Cloud County Community College Wrestling Team Competes at Grand View Open
Wrestling in what is expected to be their largest open tournament of the season, the Cloud County Community College wrestling team would have 12 wrestlers compete and account for 22 victories at the 2023 Grand View University Open inside the Ignit Sports & Fitness Complex in Grimes, Iowa on Saturday, November 11th.
With 45 teams in attendance and competing throughout the day, T-Bird wrestlers would grapple with wrestlers across the spectrum of NCAA Division I, II, the NAIA, and NJCAA while seeing 15 of their victories come in bonus-point fashion which included six victories by fall.
CCCC's top performance would come at the 285-pound weight class with freshman D.J. Gillins winning three of his first four matches of the tournament to make the quarterfinal round while officially going 4-2 on the day and making it to the fifth-place match. Opening his tournament with a 12-4 major decision over Kaleb Abad of Marian University, Gillins would go on to post major decision wins by scores of 18-4 over Aden Jorgensen (University of Jamestown) and 10-2 over Logan Ash (Northwestern College Iowa) before dropping his match against Torin Forsyth of the University of Central Missouri who would take third in the bracket. Rebounding with a win by fall at the 5:49 mark over Chance Robinson of the University of Jamestown, Gillins would advance again with a no-contest decision over Christopher Greil of Lindsey Wilson College who had hit his six-match limit in his prior match. With a chance to advance to the third-place match, Gillins would be defeated by Anthony Yancey of Graceland University and finish the day tied for fifth as both he and Xavier Bruening of Iowa State University would see their match declared a no contest with both having reached their daily match limit.
A week after making his collegiate debut and going 5-1 at the Friends University Open, 133-pound wrestler Daniel Vines would have another strong outing for Cloud County by winning each of his first three matches as part of a 3-2 day. Starting his day with a 16-4 major decision win over Avery Wolf of Barton Community College, Vines would earn a second win over an NJCAA wrestler by taking a 10-8 decision over Jamey Bruner of Iowa Central Community College. Grinding out a 9-6 sudden victory win over Grant Wells of Concordia University of Nebraska to advance one more round in the championship bracket, Vines would see a 4-1 decision loss come at the hands of eventual third-place finish Landon Bertsch of Marian University before bowing out with a 14-6 loss to fifth-place finisher Isaiah Miller (University of Jamestown).
Three other Cloud County wrestlers would all pick up three wins on the day with Patrick Foxworth (141 pounds), Tarik Adkins (149 pounds), and Macallistair Chambers (174 pounds) all going 3-2 on the day while combining for five of Cloud County's wins by fall. Foxworth would earn first-period falls over Aidan Lupisella of Cornerstone University and Mitchell Huber of Central Methodist University to go along with a 19-10 major decision win over Dominic Schiavone of St. Ambrose University. Adkins would also post a pair of first-period falls by defeating Daylen Jackson (Graceland University) in 1:09 before winning in a time of 1:44 over Ryan Pankov of Ellsworth CC before his final win coming in the form of an 8-6 decision over Luke Jaworski of Cornerstone University. Chambers had a first-period fall in his opening match against Nathan Henry of Benedictine College and earned a 6-1 decision win over Brady Littleton of Waldorf University and a 12-4 major decision victory over Dominic Calvin of Missouri Baptist University.
Other wrestlers to pick up victories for CCCC on Saturday included 125-pound wrestler Brady Foster who would go 2-2 with a first-period fall over Al'zaveon Harris of Missouri Valley College and a 7-2 decision over Kaden Golder of Iowa Central while Easton Boone (15-0 technical fall over Makhia Davis of William Woods), Erik Darling (9-5 decision over Dominic Calvin of Missouri Baptist) and Wyatt Powell (16-0 technical fall over Joseph Cruz of Iowa Central) each had one victory.
What's Next?
A third straight weekend of action next week will see Cloud County travel to Saint Charles, Missouri to take part in the Lindenwood University Open. The meet, which will be held inside Robert F. Hyland Arena, is expected to feature over 30 teams representing NCAA Division I, II, III, the NAIA, and NJCAA.