Your future, our focus
Young Trappers enjoy strong team effort in tourney
BY DAVID DICKEY
Tribune Sports Editor
A pair of Northwest College wrestlers finished first in their respective divisions at Saturday's Cowboy Open at the University of Wyoming's War Memorial Fieldhouse in Laramie.
Freshman heavyweight Landon Harris, who entered the event unseeded, cruised through his weight class to the tune of a 4-0 mark for the Trappers' lone title effort in the elite division.
Harris opened the tournament by pinning the University of Northern Colorado's Justin Tuell in 2:52 and followed with a 3-0 decision over unattached wrestler Brennen Kerr. In his third bout, Harris pinned Western State College's Michael Freeman in 4:31. Harris capped his stellar performance in the one day tournament by defeating New Mexico Highlands' Jesse Boggs 2-0 in the title bout.
NWC head coach Jim Zeigler said Harris should have been seeded in the event, but a mistake during the creation of the bracket left freshman facing a difficult series of matchups en route to the title.
"He had a tough road to get there, but he plowed right through and won it," Zeigler said. "He wrestled really well and had a great day for us."
Wood was equally impressive in his performance Saturday, Zeigler said. The freshman from Gillette, who went 5-0 in the amateur division's133-pound weight class, started the day with a 23-8technical fall over Colorado State University-Pueblo's Josh Dragnet. Wood then added another technical fall (19-3) over unattached Christian Reed. In his third match, Wood edged unattached Josh Strait 5-3.
Wood's fourth match pitted him against unattached Kasey Garnhart from the University of Wyoming. Wood won that bout by a 6-4 decision and landed a spot in the title match with unattached wrestler Chad Lousberg. Wood defeated Lousberg 6-3.
"He's a winner," Zeigler said of Wood. "He's just goes out and gets the job done. He was competing in a weight class that had a lot of entries, and he beat some good wrestlers along the way. Garnhart, who is a redshirt freshman at UW, is a very talented wrestler, and Jeff did a great job against him."
Zeigler said during Wood's bout with Garnhart, Wood was trailing by two points with 10 seconds remaining. The NWC freshman, who was determined to remain undefeated Saturday, executed a foot sweep that resulted in a two point takedown and followed with two more points for a near fall.
"Some guys in that position would try to score, but they wouldn't go into it with the confidence that they could get it done," Zeigler said. "He was determined to make it work. There's just no quit in him."
That lead, however, was short-lived as the Lights' Taylor Todd overcame an early 3-2, first-period deficit to NWC's Tyler Jones to win by a 7-5 margin in the 149-pound weight class.
With MSU-Northern ahead 9-7, the see-saw team score tipped back in the Trappers' favor at 11-9 following the 157-pound bout, thanks to Trapper Corey Woodruff's 12-4, major decision over redshirt freshman Mark Hobson.
Following Woodruff's victory, however, the meet turned in the Lights' favor with Dimas' win at 165, Austin Ouellette's pin against NWC freshman Tyrell Wright (174) and the forfeit at 184. The outcomes of those three bouts gave MSU-Northern a 24-11 advantage entering the matches at 197 and 285. But even with the team victory well in hand, the Trappers closed with strong efforts by Mak Jones (197) and Landon Harris (285).
Mak Jones, a freshman and two-time state champion from Powell High School, quickly disposed of sophomore Jonas Schenzel just more than a minute and half into the first period.
Harris, a freshman from Rexburg, Idaho, faced NAIA All- American Robbie Shaw. Harris built a 6-1 advantage after the first two periods before winning 14-6 for a major decision and four more team points for the
Trappers.
¦ Up next: The Trappers' next contest will be in Powell Thursday against rival Western Wyoming. The start time for the match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.