GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's wrestling team will get the 2025-26 season off to an early start when the Mavericks host a pair of in-state junior college opponents in a Saturday afternoon tri-dual inside Brownson Arena.
Colorado Northwestern Community College, restarting their program after a 28-year hiatus, will take on Northeastern Junior College at noon in the first leg. Action will then continue on a rolling schedule with the Mavs taking on the NJC Plainsmen at approximately 1:30 p.m. before facing the CNCC Spartans at around 3 p.m. in the final leg of the competition.
The CMU women will then host the Fall Brawl tri-dual with Snow (Utah) College and Texas Woman's University, beginning at 5 p.m.
How to follow
Tickets are available through
www.cmumavericks.com and will ensure admission for the entire day of action, including all of the men's and women's duals.
All six duals will also be streamed on the RMAC Network (more information below) with Associate A.D./Communications Dave Jahnke and Sports Information Assistant Chris Day on the call.
Live scoring will be available through TrackWrestling.com.
The specific links for the Maverick men's duals can be found below.
The link for the CNCC/NJC match-up will be
added to the Maverick schedule page a few minutes before the dual.
Youthful Probable Lineup
Here is the look at Head Coach
Mike Mendoza's probable lineup for Saturday's duals, which is full of less-experienced Mavs, who will get their early-season opportunity against the junior colleges. Ten of the 17 men on the list of probables have never wrestled in a dual for the Mavs.
The career dual meet records for the other seven Mavericks are listed below.
Fans can also expect some extra matches before each leg of the tri-dual.
Redshirt junior
Juan Garcia and redshirt senior
Ruben Samuelson are the only upperclassmen amongst the list, which is mostly filled out with redshirt freshman and sophomores.
125
Adonias Cantu or
Riley Valdez
133
Tanner Stone (0-1) or
Murphy Harris
141
AJ Hague or
Kyle Holtberg
149
Juan Garcia (4-6) or
Camden Jacobson
157
Sammy Mobly (2-1) or
Tommy Thomas (1-0)
165
Will Alvarado (1-8) or
Wil Moneypenny (0-3)
174
Christian Pebley
184
Noah O'Dougherty
197
Brady Samuelson
285
Ruben Samuelson (5-2) or
Braden Zack
Preseason Predictions
The Mavericks were picked to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title,
according to the conference's preseason coaches poll, announced earlier this month.
The Mavs claimed three first and three second place votes to top the poll with 33 points ahead of Adams State (28), the Colorado School of Mines (26) and the rest of the 7-team conference.
The RMAC also announced the Preseason All-RMAC team in conjunction with the poll. The Mavericks landed three wrestlers on that 10-man team, made up of the top returning vote-getter from last year's all-conference voting process at each weight class.
The Mavericks' picks were
Alex Castaneda,
Gabriel Carranza and
Tyler Doyle at 149, 197 and 285 pounds, respectively. Carrranza and Doyle were First Team All-RMAC selections last year.
National Rankings
The Mavericks will also begin the season ranked 18
th as a team in the preseason edition of the
National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA)'s NCAA Division II Coaches rankings, released last week (Oct. 24).
The Mavericks have 26 ½ points in the Tournament Power Index rankings with four individually ranked wrestlers.
Junior
Dayson Torgerson leads the Maverick contingent in the No. 4 spot at 125 pounds and is coming off a 23-8 season in which he earned all-America honors with a seventh place finish at the national tournament. The Aurora, Utah native also won the Super Region VI Championship.
Redshirt junior
Owen Cline, also a returning all-American, is ranked fifth at 157 pounds. He went 16-5 last year and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championships before finishing fourth. Cline also won four straight
matches to capture third place at the super regional to book his ticket.
Gabriel Carranza is also a 2-time returning national qualifier and is ranked tenth at 197 pounds going into this season. He finished third at the super regional last year and went 15-9 overall last season.
Alex Castaneda is the final nationally-ranked Maverick and sits in the No. 13 spot at 149 pounds. He went 19-11 last year and narrowly missed out on a spot at the NCAA Tournament, falling 17-16 in the third place bout at the regional.
Against his former squad
Mike Mendoza will be entering his fourth year as the Mavericks' head coach and his seventh on the Maverick staff. He came to CMU in 2019 after serving as the head coach at Northeastern Junior College, a program he will get to face again on Saturday.
In his three previous years as the Maverick head coach, he has compiled a 25-9 dual meet record while qualifying 15 wrestlers for the NCAA Division II Championships. The Mavs have also had four all-Americans in those three years and won a RMAC title in 2022-23 after also winning the 2021-22 crown while he was the top assistant for long-time head coach Chuck Pipher, who retired following that campaign.
In 2019 while at NJC, Mendoza guided nine NJCAA National Qualifiers and the Plainsmen to an 11
th place finish at the national tournament.
Prior to his time at NJC, Mendoza was the head coach at NCAA Division I Boise State and at his alma mater CSU Bakersfield.
About the Plainsmen
The Plainsmen, who hail from Stearling, placed 21
st at last year's NJCAA National Championships and crowned one all-American in Silas Thompson, who placed seventh in the 149-pound bracket at the national tournament.
Colby Duncan, a former wrestler at Western Colorado University, is entering his third season as the head coach after serving as an assistant from 2021-23.
NJC and Maverick alum Cian Apple is also in his third year on the Plainsmen staff. Apple earned Second Team All-RMAC honors and took third at the 2021 NCAA Super Regional while with the Mavs.
About the Spartans
Saturday will be an historic day for the Spartans, who will take to the mat for the first time since 1997. CNCC announced the reinstatement of the program on Oct. 14, 2024 after a rich history from 1969-97, that saw then record as high as a No. 6 national ranking in the final year.
In December of last year, CNCAA hired Rangely native Tytus Cooms as the program's head coach. Cooms is familiar with the RMAC and was a 3-time scholar all-American at CSU Pueblo.
Cooms' initial all-freshman roster of nearly 20 men hails from 11 states.
RMAC Network News
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-pre-view model for the 2025-26 season. This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours.
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.
Colorado Mesa turns 100
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.
Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit
cmucentury.com.
Up Next
A collection of the younger Mavericks, including redshirts, will compete next Sunday (Nov. 9). at the Mines Rookie Open in Golden. The Mavs' main lineup will then begin the RMAC dual meet slate with a Nov. 16 match-up at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
