INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team opened competition at the prestigious 43^rd annual Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis on Saturday (Dec. 17) morning. The field featured 43 of the top teams in Division II wrestling at the event with several ranked teams and wrestlers in attendance.
 
At 125 pounds, Dawson Collins made the quarterfinals before falling to Adams State's Brendon Garcia 7-5. The Grand Junction native defeated Western Colorado's Devin Gomez in his first match of the day by way of technical fall 17-1 at the 4:30 mark of the match. Collins then proceeded to win by an 18-7 major decision over Newberry's Dylan Sheler to reach the quarters.
 
Collins will face Trevon Gray of Pitt-Johnstown in his first bout tomorrow morning.
 
2021 Midwest Classic 133-pound champion Collin Metzgar reached the quarterfinals before falling on Saturday. The Colorado Springs native fell to Dylan Lucas of Central Oklahoma by fall in the quarterfinal matchup. He reached the round after a 12-0 major decision of Nathan Wishne of William Jewell in his opening match before a 8-2 decision victory over Jeff Richards of Mount Olive.
 
Metzgar is scheduled to take on William Burgess of Seton Hill to open action tomorrow.
 
Returning all-American Ryan Wheeler won his first match at 157 pounds with a pin of Ibraham Tafour of Quincy at 28 seconds. He fell in his next match to Carter Noehre of Mines 6-2 to drop into the consolation bracket. The University Place, Wash. native won his next two matches to move onto day two. He defeated Noah Korenoski of Coker by pin at 52 seconds before an 11-3 major decision win over Jack Haskin of Lake Erie.
 
Wheeler is slated to take on Sean Howk of Southwest Minnesota State in his first match tomorrow.
 
Redshirt freshman Gus Dalton has had a solid first Midwest Classic as he advanced to day two of the tournament. Dalton opened with a 59 second pin of Marques McClorin of Gannon before falling to Chase Luensman of Upper Iowa in sudden victory 8-6. He recovered with a pin of his opponent from Southwest Minnesota State at 1:44 of the bout then followed it up with a 7-5 sudden victory win over David Hunsberger of Lander 7-5.
 
The Emery, Utah native will square off with Dillon Keene of Pitt-Johnstown in his first match tomorrow morning.
 
The final Maverick that advanced to day two of the tournament is sophomore Alex Holguin at 174 pounds. He opened with a medical forfeit win over Kevin Kearns of Mines before falling narrowly to top-seeded Dillon Walker of Mercyhurst 6-5. Holguin was able to bounce back with an 11-5 win over Jayson Knick of Findlay followed by a major decision win over Bret Heil of Maryville, 18-4.
 
The Arenas Valley product is slated to take on Hank Carey of Notre Dame College in his first match of the day tomorrow.
 
Every Maverick in the tournament won at least one match with eight of the ten winning more than one match.
 
Colorado Mesa sits in a tie for 11^th place on the team leaderboard in the tournament. They are tied with RMAC rival Colorado School of Mines and Gannon who all have 36.5 team points. Adams State is the only RMAC member school ahead of them as they are in sixth place with 43.5 points.
 
Central Oklahoma is currently leading the tournament by over 40 points at 107 points with Pitt-Johnston trailing at 64.5 points.
 
Day two of the Midwest Classic is scheduled to begin at 8am with finals scheduled for approximately 2pm.