GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's wrestling team will spend their second straight week in the Midwest as the nation's fifth-ranked Mavericks head to the suburban Chicago city of Naperville, Illinois for Sunday's North Central College Invitational.
 
The tournament, hosted by the nation's fourth-ranked Cardinals, is expected to include over 850 wrestlers from 35 teams, including five of the nation's top six.
 
Live results can be accessed through FloWrestling at the link above.
 
Live streams from all ten mats will also be accessible through that page but requires a subscription to the service.
 
A complete recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com on Sunday evening.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were in Iowa City, Iowa last Sunday afternoon for a tri-dual against the Oklahoma State club team and the nation's top-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
 
The Mavs dropped both of their duals, falling 24-22 to Oklahoma State before being downed 36-8 by the Hawkeyes, who have never lost a dual in their 3-year history.
 
All four of the Mavs' nationally-ranked wrestlers that were in action throughout the day posted wins over Oklahoma State before Celina Preston recorded a second-period pin over Iowa's Cadence Diduch to record the Mavs' lone win against the Hawkeyes, who had six nationally-ranked wrestlers in their lineup, four of which are ranked first or second in a weight class.
 
For a complete recap of the day's action, please click here.
 
National Rankings
 
The latest edition of the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Women's Coaches' Poll was released last Thursday (.  The Mavericks remained in the No. 5 spot of the team rankings as they had been in the first regular season edition of the rankings, which had been released on Nov. 13.  They were ranked sixth in the preseason edition.
 
Iowa remained in the No. 1 spot as the whole of the top five remained the same with McKendree, Grand Valley State and North Central sandwiched between the Hawkeyes and Mavs.
 
The Mavs have 38 points in the Tournament Power Index, which determines the team rankings, and continue to 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 Jayleen Sekona dropped one spot to fourth at 207 pounds.  Gretchen Donally also slipped three spots to sixth at 145 pounds.
 
Meanwhile, Bella Morales moved up a spot to sixth at 117 pounds.
 
Mia Zuniga re-entered the rankings and is now eighth at 103 pounds while Adrian Gomez moved up a spot to ninth at 110 pounds. 
 
Hania Halverson fell out of the top ten and 131 pounds.
 
The full rankings can be seen here.
 
Probable Lineup
 
Here is a look at the Mavericks' probable lineup for this weekend's tournament by weight class as provided by Head Coach Travis Mercado.  Each's wrestlers' overall record and dual meet record is in parenthesis.
 
103: #8 Mia Zuniga (10-4)
110: #9 Adriana Gomez (13-4)
117: Sophia Cornish (10-4), Morgan Johnson (5-4), Jojo McDaniel (8-6), Bella Morales (2-1)
124: #2 Lorianna Piestewa (6-0), Kylee Golz (3-2), Brooke McCurley (9-5)
131: Hania Halverson (8-3), Thalia Vogelsang (5-5)
138: None
145: #6 Gretchen Donally (10-4), Delarie Juarez (1-2)
160: Celina Preston (11-3), Taylor Colangelo (6-5)
180: Kimberly Carlin (5-5), Maggie Smith (5-6)
207: #4 Jayleen Sekona (13-3)
 
Chasing the Record
 
Maverick redshirt senior Jayleen Sekona recorded her 85^th career win on Sunday against Oklahoma State's Cameron Massie.  The 3-time all-American out of Anchorage, Alaska, is eyeing the Mavs' all-time wins record of 94, held by Marissa Gallegos, who won the 2022-23 national title with an unbeaten 28-0 record to cap a 94-8 career over four seasons from 2019-23.
 
Sekona currently sits third on the Mavs' all-time wins chart and could easily pass Jennesis Martinez this week.  Martinez won 87 matches in her 6-year, 5-season career from 2019-20 career that included a redshirt season in 2021-22 and the use of the NCAA's COVID eligibility waiver.
 
Sekona, 85-29 throughout her career, is also using a fifth season of eligibility this year after receiving a medical hardship waiver part-way through last season.
 
75 Win Club
 
Celina Preston also became just the fourth Maverick to record 75 career wins on Sunday when she pinned Iowa's Cadence Diduch.  Preston, who married over the summer after wrestling under her maiden name of Cooke from the previous three seasons, has a 75-33 career record.
 
Deep Field
 
This week's tournament field includes five of the top six ranked teams in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Rankings.  The list is headlined by top-ranked Iowa and also includes No. 3 Grand Valley State, the fourth-ranked and host North Central Cardinals, the fifth-ranked Mavs and No. 6 King.
 
Three top-10 NAIA ranked teams in No. 3 Grand View (Iowa), No. 4 William Penn (Iowa) and No. 7 Indiana Tech are also expected to compete.
 
The Mavs are one of three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the field with Adams State and Chadron State joining them.  Two other NCAA Region VI opponents in Lindenwood and William Jewell are also entered.
 
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 will face off in this year's dual on Dec. 17 as part of the Desert Duals in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Red Leafs were not ranked in either of the first two sets of NWCA Rankings but surged up to eighth in the latest rankings, fueled by top-ranked 207-pounder Julia Richey.
 
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.
 
The Mavs have just one remaining home dual this season, which will come on Feb. 7 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 Sunday's action, the Mavericks will fly west to Las Vegas, Nevada meeting teammates who are not travelling to Illinois to compete in next Wednesday's (Dec. 17) Desert Duals.
 
The Mavericks are slated to wrestle in at least five duals throughout the day in the Flamingo Hilton Hotel, the first four of which will come against nationally-ranked foes.  The event is hosted by Wartburg (Iowa) and has been a staple of the Mavericks' annual schedule.