The No. 14 ranked Barton Community College wrestling team won both its matches Friday in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to capture fifth place at the NWCA NJCAA national Duals.
Having won two straight on Thursday advancing to Friday's action, the Cougars began the day building a twelve-point lead in earning an eventual 27-18 victory over No. 15 Nassau Community College. Barton then broke open and put away Harper College with falls in the final three matches to capture the fifth place trophy on a 34-12 score.
"Overall we wrestled pretty well and came together as a team to fight through to get some of those dual victories as a team," said Head Coach Mike Bammes. "We were able to see the things we need to continue to work on, as well as, to improve on match awareness and situations. There's always room for improvement individually and as a dual team towards our goals, but overall thought it was a good couple of days and pleased with the results at this point of the season."
Andres Duron and Hagen Kent got Barton off to a good start to the day with 7-4 and 11-10 victories respectively. Trading forfeits in the following two weight classes, No. 7 ranked Kade Sander's 7-4 victory in the 157 division was offset by Gage McBride battling tough but falling late in the 165 class to No. 5 ranked 157 pound wrestler Antonio LaRocca. No. 5 David Kelly pushed the lead out to nine with a six point 3:17 fall in the 174 but Trent Miles' wild 184 match settled down on the wrong side of a 15-8 score. Nassau made it interesting with a 4:17 fall of Ethan Dean in the 197 but the Cougars were awarded six points on a forfeit in the final 285 match giving Barton the advancement on a 27-18 score.
Barton and Harper went toe-to-toe for fifth through the first four matchups with Duron receiving a 125 forfeit and Keaton Sander earning a 7-3 decision. Harper picked up a fall against Kent in the 133 and a 6-5 win in the 149 as the Cougars inserted Emmanuel Peralta into the lineup keeping Barton from giving away a six point forfeit as they had throughout the tournament. Peralta held a 2-1 lead after the first period but was outscored 3-2 in the second and 2-1 in the third period to come up short but saved Barton three points in the team scoring. Ka. Sander's 11-3 major decision gave Barton a four point lead but a late takedown and riding time left McBride on the short end of the 165 division 8-5 score. It would be the last win for Harper as Barton took care of the final four matches and racked up twenty-one additional points coming from Kelly's 10-7 decision and three consecutive falls coming from Miles, Dean, and #5 Brix Brickey.
The Cougars outscored its opponents 137-100 in the five matches with Kade Sander finishing with an unblemished 5-0 record. The Great Bend native's closest score was a 7-4 win to go along with two falls, a technical fall, and major decision to rack up twenty-five team points. Keaton Sander, Kelly, and Brickey each finished with just one loss going a combined 10-3.
Barton Dual Record: 4-1
Barton Dual Team Points: 137-100
Barton Individual Match Records:
125: Andres Duron 1-2
133: Hagen Kent 1-4
141: Keaton Sander 3-1
149: Emmanuel Peralta 0-1
157: #7 Kade Sander 5-0
165: Gage McBride 2-3
174: #5 David Kelly 4-1
184: Trent Miles 3-2
197: Ethan Dean 2-3
285: #5 Brix Brickey 3-1