Bardezbain leads six placers in Barton Wrestling’s season opener

Following a year in the making, history was made Sunday as the Barton Community College Wrestling program opened its inaugural season competing in the Dan Harris Open at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas.  Twelve Cougars including three unattached wrestlers competed in their first meet representing the Barton blue finishing the one-day event 28-24 overall in matches claiming an individual title, two third place finishes, and three fourth places.

Sophomore transfer and Wichita native Will Bardezbain etched his name into the history books becoming the first meet champion rolling through the 125 weight class capping his championship with a 2-1 decision in the finals over Kaleb Furr of Ottawa University.   Receiving a bye in the first round, Bardezbain picked up a 15-0 tech fall over unattached Jay Maxville before a semifinal 6-0 decision over unattached Jaelynn Gay.

Abilene freshman Caysen Smith was one of two Cougars to claim a third place finish.  Wrestling at 133, Smith received a bye in the first round before dropping a 3-2 quarterfinal match to unattached Tyler Brown who went on to capture second place.  Getting another bye in round two of the consolation part of the bracket, Smith beat a 6-3 decision over Neosho County's Mateo Soto 6-3 then advanced to the third place match by injury default over another Neosho County wrestler Ryan Sherry.   Smith then capped his first collegiate meet with a 3:54 fall over Ottawa's Dustin Asbury for third place.

Also grabbing a third place finish was heavyweight Justin Scarbro who like Smith, was bounced to the consolation side of the bracket losing to an eventual second place finisher.  Scarbro received a first round bye before Trevor White of the host Baker University was on the top side of narrow 2-1 victory.   Getting a 4:40 fall over Wentworth University's Rodney Wilson in the second round, Scarbro advanced to the semifinals with a decisive 6-1 win over unattached George Lewis.  Scarbro then went on to take care of unattached Kris Rahn 4-1 to set up an all-Barton third place match against teammate Brix Brickey.  Brickey, competing unattached, won his first match with a 1:10 fall over Baker's Anquon Whittaker before dropping a 7-5 quarterfinal match to the eventual champion unattached Tyler Berg.  After receiving a bye in the next round on the consolation side of the bracket, the Lindsborg freshman recorded consecutive falls over Neosho County's Scott Kleinert (3:52) and Wentworth's Kryshna Tanksley (4:38)  to set up the third place match where Scarbro won in sudden victory 2-1 getting the edge with a 1:01 riding time.

Barton also took home two additional fourth place finishes coming in the 157 and 174 divisions.  Great Bend's Kade Sander began his freshman season in the 157 with a major 11-0 decision over Benedictine College's Alek Mitchell.   Advancing to the quarterfinal, Sander was derailed by unattached Greg Tooley in an exciting 15-8 match.   Sander then received a second round bye in the consolation, before getting back on track with a 3:43 fall over unattached Zachary Pitts.   Sander then kept rolling by outscoring Tyler Jones of Wentworth 14-11 but came up short in the third place match falling 14-7 to unattached Greg Tooley. 

Christian Strother's career didn't start the best but the Douglas freshman recovered with vengeance to earn a fourth place finish.   Opening the tournament with a 4:00 fall to Baker's Trevor Sutton, Strother received consecutive byes into the consolation third round before winning a 20-4 tech fall over Ottawa's Benjamin DeJarnett.  Strother then added two more fall victories getting a 0:58 fall over unattached John Hughes before dispatching Neosho's Darick Jones in 1:32.  Trying to become the third Cougar to earn a third place finish, Benedictine's Gabe Sutthoff had other plans turning the tide in a 3:26 fall sending Strother to the fourth place finish. 

Other Barton Results:

Open 125 – Khalil Franklin
           Rd 1:  lost 14-5 major decision to unattached Alpha Diallo
           Consolation Rd 1:  received bye
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost 3-1 to unattached Jay Maxville

Open 141 – Jaden McRoberts
           Rd 1:  won by fall (1:50) over unattached Jake Schoenfeld
           Quarterfinal:  lost by fall (3:59) to Benedictine's Anthony Barker
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost by forfeit to Ottawa's Ashton Rocker

Open 149 – Sean Taborsky
           Rd 1:  lost 9-1 major decision to unattached John Pratt
           Consolation Rd 1:  lost by fall (2:00) to Neosho's Cole Franklin

Open 149 – Zach Vesta
           Rd 1:  won 12-5 over Ottawa's John Pacha
           Quarterfinal:  lost 11-2 major decision to unattached Victor Hughes
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost 9-7 to unattached Kyle Wilson

Open 174 – Jonathan Bowen
           Rd 1:  lost by fall (2:52) to Benedictine's Gabe Sutthoff
           Consolation Rd 1:  received bye
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost 11-7 to unattached Adam Downing

Open 184 – Tim Johnson
           Rd 1:  won 10-3 over Ottawa's Noah McGinnis
           Quarterfinal:  lost by 11-2 major decision to unattached Bryant Guillen
           Consolation Rd 2:  won by fall (3:21) over Schey-Xyong McMoore
           Consolation Rd 3:  won 9-4 over unattached Logan Rice
           Consolation Semifinals:  lost 10-1 by major decision to unattached Cody Carson

Open 197 – Zac Strother
           Rd 1:  lost by fall (2:30) to unattached David Dow
           Consolation Rd 1:  received bye
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost by fall (0:51) to Wentworth's Nathaniel Tuamoheloa

Other unattached Wrestlers:

Open 125 - Jaquan Graves
           Rd 1:  lost 16-1 tech fall to unattached Jaelynn Gay
           Consolation Rd 1:  won by fall (3:00) over unattached Andres Lopez
           Consolation Rd 2:  won by forfeit over unattached Lake Deam
           Consolation Rd 3:  won by fall (1:39) over unattached Alpha Diallo
           Consolation Semifinals:  lost 6-5 to unattached Jaelynn Gay

Open 125 – Lake Deam
           Rd 1:  received bye
           Quarterfinal:  lost 6-0 to Ottawa's Kaleb Furr
           Consolation Rd 2:  lost by forfeit to Jaquan Graves