YORK, Neb. – The Colorado Mesa women's wrestling team sent a small contingent to the York University Open on Saturday (Jan. 14) ahead of the team's resumption of duals next week. The Mavericks came away with three total placers including one champion on the afternoon.
 
The most veteran wrestler the Mavericks sent came away with their lone championship as Marissa Gallegos moved her record to 16-0 as she won the 123-pound open division title. The Denver native won all three matches by technical fall and accrued a total combined score of 33-2 on the day.
 
She won her first match 11-0 over Maya Davis of Grand View followed by a semifinal win over Arianna Marrufo of Jamestown 10-0. In the championship bout, she scored a 12-2 win over Ashley Whetzal of Missouri Valley College.
 
Sophomore Cordey Mallo had her best day as a Maverick on the mat on Saturday as she finished second at 123 pounds in the freshman/sophomore division of the tournament. Mallo opened with a pin of Lianette Ortiz of Indian Hills at 2:28 and followed that up with a 12-2 technical fall win over Ana Rojas Zamora of Chadron State.
 
She moved onto the semifinals where she earned a pin of Aaliyah Bueno of Baker University at 2:27. The Thornton native fell behind in the championship bout and couldn't recover before falling by pin at 1:35 to Allison Haynes of Central Methodist.
 
Freshman Hania Halverson finished in third of the 123-pound weight class in the freshman and sophomore division, but she did things the long way. Halverson fell to Allison Haynes, the eventual division champion, in her first match of the day and came all the way back and won her next five matches to claim third.
 
She had four first period pins and a win by injury default along the way. Two of her pins came in the first 25 seconds of the bout including a 22 second pin in the third-place match over Madelyn Plotz of Iowa Western.
 
Colorado Mesa will be back in action on Thursday as they will travel back to Nebraska for a dual with Chadron State.