Cloud County Wrestling Team Bolstered by Depth and Experience Entering 2024-2025 Season
The Cloud County Community College wrestling team begins its fourth year under head coach Julian Smith with high expectations.
The T-Birds finished last season with a 7-8 dual record, including a 4-3 mark in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action. The T-Birds went on to finish fifth in the 2024 NJCAA South Central District Wrestling Championships, qualifying eight wrestlers for the NJCAA Division I Wrestling National Championships. The T-Birds would finish 28th out of 55 teams.
Four of those eight wrestlers return to this year's roster in Easton Boone (174 lbs.), Macallistair Chambers (165 lbs.), Darian "D.J." Gillins (197 lbs.), and Daniel Vines (141 lbs.). After recording a third place finish in the South Central District Wrestling Championships, Boone went 3-2 overall at the national championships, including one win by fall and two by decision. Gillins went 2-2 at the event, with both wins by decision. After his fourth place finish in the South Central District Wrestling Championships, Chambers finished 1-2, dropping both matches to ranked opponents by decision. For Vines, he followed up his third place finish in the South Central District Wrestling Championships with two tough but competitive losses at the national meet.
Also expected to impact the Cloud County lineup this year are sophomore returners Gabriel Bailey of Tonganoxie, Kansas (165 lbs.), and Nolan Bradley of Lawrence, Kansas (125 lbs.).
Joining them will be a group of young wrestlers who look to add to the T-Birds' depth. The incoming class includes in-state recruits Noah Bailey of Tonganoxie, Kansas (149 lbs.), Jayden Berry of Kansas City, Kansas (285 lbs.), Micah Cauthers of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas (184 lbs.), Kaleb Talkington of Belleville, Kansas (149 lbs.), Jacob Vasquez of Olathe, Kansas (157 lbs.), Trevor Vasquez of Olathe, Kansas (157 lbs.), and Lukas Zodrow of Oberlin, Kansas (149 lbs.). The other freshmen members of the team all hail from the Sunshine State. Carlos Almanza of Fellsmere, Florida (165 lbs.), Roderick Brown of Bartow, Florida (125 lbs.), Gael Garcia of Fellsmere, Forida (125 lbs.), Omarion James of Winter Haven, Florida (197 lbs.), and Michael Rodrigues of Vero Beach, Florida (133 lbs.) all hope to play pivotal roles in Cloud County's lineup this year.
As they enter the 2024-2025 season, the T-Birds also have a new assistant coach in Braedon Clopton. Originally from Champaign, Illinois, coach Clopton wrestled at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, where he was a three-year starter for the Chargers and a three-time place winner at the national qualifier tournament. Clopton started his coaching career as a student assistant for Briar Cliff, and later became an assistant coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, and Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia.
Cloud County has a nice mix of tournament play as well as dual and tri-duals this season. The T-Birds will compete in 14 different competitions -- seven duals and seven invitationals/tournaments. They will open their season at the 2024 Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) Yellowjacket Open in Rochester, Minnesota on Saturday, November 2. The tournament features some of the top teams in NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NJCAA.
The following weekend, the T-Birds will travel to Atchison, Kansas to participate in the second ever Loosbrock Duals hosted by Benedictine College on Friday, November 8, and the Benedictine Service Salute on Saturday, November 9. The remainder of the first half of the season includes the Grand View Open in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, November 16, followed by the 13th annual University of Nebraska-Kearney Younes Hospitality Open on Saturday, November 23, and the annual Bob Smith Open tournament inside Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays, Kansas on Sunday, December 8.
Cloud County opens the new year with the 2025 NJCAA Coaches Duals on Friday, January 10 and Saturday, January 11 in Miami, Oklahoma, hosted by Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. The T-Birds next travel to Parsons, Kansas on Wednesday, January 15 for a tri-dual with Labette Community College and Pratt Community College to kick off their conference run. In their only home event, Cloud County will host Colby Community College and Neosho County Community College in a tri-dual on Wednesday, January 22. The T-Birds then will face Cowley College in Arkansas City, Kansas on Wednesday, January 29, prior to wrapping up their regular season in a tri-dual against Barton and Fort Hays Tech Northwest in Goodland, Kansas on Tuesday, February 4.
The 2025 NJCAA South-Central District Tournament is Saturday, February 15 in Pratt, and the 2025 NJCAA Championships is March 7-8 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.