WILLIE'S WORLD
Iowa Central's Parks moves down to 184 to face rivals
Competitors at the 184-pound weight class beware. Willie Parks is back and he’s moving into your weight class. Parks, who is ranked first at 197, is dropping down one weight class in hopes of reclaiming the title he won in 2002.
“Parks is going to wrestle 184 this year,” said Iowa Central head coach Troy Bennett. “He was only weighing around 200 when the season started and after practice started he was only weighing 192 daily so it’s not real hard for him to get down to 184.”In dropping down a weight, Parks will be facing some very tough competition. Standing in the way of Parks and his second title will be Colby Community College’s defending national champion C.B. Dolloway, who has just signed with Arizona State. Both Parks and Dolloway won titles at the recent Nebraska-Omaha Open, a tournament that features several quality schools including Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota.
Parks won his title in the 184-pound open division by defeating the University of Iowa’s Paul Bradley 3-2. Competing in the same weight class but at the 20 & under level, Dolloway decked last year’s top high school recruit Roger Kish of Minnesota 9-3 in the finals.
“Willie is still looking to prove that he’s Division I material,” said Troy Bennett of his standout wrestler. “(Parks) really wants to wrestle Mike Massenzio out of Bergen Community College who has already signed early with Rider. Massenzio placed second at JUCOs last year and he’s the kid that beat Willie at High School Nationals. So he wants to wrestle Massenzio pretty bad this year.”
This is where the plot thickens. Last year, Dolloway pinned Massenzio in the 184-pound finals of the JUCO national tournament. Massenzio came into the finals 23-0 against junior college competition. However, Willie Parks drove to a tournament last year by himself because Dolloway was competing there. Parks beat Dolloway 18-4.
Defending heavyweight champion Tyler Rhodes of Northwest Wyoming also is holding his own against the competition. Rhodes has placed first, second and first during the three tournaments in which he has competed. The Trapper star is currently 11-1 with his only loss coming at the hands of Boise State’s Boe Ruston at the Cowboy Open, 5-3.
“He’s doing well but he’s very green right now and a little rough around the edges. But those are all things you can fix,” head coach Jim Zeigler said of his top-ranked heavyweight. “You just can’t beat his attitude and his style of go get ‘em. We put some polish on him and he’s good to go. He’s certainly legitimate Division I material.”
Defending 157-pound champion Muzaffor Abdurakhmanov of Colby also has found some success during early competition. The Uzbekistan native placed second in the Cowboy Open, losing to Wyoming’s Levi Provost 10-4. Abdurakhmanov advanced to the quarterfinals of the UNO Open, where he lost to eventual champ Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota (165).
Jim Zeigler’s Northwest Wyoming squad is currently leading the JUCO team race. The Trappers were ranked first in the preseason poll and will hold on to the top position due to their success during three early-season tournaments. Zeigler’s squad has produced 18 finalists and eight champions out of possible 40 final spots. At their most recent tournament, the Northern Colorado Open, Northwest Wyoming came away with three champions, four seconds, a third and a fourth.
“If you were to add up team scores giving 16 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third and seven for fourth we beat the field pretty bad,” Jim Zeigler said after the Northern Colorado tournament. “We had 113 and the next closest was Northern Colorado with 95. Air Force would have been third with 78 and Western State would have been fourth with 77.”
Hoping to challenge Northwest Wyoming for the lead is Iowa Central. Competing at the Harold Nichols Open and the Nebraska-Omaha Open has allowed Triton head coach Troy Bennett to get a feel for where his team is at against some tough competition.
“I use UNO as a measuring gauge,” Troy Bennett said in reference to his overall team performance. “If our kids can place or even win UNO they have a good opportunity to be an All-American or national champ in junior college. We had Parks win the Open division and four of our guys placed in the top five in the 20 & Under. It was a good weekend for us.”
Defending national champion North Idaho has had their fill of early success. Pat Whitcomb’s Cardinal squad had won five of their first six dual meets. The only setback was a 23-18 loss to Utah Valley State (a Division I school) who was competing in the school’s first-ever dual meet. North Idaho also competed in the Michigan State Open where Israel Silva (HWT) placed eighth.
Neosho County Community College has had dual meets against three opponents ranked in the top ten. The Panthers defeated last year’s runner-up Colby 28-15 then followed up a few days later with a solid 29-11 win over Ellsworth, a team that was ranked third at the time.
Most recently, Neosho lost a wild 24-23 dual to Labette on Nov. 20 in front of a rowdy hometown crowd. Neosho won six out of ten matches on the night but Labette scored pins in all four their victories to pull off the win. The two teams will battle again, Jan. 5, at Labette.
“It was a great, awesome junior college dual,” said head rankings officer and Neosho assistant coach Richard Fergola. “It was sweet. Our gym was packed and it was loud. We had fans coming out of the stands that security had to get back. It was crazy. Anybody who is a junior college wrestling fan would have wished they could have been there.”
Looking ahead, five junior colleges will be competing at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Open, Dec. 5-6. Those teams competing at the 45-team tournament are Lassen, Neosho, North Idaho, Northwest Wyoming, and Pima.
(This article originally appeared in the print version of W.I.N. Magazine. To subscribe, go to the merchandise section of the Wrestling Mall and access the W.I.N. store or e-mail us at Info@WIN-magazine.com)