INDIANAPOLIS— Colorado Mesa University's Collin Metzgar claimed a semifinal win over the No. 4 ranked wrestler in the county before winning the 133-pound title while Dawson Collins knocked off the sixth-ranked 125-pounder en-route to a second place finish in that weight class to lead the Maverick men's wrestling team to a strong tie for sixth place team finish at the 42^nd Midwest Classic, which wrapped up Sunday here at the University of Indianapolis' Nicoson Hall.

CMU's Ryan Wheeler also placed seventh at 157 pounds as the Mavericks finished with 83 team points to wrap up the high finish amongst 42 Division II teams from around the country.
 
Metzgar, now 13-2 on the season, claimed a 6-3 decision over Lindenwood's Tanner Hitchcock, a 2-time all-American who sits fourth in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Division II  rankings, in the semifinals.   Metzgar, ranked 11^th, then claimed a 6-4 win over Reece Barnhardt of Mary, to win the title while becoming the first Maverick in the program's three all-time appearances (2009, 2010) to win an individual title at the prestigious tournament, regarded as a mini-nationals.
 
Metzgar, who went 5-0 on the weekend, had also knocked off Western Colorado's Patrick Allis, ranked third, for the second time in ten days, in Friday's quarterfinals.
 
Meanwhile, Collins pinned Central Oklahoma's Paxton Rosen, ranked sixth nationally, with eight seconds remaining in his semifinal match before going down to fifth-ranked Christian Mejia of McKendree in the title match by a 10-6 decision.
 
Collins, who is also 13-2 on the year, had defeated second-ranked Nick Daggett of UNC-Pembroke in the quarterfinals, and went 5-1 on the weekend after coming in unranked.
 
Wheeler also had a strong 4-2 weekend, going 2-1 on Sunday to raise his season record to 11-4.  He pinned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Carter Noehre of the Colorado School of Mines in his first match but was knocked off by ninth-ranked Josiah Rider of Adams State in his next bout. 
 
However, Wheeler came back to blast Newman's Jace Fisher by a 13-1 major decision margin in the seventh-place match.
 
CMU's other four wrestlers who advanced to the second day of the tournament were all defeated in their lone Sunday matches falling just one round short of a top-8 placing.
 
Top-ranked Central Oklahoma won the tournament's team title with 106 ½ points while the host Greyhounds, ranked 14^th, finished second with 97 ½.  No. 13 Adams State was third with 89 while ninth-ranked Wisconsin-Parkside (88 ½) and No. 6 McKendree (86 ½) were just ahead of the Mavericks, who tied with Mary in the final team standings.
 
CMU's team finish surpassed their seventh place finish in 2010 and their tenth place finish in 2009, when Chase Walker, the Mavs' first NCAA Division II All-American, finished second at 157 pounds before placing fifth a year later.
 
The Mavericks will now take a holiday break before returning to the mats at the NWCA National Duals, which will be contested on Jan. 6-7, 2022 in Louisville, Kentucky.