The Men’s Wrestling Team qualified five of their wrestlers to the NCAA National Championships and placed third overall as a team during the NCAA Super Region 6 Tournament on Feb.26. 

After a COVID-19 restricted Regional Tournament last year that only advanced the top two seeds at each bout, this year’s tournament qualified the top three wrestlers to nationals. Colorado Mesa University (CMU) hosted this year’s Regional Tournament. 

Redshirt freshman Ryan Wheeler and redshirt senior Donnie Negus led the way for the Mavericks, placing first and second respectively. 

Wheeler defeated Adam State University’s Josiah Rider due to an injury default while he was up 4-1 with riding time to become the regional champion at 157 pounds. Rider who ranked second in the nation, has only lost two matches this year, both against Wheeler. 

This will be Wheeler’s first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

Negus bested Luke Allan from New Mexico Highland in the quarterfinals and Western Colorado University’s (WCU) Porter Fox to secure his second consecutive trip to nationals. Negus dropped a hard-fought match against University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Hayden Prince, 6-2 in the first place match for 197 pounds. 

Redshirt freshman Dawson Collins in the 125 class and redshirt junior Seth Latham in the 174 class both finished third in front of their home-town crowd. The Grand Junction, Colo. products fought their way back to the third place from the consolation brackets. 

Collins defeated Parker McBride from Colorado State University Pueblo, 6-1, in the third place match. Latham beat WCU’s Cole Hernandez in a 14-4 major decision to secure his bid to the national tournament. 

Redshirt junior Colling Metzgar (133) also placed third. After securing two wins in the consolation bracket, Metzgar narrowly defeated Alex Avaraez from WCU, 2-0.

The Mavericks were also able to come up with a fourth place finish in redshirt junior Nolan Krone who was juts one victory away from being able to join his teammates in Nationals.

The Mavericks have certainly had a great season so far, winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Championship for two consecutive years and tying the record for the second most national qualifiers in program history. 

Additionally, Head Coach Chuck Pipher was named National Wrestling Coaches Association Super Region VI Coach of the Year.

The five Maverick qualifiers will look to carry that momentum forward into St. Louis, Missouri where the National Championships will be held on March 10 and 11 at Chaifetz Arena.