Adams State College Alamosa, CO

Adam State's Barksdale, Sand Begin Title Defenses with Cowboy Open Wins

Four other Grizzlies place third

LARAMIE, Wyo.- Defending NCAA Division II National Champions Arsenia Barksdale (Norfolk, Va.) and Kyle Sand (Arvada, Colo.) each won Elite Division titles while four other Adams State College wrestlers, three of which competed unattached, place third in their respective brackets as the Grizzlies won each of their six combined championship and consolation final matches during the closing hours of a successful 37th annual Cowboy Open, contested all day Saturday here in the University of Wyoming's War Memorial Fieldhouse.

Barksdale, the defending national champion at 125 pounds, wrestled up a weight class but still defeated three Division I wrestlers en-route to his first career title. Barksdale, who finished second at last year's tournament, also at 133 pounds, has now won 24 straight matches dating back to last year.

Sand, the reigning national champion at 184 pounds, also wrestled up a weight class at 197, yet posted a perfect 4-0 record for the second straight year at the tournament, split up into Amateur and Elite Divisions, the first of which is reserved for wrestlers.

Sand, who also wrestled at 197 pounds at the 2008 Cowboy Open defeated a pair of Division I wrestlers in his opening two matches before taking out Alex Calvi of Great Falls (Mont.), ranked fifth in the 197-pound division of the NAIA Preseason Rankings before grabbing a 3-1 championship match win over fellow Preseason All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Team selection Donovan McMahill of Western State. McMahill has been tabbed fifth in the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association Preseason Rankings at 197 pounds.

Both Barksdale and Sand are ranked first in those rankings at their regular weight classes.

The Grizzlies also got a third place finish at 149 pounds in the Elite Division from sophomore Josh Hensley (Alamosa, Colo.), who redshirted a year ago. Hensley, also wrestling up a weight class, went 5-1 on the day.

2-time Grizzly All-American Joey Deaguero (Commerce City, Colo.), ranked sixth in the nation at 149 pounds coming in, competed unattached in the 157-pound bracket of the Elite Division and finished third with a solid 6-1 record. The senior had three pins in his run through the consolation bracket.

Two Grizzly newcomers also had solid starts to their collegiate careers as Daniel Kelly (Parker, Colo.) and Justin Samora (Cortez, Colo.) each finished third in the Amateur Division. Both ASC freshmen competed unattached.

Kelly went 5-1 at 149 pounds while Samora posted a 4-1 record in the 157-pound bracket.
Adam State's Black Comes from Behind for 17-12 Win
National Champs both win while Kelly shutout sparks comeback
11/11/2009

ALAMOSA, Colo.- A convincing shutout win by freshman Daniel Kelly (Parker, Colo.) in the second of two 149-pound matches triggered a run of four straight wins for the Black team as that squad went on to claim a 17-12 win over the Green squad in Adams State College's annual intra-squad wrestling dual, Wednesday night in Plachy Hall.

Kelly's 11-0 win over sophomore Jesse Long (Albuquerque, N.M.) cut what was a 12-4 deficit in half before Kyle Sand (Arvada, Colo.), Dominic DeMarco (Shingle Springs, Calif.) and Taylor Stam (Parker, Colo.) each claimed convincing wins, all with riding time advantages, later in the night as the Black team, guided by assistant coach Evan Copeland, came from as many as nine points behind to claim the victory.

The Green team, guided by assistant coach Jared Deaguero, got off to a great start as Dominic Madril (Westminster, Colo.) claimed an 8-5 win over Jeremy Robledo (Denver, Colo.) in the 125-pound match before reigning NCAA Division II National Champion Arsenia Barksdale (Norfolk, Va.), wrestling up a weight class at 133 pounds, pinned Grizzly newcomer Corey Johnson (Newcastle, Calif.) in the second period giving the Green team an early 9-0 lead. Barksdale, who will be gunning to become ASC's first-ever 4-time NCAA Division II All-American and just the fifth overall in the program's illustrious history, led Johnson 7-1 after the first period and was up 9-2 at the time of the fall with 27 seconds left in the second period.

The Black team, which won five of the eight matches overall, while out-pointing the Green 56-28, then got on the scoreboard at 141 pounds as sophomore Josh Hensley (Alamosa, Colo.) made his return to the mat with an 11-1 major decision win over redshirt freshman Bradley Spence (Moriarty, N.M.). Hensley, a national qualifier in 2008 who redshirted last season, led 7-1 through two periods and racked up 2 minutes, 29 seconds of riding time in the victory.

Still leading 9-4 at that point, the Green team then got a crucial win in the first of two 149-pound matches as 2-time All-American Joey Deaguero (Commerce, Colo.), part of an overall senior-laden Grizzly squad, came from behind to claim a 4-3 win over redshirt freshman Nick Jones (Arvada, Colo.), wrestling for the Black team.

Jones scored the first takedown of the night in the first period and held Deaguero at bay throughout the neutral-starting second period before an early third period escape by Deaguero tied the match at 2. Deaguero then scored his takedown before surrendering a meaningless escape late in the match while holding on to the win.

Kelly, a former 2-time state champion while at Ponderosa High School then smashed Long in the third period as the freshman scored five back points and nine overall in the final two minutes blowing open what was a tight 2-0 match through five minutes.

Still down 12-8 at that point, Sand then brought his Black squad even closer with a 10-3 decision over Torben Walters (Olney Springs, Colo.) in a battle of returning starters. Sand, the reigning NCAA Division II National Champion at 184 pounds, led 2-1 through one period and 5-1 through two before scoring two more takedowns in the third period in his victory over Walters, the Grizzlies' starting 197-pounder a year ago. Walters, like Sand, a 4-time state champion while in high school, is expected to wrestle at 174 pounds this year.

DeMarco, who joins the Grizzly program after a stint at Marion (Ala.) Military Institute, where he was a National Collegiate Wrestling Association All-American last spring, then scored a 3-point near fall from after starting on top in the second period of his eventual 9-3 win over Grizzly freshman Rico Garcia (Canon City, Colo.). That victory gave the Black team its first lead of the night at 14-12 before redshirt freshman heavyweight Taylor Stam (Parker, Colo.) claimed a dual-clinching 5-0 win over the Green team's Three Amigos.

Stam wrestled Chris Ellis (Fountain, Colo.), Tyler Haney (Beloit, Wisc.) and Tyler Yates (Pueblo West, Colo.) for one period each and scored a takedown on Ellis in the first and another on Haney in the second before Yates and Stam battled to a scoreless draw in the third. However, Stam had racked up more than a minute of riding time earning an extra point.

The Grizzlies, who come into the campaign, the 11th under head coach Jason Ramstetter, have been picked to win their first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title since 1996 and are ranked fifth in the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll.

They begin their season Saturday at the University of Wyoming's Cowboy Open. Action is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Fans can follow the progression of the tournament throughout the day on TrackWrestling.com.
Hall of Fame tickets on sale through Wednesday


ALAMOSA, Colo.- Tickets for Friday's 10th annual Adams State College Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet are on sale through Wednesday.  The tickets are $35 per person and must be reserved through the ASC Athletic Office by Wednesday at 2 p.m. by calling administrative assistant Dianne Lee at (719) 587-7401 or by emailing her at diannelee@adams.edu.

The early deadline is necessary so event organizers can give the caterers an accurate count of attendees.

Friday's banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. in the banquet rooms of the Student Union Building.  A social hour, only open to those attending the banquet, will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Dr. Joe I. Vigil Hall of Fame room in Plachy Hall.  The inductees will also be honored at halftime of Saturday's football game against Nebraska-Kearney.

A total of six individuals and the 1968 and 1969 NAIA National Championship Wrestling Teams are being inducted this year and join 67 other individuals and the 1992 "Perfect Score" NCAA Division II National Championship Men's Cross Country team, which have been enshrined since the annual ceremonies began in 2000.

This year's group of inductees includes 6-time NCAA Division II National Champion and 2-time World Championship marathon qualifier Zoila Gomez, football player and 100-meter school record holder Ivory Joe Hunt, 1972 NAIA National Championship wrestler Doug Moses, 1968 and 1969 NAIA All-America wide receiver Jim Paul, NAIA Marathon National Champion Tim Terrill and basketball legend Mel Yates.

The 1968 and 1969 wrestling teams were the first two teams in ASC history to win national championships.  Each squad had eight NAIA All-Americans.

Visit ascgrizzlies.com for the latest news and info on Adams State College Athletics.

Adams State College Wrestling: MMA Event Set for Apr. 4

ALAMOSA, Colo.- Nemesis Promotions will be hosting the High Altitude Face-Off, a mixed martial arts extravaganza, at Adams State College's Plachy Hall on Saturday, Apr. 4.

The doors will open at 6 p.m. with the fight card to begin at 7 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now in the main athletic office in Plachy Hall and also at City Market and St. Ives and GWI Investigations in Alamosa and at Alibis in Monte Vista. Remaining tickets will also be on sale at the door on the evening of the fights.

General admission tickets will be sold for $25 at all three ticket distribution locations.

Reserved seating tickets, which are priced between $35 and $55 depending on location, are also available but only at Plachy Hall. ASC students can also purchase discounted tickets for $15 at Plachy Hall with a valid I.D.

The event will be highlighted by the main event match-up between professionals Dave Heredia and James Mead. Well-known professionals Cameron Dollar and Tait Fletcher will also be making an appearance to sign autographs and mingle with fans.

Heredia, a native of Center, now resides in Alamosa and is the head trainer for Alamosa Mixed Martial Arts.

Numerous other amateur-level fights are on the fight card and will include some current and former ASC student-athletes from the Grizzly football and wrestling teams.

Scheduled to fight are current Grizzly wrestlers Jesse Long (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Omar Gonzalez (Monte Vista, Colo.), ASC's starting 165-pounder this past season. Former Grizzly football players Stuart Johnson and Dominic DeGeorge are also on the fight card as is former 2006 ASC wrestling All-American Scott Cleve.
Adams State College Wrestling: Double GoldDouble gold

Barksdale, Sand win titles as Grizzlies take fifth for 3rd straight year

HOUSTON-- Adams State College juniors Arsenia Barksdale (Norfolk, Va.) and Kyle Sand (Arvada, Colo.) each won thrilling NCAA Division II National Championships as the Grizzlies finished fifth in the team standings for the third straight year, Saturday night here in the University of Houston's Campus Wellness & Recreation Center.

Barksdale started the night's championship session with a 3-1 win over Fort Hays State's Tommy Edgmon scoring the bout's only and winning takedown with 11 seconds left.

Sand then posted a 6-4 win over Nebraska-Omaha's Brent Pankoke in the second sudden victory period.

This was the first time in ASC's NCAA Division II history (1992-93/Present) that the Grizzlies have crowned two champions on the same night. They now have six Division II champions, all under coach Jason Ramstetter, who has guided the Grizzlies to a top 10 finish in each of the last seven years.

Grizzly senior Raymond Dunning (Nashville, Tenn.) fell in the 141-pound championship match by a 5-3 margin to West Liberty State's (W. Va.) Doug Surra.

A complete recap and online photo gallery will be posted later.

125 Pounds
Arsenia Barksdale (Adams State) dec. Tommy Edgmon, 3-1

1st Period
No Score

2nd Period
Barksdale chooses down
0:03- Barksdale Escape (Barksdale 1, Edgmon 0)

3rd Period
Edgmon chooses down
0:02- Edgmon Escape (Barksdale 1, Edgmon 1)
1:49- Barksdale Takedown (Barksdale 3, Edgmon 1)

141 Pounds
Doug Surra (West Liberty State) dec. Raymond Dunning, 5-3

1st Period
1:34- Surra Takedown (Surra 2, Dunning 0)
1:40- Dunning Escape (Surra 2, Dunning 1)
3:00- Surra Takedown at buzzer (Surra 4, Dunning 1)

2nd Period
Dunning defers. Surra chooses neutral.
No score.

3rd Period
Dunning chooses top.
1:30- Surra stalling warning.
1:46- Surra Escape (Surra 5, Dunning 2)
1:55- Surra Stalling. Dunning Penalty Point.
Dunning-Riding Time (1:41) (Surra 5, Dunning 3).

184 Pounds
Kyle Sand (Adams State) dec. Brent Pankoke (Nebraska-Omaha), 6-4 (SV-2)

1st Period
1:26- Sand Takedown. (Sand 2, Pankoke 0)
1:38- Sand called for locked hands. (Sand 2, Pankoke 1)
1:40- Pankoke Escape (Sand 2, Pankoke 2)

2nd Period
Pankoke Defers. Sand chooses down.
0:10- Sand Escape (Sand 3, Pankoke 2)

3rd Period
Pankoke choosed down.
0:24- Pankoke Escape (Sand 3, Pankoke 3)

Sudden Victory
No Score

Tiebreaker
Sand goes down.
0:20- Sand Escape (Sand 4, Pankoke 3)
Pankoke goes down
0:28- Pankoke Escape (Sand 4, Pankoke 4)

Sudden Victory-2
0:41- Sand Takedown (Sand 6, Pankoke 4)
Pins Help Adams State to Third Place After Session I

HOUSTON- Back-to-back pin-falls by 141-pound senior Raymond Dunning (Nashville, Tenn.) and 149-pound junior Joey Deaguero (Commerce City, Colo.) on mat No. 3 helped the Adams State College Grizzlies to a 4-2 combined record and third place in the team standings after the first round of the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Championships that started Friday here at the University of Houston's Campus Wellness & Recreation Center.

The Grizzlies also received 7-2 and 4-1 decision wins by Arsenia Barksdale (Norfolk, Va.) and Kyle Sand (Arvada, Colo.) at 125 and 184 pounds, respectively, as they advanced four men in to the evening's championship quarterfinals.

157-pound junior Noomis Jones (Arvada, Colo.) and junior heavyweight Jeff Schossow (Fort Morgan, Colo.) dropped their opening matches and will wrestle in the consolations in the second session that begins at 6 p.m. CST.

The seventh-ranked Grizzlies, who got four total bonus points from Dunning and Deaguero, have eight overall and trail only No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha and No. 2 Minnesota State-Mankato in the team standings. Both of those squads have full 10-man contingents at the tournament.

Six other teams are within two points of the Grizzlies in the early standings.

Nebraska-Omaha's group went 8-2 in the opening round and has 15 points. Minnesota State-Mankato's contingent went 5-5 and is second with nine points.

Dunning, the nation's top-ranked wrestler according to the Mar. 2 edition of the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association Rankings, needed just two minutes and 47 seconds to take out John Putman of Minnesota State-Mankato, ranked seventh. In the process, Dunning improved to a team-best 30-7 on the year with his 18th straight win.

Now just one win away from a third career All-America honor, Dunning will face Limestone's (S.C.) Jeremy Parker in the quarterfinals. Parker upset fourth-ranked University of Indianapolis Greyhound junior Matt Irwin 6-2 in his opening match.

Deaguero then pulled one of the biggest upsets of the session as he stuck Nebraska-Omaha redshirt freshman Esai Dominguez at the 4:14 mark after trailing 4-2 during the first period.

Deaguero, who missed more than a month before claiming third at the NCAA West Regional/RMAC Championships on Feb. 28, is not currently nationally ranked but did finish fourth at the 2008 version of the tournament.

Dominguez, who took second in his regional behind top-ranked and undefeated Craig Becker of Wisconsin-Parkside at his regional, was ranked third in the country.

Deaguero, who is now 12-7 on the season, is a 2-time All-American. He will next face No. 2 Tommy Abbott of Minnesota State-Mankato.

Barksdale, also a 2-time All-American, scored the final five points of his victory over Ashland's (Ohio) Daniel Mandara. The wrestlers were tied at 2 early in the period before a takedown and ensuing 3-point near fall lifted Barksdale to the victory, his 22nd of the year.

Now 22-5 overall and a winner of 17 straight matches, Barksdale will face North Carolina-Pembroke's Russell Weakley, a 12-4 major decision winner of Upper Iowa's Kyle Pedretti. Weakley is not nationally ranked but now sports an impressive 21-2 record.

Sand, the Grizzlies' other winner, is now 18-10 on the year, after he took a 3-0 lead through the second period en-route to his win over Newberry's (S.C.) Bryant Blanton. Ranked fifth in the country, Sand will next face Central Oklahoma's Nicholis Henning, who pulled a slight 7-2 upset over No. 7 Travis Barbarick of Central Missouri.

Jones, ranked second in the country, will now have two win two matches to repeat his All-America performance from a year ago after he suffered an 8-2 setback to West Liberty State (W. Va.) junior Mitch Smith in his opening match. Now 25-7, Jones will face Michael Lybarger of Findlay (Ohio) in the consolations.

Schossow, a first time national qualifier, was defeated 9-2 by No. 4 ranked Tony Lewis of Nebraska-Omaha. Now 10-11 overall, Schossow will face West Liberty State's Cody Tominak, who was pinned just 72 seconds into his match with No. 2 ranked Brady Wilson of Minnesota State-Mankato.

Adams State's Session I Results

125- #2 Arsenia Barksdale (Adams State) dec. Daniel Mandara (Ashland), 7-2
141-#1 Raymond Dunning (Adams State) def. #7 John Putman (Minnesota State-Mankato), Fall (2:47)
149-Joey Deaguero (Adams State) dec. #3 Esai Dominguez (Nebraska-Omaha), Fall (4:14)
157- Mitch Smith (West Liberty State (W. Va.)) dec. #2 Noomis Jones (Adams State), 8-2
184- #5 Kyle Sand (Adams State) dec. Bryant Blanton (Newberry (S.C.)), 4-1
HWT- #4 Anthony Lewis (Nebraska-Omaha) dec. Jeff Schossow (Adams State), 9-2