening round match up against Devin Clark of host Rochester and wound up losing 3-5 (Clark would wind up winning the National title at 184). The second round would be the first showing of the National tournament for Alex Gorton. Gorton received a bye in the first round and then only needed under 5 minutes to record the fall and advance to the quarterfinals. Rory Kendall kept things going by knocking off 4th ranked Silas Murry of Nassau with a 9-4 (Murry was a 5th place finisher in 2008 at 125). Taylor would also face off against a Nassau opponent but would lose a narrow 4-2 decision to end the first session of day one. Later that evening wrestlers would return to advance on with wrestlebacks in the consolation rounds. Derek Heckel drew Ward from Colby, a foe that had defeated him 2 weeks ago at the regional. Heckel was taken down early but rebounded just as quick and with one swift and angered move flipped his opponent over for a reversal and the pin at the 1:56 mark of the first period. Zac Taylor rebounded nicely with his 2nd major decision of the day with a 16-6 beating of a Muskegon opponent. Alex Gorton was in the quarters and only needed 1 win to guarantee All American finish, however things weren't clicking early for Alex and instead wound up on the receiving end of a 9-2 loss and would have to wrestleback for 3rd. Rory Kendall the other lone ranked wrestler for Neosho was up next and was against Eric Ellington of Rend Lake. Kendall who won by fall with a second left in their previous meeting would be pushed into overtime with Ellington. Numerous shot attempts and back-peddling by Ellington were not called for stalls which infuriated the Neosho coaches. Then it happened, both men shot in at the same time and it was like watching a car crash, Elligton got the better end of the head on collision, and wound up on top taking the winning takedown in the process and putting Kendall on the back.With a 2 match slump going on, Neosho would need to pick it up, or pack it up with no medals from Nationals. Zac Taylor came out and was picking it up right away and used a big 3rd period with a takedown and 2 nearfall to squeak by his Niagara opponent. Heckel was back in action again and used momentum of the previous match to lay his opponent out flat in a mere 38 seconds! The final backside round of day one would take place in what has become to be known as the "Do or Die Round." Wrestlers that won would be going on to day two and earned All American Honors, while those that lost would go home having come very close to what few have accomplished. With Neosho's fab 4 all right on the cusp of pulling off a perfect 4 of 4, Alex Gorton was up first. Gorton would take on T.T. Prayther an opponent he defeated earlier in the season by fall. Prayther kept it close and lead 9-8 on the scoreboard, with Gorton assured a riding time point at the end of the match both wrestlers knew they had to move now or go into overtime. Exhausted and weary both men shot and reshot, a scramble ensued and Prayther wound up on top with the takedown and the buzzer sounding shortly after and ending Gorton's hopes of an All American finish and his season with an 18-9 record . Rory Kendall was next up and after a heartbreak of not qualifying last year for the National meet, he was primed and ready for the challenge and some payback by facing Saul Guerro of Northwest Wyoming to get into the prestigious All American rounds. Match was tied 3-3 after one, Kendall took top and rode Guerro for a while, but to no avail as Guerro escaped. Kendall again wound up on top in the 3rd and racked up enough time for a riding time point but a late escape gave Guerro the 1 point edge…as Kendall valiantly tried to shoot over and over again in the final seconds of the match, it was evident the clock wasn't on his side and Neosho's other ranked wrestler would lose by a 1 point match and miss out on being an NJCAA All American.

Zac Taylor was up next and was only one of 2 remaining hopes for Neosho. Against a tough Lucas Chesher from North Idaho, Taylor was able to counter a takedown attempt into one of his own and get back points in the process to take a huge 5-0 lead. Chesher would counter with a reverse, Taylor escaped and the score was 6-2 Neosho after the 1st period. Taylor escaped in the 2nd and went up 7-2 heading into the 3rd. Things looked out of reach, but then Chesher got steamrolling late. An escape for Chesher followed by a takedown put the North Idaho opponent down only 5-7. He let Taylor go for 5-8 score and was on the cusp of another takedown but was countered and Taylor now was up 10-5. A late escape along with a takedown put Chesher closer on the scoreboard, but the buzzer sounded and Taylor was to advance to day 2 of the national championships. Last on the day would be Derek Heckel at 184, and what better way to end the day then with Neosho's bitter rival Labette! Heckel scored a fast takedown and gave up a reversal shortly thereafter to end the 1st at 2-2. Benson escaped and Heckel took another takedown but gave up another reversal and now trailed Benson 4-5 going into the last period. Knowing how tough Benson is on top, Heckel elected to go neutral and was able to clinch the winning takedown with 30 seconds to go in the match and not only advance into All American status, but keep Labette from doing so at that weight.

Day 2 in Rochester arrived with a chill in the air but an energy of warmth in the stands as All American competition was under way! Zac Taylor would try to get things going but found himself on the receiving end of a 5-3 loss to last year's 7th place finisher Zoolboo Enkbyar of SW Oregon. Heckel was up again and started the morning off on a good note by flattening out 2008 All American Dan Rosenmeir of Jamestown in a mere 1:27. Heckel was up again in the consolation semis and would have to take on a challenge in Iowa Central's returning 4th place finisher in Joe Johnson. Heckel pumped up took Johnson down for a quick 2 and turned him for 3 more. Johson would escaped but Heckel wasn't done yet and took him down once more and sealed the deal with a fall at the 2:43 mark giving Heckel his fourth fall of the tournament and putting him in the lead for the Most Falls Award based on time with Clackamas heavyweight Tyrell Fortune. The placement matches were now set and Taylor was up first going for 7th against Lincoln's Bryce Lumzy. Taylor and Lumzy would battle it out in a close match, but Lumzy would hang on for a 3-2 decision with Taylor finishing 8th. Heckel was up next at 184 in the 3rd place match and was against athletic Kamron Jackson of North Idaho. Heckel was able to score early, but Jackson rebounded and tallied some big points late and won 7-4, sending Heckel home with a loss, but a 4th place finish. Heckel also wound up 2nd with the most falls in the least amount of time award as the Clackamas heavyweight recorded the fall in the championship finals.

Coach Petterson's comments: Finishing 11th in the nation with just 4 qualifiers isn't too bad considering I thought we should have done better. Derek Heckel definitely redeemed himself after his showing at the qualifying tournament. To give you an idea of how he competed this past weekend I would like to let you know his first loss was to the eventual champion 6-4 and up until the HWT finals match he still was in the lead for the most falls in the least amount of time award. In their only meeting this year, Derek beat Labette's nationally number 1 ranked guy in the blood round where everything is on the line. Zac Taylor had a very good tournament and wrestled like we knew he could. His hard work and continual pressing aggressive style paid off for him. His conditioning is outstanding and he used it well. Rory Kendall made one mistake in the championship quarter final match in sudden victory and it cost him a berth in the semi's and an All American placing. The official didn't exactly help him out as well. He then faced a rematch against the NW Wyoming guy who he lost to in the regional finals. Giving up the initial take down was the difference in his blood round match. Otherwise Rory wrestled good in all of his matches. Alex Gorton started off well in his first match but ran into a real good kid in the championship quarter finals. Alex did not recover from his loss to the Nassau (NY) kid and was beat in the blood round in a match all of wish he could have back. Overall though, except for Gorton's last match, we wrestled well. We look forward to moving our sophomore's on to 4 year schools and our returners combined with our recruiting class next year. I would like to thank all who support our program and good things are ahead of us.