GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (January 27, 2022) - The Colorado State University Pueblo wrestling team took its talents to the western slope and battled No. 16 Colorado Mesa in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual, falling 23-21 against the Mavericks. The ThunderWolves picked up five individual wins on the night.

Cyruss Meeks (Fr., Casper, Wyo.), Gavin Melendez (R-Sr., Los Banos, Calif.), Justin Davis (R-Jr., Pueblo, Colo.), Ruben Garcia (Sr., Selma, Calif.) and Gavin Nye (R-Jr., Gerber, Calif.) all won their respective matches.

In the opening match at 125 pounds, CSU Pueblo's Parker McBride (Sr., Duvall, Wash.) dropped a 14-6 major decision and at 133-pounds, Devin Lueck (R-So., Fountain, Colo.) lost against CMU's No. 7 ranked wrestler Cole Metzgar 14-1.

Trailing in the dual 8-0 through two matches, Meeks stepped in against the Mavericks Erik Contreras. After an early takedown by Contreras and escape by Meeks put the score at 2-1 with most of the first period to go. A strong defensive performance by Meeks in the back half of the period kept Contreras from earning the two-point takedown.

In the second period, Meeks started on the bottom and earned an escape point before Contreras scored two more takedown points and Meeks earned two more escape points and brought the score to 6-4 entering the final period.

Starting the third period, Meeks was on top and CMU escaped, building a 7-4 lead. With over a minute left, Meeks got within a point after a takedown followed by an escape put Meeks down 8-6 with under a minute remaining. Meeks took control in the waning seconds, earning a four back points, to jump ahead 10-8 when the buzzer sounded.

In the next match at 149 pounds, Melendez had another strong outing and wrestled against CMU's Nick Gallegos. After a scoreless first period, Melendez started the second period on bottom and quickly earned an escape point and carried the 1-0 lead into the final period.

In the third period, Melendez started on top and held on to continue the riding time beyond the one-minute mark before Gallegos was able to escape with less than ten seconds left in the match, earning Melendez the 2-1 victory with the bonus point added.

The streak continued in the next bout at 157 pounds for the ThunderWolves when Justin Davis (R-Jr., Pueblo, Colo.) earned a win by fall (6:20) over his opponent Ryan Wheeler, earning the Pack six team points.

The next outing at 165 pounds, Ruben Garcia (Sr., Selma, Calif.) picked up the second win by fall in a row for CSU Pueblo after he pinned his opponent Tanner Tsinigine (4:28) to give the Pack an 18-8 lead going into the final four matches.

The Mavericks picked up a win by tech fall at 174 pounds and a win by fall in the 184 pound match to regain the lead at 19-18.

With two matches left, CSU Pueblo's Ben Gould (So., Canyon Country, Calif.) dropped a 15-3 major against #8 ranked Donald Negus.

Ahead 23-18 entering the final match of the night at the 285-lb. bout, Nye earned a narrow 11-10 victory with the extra bonus point playing a factor in the match score to cut into the final score of 23-21.

CSU Pueblo will stay on the road for another RMAC dual Saturday at Chadron State. The match against the Eagles is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start in Chadron, Nebraska.