GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's wrestling team, ranked fifth in the nation, and off to a 3-0 start in home duals, will head out on the road for the first time in 2025-26, competing in Friday and Saturday's Missouri Valley Open in Marshall, Missouri.
 
The 2-day tournament at Missouri Valley College's Burnes Athletic Center is one of the largest and most prestigious events on the annual collegiate women's wrestling calendar and is expected to feature more than 700 wrestlers from more than 50 teams.
 
Three of the nation's top five ranked teams, including No. 1 Iowa and No. 3 McKendree are included in that list.
 
Live results can be accessed through FloWrestling at the link above.

Action is slated to begin at 9 a.m. CST (8 a.m. Mountain) on both days.

The plan is to wrestle up to the championship quarterfinals and consolation round of 16 on Friday with the later rounds of the tournament on Saturday.

Recaps of the Mavs' performances will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com each evening.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks moved to 3-0 on the season and extended their nearly 7-year home-mat dual-meet winning streak to 16 at last Saturday's Fall Brawl, when they claimed wins over the University of Providence and Vanguard University in the tri-dual. | RECAP
 
The Mavs won the final three bouts of the match-up with the perennial NAIA powerhouse Providence Argos, to pull out a 25-18 victory.  Kimberly Carlin and Jayleen Sekona provided the exclamation points with pins at 180 and 207 pounds after Celina Preston ended a streak of three straight Argo victories with a 3-0 decision at 160 pounds to pull the Mavs within 18-15.
 
Returning all-American Lorianna Piestewa and Adriana Gomez also provided the Mavs with wins over NAIA nationally-ranked Argo opponents at 110 and 124.  Gomez trailed top-ranked Paige Morales, 7-1 after the first period but pinned Morales in the second period.
 
Things were much easier for the Mavs against the short-handed Vanguard Lions, in their first year at the NCAA level.  Brooke McCurley (124), Hania Halverson (131), Taylor Colangelo (160) and Maggie Smith (180) all claimed wins by fall while the Mavs also picked up four other wins by forfeit to down the Lions, 45-4.
 
National Rankings
 
The Mavericks moved up one spot to fifth in the first regular season edition of the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Women's Coaches' Poll, released last week (Nov. 13), after sitting in the No. 6 spot of the preseason edition.
 
The Mavs have 38 points in the Tournament Power Index, which determines the team rankings, and have six wrestlers ranked inside the top ten of their respective weight classes.
 
Returning 124-pound all-American Lorianna Piestewa continues to lead the bunch at No. 2 while Gretchen Donally and Jayleen Sekona both moved up to third at 145 and 207 pounds, respectively.  Donally was ranked seventh in the preseason while Sekona had been tabbed fourth.
 
Bella Morales is now ranked seventh at 117 pounds after starting out in the No. 5 spot while Adriana Gomez and Hania Halverson have now entered the rankings in the No. 10 spot at 110 and 131 pounds, respectively.
 
Probable Lineup
 
Here is a look at the Mavericks' 15-woman probable lineup for this weekend's tournament by weight class.
 
103: Mia Zuniga 
110: #10 Adriana Gomez
117: Sophia Cornish, Morgan Johnson, Jojo McDaniel
124: Brooke McCurley
131: #10 Hania Halverson, Thalia Vogelsang
138: Keyla Ajoleza
145: #3 Gretchen Donally
160: Taylor Colangelo, Celina Preston
180: Kimberly Carlin, Maggie Smith
207: #3 Jayleen Sekona
 
Past success
 
The Mavericks had four wrestlers place at last year's Missouri Valley Open, all of whom are expected to wrestle again this week.  Then freshman Gretchen Donally led the group, placing second in last year's 160-pound bracket while senior Jayleen Sekona took third at 207 pounds after going 4-0 on the tournament's second day.
 
Sophia Cornish finished fifth at 110 pounds last year while JoJo McDaniel took seventh.
 
Ten of the Mavs' 21 wrestlers at last year's tournament advanced to the second day.
 
Donally's runner-up finish matched Cindy Zepeda's 160-pound finish in 2019 for the Mavs' best ever.
 
The Mavs have attended the tournament in each of the last three years and also in 2018 and 2019.

For full recaps of last year's action, click here: Day 1 | Day 2
 
Undefeated starts
 
Three Mavericks, two of whom are expected to wrestle this weekend, are off to undefeated starts this season.
 
Jayleen Sekona sports a perfect 7-0 record while Hania Halverson is 6-0.  Lorianna Piestewa is also 6-0.
 
Several other Mavs have just one loss, a group that includes Adriana Gomez and Celina Preston, who both have 8-1 records to co-lead the team in wins.
 
RMAC Battle Looming
 
The Mavericks were picked second in a tight RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, picking up two first place and two second place votes in the balloting of the conference's five head coaches, who ranked their opposition without voting for their own squad.
 
The Mavericks tallied 14 points in the poll, just one shy of Simon Fraser, which picked up three first place votes and one second place vote to top the poll with 15 points.
 
Simon Fraser has won the official RMAC regular season championship in each of the past two years thanks to narrow dual meet win over the Mavs.
 
However, the Mavericks won the inaugural RMAC Tournament title, dominating the field with five champions and nine finalists in 2025, to finish ahead of the Red Leafs and the rest of the 5-team field.
 
CMU also had six individual championships in 2024 to win an unofficial team title although no official team scores were kept at the inaugural conference championship.
 
The Mavs and Red Leafs, who are surprisingly not ranked in the national rankings, will face off in this year's dual on Dec. 17 as part of the Desert Duals in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 
Home Mat Dominance
 
In official action, the Mavericks are now 16-1 all-time in home duals and have won 16 consecutive times inside Brownson Arena.  The Mavs' only home dual loss came on Oct. 27, 2018, the very first day of the program's history to then NAIA No. 1 Wayland Baptist.
 
Road Warriors
 
After spending the early stages of the season at home, the Mavericks will be on the road for nearly three months, wrestling in duals and tournaments on trips to Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Nevada, Nebraska and Kansas as well as to Alamosa, Colorado.  They will visit Iowa and Nebraska twice in that stretch.
 
The Mas will then head to Colorado Springs and the United States Air Force Academy for the RMAC Championships on Jan. 31 before wrapping up their regular season with the only remaining home competition, a Feb. 7 dual against Chadron State.
 
An historic year
 
The NCAA will sponsor a championship in the sport of women's wrestling for the first time in 2025-26.  The collegiate championship, featuring teams from all three divisions of the NCAA, will be held on Mar. 7-8, 2026 in Coralville, Iowa.
 
A total of 18 wrestlers in each of the ten weight classes will qualify through one of six NCAA regional tournaments on the weekend of Feb. 21-22.  The Mavericks will wrestle out the Region VI tournament, which will be hosted by Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.
 
Only three wrestlers from each weight class at each regional will advance to the national tournament.
 
Another notable change is that teams will only be allowed to send one wrestler in each weight class to the regional.
 
The Region VI field includes 18 teams from around the Western half of the United States plus the lone Canadian team in the NCAA— Simon Fraser.
 
All five RMAC teams are part of the region along with Fort Hays State (Kan.), Lindenwood (Mo.), Linfield (Ore.), Lyon (Ark.) McKendree (Ill.), McMurray (Texas), Minot State (N.D.), Pacific (Ore.), Schreiner (Texas), Sioux Falls (S.D.), Vanguard (Calif.), Westminster (Mo.) and William Jewell (Mo.).
 
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
 
Following this weekend's tournament, the Mavs will scatter for a Thanksgiving holiday break before returning to the wrestling room to prepare for a trip to Iowa City, Iowa on Dec. 7. 
 
On that day, the Mavs will take on the nation's top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes as well as Oklahoma State's club team in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.