Tiger wrestling team improves to 9-1

Coming off its first loss of the season Saturday at No. 8-ranked Pratt Community College, the No. 5-ranked Cowley College wrestling team bounced back to knock off a pair of conference foes at home on Tuesday. The Tigers pulled out a 22-21 win over 11^th-ranked Northwest Kansas Tech before defeating 17^th-ranked Labette 36-7.

"Last weekend was rough for us," Cowley head coach Beau Vest said. "We were a little off and when you are wrestling a good team your margin for error is very thin. With the short turnaround we changed our lineup some and the guys wrestled better than at Pratt."

Against Northwest Kansas Tech, the Tigers' Austin Kincaid won in overtime and Ryan Smith needed only 44 seconds to pin the Mavericks' Levin Hancock as Cowley took a 9-0 lead.

After a loss at 141 pounds, Cowley's Malik Johnson pinned the Mavericks' Daniel Blackmon with two seconds remaining in the second period to increase the Tigers lead to 15-5. The pin would prove to be an important one.

The Mavericks would win the next four weight classes and Cowley trailed 21-15 entering the final two matches.

The Tigers' Darius Hamilton defeated Davis Lee 11-5 at 197 pounds and Austin Thornton defeated Northwest Tech's Ishmael Williams 5-0 to tie the match at 21-21.

With each team winning five matches, the tiebreaker came down to number of pins, with Cowley earning the 22-21 victory thanks to having two pins to the Mavericks' one.

"Malik getting not just a tech fall but a fall in his match turned out to be the difference," Vest said. "We were also really happy to get Darius in the lineup for the first time this season and he did what we thought he could do."

Against Labette, Cowley lost the opening match to fall behind 4-0. However, the Tigers would win the next eight matches before dropping the final contest at 285 pounds.

Brayden Strachan needed only 14 seconds to pin Labette's Cade Wathke, while Trevor Shook also won by fall at 174 pounds. Shook had wrestled at 165 pounds against the Mavericks but made the jump up in weight against Labette.

"Our guys willingness to go up in weight classes is good for our program," Vest said. "Labette always has solid kids, so getting a decisive victory was good for us."

Cowley, which is now 9-1 in conference duals, will remain home to face No. 20-ranked Cloud County in a dual Tuesday, March 9 at 7 p.m. The Tigers have never lost a home dual in their four years of existence as a program.

"I think the guys have extra pride when wrestling at home," Vest said. "They see how much support they get and it motivates them to defend our house."

Results vs. NW Kansas Tech:

*125 pounds – Austin Kincaid (CC) won 8-5 in OT over Skyler Hunt (NW).

*133 pounds – Ryan Smith (CC) won by fall over Levi Hancock.

*141 pounds – Brayden Strachan (CC) lost a 26-11 technical fall to Chinzorig Tsermaa (NW).

*149 pounds – Malik Johnson (CC) won by fall over Daniel Blackmon (NW.

*157 pounds – Dorian Franklin (CC) lost 12-3 to Tsermaa (NW).

*165 pounds – Trevor Shook (CC) lost 5-2 to Elijah Tanner (NW).

*174 pounds – Montez Robinson (CC) lost 5-2 to Jacobi Deal (NW).

*184 pounds – Ryan Locke (CC) lost by fall to Jacari Deal (NW).

*197 pounds – Darius Hamilton (CC) defeated Davis Lee (NW) 11-5.

*285 pounds – Austin Thornton (CC) defeated Ishmael Williams (NW) 5-0.

Results vs. Labette:

*125 pounds – Austin Kincaid (CC) lost 18-8 to Riley Wier (LC).

*133 pounds – Ryan Smith (CC) won by forfeit.

*141 pounds – Brayden Strachan (CC) won by fall over Cade Wathke (LC).

*149 pounds – Malik Johnson (CC) won a 18-3 technical fall over Alex Young (LC).

*157 pounds – Jake Patterson (CC) won 2-1 over Traylon Jackson (LC).

*165 pounds – Montez Robinson (CC) won a 16-5 technical fall over Jonathan Vincent (LC).

*174 pounds – Trevor Shook (CC) won by fall over Donnie Heard (LC).

*184 pounds – Matt Santos (CC) won 7-3 over Jeremiah Voliva (LC).

*197 pounds – Tyler Bingham (CC) won 4-2 over Andrew Leitold (LC).

*285 pounds – Jamal Miller (CC) lost 4-3 in OT to Micah Liberman (LC).