GUNNISON, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa men's wrestling team finished with a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference high five NCAA National Qualifiers and a second-place team finish at the NCAA Super Region VI Tournament on Saturday (Mar. 1) afternoon at Mountaineer Fieldhouse.
Dayson got the Mavericks started at 125 pounds as he may have had the best day of any Colorado Mesa grappler. Torgerson claimed the 125-pound region title with a 4-1 win over Adams State's Isaiah Gamez who came into the bout ranked No. 5 nationally at the weight.
Torgerson earned three pins on his way to the championship, but none may have been bigger than a pin of Nebraska-Kearney's Zach Ourada in the semifinals. Ourada entered the day ranked No. 2 in the most recent NWCA National Rankings. He also pinned No. 10 Hunter Jacobson of Chadron State in the quarterfinals.
The sophomore is now making a return trip to the NCAA Tournament after finishing one match away from All-American status last season as a freshman.
Sophomore
Owen Cline punched his ticket the hardest way imaginable. The 157-pounder lost his first match of the day after leading 7-1 against his opponent from San Francisco State before being pinned early in the second period of that match.
He took everything one step at a time. He picked up a tech fall in his first consolation match followed by a major decision victory over Paredes of Chadron State. He had a revenge match against San Francisco State where he won by technical fall 17-2.
In his third-place match or NCAA Qualifier match, he earned a single takedown and played good enough defense in a 4-3 win over Vincent Cabral of Western Colorado. He finished the day 4-1 and is going to his first NCAA National Tournament.
Redshirt junior
Gus Dalton had a tournament to remember, and he will be making a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Dalton opened the tournament with a decision win over Logan Berger of Chadron State whom he lost to in the dual back in January.
In the semifinals, Dalton defeated Wyatt Reisz 6-5 to punch his ticket and advance to the finals. Reisz entered the day ranked No. 11 in the NWCA rankings and had defeated the Maverick during the dual at the beginning of February.
In the title bout, he fell to Nebraska-Kearney's Jacobi Deal in sudden victory 4-1.
The two-horse anchor for the Mavericks finished in the same fashion as the other as they both placed third after reaching the semifinals at their respective weights.
197-pounder
Gabriel Carranza defeated Western Colorado's Sage Harrison 5-0 to punch his ticket, getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. Carranza fell to Fort Hays State's Tereus Henry by a score of 2-1 in the semifinals but bounced back to defeat Mason Villwock of Chadron State in the consolation semis.
Tyler Doyle capped the Mavericks night by defeating Riley Dean-Butt of Western Colorado by way of first-period pin to finish third at 285 pounds. Doyle was pinned by Chadron State's Cody Pinkerton in the first period in the semis before rebounding with a 10-1 major decision victory over Carson hatch of Cal Poly Humboldt.
Doyle will be making a return trip to the NCAAs after falling one match short of All-American status as a sophomore.
The Mavericks finished with 115.5 team points which was the top team from the RMAC, besting rival Western Colorado by 12.5 points. Western Colorado qualified one wrestler for the NCAA Tournament while RMAC Champion Colorado School of Mines finished sixth and qualified one wrestler. Chadron State was fourth in the team standings and qualified three wrestlers.
Perennial national power Nebraska-Kearney qualified all 10 wrestlers and won the team title with 159 points.
The NCAA National Championships begin on March 14 in Indianapolis as a part of the NCAA Division II Winter Festival.
