GUNNISON, Colo. (February 4, 2023) – The Colorado State University Pueblo wrestling team went on the road for a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual against No. 23 Western Colorado and battled the Mountaineers to a 37-6 final.
 
The Pack won two individual matches on the night including at 197, freshman Donn Greer had a strong outing against Parker Gasser and challenged him to a 3-0 victory after earning a one-point second period escape and Greer got a takedown as time expired in the third period.
 
In the last match, Ben Gould faced and took a 2-1 lead after he got a takedown with a WCU escape going to period two.
 
Gould scored an escape in the third period and held on for a 3-2 win over Zach Schraeder 
 
The dual began with WCU taking an early 6-0 lead with a forfeit from the ThunderWolves at 125-pounds and in the 133-pound match-up featuring Devin Lueck (Sr., Fountain, Colo.) and Alex Alvarez and the home team recorded three takedowns against one escape from Lueck to take a 6-1 lead after one period.
 
In the second, another pair of takedowns from Alvarez and an escape by Lueck allowed him to build an 10-2 lead after the second period.
 
 In the last period, Lueck started on the bottom and quickly escaped to cut the lead to seven point deficit. The action continued with Alvarez earning six more points to build a commanding 16-3 lead, Alvarez earned his one-point bonus point to take home the 19-4 win and gave the Mountaineers an 11-0 lead.
 
The 141-pound match pitted Corbin Mallo (Jr., Thornton, Colo.) against Dean Noble from Western. Noble took a 2-0 lead with an early takedown.
 
Starting the second period, Mallo was on top and had a strong ride to start before Noble quickly escaped and earned a takedown to get a 5-0 lead with a minute remaining.
 
In the last period, Noble was able to earn the win by pin at 5:37 to give the home team a 17-0 lead.
 
At 149-pounds, the ThunderWolves' Anthony Nichols wrestled Jason Hannenberg and the first period the home wrestler jumped to a 10-0 lead.
 
Hannenberg secured the first period pin at 2:37 after getting a cradle position.
 
In the 157-pound match, Cyruss Meeks battled Ryan Wilson and fell 8-4 in a highly contested bout. 
 
After a short break, Elijah Valdez came out during the 157-pound match wrestled his opponent strong and carried a scoreless tie into the second period.
 
Valdez started the second period on the top position and had a strong minute long worth of riding time before Hunter Mullin earned a two-point reversal. Valdez got an escape thirty seconds later and went into the last period down 2-1.
 
The third period had Mullin on top to start and Valdez quickly got to his feet and took a one-point lead with much of the period to go.
 
With 1:23 left, Mullin landed on top of Valdez and got a two-point takedown. At one-minute left, Valdez got an escape and trailed 4-3.
 
Starting neutral and under a minute left, Valdez was unable to get a takedown and lost by one-point.
 
 At 174 pounds, Richard Palomar lost against 9th ranked Cole Hernandez by a 19-2 tech fall.
 
In the next bout, Cameron Nesbitt faced Hayden and suffered a 4-0 defeat.
 
The ThunderWolves were able to avoid the shutout with the two wins in the last two bouts.
 
CSU Pueblo (6-7, 1-5 RMAC) continues the RMAC schedule with a midweek dual Wednesday at nationally ranked Adams State starting at 6 p.m. in Alamosa.