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NWC HOSTS WESTERN WYOMING TONIGHT
The Northwest College wrestling team hung with 24 of the region’s top teams at the Cowboy Open in Laramie on Saturday.
The Trappers grappled with wrestlers from two- and four-year schools in their final big tournament before the start of duals.
Western Wyoming comes to town tonight (Thursday) for a 7 p.m. dual in the Cabre Gym. The Trappers and Mustangs are tied at No. 20 in the latest NJCAA polls.
NWC head coach Jim Zeigler said the Trappers had a winning weekend despite not bringing any hardware back to Powell.
“There was some wins from these young kids,” Zeigler said. “We clearly have a long way to go, but overall I think a good experience. We brought home some real positive experience.”
Of the dozen Trappers that competed in Laramie, 11 wrestled in the amateur division while only one, sophomore Eduardo Penha, wrestled in the elite division.
“Amateur division is made up primarily of freshmen and sophomores of all schools,” Zeigler said. “Very rarely did any of the junior college kids wrestle in the elite division.”
Penha, who topped the 133-pound bracket in the NWC Open on Oct. 31, went 3-2 in Laramie.
Penha opened with a 1-0 decision over Wyoming’s Paul Garcia, but was pinned in the quarterfinals by Northern Colorado’s Rico Montoya. In the consolations, Penha pinned Chadron State’s Joshua Miller (6:24) and Western State Colorado’s Zach Shank (2:59) before dropping a 3-1 decision to Daniel DeShazer of Nebraska-Kearney in the consolation semifinals.
“Daniel DeShazer is a two-time NCAA division two national champion,” Zeigler said. “The quality of opponent is up there. Even though Eduardo lost to him in overtime, that tells a lot. Eduardo is already striking a lot of attention.”
Sophomore John-David Henderson went 4-2 and placed fourth in the 149-pound bracket of the amateur division.
Henderson won his first three matches to advance to semifinals, where he lost 18-4 to Drake Randall of Montana State University-Northern. Henderson then won in his first consolation match 11-5 against Sierra College’s Reese Chew to move on to the third-place bout. Brandon Weber, also from MSU-Northern, took down Henderson in a 12-0 major decision. Henderson won by two pins and two decisions.
Sophomore Matthew Widdicombe won by two pins before withdrawing from action. The Powell High School graduate pinned Colby Community College’s John Peeden in 6:34, and WSC’s DeSean Horton in 3:51. Widdicombe was slammed by UW’s Dewey Krueger in the quarterfinals and had to forfeit due to a concussion.
“The trainer came and looked at him and said he was OK,” Zeigler said. “They wrestled again for 10-15 seconds and he looked wobbly to me.”
At that point, Zeigler had the trainer reevaluate Widdicombe, and decided to stop the bout.
William Kishpaugh reached the 174-pound semifinals before falling a bout short of the third-place match. The freshman out of Evanston won his first two matches, first by fall (3:57) against Northwest Kansas Technical College’s Brice Mason and then by a 7-2 decision over Colorado Mesa University’s Adam Visconti. Kishpaugh was bounced to the consolations by Willy Cogdill of UW, who won 9-3. He then lost 15-6 to Rocky Michaelson of Colorado School of Mines.
After a quick opening-round fall, Matthew Schmidt won four straight consolation bouts before being ousted in the 133-pound quarterfinals with a 4-2 record.
The NWC red shirt sophomore was pinned by University of Great Falls’ Isaac Wilson in just 36 seconds, but got back up as quickly as he went down.
Schmidt pinned Adrian George of New Mexico Highlands and Shon Aragon of Colorado Mesa in his first to consolation bouts. The Billings product then advanced to the quarters with a 6-4 decision over Arthur Tomax of Western Wyoming and a 9-2 decision against Noah Au-Yeung of Colorado School of Mines. Schmidt’s streak finally ended against Ryan Waite, of Western State Colorado, who won an 8-6 decision.
Freshman Matthew Barfuss lost by fall and a major decision to go 0-2 in the 133-pound class. Tyler Hannenberg of WSC pinned Barfuss in 4:33 of the quarterfinals, and Tomax won 13-4 in the second round of the consolations.
Riley Loveless (141 pounds) won three straight consolation bouts before he was ousted in the fourth round with a 3-2 record. The freshman won an 8-1 decision against Adams’ Riley Thomas, a 7-2 decision against teammate Colton Parham, and by fall against Justin Chenoweth of WSC (4:02). Loveless’ day was ended by an 8-2 loss to Chase Call of Utah Valley University. He was knocked out of the championship bracket by a 7-2 sudden victory for Jace Abbott of Colorado Mesa.
Parham, a NWC freshman and 2015 Powell High School grad, went 1-2 in Laramie. Parham opened with a 14-10 decision over Randy Ridela of Colorado Mesa before losing an 8-0 major decision to Matt Weber of MSU-N.
Andrew VonRein went 1-2 in the 165-pound class. The freshman opened with a 5-2 decision over WSC’s Brendan Gonzalez before he fell to Cody Kinergy of Nebraska-Kearney in 6:26. Von- Rein lost a 2-0 decision to Adam Pelter of the Air Force Academy in his first consolation match.
Freshman Heber Shepherd went 1-2 in the 184-pound bracket. After a bye, Shepherd beat MSU-N’s Jake French in a 5-2 decision, and lost a 3-2 decision to UW’s Steven Allen that kept him out of the semifinals. Shepherd went to the consolations and lost 5-1 to Nebraska- Kearney’s Zach Stodden.
Freshman Matthew Schmillen went 0-2 in the 197-pound class in Laramie. Schmillen was pinned by eventual champ Joe Bencomo of Adams State in 4:18 and lost in a 16-1 technical fall to Michael Colello of Chadron State in the consolation bracket’s second round.
Heavyweight Jacob Wells lost both of his bouts by way of fall.
The sophomore was pinned by Luke Peterson of Nebraska-Kearney in 1:20 and then by Casey Schaub of MSU-N in 1:43.
IN-STATE RIVALRY
When Northwest takes on Western tonight (Thursday) in Cabre Gym, the dual will take on a different feeling than in years past.
“They’re absolutely more of a threat,” Zeigler said of the Mustangs.
Western head coach Art Castillo, who wrestled for Zeigler at Northwest in the late 90s, is entering his seventh season at the helm.
“He comes from my system, he wrestled for me, and I think he’s doing a great job down there,” Zeigler said. “Western has upped their commitment. They’re seeing good results out of it and I think it’s increased their recruiting.”
Zeigler noted that many of the recruits he once got from Green River and Rock Springs are more seriously considering Western as a viable option now.
“The history has been I’ve been able to get those top recruits from Green River and Rock Springs,” Zeigler said. “Now that (Castillo, a Green River High School grad) is there, I think he’s going to keep a lot more of those kids in that southwest corner.”
Tonight’s dual will be Northwest’s final home competition until Jan. 16.
“They’re going to be right here breathing down our neck every year,” Zeigler said. “I’m hoping that tradition and rivalry and those things will work out in our favor on Thursday night.”