Ottis Peeler becomes Cowley’s first-ever wrestling national champion

Led by sophomore Ottis Peeler finishing as the national champion in the 184-pound weight class, the Cowley College wrestling team placed 15th out of 50 schools at the NJCAA National Championships held March 6-7 in Council Bluffs, IA. Clackamas Community College (OR) took home the team title.

Peeler won two matches by one point, two by technical fall, and won another by a score of 7-0 as he went 5-0 at the national tournament. Peeler, who was an All-American at Iowa Western prior to transferring to Cowley, finishes his lone season as a Tiger with a record of 33-1.

"A lot of programs have never had a national champion, so this was huge for Ottis and our program," Cowley head coach Beau Vest said.

In just its third year as a wrestling program, Cowley was represented at the national meet by seven sophomores and one freshman.

"We are going to miss those sophomores a ton," Vest said.

Joining Peeler as an All-American was Cowley sophomore Liam Corbett, who went 5-2 in the 157-pound weight class. Corbett had previously earned All-American honors as a freshman at Highline College.

"This is quite an honor for Liam to be a two-time All-American and to be able to do that in a tough, deep weight class," Vest said.

Cowley's Garrett Lange, who earned All-American honors as a freshman, battled through a severe injury to go 2-2 and just missed earning his second All-American honor.

"Garrett wrestled basically on one foot," Vest said. "He put it all out there for the program.

Although he went 0-2 in the heavy weight division, Cowley's Tyler Shannon will be tough to replace.

"He was my first signee and we will miss him at heavyweight," Vest said.

Other sophomores that competed at nationals were Corwin Strachan (125 pounds), Isaiah Banks (141 pounds), and Jesse Nunez (174 pounds). Austin Kincaid was the Tigers' lone freshman competing at nationals.

"We want to just keep moving forward as a program and build off of this showing at the national tournament," Vest said. "We hope to show the freshmen and recruits we bring in what the possibilities are and why we work so hard."

Cowley results:

*125 pounds – Corwin Strachan went 2-2.
*133 pounds – Austin Kincaid went 1-2.
*141 pounds – Isaiah Banks went 0-2.
*157 pounds – Liam Corbett went 5-2 and finished in fifth place.
*165 pounds – Garrett Lange went 2-2.
*174 pounds – Jesse Nunez went 3-2.
*184 pounds – Ottis Peeler went 5-0 and finished as the national champion.
285 pounds – Tyler Shannon went 0-2.