The No. 25 Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team will host the No. 13 Western Colorado Mountaineers for the final dual of the season on Thursday in the annual Bank of Colorado Battle in Brownson. With a Maverick win in the dual, they would still hold out hope for a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title.  
 
SENIOR NIGHT
Thursday night's dual will also serve as senior night for eight wrestlers who will be graduating this spring. Braden Baumgartner, Tanner Baumgartner, Alex Holguin, Gus Dalton, Eddie Nelson, Ruben Samuelson, Denim Torgerson, and Jason Bynarowicz will all be honored prior to tonight's dual with the Mountaineers. 

'CLINE'ING THE RANKS 
Sophomore 157-pounder Owen Cline was named the RMAC Wrestler of the Week after his strong performance last week in the duals against CSU Pueblo and Colorado School of Mines. Cline defeated 2024 NCAA National Qualifier Cyruss Meeks of CSU Pueblo by a score of 10-3 before earning a technical fall victory over Marcus Caro of Mines. Caro was ranked No. 11 at the weight in the most recent NWCA National Rankings. 
 
The Orting, Wash. Native was inserted into the lineup following the season-ending injury to fellow Washingtonian Ryan Wheeler who had been in the NWCA National Rankings all season. Cline has three losses on the season, all of whom came to wrestlers from Adams State. His lone loss at 157 pounds came to Aaden Valdez in a narrow 12-10 contest back in January. 
 
SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO 
The Mountaineers enter the final week of the dual season with a 7-4 record with two of those losses coming to conference foes Chadron State and Colorado School of Mines. Colorado Mesa defeated the Mountaineers in a non-conference dual back on December 4 in Gunnison 31-12 which extended their winning streak over the Mountaineers to four matches. 
 
Mountaineer 174-pounder Cole Hernandez is the top ranked wrestler at the weight and looks poised for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. He is 15-2 on the season with his only losses coming to now No. 7 Matt Ortiz of McKendree and No. 14 Wyatt Reisz of Colorado School of Mines. 
 
Dean Noble is Western's other ranked wrestler as he checks in at No. 3 at 149 pounds. 
 
COACHING STAFF 
Head coach Mike Mendoza enters his sixth season with the program and third year as the head coach of the Mavericks. Mendoza was named the RMAC Coach of the Year and the Super Region VI Coach of the Year in his first year as the head coach of the program while in his second season he coached the Mavericks to a third-place finish at the NCAA Super Region VI meet and sent six wrestlers to the NCAA National Championship meet.  
 
Mendoza has been with the program since 2019 after making stops at Northeastern Junior College, Boise State, Cal State Bakersfield, and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Adams State. He spent time as the head coach at Northeastern JC where he elevated the program from an 0-6 dual record when he took over to an 11-3 mark in his final season. He was also the head coach at Boise State the year prior to the school dropping the program. 
 
Kyle Greenwald is now the head assistant at Colorado Mesa after spending last season as one of the lead assistants at former Division II school Mercyhurst. He wrestled for Division I Clarion from 2014-18 and spent time coaching for NAIA power St. Thomas University in Florida.  
 
Bo Pipher is still an assistant for the program but is now in a lesser role with the program focusing more on the practice plans and training. This will be his fourth season with the program. Pipher, a three-time Colorado State Champion, wrestled for Cael Sanderson at Penn State for four seasons before graduating.  
 
Donnie Negus, Tim Romero, Joe Ritzen, Collin Metzgar, Jacob Seely, Jared Johnshoy, and Konnor Schmidt are all assisting with the program as well. 
 
WHAT'S NEXT 
The Mavericks will send a select number of wrestlers to this Sunday's Rocky Mountain Open hosted by Colorado School of Mines. The rest of the starting lineup will begin their rest and recovery ahead of the NCAA Super Region VI Tournament on March 1 held at Western Colorado's Mountaineer Fieldhouse. The top three wrestlers in each weight class will advance to the NCAA National Championship Tournament beginning March 14. 
 
COLORADO MESA PROJECTED LINEUP 
125: #7 Dayson Torgerson, So., Aurora, Utah (15-6 overall) 
133: #14 Oran Huff, RJr., Lyons, Colo. (13-9 overall) 
141: Denim Torgerson, RJr., Aurora, Utah (9-7 overall) 
149: Alex Castaneda, RSo., Eaton, Colo. (16-8 overall) 
149: Keyton Young, RFr., Collbran, Colo. (11-5 overall) 
157: Owen Cline, So., Orting, Wash. (8-3 overall) 
165: Will Alvarado, RFr., Fort Lupton, Colo. (2-12 overall) 
165: Wil Moneypenny, RFr., Berthoud, Colo. (8-8 overall) 
174: Gus Dalton, RJr., Emery, Utah (8-9 overall) 
184: #15 Jason Bynarowicz, RSr., Broomfield, Colo. (14-5 overall) 
184: Tanner Baumgartner, RJr., Keenesburg, Colo. (9-8 overall) 
197: #10 Gabe Carranza, RSr., Victorville, Calif. (11-7 overall) 
285: #13 Tyler Doyle, Jr., Littleton, Colo. (18-4 overall)