GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After claiming two key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual wins at home last week, the 12^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's wrestling team will take their unbeaten conference record on the road for back-to-back duals against front range rivals CSU Pueblo and the Colorado School of Mines this week.
 
The Mavericks (5-4), have won their last four duals and will take on CSU Pueblo on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the ThunderWolves' Massari Arena before heading north on I-25 to take on Mines on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Orediggers' Volk Gymnasium.
 
Both duals will be broadcast on the RMAC Network.
 
BIG WEEK
 
The Mavericks are coming off an impressive week that saw the Mavs claim a 30-20 win over No. 8 Adams State last Thursday (Jan. 26) before thumping un-ranked New Mexico Highlands, 44-6, just 24
hours later.
 
Those victories put the Mavs in sole possession of first place in the RMAC standings as the Mavs are looking to claim a third consecutive conference title this season.
 
Incredibly, all ten matches of the dual against Adams State were decided by bonus-point margins as the Mavericks earned three pins and three major decision victories.  The Mavericks built a 10-0 lead before the heralded Grizzlies evened the score.  The Mavs then jumped out to a 16-10 lead with their second pin before a major decision victory at 165 pounds and an injury default win at 174 put the Grizzlies in front for the first and only time, 20-16.
 
However, the Mavericks rallied to win each of the final three matches as heavyweight Ruben Samuelson pinned his opponent in just 36 seconds to clinch the overall victory.
 
Things were much easier against New Mexico Highlands.  The Mavericks registered six pins and won eight of the ten bouts during the wire-to-wire victory, which was the Mavs' most comprehensive victory of the season and the most lop-sided in the all-time dual series with NMNU.
 
BONUS TIME
 
All 14 of the Mavericks' match wins during last week's duals came by bonus-point margins.  The Mavericks recorded nine pins and five major decision victories.  Nationally-ranked Dawson Collins, Collin Metzgar and Ryan Wheeler all went 2-0 and were joined by Jason Bynarowicz and Ruben Samuelson as double winners during the week.
 
Wheeler and Samuelson won both of their matches by pin.
 
STEPPING IN
 
Redshirt senior Braeson Lewis made the most of his opportunity as he stepped in for Alex Holguin at 174 pounds in last Friday's dual against New Mexico Highlands' Thomas Tolbert, posting a 13-2 major decision win  Holguin was injured and was unable to finish his match the previous night against Adams State.
 
Lewis' dual meet start against Tolbert was just the second of his season and Maverick career and was his first dual meet win as a Mav.
 
RMAC STANDINGS
 
The Mavericks' wins last week left them as the only unbeaten team in the RMAC standings.  Now 3-0 in RMAC duals, the Mavs are in sole possession of first place in the conference standings entering this week.
 
Adams State had entered the week a perfect 8-0 in overall duals and 3-0 in conference affairs but fell from the ranks of the unbeaten last Thursday.  The Grizzlies then knocked off 23^rd-ranked Western Colorado in Gunnison on Friday, handing the Mountaineers their first conference loss.
 
Western then suffered a mild upset at unranked Colorado School of Mines, 22-20 on Sunday.
 
That result left the Orediggers and Grizzlies sitting right behind the Mavericks at 4-1 in RMAC duals.  Western Colorado is further back at 2-2 while Chadron State is 2-3.  Associate member San Francisco State has completed its RMAC dual slate with a 2-5 record.
 
CSU Pueblo (1-3) and New Mexico Highlands (1-4) sit at the bottom of the standings, which will eventually determine the RMAC title.
 
Adams State is at New Mexico Highlands on Wednesday night.   Western also has two RMAC duals this week, hosting Highlands on Friday before going to CSU Pueblo on Saturday.
 
STREAKING AT THE TOP
 
The Mavericks duo of Dawson Collins at Collin Metzgar at 125 and 133 pounds has been key to the Mavs' dual meet success this year.  Both men are 8-1 in dual meets this season and each have won their last six matches in duals, the last four of which the Maverick have gone on to win as a team.
 
Collins is now 15-6 overall while Metzgar is 16-5.  Each of his last five wins have earned bonus points for the Mavs.  Collins' last four wins have come by bonus-point wins.  Their combined three "decision" victories have all been against nationally-ranked foes.
 
PIN LEADER
 
Maverick 157-pounder Ryan Wheeler, who sports a 15-4 record, won both of his matches last week by pin and leads the Mavericks with 11 pins this year, the most of any Division II wrestler this season.
Wheeler racked up six of those at the Midwest Classic and receive the tournament's most pins award.  He was also the NCAA Division II Gorriarian Award winner for having the most pins at last season's national championship tournament.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
 
CSU PUEBLO

CSU Pueblo will enter Thursday's dual with a winning 6-5 record but will be looking to snap a 4-match slide. The ThunderWolves are 1-3 in RMAC action.
 
Redshirt junior heavyweight Ben Gould won both of his matches last week for the Pack.

The Mavericks hold a 9-4 lead in the dual series with the ThunderWolves and scratched out a 23-21 victory last year after edging them 23-22 in 2020. They two teams did not dual each other in 2021 due to COVID ramifications.
 
The Mavericks have not won in Pueblo dropping their last two road duals by 25-18 and 25-6 scores in 2019 and 2017, respectively.
 
COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
 
The Orediggers field a strong dual lineup that has produced a 10-1 team record (4-1 RMAC) this season.  Although unranked as a team, the Orediggers are in the "receiving votes" category of the national rankings and have two individually ranked wrestlers in No. 9 141-pounder Grayston Diblasi and No.5 197-pounder Anderson Salisbury, a 2-time all-American who is one of just ten Orediggers to have ever won 80 career matches.
 
The Orediggers' lone dual loss was on Jan. 14 at then sixth-ranked Adams State.  Since, the Orediggers have won five straight, squeaking out a pair of 2-point wins last weekend at CSU Pueblo (17-15) and against Western Colorado (22-20).
 
The Mavs hold a slight 10-8 edge in the dual series with the Orediggers and won last year's match-up, 19-12 in Grand Junction.  Mines had won the previous three, including two contests in Golden, where the Mavs have not won since 2017.
 
COACHING STAFF
 
Longtime coach Chuck Pipher officially announced his retirement from coaching wrestling just as the season started. Assistant coach Mike Mendoza was named the full-time head coach just after the season started and Bo Pipher was named the full-time assistant coach.
 
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 for their final home event of the year, taking on arch-rival in No. 23 Western Colorado during the Mavs' annual Battle in Brownson promotion next Thursday (Feb. 9) at 6 p.m.
 
The Mavs have also rescheduled their RMAC dual at Chadron State for Saturday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. in Chadron, Nebraska.  The Mavs were originally slated to dual the Eagles on Jan. 19 but were unable to make it there due to poor weather and driving conditions at the time.
 
Many of the less-experienced Mavericks and redshirts will also compete at the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Open, hosted by the Colorado School of Mines, in Golden next Saturday (Feb. 12).
 
PROJECTED MAVERICK LINEUP

125: #6 Dawson Collins, RSo., Grand Junction, Colo. (15-6 overall)
133: #9 Collin Metzgar, RSr., Colorado Springs, Colo. (16-5 overall)
141: Andrew Silva, RSo., Fullerton, Calif. (7-10 overall)
149: Alex Castaneda, Fr., Eaton, Colo. (12-9 overall)
157: #6 Ryan Wheeler, RSo., University Place, Wash. (15-4 overall)
165: #9 Gus Dalton, RFr., Emery, Utah (8-3 overall)
174: Braeson Lewis, RSr., Eaton, Colo. (2-5 overall)
184: Jason Bynarowicz, RSo., Broomfield, Colo. (13-7 overall)
197: Kash Anderson, RSo., Boise, Idaho (10-8 overall)
285: Ruben Samuelson, RFr., Carbondale, Colo. (9-9 overall)