GUNNISON, Colo. – Returning for their first action of the new year, the #23 Colorado Mesa University Men's Wrestling Team saw themselves back on the mat this afternoon as they took home 11 placers at the Western Colorado Open on Friday.
14 different Mavericks attached to the University competed with 11 of them finishing in the top six of their weight classes. Leading that bunch was the duo of Eddie Nelson and Ruben Samuelson who both finished second to lead the team.
Eddie Nelson went 2-1 on his way to his second-place finish in the 197 pounds weight class as he won his first two matches by a 19-2 tech fall and a pin at the one minute mark with both wins coming over wrestlers from Western Colorado. He would be defeated by Air Force Prep's Karson Tompkins in the first-place match by a pin at the 2:35 mark.
Earning the other second place finish for the Mavs was Ruben Samuelson who competed in the 285 pounds division with him going 2-1 on the day. Samuelson would collect both his victories by pin, with his pin in the first match coming at the 40 second mark and then at the 33 second mark in the second match. He would ultimately be pinned in the first-place match by Ben Tonnessen of Adams State.
Earning third place finishes were four different Mavs with that group consisting of Tanner Stone, Wil Moneypenny, Tanner Baumgartner, and Braden Baumgartner.
Tanner Stone would collect a third-place finish at 125 pounds with him going 3-2 on the day. He would lose his first and third round matches, before collecting a major decision in the fourth round with a 13-2 win and ultimately winning the third-place match by pin over Brahm Kreb of Western Colorado University at the 1:49 mark.
Moneypenny collected third as well after six rounds on the day with a 5-1 record. He would lose his first initial round by pin before going 5-0 to end his day with the third-place match ending in him beating Luke Diehl of Adams State by a 18-0 tech fall.
Both of the Baumgartner brothers secured third place finishes with Tanner Baumgartner's coming in the 174 pounds class and Braden Baumgartner's coming in the 197 pounds class. Tanner went 3-1 with two of his victories coming from major decisions. He defeated Daniel Long of Adams State in the third-place match, 9-1 for one of the major decisions. Braden's day was shorter as he went 2-1 in his matches with both of his wins coming from tech falls. He defeated Brady Samuelson of Colorado Mesa in the third-place match by a 21-3 tech fall decision.
Three wrestlers on the team secured fourth place finishes as well with the trio consisting of Isaiah Sisneros, Keyton Young and Brady Samuelson.
Isaiah Sisneros took fourth at 133 pounds with him going 2-3 in his five matches. His two wins came from a 7-4 round one victory and a 4-3 decision in the fifth round.
Keyton Young secured fourth place in the 141 pounds division as he went 2-2 on the day. His first win came from a pin while his second came in a 6-0 decision.
The Mavs' last fourth place finisher was Brady Samuelson who competed in the 197 pounds division as well. He went 1-2 in his matches, with his lone win coming in a pin. He was defeated by Baumgartner to give the Mavs two placers in the 197 pounds division.
Finishing in fifth place for the Mavs was Owen Cline who competed in the 149 pounds weight class and went 3-2. He won by decision in the fifth-place match by a score of 11-7 over Alfredo Mendoza of CSU Pueblo.
The Mavs final placer and in sixth in the 157 pounds division was Tommy Thomas who went 2-3 on the day. He would collect his two wins in the first two rounds with a 11-5 decision over Western Colorado's Jacob Blandford and a tech fall (15-0) win over Zack Fish of Adams State.
Jack Finnegan, Hector De La Cruz and Juan Garcia would all wrestle on the day as well, but each finished 0-2 in their respective matches.
Following today's results, the Mavs will conclude their weekend tomorrow when they take place in the Tracy Borah Duals with CMU dualling four schools consecutively. Starting at 10 AM CMU will take on Western Colorado before facing off with Fort Hays State at 11:30 AM, Simon Fraser at 1 PM and New Mexico Highlands last at 2:30 PM. The Mavs' B Team will wrestle in the duals against Western Colorado and New Mexico Highlands.
