GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's wrestling team, ranked fifth in the nation, will look to remain unbeaten in duals while taking on significant challenges when they face top-ranked Iowa and the Oklahoma State Club Team in a Sunday afternoon tri-dual in the historic Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
Action will start at 2 p.m. CST (1 p.m. Mountain) and can be seen with a subscription to the Big Ten Network-Plus (B1G+).
Free audio coverage can also be heard on he Hawkeye Radio Network, accessible at this YouTube link. -
https://www.youtube.com/live/-G8UUTra59U.
The Mavericks will open the tri-dual against Oklahoma State. Approximately ten minutes after that dual, the Mavs will take on Iowa.
Iowa and Oklahoma State will then match-up in the final leg of the tri-dual.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks were last in action at the prestigious Missouri Valley Open on Nov. 21 and 22 in Marshall, Missouri.
More than 700 wrestlers from more than 50 teams competed in the 2-day tournament.
The Mavericks had two wrestlers place and eight advance to the second day.
Adriana Gomez finished fifth at 110 pounds while
Mia Zuniga placed eighth at 103 pounds to lead the Mavs' efforts.
Full recaps of both days can be seen here:
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY.
National Rankings
The latest edition of the
National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA Women's Coaches' Poll was released on 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.
Iowa has ranked wrestlers in nine of the ten weight classes, including a pair of No. 1's in Karlee Brooks (131) and Kennedy Blades (160).
Probable Lineup
Here is a look at the Mavericks' probable lineup for this weekend's tri-dual by weight class as provided by Head Coach
Travis Mercado, who will likely split starts in some of the weight classes. Each's wrestlers' overall record and dual meet record is in parenthesis.
103: #8
Mia Zuniga (9-3/1-0) or
Madison Heinzer (0-0)
110: #9 Adrianna Gomez (12-3/4-0)
117:
Sophia Cornish (9-4/2-0) or JoJo McDaniel (8-5/1-1)
124: #2
Lorianna Piestewa (6-0/2-0) or
Kylee Golz (3-1/0-0)
131:
Hania Halverson (8-2/2-0) or
Thalia Vogelsang (5-4/1-1)
138:
Keyla Ajoleza (9-3/1-1) or
Mollie Dare (5-2/2-0)
145: #6
Gretchen Donally (9-3/3-1)
160:
Celina Preston (10-3/2-0) or
Taylor Colangelo (6-4/2-0)
180:
Kimberly Carlin (5-4/1-1) or
Maggie Smith (5-5/1-1)
207: #4
Jayleen Sekona (12-2/4-0)
Two at a Dozen
Two Maverick wrestlers in
Adriana Gomez and
Jayleen Sekona are the first two Mavericks to reach the 12-win mark this season. Gomez, who is now 12-3 this season, won her first three matches and went 4-2 at the Missouri Valley Open to lead the Mavs with a fifth-place finish. Her only two losses came to the then top two ranked wrestlers in the NWCA rankings at the time.
Sekona went 5-2 at the Missouri Valley Open and is now 12-2.
About the Hawkeyes
The Iowa Hawkeyes are in the midst of their third season with a women's program and have taken the nation by storm in their first two years, winning the NCWWC national title at the end of both campaigns while crowning nine individual national champions while racking up 27 out of a possible 30 all-America honors.
They Hawkeyes have also combined for a perfect 38-0 dual meet record, including this year's 3-0 start, and have won the NWCA National Duals in both of their previous seasons.
Two-time Olympian Clarissa Chun, who was the assistant coach for the USA Wrestling National Team from 2017-21, was hired to lead the program on November 18, 2021, and built her team for the first official campaign in 2023-24.
This year's Hawkeye squad has recorded dual wins over fellow Iowa based programs Central (44-0) and Cornell (43-0) on Nov. 2and a 35-9 road win over No. 6 Presbyterian (S.C.) on Nov. 15.
They then had three champions at the Missouri Valley Open. They have nine nationally-ranked wrestlers in the ten weight classes, including two top-ranked wrestlers in Karlee Brooks (131) and Kennedy Blades (160). Blades was a silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Valarie Solorio (103), Nyla Valencia (110), Reese Larramendy (145) and Jaycee Foeller (207) are all ranked second in their weight classes.
About the Oklahoma State Cowgirl Wrestling Club
Although Oklahoma State's team competes at the club level, the Cowgirl Wrestling Club is regarded as a touted national program.
Izzak Olejnik, a 2-time NCAA Division I All-American for the Cowboys, is the team's head coach. Two-time Olympic gold medalist John Smith is the volunteer assistant coach after winning five NCAA team titles as the Cowboys' head coach for three decades.
The team has wrestled in several opens this year and took on Fort Hays State in a Nov. 15 road dual, falling 30-16 to the Tigers.
They had five wrestlers advance to the second day at the Missouri Valley Open, including three who finished amongst the top eight in Molly Allen (7
th, 124 lbs.), Kailey Benson (8
th, 131) and Kaiulani Garcia (7
th, 145).
Series History
The Mavs and Hawkeyes have met in a dual once before, with Iowa coming out on to 25-20 on Dec. 17, 2023 during the Desert Duals in Las Vegas. The Hawkeyes forfeited three weights in that dual but won six of the seven wrestled matches to come out on top.
Four current Mavericks in Isabella Morales,
Adriana Gomez,
Hania Halverson and
Celina Preston featured in that dual. Gomez won by forfeit at 109 pounds while the other three dropped matches.
CMU has not previously faced Oklahoma State in a dual.
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, some of the Mavs will return to the Midwest to wrestle at the North Central College Invitational in Naperville, Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 14. They will then join their teammates in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Desert Duals on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
