GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team opened their season today (Nov. 5) when they competed at the Mines Rookie Open on the campus at Colorado School of Mines. The tournament is designed for younger wrestlers in their first or second year with a handful of third year wrestlers.
 
Redshirt sophomore Oran Huff placed fourth at 133 pounds after going 3-2 on the day. Huff earned a 16-1 technical fall win over Miguel Sanchez of Adams State in his first match followed by a pin at the 4:45 mark over Mark Cardenas of Chadron State. He reached the semifinals after a 16-0 technical fall win over Xzavier Martinez of Colby CC.
 
The Lyons, Colo. native fell in the semis 10-2 and in the third-place match 8-2.
 
Maverick newcomer Juan Garcia had an outstanding day as he finished second in the 149 pound bracket. Garcia won his first four matches of the tournament including a 5-0 decision win over Chadron State's Grady Fox in the semifinals before falling to Western Colorado's Vincent Cabral in the final.
 
Garcia defeated Reagan Lefevre of Air Force 8-0 to start his day followed by a 17-2 technical fall win over Travis Vialpando of Adams State. He defeated Carson Dultz of Mines 5-1 in the quarterfinals.
 
Redshirt freshman Owen Cline placed fourth at 157 pounds after defeating three junior college wrestlers early in the round. He fell to his teammate in the semifinals and fell in the third-place match to finish off the day.
 
Gabe Carranza and Braden Baumgartner took two of the top four places at 197 pounds. Carranze placed second at the weight after earning wins in his first four matches of the day. He earned a decision victory 7-1 over Elijah Stafford of Utah Valley in his first match followed by a 12-2 major decision win over Western Colorado's Sage Harrison.
 
He picked up a quarterfinal win over Soren Herzog of Air Force 8-6 before earning a 13-4 major decision win over his teammate Baumgartner in the semifinals.
 
Baumgartner received a bye followed by an 18-2 technical fall win over Teddy Larson of Utah Tech. He backed that up with a 10-0 major decision win over DJ Cohen of Western Wyoming before falling to his teammate, Carranza, and then falling in the third place bout.
 
Ruben Samuelson placed second at 285 pounds after falling to Northern Colorado's Andrew Blackburn-Forst by technical fall 15-0 in the title bout. Samuelson won his first match of the day by a 17-1 technical fall over Charles Holub of Mines followed by a pin of Air Force's Peyton Hahn at the 4:45 mark of the bout.
 
In the semifinals, Samuelson picked up a 15-13 decision victory over Myles Johnson of Air Force Prep to reach the final.
 
Teammate Tyler Doyle placed sixth at 285 pounds with his only loss on the day coming to the eventual champ from Northern Colorado. Doyle rattled off four straight wins after losing before running out of available matches on the day.
 
The Mavericks will be back in action at the Younes Hospitality UNK Open on Saturday November 18 in Kearney, Neb.