Taking the mat for the first time in over a month, the 13th ranked Barton Community College wrestling team won the battles Wednesday night in Concordia but lost on the scoreboard 30-21 at 25th Cloud County Community College to open the Jayhawk Conference dual season.
The Cougars won five of the eight matches wrestling, including racking up a pin and three major decisions, but three big tally losses and two open weights were just too much to overcome in taking the loss.
Barton trailed 12-0 after the first two matches of the evening at the Arley Bryant Gymnasium, with 9th ranked Blayne Harris taking care of Zack Gomez in 1:35 of the 125 division with Blake Leiszler following with a late first period 2:50 pinning of Javier Duchene in the 133.
Drew Burgoon got the Cougars on the board in the ensuing 141 weight class with a 7-4 decision over Joel Ostrom to begin a four match win streak for the squad.
Kolby Droegemeier carried the momentum into the 149 class in piling up a 14-1 major decision over Nate Normandin.
3rd ranked Gable Howerton followed with a 4:07 back flattening over Chandler Schoenberger with 165 pound 9th ranked Andrew DeArmond adding another four points to the Cougars total with a 12-0 major decision shutout over Kobryn Mann.
Aside from leaving various points on the mat in the previous six matches, the evening's back breaking turn of events came in the 174 division as Jacob Sanchez' one point lead in the third period ended on a 6:40 fall to Dante Harper in wrapping up the Cloud County victory.
Having open weight classes in the 197 and 285 divisions, 7th ranked Joey Ewalt put the final touches on the mat in the 184 class to pile up the Cougars' second shutout of the evening with an 11-0 major decision over Micah Sterling.
Barton will have the rest of the week off until traveling to Goodland, Kansas, next Wednesday for an 8:00 p.m. (Central Time) dual at Northwest Kansas Technical College.