Cloud County Wrestling Team Places Two in Top Six at Grand View Open
With 15 wrestlers in action in a meet that featured wrestlers from all three NCAA Divisions, the NAIA, and the NJCAA, the Cloud County Community College wrestling team would see freshman Wyatt Powell and sophomore Ibrahim Ameer make it to the placing rounds to lead the T-Birds at the 2022 Grand View Open held at the Ignit Sports & Fitness Center in Grimes, Iowa on Saturday, November 12th.
In total, Cloud County would record a total of 29 wins, with 12 victories coming by way of fall. 40 different teams would be represented at the meet on Saturday, with 579 total wrestlers competing across two sets of brackets in the 10 weight classes.
For a second-straight weekend, it would be Ameer earning a podium finish as the Florissant, Missouri native would open his day with three straight victories. Following an 11-3 major decision over John Lovett of Iowa Central, Ameer would take down a second NJCAA opponent in Aaron Clevenger of Labette with a first-period fall before facing off against Nate Wemstrom of Nebraska. Wemstrom, a 2022 Cadet Greco-Roman World Team member, would see Ameer earn a second-period escape and takedown to score what would be the only three points of the match to advance to the semifinal round. Awaiting Ameer would be Wyatt Voelker of Northern Iowa as a second-straight NCAA Division I opponent would prove too much for Ameer who would drop what would be his only loss of the day with an 11-1 major decision defeat. In the consolation bracket semifinals, Ameer would make easy work of Isaiah Laguna of Ellsworth Community College with a 14-3 major decision that would set up a rematch with Wemstrom in the third-place match. With both wrestlers on their sixth match of the day, it would once again be Ameer who would come out victorious after trailing 4-3 heading into the third period by scoring a reversal before giving up an escape to tie the match at 5-5 and scoring a late takedown with 18 seconds left in the match to win 7-5.
As for Powell in the 184-pound bracket, an 8-2 decision victory over Charles Henkel of Brewton Parker and a second-period fall over Kolby Larson of Iowa Western would allow the freshman to get out to a 2-0 start. A match with Quentin Saunders of Iowa Central would lead to Powell's first defeat of the day before bouncing back with a 15-7 major decision over Jeremiah Voliva of Labette and a third-period fall over Alizae Mejia who wrestled unattached. Brent Greenfield would then hand Powell his second loss of the day in the consolation semifinals as Powell would reach his six-match daily limit and be unable to wrestle in the fifth-place match to finish sixth.
Cloud County's next-best finish would come courtesy of Bray Skinner in the 125-pound bracket as the Grace, Idaho native would wrestle a total of six matches and pick up four victories on the day. Opening with a first-period fall over Antonio Ruiz of Triton College, Skinner would then drop a 2-1 heartbreaker to Elijah Asuncion of Missouri Valley College before earning a 10-9 decision victory over Andru Gomez of Waldorf University. In his next match against Corbin Grace of William Penn, Skinner would get a fall 48 seconds into the second period and follow up with another fall in his next match against Zachary McFarland of Brewton Parker to reach his sixth and final match of the day. A win in his final match would guarantee a finish of sixth place for Skinner, but facing NCAA Division I opponent Quinton Chavez of Nebraska would prove to be too much as an 11-3 major decision defeat officially ended the afternoon for Skinner.
Other T-Bird wrestlers to finish with multiple wins on the day included Brady Foster (125 pounds) with a pair of decision victories, Ty Lewis (149 pounds) with a pair of falls, Caden Crider (149 pounds) with a technical fall and decision, Montavious Waters (285 pounds) with two decision victories, and Gavin Nutting with a fall and decision win.
What's Next?
Another stacked open tournament is on the docket for Cloud County on Saturday, November 19th when the T-Birds travel to Kearney, Nebraska to compete in the Younes Hospitality Open hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The met will be the first time since the 2019 season that Cloud County has competed in the Younes Hospitality Open, and the fourth time in school history that CCCC will be represented at the meet.