GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Still ranked 18^th nationally as they have been all season, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick men's wrestling team will open up the 2026 portion of the season in Gunnison this weekend competing in an open tournament on Friday and a trio of duals on Saturday.
 
A large contingent of mostly back-ups and redshirts, will compete in Friday's Western Colorado Open, which will get underway at Noon.
 
The Maverick starters will then take on Cal Poly Humboldt, Vanguard and Minot State in Saturday's Tracy Borah Duals in three consecutive windows starting at 9 a.m.
 
More information about the historic event, which will be contested for 35^th time this Saturday, and the complete event schedule can be seen on the tournament information page.
 
All of the action will be held in Western's Mountaineer Fieldhouse and can be seen here with a subscription to the RMAC Network (more information below). 
 
Live results for both events can be found at the links above through FloWrestling.
 
Last Times Out
 
A chunk of the Maverick reserves capped the 2025 portion of the season at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday, Dec. 21 in Reno, Nevada.
 
The Mavs finished 13^th as a team with 34 team points as Apollo Cruz led the contingent with a 3-2 record while Murphy Harris, Christian Pebley and Joe Trygstad all reached quarterfinal round.
 
A full recap of the pre-Christmas event can be seen here.
 
A week earlier, the Maverick starters were in action at the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis, which brought much of the NCAA Division II wrestling world together.  The Mavs tied for 13^th in the 46-team field and had two individual placers in Gabriel Carranza, who placed fourth at 197 pounds, and Alex Castaneda, who took fifth in the 149-pound bracket.
 
For a recap of both days of that event click here: Day Two (Sunday, Dec. 14) | Day 1 (Saturday, Dec. 13).
 
3-time Placer
 
Gabriel Carranza went 6-2 during his run to fourth place at the Midwest Classic and has now placed at the prestigious tournament in three straight seasons.  This year's finish was the best of the three after a seventh place finish in 2024 and a sixth place finish in the 2023 edition of the tournament.
 
The redshirt senior out of Victorville, California has a 9-3 record this season and is 68-32 in his Maverick career which has spanned five seasons since 2020-21, including his 2022-23 redshirt season.
 
Double-Digit Club
 
Four Mavericks will enter 2026 having already reached double-digest win total this season.
 
Redshirt freshman Adonias Cantu leads the group with 13 wins at 125 pounds, one more than true freshman Levi DiCugno, who has a dozen wins at 174.  Both went 3-2 at last week's Midwest Classic.
 
AJ Hague (10-5) and Sammy Mobly (10-6) also have ten wins apiece.
 
Tournament Entries
 
Here is a look at the weight-by-weight lineup of Maverick wrestlers currently entered in to Friday's Western Colorado Open, which will largely be made up reserves and redshirts from the eight teams competing in Saturday's Tracy Borah Duals.  Some from this 24-wrestler list may compete unattached.
 
125: Mikey Medina, Dayson Torgerson
133: Murphy Harris
141: Apollo Cruz, Jorge Torres, Bryan Yanase
149: Juan Garcia, Kyle Holtberg, Camden Jacobson, Patrick Preston, AJ Salguero, Keyton Young
157: Auston Eudaly, Sammy Mobly, Tommy Thomas
165: Wil Moneypenny
174: Gunnar Neal, Gavin Ramos
184: Jack Hendricks, Logan Noble, Joe Trygstad
197: Brady Samuelson
285: Tyler Doyle, Braden Zack
 
Looking at the rankings
 
The National Wrestling Coaches Association released its latest set of NCAA Division II Coaches' Rankings on Dec. 17.  The Mavs continue to sit 18^th as a team as they were in both the preseason and first regular season edition of the rankings from Nov. 20.
 
The Mavericks also continue to have three nationally-ranked individuals, who all contributed points to the team rankings, which are formed by a tournament power index.
 
Following his fifth place finish at the Midwest Classic, Alex Castaneda moved back into the rankings in the No. 6 spot at 149 pounds.  He defeated two wrestlers who were in the last set of rankings and was personally ranked 13th in the preseason edition of the rankings before falling out in the Nov. 20 rankings.  He is now 7-6 on the season.
 
The Mavs have a pair of men, ranked seventh in their respective weight classes.
 
Owen Cline, is in that spot at 157 pounds after sitting fifth in the Nov. 20 rankings.  He is 2-1 on the season having only competed in one dual (vs. New Mexico Highlands; Nov. 16) before going 1-1 at the Reno Tournament of Champions.  He then medically forfeited his next match.
 
Meanwhile, Gabriel Carranza moved up two spots to seventh at 197 pounds following his fourth place performance at the Midwest Classic, where he defeated the then No. 4, 11, 14 and 15 ranked wrestlers over the two days.
 
The Probable Lineup
 
Here is a look at the Mavs' probable lineup for Saturday's duals along with each of their current overall and dual meet records in parenthesis.
 
125: Adonias Cantu (13-5/3-0 in duals)
133: Oran Huff (2-5/1-1)
141: AJ Hague (10-5/2-0) or Jorge Torres (3-5/0-0)
149: #6 Alex Castaneda (7-6/0-2) or Juan Garcia (2-1/2-0)
157: #7 Owen Cline (2-1/1-0) or Sammy Mobly (10-6/2-1)
165: Will Alvarado (9-9/1-2) or Ryan Wheeler (2-2/0-0)
174: Christian Pebley (6-4/3-0)
184: Noah O'Dougherty (7-6/3-1)
197: #7 Gabriel Carranza (9-3/2-0)
285: Ruben Samuelson (6-4/2-2)
 
Back to Duals
 
After competing in tournaments in their last two weekends of action on December and another on this Friday, the Mavericks will return to dual meet action for the next five weekends.
 
That stretch begins with Saturday's Tracy Borah Duals, where the Mavs will face three non-conference foes, including a pair of Super Region VI foes in Cal Poly Humboldt and Vanguard.
 
The Mavs will then begin a stretch of five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match-ups from Jan. 17-Feb. 13, which will determine how high the Mavs can finish in the RMAC standings.  A less-experienced lineup is also slated to compete in an exhibition dual on Jan. 31 at Colorado Northwestern Community College.
 
CMU will resume the dual meet season with a 1-1 record.  The Mavs are 1-0 in RMAC duals having won 24-13 at New Mexico Highlands.  They then dropped a tight 21-17 non-conference decision to Western Colorado on Dec. 4.
 
The Mavs also blanked Northeastern Junior College and Colorado Northwestern in exhibition duals on the opening day of the season (Nov. 1).
 
Individually, Christian Pebley (174) and Adonias Cantu (125) have led the Maverick efforts in duals posting perfect 4-0 and 3-0 records, respectively, including the exhibition duals.   The Mavs are also unbeaten at 141 and 197 pounds as three different Mavericks have won at 141 while Brady Samuelson and Gabriel Carranza have split the starts at 197 with Carranza getting the nod in both official duals against New Mexico Highlands and Western Colorado.
 
About the Opponents
 
Cal Poly Humboldt (9 a.m., Mat #3)
 
The Lumberjacks resumed their program for the 2024-25 season after a long hiatus and have posted a 5-2 dual meet record in 2025-26, including four wins over junior college opponents.    They are 1-1 against Division II opposition having beat then 20^th-ranked San Francisco state, 30-15 on Nov. 15 at the Curtis Shurkap Dual Meet tournament in Sacramento, California before falling 30-11 in a home dual on Dec. 5 in Arcata against CSU Pueblo.
 
They also competed in the Reno Tournament of Champions as Josh Niwert took fourth at 133 pounds while Anthony Perez finished sixth at 157 after a strong 5-2 day.
 
The 'Jacks went 4-4 in duals last season and finished 11^th out of 12 teams at the Super Region VI Championships after taking third out of four squads at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, where they crowned two individual champions in Jayson Victoria and Carson Hatch. 
 
Victoria is listed as the team's probable starter at 149 pounds for this weekend.
 
Vanguard (10:30 a.m., Mat #4)
 
The Lions, who hail from Costa Mesa, California, are in the transition from the NAIA ranks to the NCAA Division II level and have posted a 2-3 dual meet record thus far, which included 53-0 and 26-21 wins over Pacific and Manchester and a 2-1 day during the Wartburg Desert Duals on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 
They were 4-9 in duals during the 2024-25 campaign, their first after capping the NAIA days with a 40^th place national finish in 2024. 
 
133-pounder Zachary Klarcky is ranked 14^th in the current NWCA rankings as the lone Lion in the rankings.
 
Minot State (12 p.m., Mat #3)
 
The Beavers will enter Saturday's competition with a 4-2 dual record, including a 32-18 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win at Jamestown on Dec. 18 in their last action.    Their two losses have come to nationally-ranked NSIC opponents in Mary and St. Cloud State.
 
Last year's Beaver squad finished 7-9 in duals and took eighth at the NCAA Super Region V Championships as Jake Swirple qualified for his second career national championship as a senior.
 
Series Histories
 
The Mavs not previously contested a dual meet against Cal Poly Humboldt nor Vanguard.  Their last meeting with Minot State was 13 years ago in 2013.  The Mavs won that neutral-mat match-up 45-3 in Phoenix, Arizona.
 
RMAC Network News
 
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-per-view model for the 2025-26 season.  This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
 
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours.
 
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.
 
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
 
The Mavs will resume their RMAC dual slate next week, taking on 16th-ranked Adams State in a key Saturday (Jan. 17) matinee in the Grizzlies' Plachy Hall.  The Grizzlies have yet to have a dual this season but will also be in action at the Tracy Borah Duals.