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Two Cloud County wrestlers place

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Two Cloud County Community College wrestlers recorded top three finishes in the Oklahoma City University Open on Sunday.
The meet included wrestlers from NCAA Division I and Division II, NAIA and NJCAA programs.
Benny Hernandez placed second for Cloud County in the 285-pound class in the first action of the season for the Thunderbirds.
Dakota Miller, wrestling unattached, finished third in the 133-pound class.
Hernandez pinned Kiser Ronnie, University of the Ozarks, in 1:08 and Joshua Tatman, Schreiner University in 45 seconds and then beat Gage Johnson, unattached, 3-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Hernandez beat Tanner Hawkins, Ouachita Baptist, 11-5.
Hernandez was leading Julian Sanchez in the championship match, but got tossed on his back and pinned.
“Benny wrestled really well all day,” Cloud County coach Cody Cole said, “He was moving well and started his day with a pin in his first two matches. He had a real nice win in the quarterfinals a takedown in overtime and a 11-5 win in the semifinals, but just made a mistake in the finals.”
Miller opened with a 7-2 win over Kyri Beasely, unattached. He then pinned Logan Chappel, Oklahoma City University, in 2:10.
Tyler Lawley, unattached, dealt Miller a 13-8 loss.
Miller bounced back to pin Logan Sloss, Ouachita Baptist. He downed Gage Gomez, Barton Community College, 11-5 in the third-place match.
Gomez was a national placer last season.
“I thought Dakota wrestled really well after having to take some time off and just getting him back,” Cole said, “Getting him back in shape and getting his offense going will help him out tremendously. He beat a guy who placed third at nationals for Barton in that third-fourth place match, which was really a nice way for him to end the day.”
Cloud County's Austin Eldredge, 149 pounds, finished the day at 5-1 before having to forfeit his final match because of collegiate rules limiting wrestlers to six matches a day.
“It was just too big of a bracket, and Austin's loss was too early for him to place. He would have gotten fifth or sixth if he cold have wrestled one more,” Cole said.
Blayne Harris went 4-2 in the 125-pound class for the T-Birds.
Balke Leiszler, 133 pounds; Bryce Gfeller, 141 pounds; and Noah Aziere, 165 pounds, each posted 3-2 records.
“I thought our lower weight guys showed a lot of heart. I was really happy with how those guys competed,” Cole said.
Cloud County will wrestle duals at Mesa (Colo.) University on thursday and Western State (Colo.) University on Friday.

 

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