INDIANAPOLIS – The Colorado Mesa wrestling team had a banner first day at the 43^rd annual Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis. The Mavericks have eight of their nine wrestlers entered into the tournament are still alive with two into the semifinals.
 
Redshirt freshman Dawson Collins is into the semifinals at 125 pounds as he went 5-0 on the day. Collins won his pigtail match over his opponent from Belmont Abbey. A short time after that, he earned a pin over Adam Szewczyk of Lincoln Memorial which brought him to a familiar foe.
 
Collins faced off with Western Colorado's Cody Fatzinger for the third time this fall. The two entered overtime at 4-4 after a challenge right at the end of regulation. Collins then dropped Fatzinger to his back and earned an overtime pin at 7:06.
 
In the quarterfinals, Collins upset No. 2 ranked Nick Daggett of UNC Pembroke, 6-4 after scoring a takedown late in the third period of action. The Grand Junction native moved his record to 12-1 on the season and will face No. 6 ranked Paxton Rosen of Central Oklahoma tomorrow morning for a spot in the final.
 
Redshirt junior Collin Metzgar reached the semifinals at 133 pounds as he went 4-0 in his first day of action. He opened his day with a pin over Chadwick Stahl of Newman at 2:19 he then followed that up with a pin of William Burgess of Seton Hill at 2:58. The two wins setup another matchup with a familiar foe in the quarterfinals.
 
Metzgar met up with No. 3 ranked Patrick Allis of Western Colorado. It was the second meeting of the two ranked opponents in two weeks. And for the second time in two weeks, Metzgar came away with an 8-5 win over his rival from Western Colorado.
 
The Colorado Springs native will matchup with No. 4 ranked Tanner Hitchcock of Lindenwood with a spot in the final on the line.
 
Ryan Wheeler (157), Alex Holguin (165), Latham (174), and Gabe Carranza (285) all reached the quarterfinals before falling.
 
Wheeler upset No. 9 Josiah Rider of Adams State in the second round with a first round pin to reach the quarterfinals while Alex Holguin picked up a 3-2 win over No. 12 Jack Eiteljorge of UIndy before falling to No. 6 Cory Peterson of McKendree 11-7 in the quarterfinal bout.
 
Seth Latham had a big second round win as he earned a 16-0 technical fall win over No. 9 Caleb Spears of Newberry before falling to a tough opponent in No. 5 Job Ayala of Wisconsin Parkside, 12-1.
 
Gabe Carranza reached the quarterfinals before falling to No. 10 AJ Cooper of Fort Hays State 9-6 in a rematch of an earlier matchup in the fall where Cooper won by pin in the first round.
 
Both Nolan Krone and Donnie Negus are still alive after early round losses. The two are both 3-1 in the tournament and are still accumulating points for the team in their search for a third-place finish.
 
This tournament is also scored for the team and the Mavericks faired very well. They are currently in third place after scoring nine wins and seven bonus point victories in the first round of action and followed it up with several bonus point wins in the second round.
 
Central Oklahoma leads the tournament with 71.5 points followed by Wisconsin Parkside at 57 points. Fellow RMAC school Colorado School of Mines is in tenth place with 38.5 points.
 
Day two of the tournament begins tomorrow morning at 8:30am.