CONCORDIA, Kan. — The No. 15 ranked Cloud County Community College wrestling team heads into this weekend’s NJCAA Wrestling Championships, set for March 1-2 inside the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in prime position to make some noise.
Armed with nine qualified wrestlers — Cloud County qualified six wrestlers in its inaugural season in 2017-18 — the T-Birds have the numbers to challenge for a top-10 team finish and the individual talent to head home with a handful of All-Americans.
The nine student-athletes making the trip north for the T-Birds include three two-time national qualifiers in Benny Hernandez (285-pounds), Cameron Young-Leggett (184) and Noah Aziere (165).
Hernandez finished second at the West-Central District Tournament, while Young-Leggett and Aziere earned fourth-place and sixth-place finishes, respectively.
Cloud County will also bring six national newcomers in redshirt freshmen Austin Eldredge (149) and Bryce Gfeller (141), and true freshmen Dakota Miller (133), Blayne Harris (125), Matthew Cruickshank (174) and Quentin Jiner (157).
Eldredge heads into the tournament with the best draw, earning the No. 2 overall seed after winning the program’s first-ever West-Central District Tournament back on Feb. 16.
Complete brackets for each weight division are available on the NJCAA Wrestling championship website: https://njcaawrestlingcb.com.
Official weigh-ins are scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Friday before first round preliminary action gets underway at 9:30 a.m.
The first day will conclude with the championship quarterfinals, third and fourth round consolation bouts starting at 6:15 p.m. that evening.
Day Two action starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with the championship semi-finals and consolation quarterfinals. Championship finals will be at approximately 7 p.m. followed by the NJCAA award presentation.
An adult tournament pass is $45 for two days, which includes all four sessions, while single session adult tickets are on sale for $18 apiece.
Students may purchase a tournament pass for $30 or single session tickets at $10 each. Children under the age of three get in free.
Fans will also have the option to watch the tournament via a live stream provided by FloWrestling. Subscription plans start at $12.50 a month, which would allow wrestling fans to not only watch the NJCAA Championships, but have access to other NCAA action during the month of March.