Colby Trojans Gear Up For NJCAA Qualifier
The Colby Community College wrestlers closed out their regular season in fine fashion. A recent road trip to Lincoln, Illinois and Kirkwood, Missouri gave the Trojans the opportunity to add six more dual victories to this season's tally. The most recent road trip included dual victories over Lincoln College, St. Charles Wrestling Club, Wentworth Military Academy, Missouri Baptist College, Rochester Technical College and St. Louis Community College at Meramec.
The Trojans outscored their opponents by a cumulative score of 213-109 during the six duals, which is quite impressive. But even more impressive is the fact that 84 of those 109 teams points scored by the competition came as the result of open spots in the Trojan's line-up. Meaning the opponents only earned 25 points through match victories against the Trojans.
Three members of the team sat out of the majority of the matches due to nagging injuries and illness. But the rest of the team responded favorably and, by doing so, kept the Trojan's lengthy winning streak intact. To this end, Coach Steve Lampe has reported this year's version of Trojan wrestling has established new team records for dual meet wins in a season and for consecutive dual meet victories.
So, with the regular season behind them, the Trojans are now gearing up for the February 15th national qualifying tournament in Rock Spring, Wyoming. While only five teams comprise the West-Central Region, the talent will be especially deep at this meet as four of the NJCAA's top ten ranked teams will be in attendance. #1 Colby, #4 Northwest (Wyoming), #8 Labette and #9 Neosho along with the host school, Western Wyoming, will all be battling for berths into the national tournament.
The top three finishers in each weight class will automatically qualify for the NJCAA national tournament. As many as five additional wrestlers could be awarded wild card entries into the national tournament, if their performance is deemed worthy by the selection committee. Those athletes earning national tournament berths will compete for All-American honors in Rochester, Minnesota on February 28th and March 1st.
The Trojans, who have been ranked as the top NJCAA team in the nation since the pre-season poll, will likely be awarded the top seed in eight of the ten weight classes. Those eight individuals have posted a staggering 127-11 record against junior college competition this season.
But, despite their probable fifth place seeds, the other two Trojans are capable of qualifying for the national tournament too.
Trojan heavyweight Rio Mayo has been on a roll of late, as evidenced by his six match winning streak. And Lampe indicates the talented Derek Daugherty is capable of qualifying too, as his cardio vascular conditioning has now reached a point that will allow him to remain competitive throughout an entire match.
Lampe goes on to state that his team is now healthy, well conditioned and excited about the upcoming tournament. And, of equal importance, his team's mental health is solid too. "We have seen no sign of burn out cases or poor attitudes on this team. The competition has been taking their best shot at this team, but we have excelled in each outing. A team subjected to that type of season-long intensity often times becomes mentally weary. But this team has responded favorably and now appears physically and mentally poised to achieve their individual and team goals."
The following is a breakdown of the credentials for this year's post-season team.
Weight Wrestler NJCAA Ranking Overall Record Juco Record
125 Davey Dyke 5th 13-7 11-2
133 Erkin Tadzhimetov 1st 34-3 20-0
141 Bryan Miller 1st 30-4 19-1
149 O.T. Johnson 2nd 26-6 15-3
157 Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov 1st 24-3 13-0
165 Roshawn Haldarov 2nd 24-7 15-1
174 Alibek Pardakulov 6th 21-6 15-3
184 C.B. Dollaway 1st 32-4 19-1
197 Derek Daugherty n/a 5-6 3-3
285 Rio Mayo n/a 8-8 5-6