Saturday, February 9th
The Colby Community College wrestling team qualified eight members for the NJCAA National Meet. The regional qualifier was held in Rock Springs, Wyo. on the campus of Western Wyoming Community College. The Trojans placed second as a team and head coach Steve Lampe was named the Western Region Coach-of-the Year.
Qualifying was Akmal Adilov (4th) at 125 pounds. Adilov lost 3-1 to Tommy Edgmon from Pratt, but rebounded to pin Donte Bulter from Neosho. Adilov was injury defaulted in the match for third and fourth, but qualified as a wildcard.
"Akmal has a half-tear in his miniscus, and we wanted to rest him," Head Coach Steve Lampe said. "Hopefully it will be fully healed by nationals. Akmal has worked very hard over the last few weeks."
Danny Manius finished 3rd at 133 pounds. Manius defeated Luis Carranza of Northwest Wyoming by 7-4 dec., lost to Western Wyoming's Nick Mamalis by fall, defeated Kyle Beebe of Pratt 9-1 and won by fall over Rory Kendall of Neosho.
Lyubomir Kumbarov finished 2nd at 141 pounds. Kumbarov defeated Jeremy Lawled of Neosho 2-1, but lost 4-2 to Derek Ward of Labette.
"Lyubo wrestled very well," Lampe said. "He was called for stalling in the match against Ward, which we felt was questionable."
T.J. Hepburn continued his impressive streak over the past few tournaments, finishing first at 149 pounds. Hepburn won by techicall fall over Eric Cress of Pratt and pinned Ty Jaquess of Neosho.
Cole Garcia finished 2nd at 157 pounds. Garica pinned Thad Zempel of Western Wyoming, but lost in the finals to Joe Cornejo of Labette by a 3-2 decision.
"Cole ran into a little bit of trouble in the finals match," Lampe said. "He struggled with bottom control, but he'll be alright. It was the first time wrestling against the Labette wrestler, but he will be fine for nationals."
Delanno Palmore qualified 2nd at 165 pounds. Palmore won by an 8-5 decision over Kenny Carney of Neosho, but lost to ranked wrestler Mickey Morgan of Labette by 8-4 decision.
Scott Miller qualified 3rd at 174 pounds. Miller was probably the story of the day for the Trojans, wrestling for the first time this season. He lost the opening match by fall to Joe Yust of Labette, but rebounded to win by fall over J. Thomas of Pratt and win 4-3 over Corey Green of Northwest Wyoming.
"(Scott) was way to exicted in his first match," Lampe said. "He started quickly, but ran out of gas and ended up being disqualified because he couldn't finish the match. After that, he settled down and wrestled better and smarter as the day went on."
The final qualifier was no surprise as Chris Kearn finished 1st at 184 pounds. Coach Lampe said Kearn started slow, but finished strong. Kearn defeated Kirk Fairley of Pratt 8-6 and defeated Anthonyt Enyobi 7-2 in the finals.
The National Tournament will be held on Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23 in Rochester, Minnesota. The website for the national tournament is http://www.rochsports.org/2008njcaawrestling.php
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment