The battle was lost at Brownson on Wednesday night.
The Colorado Mesa University men’s wrestling team fell to the Western State in the annual Bank of Colorado Battle in Brownson 12-27. A rough start and ending to the night were the difference makers for CMU to take the loss to end the regular season.
“There’s a couple [matches] we’d like to have back…but that’s the way it goes you know,” Head Coach Chuck Pipher said. “We’d like to have back 133’s and 184’s, but that’s the way it goes. We win those it may change the outcome of the duel, but regardless we gave up too many bonus points.”
The Mountaineers started strong and won the first two matches. At 125 pounds, Western’s Trent Piatt stuck CMU’s Tim Romero to the mat with a nicely executed half nelson midway through the third period after a tough fought match on both sides.
The 133-pound bout ended in controversy after Westerns Cody Fatzinger received four stall warnings rewarding Mesa’s Bracken Lovell with three points to tie the match with 10 seconds left. Fatzinger escaped off the edge of the mat as the final buzzer sounded and was awarded the escape point after the referee reviewed his call on the mat ending the match with a 10-11.
CMU’s first win of the night came when Eduardo Penha, who is ranked tenth in the nation at 141 pounds, extended his win streak by dominating in the final period to earn himself the 10-7 victory.
Jumping to the 165-pound match, in what was considered the match of the night, senior Jason Buhr secured his 17th as he won by points over Western’s Hunter Mullin. Buhr dominated the match throughout fighting to earn four takedowns and six near fall points. Buhr put on a show-capping his successful career in the Brownson arena earning the only bonus point for the Mavericks all night.
One of the most exciting matches of the night was the 184-pound bout between Mesa’s Nolan Krone and Westerns fifth-ranked Konnor Schmidt who put on own a show exchanging points back and forth with Schmidt ending on top with an 11-7 point decision, although, it could have just as easily been a one-point match.
“Sometimes you have to lose so you can get better,” Krone said. “I came out of this match a better wrestler and in a couple weeks when I see him again the outcome will be different”.
CMU would lose three out of the four final bouts and take the loss to end the regular season with an 8-10 record. Heading into the postseason the Mavericks are taking 10 wrestlers to the regional tournament and Coach Pipher hopes to bring some All Americans back to Grand Junction with him in March.
The NCAA Regional will take place in Kearney, Neb. on Feb 23.
