GUNNISON, Colo.— The nation's 14^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's wrestling team won the first three matches without conceding a takedown to build a 12-0 team lead and went on to win the last three and seven of the ten total bouts, including five by bonus-point margins to claim a comfortable 31-12 dual win over arch-rival and 17^th-ranked Western Colorado University on Wednesday night here in the Mountaineers' Paul W. Wright Gymnasium.
 
The Mavericks improved to 4-0 on the season and defeated the Mountaineers (1-2) for the fourth straight dual, a new CMU record winning streak in the rivalry that has seen the teams dual 29 times since 2007.
 
CMU's five nationally-ranked wrestlers were all victorious in the dual that did not count in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings.  The teams will square off again in their conference-counting dual on Feb. 13, 2025 in Grand Junction in CMU's Bank of Colorado Battle in Brownson.

The two nationally-ranked Mountaineer wrestlers that were in Wednesday's lineup were also winners and combined for two of the Mountaineers' three wins and nine of their 12 team points.
 
The quick start was keyed by seventh-ranked 125-pound sophomore Dayson Torgerson, who registered a 17-0 technical fall win three seconds before the end of the first period.
 
Oran Huff, ranked 12^th in the country at 133 pounds, then followed that up with 17-5 major decision victory before Denim Torgerson blanked Eyan Chavez, 4-0 at 141 pounds scoring all four points of the match in the final period.
 
The Mountaineers did get on the board at 149 pounds as fifth-ranked Dean Noble claimed a 17-2 technical fall win over Alex Castaneda thanks to a riding time point.
 
However, the Mavericks answered back as No. 5 Ryan Wheeler recorded his sixth pin of the season at the 2:33 mark of his 157-pound match against WCU's Vincent Cabral.
 
CMU led 18-5 at that point of the dual.
 
The Mountaineers were able to close the gap to 18-12 with back-to-back wins at 165 and 174 pounds as Grayson Williams over Will Alvarado pulled out a hard-fought 15-12 decision at 165 before third-ranked Cole Hernandez defeated CMU's Gus Dalton at 174 pounds by a 15-2 major decision margin.
 
However, the Mavericks went on  to win the final three matches as ninth-ranked Jason Bynarowicz blasted Hunter Richardson, 17-2 in a second period technical fall.
 
Gabriel Carranza then came from 3-1 down to defeat Western's Sage Harrison at 197 pounds, 5-4, before Tyler Doyle registered a 17-2 technical fall win over Riley Dean-Butt in the 285-pound match-up.
 
Four other Mavericks also won by technical fall margins in a slate of six extra matches that preceded the official duals.  Owen Cline, Wil Moneypenny, Braden Baumgartner and Ruben Samuelson were those victorious Mavs.
 
Both teams will compete at the prestigious Midwest Classic on Dec. 14-15 in Indianapolis.   
 
Western will also send some redshirts and reserves to Saturday's Bob Jones Open in Hays, Kansas.