No. 18 Barton Wrestling places sixth at National Duals #GoBarton

The No. 18 ranked Barton Community College wrestling team went 1-1 on the final day of the NWCA NJCAA National Duals to finish in 6th place of the sixteen team event held in Louisville, Kentucky.

Wrestling with an open weight class throughout the tournament, Barton won three of their five duals and outscored their opponents 135-84.

The duo of 8th ranked Gage Gomez and 5th ranked Gage McBride led the Cougars with an unblemished two days while Brian Gates, Keaton Sander, and Gable Howerton each finished 4-1.

Barton opened up the morning taking on conference foe Cowley College, beginning the dual with a trio of back flattenings in rolling to a 32-15 victory.

Attempting to match the fifth placing of last year's squad, the Cougars stumbled in a few matches as the bid was spoiled 24-18 to No. 21 Southwestern Oregon Community College.

Barton's next action will come a week from Sunday as the Cougars head to Hays, Kansas, for the Kansas Cup taking place Sunday, January 13, at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

The top of the lineup put Barton up 18-0 over Cowley with Gates (125), Gomez (133), and Sander (141) registering consecutive pins. Following a Cowley win, 7th ranked Howerton all but sealed the Tigers fate with a 7-5 sudden victory as the teams then traded open weight class forfeits. In the 184 bout, Joey Ewalt picked up his first victory of the rugged 184 division in jumping out to an 8-1 first period lead, increasing the margin by four in the second, before tacking on four more on the differential to rack up a 20-5 technical fall win.

Barton got off to a 6-0 start against Southwestern as Gates won 13-10 and Gomez scored an 8-4 victory. The Lakers took over the lead with consecutive victories but Howerton put a halt to the run momentarily with a 2:38 pin. Trading open weight forfeits, Southwestern won the final three matches for nine points in rallying for the win.

Barton Dual Record: 3-2
Barton Dual Team Points: 135-84

Barton Individual Match Records:
125: Brian Gates: 4-1
133: Gage Gomez: 5-0
141: Keaton Sander: 4-1
149: Kolby Droegemeier: 2-3
157: Gable Howerton: 4-1
165: Open
174: Gage McBride: 5-0
184: Joey Ewalt: 1-4
197: Shane DeLong: 1-4
285: Jacob Robles: 2-3

Match Results:
#18 Barton defeats Cowley College 32-15
#21 Southwestern Oregon CC defeats Barton 24-18 *5th Place Match