LAS VEGAS, N.M.— The nation's 18^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University men's wrestling team won the first three and seven of the ten total bouts, opening up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual action with a 24-13 road win over New Mexico Highlands University on Sunday afternoon here at Buffalo Hall.
 
The Mavs opened up a 10-0 lead through the opening bouts and never trailed in the contest, CMU's first official dual of the season which came 15 days after the Mavs blanked both Northeastern Junior College and Colorado Northwestern Community College in exhibition contests.
 
NMHU fell to 2-2 overall and to 0-2 in the RMAC with the loss.
 
Three of the Mavs' four nationally-ranked wrestlers made their season debuts in the Sunday's affair and went a combined 2-1 throughout the day.
 
Fifth-ranked 157-pounder Owen Cline was a 24-10 major decision winner over Reed McCarty to give the Mavs a 14-4 lead at the mid-way point of the dual while Gabriel Carranza, ranked 10^th at 197 pounds, scored a 7-0 decision over the Cowboys' Davin Kinlicheenie.
 
2024 NCAA Division II Championship qualifier Oran Huff also opened his season with a convincing 14-2 major decision win at 133 pounds.
 
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Adonias Cantu and Noah O'Dougherty also improved to 7-1 with 125 and 184 pound victories while fellow redshirt freshman Christian Pebley scored an 8-0 major decision win in his first career RMAC dual as well.
 
True freshman Apollo Cruz also won his first RMAC dual, squeaking out a 13-12 win over Terrell Kinlicheenie at 141 pounds, giving the Mavs their 10-0 lead and even more early momentum.  Cruz trailed 12-8 in the third period of that match before scoring the final five points of the bout.
 
NMHU's wins came at 149, 165 and 285 pounds as Sebastian Freeman downed CMU's 13^th-ranked Alex Castaneda at 149 while returning national qualifier an seventh-ranked Ivan Smith, Jr. pinned the Mavs' Will Alvarado in the waning moments of the second period.
 
The Mavericks will be in tournament action next Saturday traveling to Kearney, Nebraska for the large and prestigious Younes Hospitality Open, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
 
Bout-by-Bout Results
125: Adonias Cantu (CMU) over Diego Camarillo (NMHU) (Dec 7-5)
133: Oran Huff (CMU) over James Romero-Montoya (NMHU) (MD 14-2)
141: Apollo Cruz (CMU) over Terrell Kinlicheenie (NMHU) (Dec 13-12)
149: Sebastian Freeman (NMHU) over #13 Alex Castaneda (CMU) (MD 10-1)
157: #5 Owen Cline (CMU) over Reed McCarty (NMHU) (MD 24-10)
165: #7 Ivan Smith Jr. (NMHU) over Will Alvarado (CMU) (Fall 4:58)
174: Christian Pebley (CMU) over Cash Bachicha (NMHU) (MD 8-0)
184: Noah O'Dougherty (CMU) over Rylan Taylor (NMHU) (Dec 8-1)
197: #10 Gabriel Carranza (CMU) over Devin Kinlicheenie (NMHU) (Dec 7-0)
285: Phillip Chobot (NMHU) over Ruben Samuelson (CMU) (Dec 5-4)