KEARNEY, Neb. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team competed in the Younes Hospitality Open on Saturday (Nov. 20) at the Buffalo County Convention Center. The Mavericks came away with 10 total placers in the two divisions including a champion in the Elite Division.
Senior
Donnie Negus ran the table at 197 pounds going 5-0 to claim the tournament title in the Elite Division with a 12-6 win over CSU Pueblo's Ben Gould in the final. Four of his five wins along the way came against opponents within the region.
He opened the tournament with a pin of Highlands' Luke Allan and followed up with a 16-0 technical fall win over Ruger Wyneken of Western Colorado. His quarter match he earned a 13-2 major decision victory over Morninside's Hunter DeJong. His closest match came in the semifinals but he wound up securing a 10-8 win over UNK's Hunter Prince.
Both
Dawson Collins and
Cian Apple reached the semifinals at 125 pounds before falling. Collins reached the semifinals before falling 9-7 to Western Colorado's Cody Fatzinger while Apple dropped an 8-0 major decision to Josh Portillo of UNK.
Collins and Apple both came back and won matches against opponents from Wyoming in the consolation semifinals before another showdown between the two opponents. Collins came away with another major decision victory 18-5 to claim third place while Apple settled for fourth.
At 149 pounds, redshirt freshman
Nick Gallegos wound his way through the bracket to finish third. Gallegos reached the semifinals before falling narrowly to Jason Hanenberg of Western Colorado 3-2. He came back with an 11-4 win over Colton Woods of Air Force in his consolation match. The Denver native was awarded a medical forfeit win over Trevor Fauver of Mary in the third-place match.
Freshman
Alex Holguin continues to impress after a fourth-place finish at 165 pounds. He reached the semifinals before falling. He came back with a win over Riley Noble of Mary to reach the third-place match.
Collin Metzgar (133) and
Nolan Krone (184) finished fifth in their respective weight classes while
Kash Anderson placed sixth at 197 after reaching the semifinals.
The Mavericks had two wrestlers place in the top six in the Amateur Division as well to bring their total of placers to ten.
Colorado Mesa will be off until their dual with Western Colorado on December 9 at 6pm in Brownson Arena. The dual will be a non-conference matchup between the two rivals.
