GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University men's wrestling team will contest its first official and first Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual of the season when the Mavericks head to Las Vegas, New Mexico to face New Mexico Highlands University as some of the more familiar Maverick names and big guns will get their 2025-26 season underway on Sunday afternoon.
 
The dual, which will be held at the new Buffalo Hall, a local bar, restaurant and event center, will begin at Noon and will be streamed live on the RMAC Network.  More about the venue and the RMAC Network can be found later in this preview.
 
Live results can be found on TrackWrestling.com.
 
Last Times Out
 
Younger and less-experienced portions of the Maverick squad have been in action over the first two weekends in November.  The Mavericks won all 20 official matches during an exhibition tri-dual sweep of Colorado junior colleges on Nov. 2 at home as seven different Mavericks made their dual debuts in 47-0 and 58-0 exhibition wins over Northeastern Junior College and Colorado Northwestern Community College, which was competing for the first time in 25 years
 
A group of 20 Mavericks plus several unattached wrestlers then competed last Sunday (Nov. 9) at the Mines Rookie Open in Golden.
 
Seven Mavs, wrestling for the team, recorded top six places in their respective weight classes while five other Mavs, who were competing unattached, also placed in the early-season open that featured less-experienced and younger wrestlers from college teams and also included numerous unaffiliated or club program grapplers.
 
The Probable Lineup
 
Here is a  look at the Mavs' probable lineup for Sunday's dual, as announced by Head Coach Mike Mendoza earlier this week.  Each wrestlers' 2025-26 season record is listed in parenthesis.
 
As many as three of the Mavs' four nationally-ranked individuals could make their season-debuts on Sunday.
 
125: Adonias Cantu (6-1)
133: Oran Huff (0-0)
141: Apollo Cruz (2-2)
149: Juan Garcia (2-0) or #13 Alex Castaneda (0-0)
157: #5 Owen Cline (0-0) or Sammy Mobly (3-1)
165: Will Alvarado (4-2)
174: Christian Pebley (3-2)
184: Noah O'Dougherty (6-1)
197: #10 Gabriel Carranza (0-0)
285: Ruben Samuelson (2-0)
 
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.
 
About the Venue

Sunday's dual will be contested at the Buffalo Hall, a recently renovated local bar, restaurant and wedding venue in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  The nearly 100-year old building, located at 528 Grand Avenue, had been an auto supply store, a tire retailer and bowling alley and now includes a popular barbecue restaurant (Cowboy Café BBQ).
 
The owners are donors to the NMHU wrestling program and have helped the Cowboys arrange for Sunday's competition on a stage in what is sure to be one of more unique off-campus venues the Mavericks will have ever competed in.
 
More about the history of the building and renovation can be seen in a Santa Fe New Mexican article here.
 
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 on 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 continent 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 semfinals 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 also nationally ranked 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.
 
About the Cowboys
 
The Cowboys have won their first two duals of the season, defeating Trinidad State, 46-6 and NAIA No. 9 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, 23-20, last Friday and Sunday, respectively.
 
The win over Trinidad State was in Las Vegas at Robertson High School while the victory over Embry-Riddle was in a neutral-site venue in Fort Defiance, Arizona and held in conjunction with a youth wrestling clinic on the Navajo reservation.
 
Several Cowboys also competed as individuals at the Mines Rookie Open.
 
They will begin RMAC action this Friday with a Friday night dual at the Colorado School of Mines before returning home to face the Mavs.
 
Head Coach Chris Frieje is in his second year at the helm of the Cowboy program.  They went 2-8 in duals and were 0-6 in RMAC match-ups last year before taking tenth at last year's NCAA Super Regional V Championships, led by 165-pound regional champion Ivan Smith, who went on to the national championship tournament.
 
Smith went 2-0 on the opening weekend and is ranked seventh in the NWCA's preseason rankings.
 
The Cowboys were picked last in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Series History
 
The Mavericks have won the last seven duals and 14 of the last 15 duals with the Cowboys and have a 15-2-1 lead in the series since 2007.  The Mavs have held the Cowboys to seven team points or fewer in each of the six meetings since 2019.
 
CMU has won the last three match-ups in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
 
The Cowboys last dual win in the rivalry was on Feb. 10, 2017 in Grand Junction.
 
RMAC Network News
 
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-per-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
 
The Mavs will return to tournament action next week, heading to Kearney, Nebraska for next Saturday's Younes Hospitality Open, one of the biggest and deepest tournaments in the entire country.