KEARNEY, Neb. (Feb. 29, 2020) - The Colorado State University-Pueblo wrestling team will send three student-athletes to the NCAA Division II National Championships, as D'Andre Brumfield (Sr., Dallas, Texas), Gavin Melendez (R-Jr., Los Banos, Calif.) and Gavin Nye (R-So., Gerber, Calif.) all finished third at the NCAA Division II Super Region VI Championships, Saturday in Kearney, Nebraska.

The ThunderWolves totaled 69 points to finish sixth as a team. The three qualifiers went 3-1 to claim a spot in the national meet, which is set for March 13-14 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Two more wrestlers finished fourth and a third was sixth.

Brumfield won his first bout by a 7-3 decision to advance to the semifinal at 125. He then fell by a narrow 7-6 decision to No. 4 Wesley Dawkins of host University of Nebraska-Kearney. He was victorious by a 7-4 decision to advance to the third place match. He secured his spot at nationals with a 12-3 major decision against No. 12 Cody Fatzinger of Western Colorado University.

At 149, Melendez started his day by upsetting No. 8 Josiah Rider of Adams State University by a 5-2 decision. In the semifinal he suffered a 8-0 major decision loss to No. 9 Sam Turner of UNK. He advanced to the third-place bout with a 13-3 major decision where he had to battle his third ranked opponent of the day. Melendez used a 7-2 decision to take down the No. 5 wrestler in Division II, Mason Boutain of San Francisco State University.

Nye dominated in his first match at heavyweight, as he posted a 17-2 technical fall. He then went to war with No. 12 Jarrod Hinrichs in the semifinal, but lost in the second tiebreaker by a 5-3 decision. He used a third period pin at 5:40 to advance to the third period match where he used a 15-6 major decision to advance to the national championships.

Senior Isaiah Diggs (Sr., Federal Way, Wash.) entered the championships No. 8 in the nation and the No. 2 seed, but finished fourth to miss on his second straight NCAA Championships. He won his first bout by a 6-1 decision, but fell in the semifinal by a narrow 4-3 margin. Diggs bounced back with an 8-2 decision win to make the third place match. He lost the match and finished the season with a 12-4.

Freshman Ben Gould (Canyon Country, Calif.) was fourth after going 2-2 at 197. He started the day with a 6-3 decision victory, but lost in the semifinal to No. 11 Wade French of Chadron State College. A first period fall at 2:50 advanced him to the third place match where he lost by a 13-7 decision.

At 125, Parker McBride (R-Jr., Duvall, Wash.) went 2-3 and finished sixth. After losing his first bout he won by 7-0 and 5-1 decisions to advance to the region semifinal. He lost the match 8-0 and then fell in the fifth-place bout.

Two more members of the Pack got at least one win, as junior Dino Cancellieri (Wayne, N.J.) won a match by a 13-8 decision and a sophomore Ted Csenar (San Diego, Calif.) won a bout by a 6-5 decision.

– 30 –

As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.