Labette wins first dual of year
In a showdown between the fourth- and 12th-ranked wrestling programs in the country, the No. 4 Labette Community College wrestlers traveled to Chanute to take on No. 12 Neosho County in their first official dual of the year. Labette fell behind early, but rallied to pull out a 22-15 dual victory.
"It was a very intense and wild atmosphere," said LCC coach Joe Renfro. "It was packed, with half the crowd cheering for Labette and the other half cheering for Neosho."
Labette started off in a hole in the 125-pound match when Neosho's Donte Butler scored a fall on Labette's Jared Denler for a quick 6-0 lead. The Cardinals fell further behind in the next match at 133 pounds as Neosho's Jared Spoon scored a 3-2 decision over Scott Berens to make the score 9-0.
Labette roared back to win three straight, including a major decision at 149 pounds. Labette's Willy Pendleton netted the Cardinals four points for his 20-8 win over Neosho's Ty Jaquess. Joseph Cornejo followed that up with a pin in the 157-pound match over Neosho's Dustin Burton to give Labette the lead for the first time at 13-9.
Labette would extend the lead to 16-9, only to see Neosho close the gap to 16-15 with two straight decisions. Then Chance Recountre and Ben Hohensee closed the night out with two decisions for the Cardinals.
"Our boys wrestled hard," Renfro said, "but there is definitely room for improvement. This was our first official dual of the year and we certainly proved it by some of the mistakes we made, but we will correct them and move on."
Labette will travel to Pratt to take on 11th-ranked Pratt Community College on Wednesday.
Labette 22 Neosho 15
125 - Donte' Butler, NCC, Fall 4:46, Jared Denler, LCC
133 - Jared Spoon, NCC, Dec. 3-2, Scott Berens, LCC
141 - Derek Ward, LCC, Dec. 7-6, Jeremy Lawley, NCC
149 - Willy Pendleton, LCC, MD 20-8, Ty Jaquess, NCC
157 - Joseph Cornejo, LCC, Fall 3:36, Dustin Burton, NCC
165 - Mikey Morgan, LCC, Dec. 8-5, Kenny Carney, NCC
174 - Jason Green, NCC, Dec. 5-4, Joe Yust, LCC
184 - Tim Cross, NCC, Dec. 6-5, Aaron Kuhlmann, LCC
197 - Chance Rencountre, LCC, Dec. 6-4, Daunte Nixon, NCC
HWT - Ben Hohensee, LCC, Dec. 3-2, Christian Wintons, NCC-
11/09/2007; 1:16:41 PM
