The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team will head to Louisville for the second straight season in search of their second straight plaque at the NWCA National Duals at the Kentucky Convention Center. The Mavericks, ranked in a tie for No. 16 in the most recent NWCA National Rankings, are set to open the duals on Friday (Jan. 6) morning.
 
THE FANTASTIC FIVE
Colorado Mesa had five wrestlers make it into day two of the Midwest Classic prior to the NCAA mandated winter break and all five wrestlers came away with placements in their respective weights.
 
Dawson Collins, Collin Metzgar and Ryan Wheeler became two-time Midwest Classic placewinners. Collins placed eighth at 125 pounds while Metzgar took sixth at 133 pounds. Wheeler was the highest placing Maverick as he took third at 157 pounds.
 
Sophomore Alex Holguin had a great tournament and placed fourth at 174 pounds which earned him the No. 7 national ranking at the weight. Redshirt freshman Gus Dalton placed seventh at 165 pounds after going 6-2 in the tournament.
 
MR. PIN
If the country didn't already know redshirt sophomore Ryan Wheeler was a pinning machine, they do now. The University Place, Wash. native is 10-3 on the season with nine of his 10 wins coming by way of the pin. In fact, all nine of his pins have come in the first round of action with his tenth victory coming by a major decision at the Midwest Classic.
 
Wheeler went on to earn third place at the prestigious Midwest Classic and earned the award for most falls in the shortest amount of time with six wins via the fall. That award, along with the Gorriarian Award he earned at the NCAA Championships last year, has given Wheeler the reputation and the name of Mr. Pin.
 
SCOUTING THE FIELD
The field at the NWCA National Duals is, as you can imagine, tough with 15 of the 16 teams in the field ranked in the most recent NWCA national rankings. The top five teams in those rankings are all scheduled to compete with Central Oklahoma holding the number one seed.
 
Colorado Mesa comes in as the No. 13 seed in the tournament and is scheduled to take on No. 4 West Liberty in the first round of the tournament on Friday morning at 8:00am. After that, they will take on either No. 14 Fort Hays State or No. 5 Lander with the winners taking on the winners and the losers taking on each other. Teams are guaranteed three duals at the event.
 
The Mavericks placed sixth at last year's event as they defeated Mercyhurst, UNC Pembroke, and Fort Hays State and lost to Central Oklahoma and McKendree in the fifth place dual. It was their first appearance at the national event.
 
SPLIT SQUAD
Colorado Mesa will have a separate group of wrestlers competing this weekend up in Gunnison at the Western Colorado Open and the Tracy Borah Duals. A total of 17 wrestlers are currently entered in the Western Colorado Open that will take place in Mountaineer Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon.
 
That group will then compete in the Tracy Borah Duals the following day with duals scheduled against CSU Pueblo, New Mexico Highlands, and Western Colorado. The Mavericks will likely have all of the weights filled pending injuries, sickness, and weight decent plans.
 
COACHING STAFF
Longtime coach Chuck Pipher officially announced his retirement from coaching wrestling just as the season started. Assistant coach Mike Mendoza and Bo Pipher are currently handling the day-to-day duties.
 
Mendoza has been with the program since 2019 after making stops at Northeastern Junior College, Boise State, Cal State Bakersfield, and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Adams State. He spent time as the head coach at Northeastern JC where he elevated the program from an 0-6 dual record when he took over to an 11-3 mark in his final season. He was also the head coach at Boise State the year prior to the school dropping the program.
 
Bo Pipher, nephew of Chuck Pipher, was a three-time Colorado State Champion and wrestled for Cael Sanderson at Penn State for four seasons before graduating. He is in his second season with the program after assisting with the team a year ago helping Dawson Collins and Collin Metzgar to the NCAA National Championship Tournament.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Mavericks will return home and return to ground travel for the remainder of the year other than the NCAA National Championships in March. They will travel to the Northeast part of the state and into Nebraska next week as they have duals scheduled with Northeastern Junior College and RMAC foe Chadron State.

Projected Lineup
125: Dawson Collins, RSo., Grand Junction, Colo. (9-6 overall)
133: #9 Collin Metzgar, RSr., Colorado Springs, Colo. (10-5 overall)
141: Andrew Silva, RSo., Fullerton, Calif. (5-7 overall)
149: Alex Castaneda, Fr., Eaton, Colo. (10-5 overall)
157: #5 Ryan Wheeler, RSo., University Place, Wash. (10-3 overall)
165: Gus Dalton, RFr., Emery, Utah (7-2 overall)
174: #7 Alex Holguin, So., Arenas Valley, N.M. (9-4 overall)
184: Jason Bynarowicz, RSo., Broomfield, Colo. (9-5 overall)
197: Kash Anderson, RSo., Boise, Idaho (6-6 overall)
285: Ruben Samuelson, RFr., Carbondale, Colo. (6-6 overall)