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Sophomore Jeff McCormick Wins Apodaca Award
Jeff McCormick insisted he isn’t worried about winning awards.
But on Friday and Saturday, he showed why he’s worthy of them.
After becoming the 17th recipient of the Apodaca Award on Friday, McCormick earned three pinfalls in three matches as the No. 11-ranked Northwest College Trappers went 1-2 in three weekend meets at the 17th Annual Apodaca Dual Showdown at Cabre Gym in Powell.
The Apodaca Duals were founded in 1999, one year after the tragic death of former NWC wrestler Christopher Brooks Apodaca. Traditionally, some of NJCAA’s best teams travel to Powell for the event, and one Trapper wrestler is awarded the Apodaca Award. NWC head coach Jim Zeigler chooses the recipient, basing his choice on the grappler who best represents Apodaca’s leadership, responsibility, respect, educational and civic responsibility and talent on the wrestling mat.
McCormick, a redshirt sophomore from Kamas, Utah, finished third in the nation last season after a burst appendix just weeks before regionals nearly took his life. This year, McCormick has asserted himself among the best at 149 pounds and is ranked second in the nation.
But even with the success, McCormick understood the honor he was tabbed with on Friday.
“It was pretty special to me,” McCormick said. “It’s nice being recognized for all the hard work you put in and everything you do.
“I just show up every day and try to work hard and do my part. I don’t really think about the thing I’m going to get or receive for doing it; it’s more or less just, I’m getting the job done.”
Several former Apodaca Award winners, as well as Apodaca’s father, Ray Apodaca, were present to congratulate McCormick during the presentation. Zeigler called McCormick an “obvious choice” for the award.
“Jeff is a person who has earned the respect of everyone on this team, and he’s established himself as someone who is 100 percent reliable,” Zeigler said. “He does very well here as a student, as an athlete and as a human being and really reflects the qualities that Christopher possessed.”
NEOSHO COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 29, NORTHWEST 13
After the team introductions and award ceremony, NWC, one of five teams at the duals, met No. 15 Neosho County. NWC dropped its first three bouts to fall behind 11-0 before McCormick played stopgap. He registered a pinfall over NCCC’s Chris Adler in 1:20.
NWC’s other victories came on sophomore Kaelen Loveless’ 2-0 decision over Colton Looper at 165 pounds, and a 174-pound victory from sophomore Jacob Beck, who cruised to a 12-4 major decision over Tyron Welch.
No. 2-ranked Jon Wixom was upset by Neosho’s No. 4 Dillon Archer, who led most of the match before surviving a late Wixom rally.
“Wixom showed some real inconsistency, and he has to get a handle on it,” Zeigler said. “On Saturday, he got back to the mat and got focused, and that seems to be the thing for Jon — he has one loss and it wakes him up. Now he just has to avoid needing that one loss.”
NORTHWEST 30, GREAT FALLS UNIVERSITY 21
Several Trappers appeared to wake up prior to their second dual of the showdown on Saturday.
NWC earned victories in their first two matches, with redshirt freshman Robert Gomez starting things with a 6-4 win over Isaac Wilson at 125 pounds. Gomez took control in the third when he rolled out of Wilson’s grasp for an escape that broke a 3-3 tie, and later scored a double-leg takedown to pull away.
At 133, freshman Eduardo Pehna pinned Jared Berlinger in 4:13 to put NWC ahead 9-0 early. Freshman John-David Henderson suffered a pin for the Trappers at 141 pounds, but McCormick brought his team back with another pin, this one of Kyle Leir, with nearly a minute left in the third period.
Powell product and Trapper freshman Matthew Widdicomb was pinned at 157 pounds, but Loveless extended his team’s lead to 18-12 when he made a late comeback against Brock Picard. Loveless trailed 1-0 in the third period until he rallied with a takedown with 18 seconds left. He was then able to ride Picard out until the horn.
Great Falls’ 174-pounder, Shawn Lau, earned a 3-1 win over sophomore Jacob Beck to bring GFU within 18-15, and a forfeit victory at 184 pounds had the Argos ahead 21-18. But Wixom recovered from his tight loss on Friday to earn a pin over Sam Voitlaender in 2:38 before Gabe Escobedo was awarded a forfeit victory at 285 to secure the win.
“We were lacking in effort and intensity on Friday,” Zeigler said. “But I thought we improved in those areas across the board on Saturday and really wrestled well.”
NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE 28, NORTHWEST 15
No. 2-ranked North Idaho came into Saturday’s final dual sporting nine grapplers ranked in the NJCAA’s top 12. The Cardinals had enough firepower to outlast Northwest, but the Trappers showed some fight at several weight classes.
“We didn’t just give up,” Zeigler said. “We wrestled a good team in North Idaho, and I thought we had some good matches. The kids wrestled hard.”
Pehna picked up a second straight victory, working past Isaac Aguilar for a 7-2 win that had the Trappers within 4-3 early. Zeigler attributed Pehna’s Saturday success to his family's presence in the Cabre stands.
“Eduardo’s family was there cheering him on Saturday, and I think their presence reenergized him,” Zeigler said. “He came back Saturday and he was happy, and you could see he was ready to go.”
After an NWC loss at 141 pounds, McCormick finished his solid weekend with a pin of No. 11 Tyler Booth in 4:51.
“Jeff asserted his dominance this weekend,” Zeigler said.
At 165, Loveless was knocked off by No. 2 Dajour Reece in a 7-2 decision, but Zeigler was happy with his efforts after what has been an up-and-down season for last season’s national qualifier.
“[Kaelen] really had a nice weekend,” Zeigler said. “He stepped it up another notch.”
Wixom capped NWC’s wins when he completed his turnaround with a pin of No. 7 Johnathen Dennis in 4:59.
“The effort was there this weekend ... we had a down day on Friday ... but the kids came back on Saturday and recovered,” Zeigler said. “Overall, I’m happy with what we did this weekend.”