GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team will have a busy week at home this weekend as they host the Colorado Mesa Open on Saturday (Nov. 16) morning followed by a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual with Chadron State in the evening at 6pm in Brownson Arena.
 
THE OPEN
The Mavericks will once again be hosting the Colorado Mesa Open on Saturday in Brownson Arena. Roughly 90 wrestlers are scheduled to compete in the tournament that will be wrestled on four mats.
 
Colorado Mesa, Colorado School of Mines, Chadron State, Northeastern Junior College, Western Wyoming CC, and UNLV's club team are scheduled to compete.
 
DEBUTS
As many as five Mavericks could be making their dual debut on Saturday evening. Collin Metzgar at 125 pounds and Erik Contreras at 133 pounds are scheduled to make their debut in their first season with the program.
 
Metzgar transferred in with assistant coach Mike Mendoza from Northeastern Junior College. It will be his first matches as a Maverick.
 
Contreras transferred in from Western Colorado where he just competed in opens as a Mountaineer. The Berthoud, Colo. native was a 4-time state placer at Mountain View High School.
 
Freshman Daniel Magana and Dylan Ranieri both competed at the Wyoming Open could make their debuts at 141 pounds and 157 pounds respectively.
 
Redshirt sophomore Hayden Harris is slated to make his dual debut at 165 pounds. Harris, a Norwood, Colo. product, is in his third year in the program.
 
EXPERIENCED GAINED
Sophomore Seth Latham and redshirt sophomore Nolan Krone gained valuable experience last season after being thrust into the lineup.
 
Latham experienced both highs and lows in his first year. His first collegiate match was a win over nationally ranked Zach Stodden of Nebraska-Kearney. He went on to have solid wins and a few wins that got away from him in the third period of matches. He finished his first season with a 16-14 record.
 
Krone placed in four of the tournaments he competed in and had a 26-11 record in his redshirt freshman season. The Henderson, Colo. native didn't finish his season how he wanted to with a fifth place finish in the NCAA Super Region VI tournament after reaching the semifinals of the tournament.
 
HISTORY WITH CHADRON STATE
Colorado Mesa is 6-7 (includes a tie which the Eagles won on criteria) against Chadron State in duals since the program was brought back for the 2006-07 season. The Mavericks had a streak of four straight wins over the Eagles from 2012-2016.
 
Last season, the Mavericks earned a 22-15 win over Chadron in Rushville, Neb. The two teams split the matches in the dual at five a side but Colorado Mesa secured three bonus point wins that included a forfeit at 125 pounds.
 
In the dual, Jason Buhr picked up his 100^th win of his career.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will head to Nebraska for the UNK Loper Open on Saturday. Most of the team will compete in the open as it features some of the top teams in the region and out of the region.