STERLING, Colo. – Taking part in their only two duals of the first half of the season, the number-11 ranked Cloud County Community College wrestling team would split a pair of duals against the number-23 ranked teams Northeastern Junior College and Otero Junior College at the Bank of Colorado Event Center in Sterling, Colorado on Thursday, December 9th.
 
Under first-year head coach Julian Smith, the T-Birds would drop their opening dual of the afternoon to host NJC by a score of 27-25 as the dual would come down to the final two matches of the dual before bouncing back with a resounding 36-9 victory over Otero in their second dual of the day.
 
In the opening dual against Northeastern, the T-Birds would drop the first contested match of the day with a technical fall defeat at 125 pounds before taking the lead as the Plainsmen would be open at 133 pounds. Following the forfeit victory by Bray Skinner for the open weight class at 133, Northeastern would reclaim the lead at 141 pounds as number-nine ranked Deegan Palmer would defeat Michael Barfuss by major decision. An open weight class at 149 pounds would allow NJC to extend their lead to 15-6 before giving back all nine points they were ahead over the next two matches.
Kase Givens would earn a first-period fall over Vince Beeson at 157 pounds before seeing number-six ranked Cooper Mosier outlast Cael Smith in sudden victory overtime to tie the dual at 15-15. Both teams would then get first-period falls in the next two matches as the Plainsmen would take the 174-pound match over Brandon Rohr before dropping the 184-pound match against Micah Sterling to keep things even at 21-21 with two matches remaining. In the 197-pound weight class, Ibrahim Ameer would settle for a major decision after nearly earning a technical fall against Kordell Culhane, with the single bonus point proving not to be enough to offset an open weight class for CCCC at 285 pounds.
 
In their dual with Otero, both the T-Birds and Rattlers would be open at 149 pounds and 285 pounds which left just eight matches for points to be earned. Cloud County would get open weight forfeit wins at 125 pounds by Sajen Kemling along with open weight forfeits for Barfuss at 141 pounds and Rohr at 174 pounds. Of the contested matches in the dual, Skinner would fall by major decision to number-nine ranked Marquis Kemp before seeing Jonny Crome get CCCC back on the board with a first period fall over Anthony Flores. Givens would then wrestle up a weight class at 165 pounds and drop a technical fall decision to Logan Robb as the T-Birds would get a second period fall from Sterling at 184 pounds and first period fall from Ameer at 197 pounds to end the dual.
 
What's Next?
Cloud County will return to open tournament format wrestling on Sunday, December 12th as the T-Birds will head to Hays, Kansas to take part in the 2021 Bob Smith Open. 59 total teams are expected to be represented at the open tournament on Sunday, with NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and the NJCAA represented by teams in the field.