by Matt Kennedy
The Colorado Mesa University wrestling team has stayed busy this month, competing in their tenth dual meet in the past two weeks. This week, they faced off against CSU-Pueblo on Wednesday and Colorado School of Mines on Thursday. Despite the heavy travel, the Mavericks managed to end their trip 1-1.
Wednesday did not go as smoothly. CMU lost to CSU-Pueblo, who dominated 25-6. Early momentum increased the Mavericks confidence, but that quickly diminished as the Thunderwolves went on to win eight out of the 10 bouts.
Tommy Tawata and Payton Tawata were the only Mavericks to win their matches on Wednesday as CSU-Pueblo did win the remaining five matches after freshman Payton Tawata beat Kyle Fantin at the 157-pound weight division matchup.
Peyton Tawata improved his winning streak to 12 straight matches with a victory on Thursday against Mines. Tommy Tawata was also in possession of an impressive five-match win streak but lost on Thursday against Matt Lavengood.
The Mavericks had to bounce back after a disappointing loss on Wednesday when they traveled to Golden the next day and squared off in another dual meet against Colorado School of Mines.
That is exactly what CMU did, crushing the Orediggers by winning seven out of the 10 matches on Thursday.
Mines did start out the night with a win against CMU when Tommy Tawata was defeated by Lavengood ending his aforementioned five-match winning streak, but the upstarts in the wrestling program eventually took over the meet as they showcased their skills the rest of the night.
Sophomores Juaquin Olivas and Jason Buhr won their matches in convincing fashion. Olivas got his first dual victory at the 133-pound weight class. Defeating Noah AuYeung in a thrilling overtime victory. Buhr went on to win his match against Keenan Willits when he put on a clinic of points winning by a 16-8 decision.
Another young upstart Clayton Voytilla earned a victory of his own in the 285-pound weight division winning against Jake Feldman to close out the night for the Mavericks. CMU did win the last three matches of the night as they beat the Orediggers 28-9.
This was the CMU’s first dual victory in the season after losing three straight road dual meets against Chadron State, Nebraska-Kearney, and most recently CSU-Pueblo.
The win against Mines was much needed for the Mavericks. They will travel back to Grand Junction and keep training to take on in-state rival Western State next in the Battle at Brownson on Feb 2.
CMU is undefeated at home this year beating fellow RMAC teams such as Cal Baptist and Adams State earlier this month.
The meet against Western will be the first time the Mavericks will host a meet since defeating Adams State and Cal Baptist.
