ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team had a banner day as they closed out the season on the final day of the NCAA National Championship Tournament here at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of the University of St. Louis. Colorado Mesa finished with two highly placed All-Americans that helped the team achieve a top ten team finish.
 
Redshirt freshman Ryan Wheeler may have completed one of the most impressive NCAA National Tournaments in program history. Despite not winning a national championship, Wheeler placed third at 157 pounds in his first appearance at the National Tournament.
 
Wheeler opened the day with a 6-2 win over No. 7 seed Dawson Combest of UIndy to move into the consolation semifinals of the bracket. There, he met up with No. 1 seed Anthony Herrera of St. Cloud State. After a little bit of confusion on Herrera's part, Wheeler came away with a 3-2 and a spot in the third-place bout. Herrera appeared to think the score was tied at the end of the match and was willing to settle things in overtime, but he was trailing at the time leading to the win by Wheeler.
 
In the placement match, the University Place, Wash. native pinned No. 2 seed John Ridle of Central Missouri at the 1:16 mark of the match to finish in third place. Wheeler fell to Ridle at the UNK Open 17-7 earlier this season avenging that loss in the final bout of the season.
 
The pin in that bout was especially important as it gave Wheeler his third of the tournament where he wound up winning the Gorriaran Award that is bestowed on the most dominant wrestler in the entire tournament. He had the most pins of anyone in the field in the least amount of time.  



Fellow redshirt freshman Dawson Collins wound up fifth at 125 pounds after a solid day which included a revenge win. Collins opened the day with a win over Limestone's Kevin Radcliff 3-0 in a technically sound win that advanced him into the consolation semifinals.
 
There, the Grand Junction native faced off with Shippensburg's Tyshawn White who just came off a semifinal loss to UNK's Josh Portillo. White came out on a rampage and ended up pinning Collins at the 2:25 mark of the bout to drop him into the fifth-place bout.
 
Collins once again faced off with UNC Pembroke's Nick Daggett in the final bout of the season. Collins left no doubt who the better wrestler was as he beat Daggett by major decision 14-2, earning two separate six-point moves in the bout. He finished the season with a 26-5 record.
 


The Mavericks had a top ten team finish as they garnered 31 points to finish in eighth place. With just two wrestlers competing, they equaled the same amount of points the program garnered yesterday with 15.5 points. The finish equals the program best that was achieved during last season's COVID compacted championship.
 
Super Region VI foe Nebraska-Kearney earned the team title with 127 points.
 
Championship notes:
*NCAA Super Region VI had 20 All-Americans which was the top mark of all six NCAA Super Regions. The next closest was Super Region V which had 16 All-Americans. The Region also had six of the 20 wrestlers in the Championship Finals matches.
 
*Adams State took three wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and walked away with three Nationals Champions (133, 149, 157). Head coach Jason Ramstetter was named the Coach of the Tournament for the program's effort.
 
*One of the Grizzly champions was Grand Junction product Josiah Rider. He finished the season with a 28-2 overall record with both of his losses being handed to him by none other than Colorado Mesa's Ryan Wheeler.