The No. 12 Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team will host Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe New Mexico Highlands in the home and conference opener for both schools. The Mavericks come into the night with a 2-0 dual record after sweeping a pair of matches in the Bay Area against San Francisco State and Menlo College.
BACK IN THE LINEUP
Redshirt sophomore Alex Castaneda has made his return to the lineup after redshirting last season. Castaneda was the Mavericks starter at 149 pounds during his true freshman season in 2022-23 and competed in the NCAA Super Region VI Tournament in Chadron, Neb. That season he went 14-13 and placed sixth in the NCAA Super Region Tournament.
After a redshirt year that helped with his physical development, Castaneda is back in the lineup and off to a good start. The Eaton, Colo. native competed in the Mines Rookie Open to start the season and placed sixth as he ran into his match limit. Castaneda split a pair of dual matches in California last weekend and sits at 6-2 on the season.
'THE FINAL FOUR'
Overall, the Colorado Mesa lineup has veterans in nearly every weight with seven nationally ranked wrestlers occupying one of the ten weights. The Mavericks do have a run of four consecutive weights that feature a ranked wrestler and those are the final four weights of each and every dual.
Gus Dalton (174), Jason Bynarowicz (184), Gabriel Carranza (197) and Tyler Doyle (285) are all ranked wrestlers and are all returning national qualifiers. That quartet combined for 90 wins and a 31-7 record in duals during the 2023-24 season.
The group is off to a slower than normal start as they are a combined 3-4 after the first weekend but with the matchup at home in Brownson Arena this weekend, look for the 'Final Four' to get on track.
WHEELER RETURNS
The 2024-25 season brings the return of one of the best highlight reel type wrestlers the Mavericks have had in recent history with Ryan Wheeler. The University Place, Wash. native is back at his familiar 157-pound position in the lineup and has already made his presence felt. He is 2-0 with a pair of pins in just 2:58 of mat time.
He is 47-21 in his career and earned All-American honors during his redshirt freshman season in 2021-22 when he placed third at the NCAA National Championships. During that meet, he was also named the Gregorian Award winner for being the most dominant by having the most pins in the shortest amount of time.
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
Friday night's dual will be the season opener for most of the Cowboy lineup as several others competed in the Mines Rookie Open similar to Colorado Mesa. Highlands is headed up by Chris Freije in his first season at the helm. Freije spent four seasons as the top assistant at Colorado Mesa in the early 2010s with then head coach Chuck Pipher. The Western Colorado grad bounced around for a couple seasons including a stop at up-and-coming program Lander in South Carolina.
Deklyn Miller is the steady veteran for the Cowboys and will occupy the 157-pound weight class in the lineup. The remainder of the lineup is largely unknown which could be a positive for the Cowboys early in the season.
COACHING STAFF
Head coach Mike Mendoza enters his sixth season with the program and third year as the head coach of the Mavericks. Mendoza was named the RMAC Coach of the Year and the Super Region VI Coach of the Year in his first year as the head coach of the program while in his second season he coached the Mavericks to a third-place finish at the NCAA Super Region VI meet and sent six wrestlers to the NCAA National Championship meet.
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.
Kyle Greenwald is now the head assistant at Colorado Mesa after spending last season as one of the lead assistants at former Division II school Mercyhurst. He wrestled for Division I Clarion from 2014-18 and spent time coaching for NAIA power St. Thomas University in Florida.
Bo Pipher is still an assistant for the program but is now in a lesser role with the program focusing more on the practice plans and training. This will be his fourth season with the program. Pipher, a three-time Colorado State Champion, wrestled for Cael Sanderson at Penn State for four seasons before graduating.
Donnie Negus, Tim Romero, Joe Ritzen, Collin Metzgar, Jacob Seely, Jared Johnshoy, and Konnor Schmidt are all assisting with the program as well.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will take a majority of their team on the road next weekend when they head to Nebraska for a tournament. Colorado Mesa will compete in the annual UNK Younes Hospitality Open at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds in Kearney, Nebraska. They will compete from several NCAA and NAIA schools along with some junior college schools in the Midwest.
COLORADO MESA PROJECTED LINEUP VS. NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
125: #8 Dayson Torgerson, So., Aurora, Utah (2-0 overall)
133: #9 Oran Huff, RJr., Lyons, Colo. (1-1 overall)
141: Denim Torgerson, RJr., Aurora, Utah (2-0 overall)
149: Alex Castaneda, RSo., Eaton, Colo. (6-2 overall)
157: #7 Ryan Wheeler, RJr., University Place, Wash. (2-0 overall)
165: Will Alvarado, RFr., University Place, Wash. (1-3 overall)
174: #6 Gus Dalton, RJr., Emery, Utah (0-1 overall)
184: #9 Jason Bynarowicz, RSr., Broomfield, Colo. (1-1 overall)
197: #9 Gabe Carranza, RSr., Victorville, Calif. (0-2 overall)
285: #7 Tyler Doyle, Jr., Littleton, Colo. (2-0 overall)
