CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling competed in the first day of the NCAA National Championships at PowerHouse Arena on Friday (Mar. 10) afternoon. The Mavericks had four wrestlers in action throughout the day.
Kash Anderson was the lone Maverick to earn all-American status after he battled through the 197-pound bracket. Anderson opened with a preliminary round win over Brylan Clouse of Lake Erie 6-3 before moving onto the main bracket.
In his first main bracket match, he upset seventh-seeded Joel Liese of Gannon 5-1 to advance to the quarterfinals where he met up with second-seeded Derek Blubaugh of UIndy. Anderson fell in that bout 8-3 to head to the blood round where he would meet up with a familiar foe.
Anderson took on Anderson Salisbury of Colorado School of Mines with an all-American spot on the line. Just like in the first matchup, the Boise native wore down the Oredigger and came away with a 5-0 win and a spot on the podium.
With Anderson's spot on the podium, Colorado Mesa extends their streak of all-Americans at the NCAA National Championships. The all-American award makes it 13 straight seasons with at least one all-American at the tournament which is the longest active streak among current RMAC schools.
At 125 pounds,
Dawson Collins opened his run in a big way with a 15-0 technical fall win over Zach Shupp of Newberry to advance to the quarterfinals where he met up with a familiar foe.
The Grand Junction native squared off with top-seeded Cole Laya of West Liberty whom he defeated earlier in the year at the NWCA National Duals. This time Laya defeated Collins 4-0 sending him to the consolation bracket where he met up with Christian Mejia of McKendree. Collins bowed out of the tournament after a tough 4-3 loss to Mejia who used several stall tactics late in the match to avoid the attacks of Collins.
Collin Metzgar went 2-2 at 133 pounds. Unfortunately, it was the wrong two wins as he fell in his opening match to Caleb Meakins of St. Cloud State in the preliminary match by fall before rebounding with two wins.
The Colorado Springs native defeated Taylor Robinson of Mount Olive 5-4 then picked up an 11-9 come-from-behind sudden victory win over RMAC foe Weston DiBlasi of Mines. Metzgar fell behind 8-1 before mounting his comeback.
He fell in the blood round to fourth-seeded Elijah Lusk of Lander 16-5 to end his run.
157-pounder
Ryan Wheeler went 0-2 after a pair of tough losses to seeded wrestlers. He fell in his opening bout to undefeated and second-seeded Nick Novak of St. Cloud State 7-4 before falling for the second time this year to seventh-seeded Jamar Williams by fall in the second period.
Colorado Mesa managed just nine team points and are in a tie for 27
th in the team standings. Central Oklahoma qualified all ten weights and lead the team standings with 62.5 followed by Lander with 56 and St. Cloud State with 38.
Wrestling begins tomorrow at 10am.
