No. 22 Barton Wrestling takes down 15th ranked Cloud County #GoBarton #RoarCougs

The No. 22 ranked Barton Community College wrestling team chalked up four back-flattenings Wednesday night at the Barton Gym in knocking off 15th ranked Cloud County Community College in the Cougars' first conference and home dual of the season.

Barton improves to 4-2 in the dual portion of the schedule, outscoring opponents 170-98 in the six matches. The Cougars' next action will also be the final home match of the season, hosting 3rd ranked Northwest Kansas Technical College. Match time set for 7:00 p.m. with Barton honoring its sophomore team members before the start of the match.

The Cougars earned the first of their four pins in the opening match of the evening with Brian Gates taking care of the T-birds' Blayne Harris as two minutes eclipsed in the 125 match. Gates trailed 2-0 early on Harris' takedown before scoring a reversal and three point near fall before ending the match.

Moving up to the 5th ranked spot in the latest national rankings, Gage Gomez jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first period on the T-birds' Albert Werden. Losing the second 3-2, Gomez added two more takedowns with a near fall to put the Cougars out 11-0 with a 19-4 technical fall.

Keaton Sander added three more points to Barton's total, leading 5-0 into the final period before winning 7-2 over Bryce Gfeller.

Cloud County had two falls on the evening, the first coming at the 3:38 mark of the 149 division match with Austin Eldredge putting the T-birds on the board over Kolby Droegemeier. The T-birds other pin came in the 197 match as Matt Cruickshank posted a 6:41 fall over Kendell Johnson. Normally a 174 division wrestler, Johnson led 4-3 after the first period but Cruickshank owned the second period with eleven points to turn the tide. Johnson took the early edge with a takedown early in the third but a costly mistake opened the door for Cruickshank to get the pin.

Following Cloud County's first win to cut the margin to 14-6, the Cougars took the next three matches to push the lead out to 29-6. Andrew DeArmond, wrestling his first dual match of the season, held on to his first period 6-2 lead over Quentin Jiner for the 157 victory with Gable Howerton wrestling up a weight class to the 165 in piling up fourteen points before pancaking Cody Withnow in a 1:41 fall.

8th ranked Gage McBride was also piling up the points in his 174 weight class, increasing his three point first period lead with a 9-2 outscoring output in the second. Racking up four more takedowns in the third, totaling eight in the match, the T-birds' Kobryn Mann was forced to retire late in the match with an injury giving McBride a six point medical forfeit victory.

In the tightest match of the night, Joey Ewalt battled Cameron Young in the 184 division. Young grabbed a 2-1 lead with an early takedown and did the same in the start of the second period neutral position start. Getting an escape in the first two periods, Ewalt escaped the down position in the third but Young held on to the lead winning 4-3 to snap the Cougars' three match win streak.

The T-birds were assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty following the 184 dual making the score 25-8 before Cruickshank's victory at the 197.

In the final match of the night, Jacob Robles took just seventy-five seconds to cap Barton's victory in pinning Michael Dorer after getting a takedown followed by a four-point and two-point near fall.

Barton Dual Record: 4-2
Barton Dual Team Points: 170-98

Barton Individual Dual Match Records:
125: Brian Gates: 5-1
133: Gage Gomez: 6-0
141: Keaton Sander: 5-1
149: Kolby Droegemeier: 2-4
157: Andrew DeArmond: 1-0
165: Gable Howerton: 1-0 (*4-1 at 157)
174: Gage McBride: 6-0
184: Joey Ewalt: 1-5
197: Kendell Johnson: 0-1
197: Shane DeLong: 1-4
285: Jacob Robles: 3-3