GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa wrestling team will head out for their first matches of the 2019 calendar year this weekend. They will have a double dual at The Swamp at San Francisco State where they will take on the host Gators and the Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons. Both matches are on Friday.
 
The Mavericks will also compete in the Menlo Open on Saturday against a handful of schools that hail from up and down the West Coast including Cal Poly, Eastern Oregon and Life Pacific.
 
TOUGH MATCHUPS
Colorado Mesa will look to atone for their rough performance at the Las Vegas Duals on December 17. The Mavericks dropped all three duals to three ranked opponents at the Duals which included the No. 2 ranked DIII team in Wartburg.
 
Redshirt freshman Nolan Krone was the lone Maverick to go unbeaten at the Desert Duals. Krone picked up two 8-4 decisions and a pin of Minnesota State's Trevor Turriff.
 
NEW BIG MAN
Redshirt freshman Hunter Mooring has taken over the job of heavyweight for Colorado Mesa following a season-ending injury to Clayton Voytilla. Mooring, a 197-pounder, is 7-7 on the year split between the two weights but is 0-4 at 285 pounds.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Colorado Mesa moved up to No. 23 in the NWCA National Rankings that were released this week. The Mavericks have a pair of ranked wrestlers and garnered 16 points.
 
Eduardo Penha is ranked No. 7 at 141 pounds and is 5-1 on the season. His lone loss came to Pitt-Johnstown's Joey Alessandro 6-3 at the Las Vegas Desert Duals.
 
Junior Payton Tawater is ranked No. 6 at 157 pounds and is 8-3 on the season with only one of his losses coming to a Division II opponent.
 
PROJECTED LINEUP VS. SAN FRANCISCO STATE & MINNESOTA STATE MOORHEAD
Colorado Mesa will run out their lineup that they will likely use the rest of the year in duals and for postseason tournaments, barring injuries. They will also take roughly five backups also that will compete in the Menlo Open on Saturday
 
125 – Tim Romero, Jr., Thornton, Colo., 2-7 overall
133 – Bracken Lovell, Fr., Delta, Utah, 6-5 overall
141 – #7 Eduardo Penha, Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., 5-1 overall
149 – Daniel Van Hoose, RFr., Grand Junction, Colo., 2-6 overall
157 – #6 Payton Tawater, Jr., Arvada, Colo., 8-3 overall
165 – Jason Buhr, Sr., La Jara, Colo., 4-2 overall
174 – Seth Latham, Fr., Grand Junction, Colo., 4-6 overall
184 – Nolan Krone, RFr., Henderson, Colo., 12-4 overall
197 – TJ Lodermeier, Sr., Hinton, Okla., 4-6 overall
285 – Hunter Mooring, RFr., Pueblo, Colo., 7-7 overall
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will host Simon Fraser on January 10 as part of the first-ever men's and women's double dual. The men will take on The Clan at 6pm following the women's dual with Lindenwood beginning at 5pm in Brownson Arena.