Neosho County Community
College Wrestling Release
Released by Aaron Sweazy
Assistant Wrestling Coach
Dec. 9, 2008
The Panther wrestling team closed out the 2008 portion of the season with some stiff competition Saturday, taking on wrestlers from some of the finest programs in the region of mainly non division 1 competition at Fort Hays State University's Bob Smith Open.
Over 20 schools were represented at the tournament, with 343 wrestlers competing from such wrestling powerhouses such as Central Oklahoma and Nebraska-Kearney from NCAA DII, University of Nebraska from DI, and Missouri Valley from NAIA with the top 4 wrestlers per weight class placing at the tournament. The Panthers, although wrestled hard, did not place any wrestlers.
The Panthers however had 6 wrestlers earn at least one win in the 10 weight classes contested. Picking up a win at 165 by major decision was Aaron Butler a freshman from Arkansas, Alex Gorton from Michigan picked up 2 wins of his own at 125 as did Cody Eaton at 149. Zac Taylor who wrestled unattached picked up a pair of wins at 157.
The Panther's were headlined by two outstanding performances by two true freshman:
Justin Ringgold from Wichita, KS opened up with a tough fought 3-1 victory over Jon Prater of Pratt, before falling to 5th seed Drew Comito of Nebraska-Kearney. Ringgold bounced back by then defeating an opponent 6-3, before winning his 3rd match of the day 7-3 over Central Oklahoma's Conner Robinson. It was the 4th win of the afternoon that proved to be the sweetest, as a late fleeing the mat call narrowed the gap to a 1 point deficit, and Ringgold then lunged forward and secured a takedown on the edge as time expired to propel himself to victory over Labette's Raufeon Stots by an 8-7 margin. Stots narrowly defeated Ringgold in overtime at the Neosho-Labette dual back on November 19th. Ringgold found himself with the chance to make the consolation semifinals, but came up just short losing to another Central Oklahoma wrestler by an 8-5 margin to finish 4-2 on the day overall.
Derek Heckel from Ulysess, Ks had seen success already this season at the 184lb weight class, but made his debut at 174 as a leaner and meaner individual. Heckel opened up with a 17-4 thrashing of Kyle Brightman of Mesa State College, before losing a decision to a Fort Hays foe. It was that loss that caused Heckel to come out in a do-or-die mode as he demolished 3 consecutive wrestlers by fall, with each being a little quicker then the next. He first took care of Fort Hay's Kyle Hudgins in 4:56 as an appetizer, next on the menu was York's Hunter Lanka in 2:30 for the entrée, but the dessert was the sweetest as Central Oklahoma junior and 4th seed Cody Rowell who was going for his 3rd consecutive placing at the Bob Smith Open was pinned in a mere 1:47. Heckel then battled a close match with CSU-Pueblo foe, before bowing out of the tournament.
The Panther's finish up the 2008 portion of the schedule with a 4-3 dual record and will return in the 2009 part of the season in a big way as they travel to Iowa to take part in the National Dual Championships at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls.
"We are looking forward to the most important second half of the season. All of the younger guys have been picking up needed experience and when we report back the first part of January it will be time then to have our lineup set and show what we are capable of every meet. Then experience gained from that should get these guys to the level they are working for and we are always striving for," said head coach Wayne Petterson.