Cloud County Wrestling Team Has Two Place Fifth at 2023 Lindenwood Open
A third straight weekend of wrestling in an open-style tournament, the Cloud County Community College wrestling team would have 13 wrestlers compete in the 2023 Lindenwood University Open inside Charles F. Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri on Saturday, November 18th.
No team scores were kept for the meet, which featured teams competing from all collegiate divisions including NCAA Division I, II, III, the NAIA, and NJCAA.
Highlighted by fifth-place finishers Easton Boone (165 pounds) and Wyatt Powell (174 pounds), CCCC would tally 16 total wins on the day with eight of the wins coming by bonus points. For Boone, a 12-0 major decision over Gaven Bremenkamp of NCAA Division II Drury University would start what would be two straight wins with a 7-0 decision over Luciana Benenati of Missouri Valley College to follow to advance to the semifinal round of his bracket. Facing off with Evan Farley of Minnesota State, Boone would drop a 13-1 major decision before being handed a 19-4 defeat by Gavin Goddard of the University of Central Missouri which would drop him to the fifth-place match. In the fifth-place match, Boone would earn a medical forfeit over NJCAA number-nine-ranked Peyton Asbury of Indian Hills Community College who would not compete in what was scheduled to be his sixth match of the tournament.
As for Powell, his first tournament wrestling at 174 pounds this season would prove to be beneficial for the Mesa, Arizona native as a first-period fall over Dominic Calvin of Missouri Baptist in the opening match of the tournament would be followed by a first-period defeat to NCAA Division I's Dax Hughes of Oklahoma State University. Keeping his tournament alive with a 13-2 major decision over Riley Courtney of Ouachita Baptist, Powell would assure himself the placing rounds before dropping a 16-11 decision to Anthony Pyron of Cumberland University (Tennessee) to fall to the fifth-place match. In what would be scheduled to be his final match of the day, Powell would be awarded a medical forfeit victory over NJCAA number-12 ranked Matthan Mason from Carl Albert State to take fifth in his bracket.
Other multi-match winners for Cloud County on Saturday would include Brady Foster (125 pounds), Daniel Vines (133 pounds), and Patrick Foxworth (141 pounds) with the trio accounting for four wins by bonus points. Foster would have 18-1 technical fall wins over Juan Villa (Morton College) and Justin Shaw (Ouachita Baptist) in the consolation bracket after dropping his opening match to Isaac Gibbs (Indian Hills) and seeing his tournament end with a 16-6 major decision defeat to Zack Lovell of NCAA Division I Liberty University. Vines would drop his first match to Landen Davis of the University of Central Missouri before earning a 15-0 technical fall over Klay Browning of Sierra College and a 12-8 decision over Nathan Berta of Eureka College with his final match coming as a 4-0 loss to NJCAA number-seven ranked Corban Zugelder of Labette Community College. Foxworth had a 20-15 decision win over Luke Kawa of Morton College and a first-period fall over Tiago Bertoldo of Rochester Technical College while dropping a major decision to Ashton Hayhurst of Triton College (18-5) and a 9-8 decision to Mitchell Borynack of Oklahoma State University.
What's Next?
Following a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday break, Cloud County will be back in action to kick off the month of December on Saturday, December 2nd when they wrestle in the Sunflower State for just the second time this season by competing in the 2023 Bob Smith Open hosted by Fort Hays State University. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9 AM from Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays and feature another large contingent of regional teams from across the spectrum of collegiate divisions.