Your future, our focus
Road Trip To Colorado Up Next
The Northwest College wrestling team faced a daunting challenge on a road trip to Oklahoma for last weekend’s NJCAA Coaches Duals.
Coach Jim Zeigler’s squad defeated Colby Community College handily, 41- 12, but was turned away by Cowley College, Iowa Lakes, Iowa Western and Labette at the national event.
“A 1-4 record is not what we like, but we actually wrestled well,” Zeigler reported. “We were forfeiting two weights (12 points), or three weights (18 points) in each dual. Everybody won matches on this trip and the competition was keen.”
The Trappers went without 149-pound top gun Brady Lowry because of illness. Lowry stands 15-2 on the year. Meanwhile, Van Bray, who holds the team’s second-best record and normally wrestles at 133 pounds, moved up to the 141-pound class for last week’s competition “to help us fill a spot,” Zeigler explained.
For the weekend, Bray and Dawson Barfuss (125) both went 4-1.
“Barfuss has started to come alive as he is 8-2 in his last 10 matches with six pins,” said the coach.
At 165 pounds, Jate Frost went 3-2 on the weekend.,
“He’s just coming back from an ankle surgery he had in July,” Zeigler said of Frost. ”He missed most of the first semester and we look for him to get better as he gets in the swing of things and gets some competition under his belt.”
Porter Fox, at 174 pounds, also went 3-2 and “is showing steady improvement,” Zeigler said.
Tyson Carter (184) returned to the lineup after suffering a knee injury in the NWC Open the second week of November.
“He [Carter] went 2-3, but lost to the No. 1 and No. 2 guys in the nation. A few more matches and he will start to show real potential,” predicted his coach.
NWC’s own No. 1-ranked wrestler, Majid Muratov (197), suffered an upset defeat in his first match.
“Otherwise, he had a solid weekend and we only wrestled him in three of the matches,” where he was 2-1, Zeigler said.
Winners in the victory over Colby began with Barfuss defeating Zach Tucker by 1:27 fall; Frost defeated Lazura Osayande by fall in 2:15; Fox overwhelmed Kody Hahn of Colby by technical fall (15-0) and Carter pinned Aiden Smith in 1:06. At 197, it was Muratov of Northwest with a lightning-fast stick of Sean Jackson in 40 seconds.
Winners for NWC in the loss to Cowley (45-11 Cowley) were: Van Bray by technical fall (16-1) and Frost (2:38 fall).
Four Trappers came up winners vs. Iowa Lakes (34-21 Iowa Lakes): Barfuss (0:42 fall); Bray technical fall (16-1); Frost (2:25 fall); Fox (1:39 fall).
Trappers whose arms were raised in the dual opposite Iowa Western (37-9 Iowa Western) were Barfuss (2:47 fall) and Bray (7-1).
In the Labette dual (29-20 Labette), the Trappers who came out on top were: Carter (3-0), Muratov (technical fall 17-0) Barfuss (1:10 fall) and Fox (4:46 fall).
Zeigler and his Trappers will travel to Sterling, Colorado, for a dual with Northeastern Junior College on Friday before returning to wrestle for the home fans Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25 in the Apodaca Duals.
What follows the Apodaca are three road trips before NWC returns to the Cabre Gym to host the Rocky Mountain District national qualifying tournament on Saturday, Feb. 22.