The impressive effort allowed the Grizzlies, ranked 11th in this week's NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll, to set NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) records for team points in a dual and margin of victory. The previous record was set way back on Jan. 30, 1994 when the Grizzlies blanked Truman State (Mo.) 44-0 in the NCAA Division II Dual Meet Championships in Wichita, Kan.
ASC jumped out to a 12-0 lead as nationally-ranked wrestlers Rob McCabe (Nucla, Colo.) and Raymond Dunning (Nashville, Tenn.) each received forfeits. McCabe, ranked seventh in the nation at 125 pounds, improved to 15-8 with his seventh straight win. Dunning, ranked second at 133 pounds, moved to 15-6 with his seventh win in his last eight bouts. The pair is a combined 7-1 in dual meets.
The Cowboys only winner was 141-pound Patrick Sharp, who scored an 11-2 major decision win over ASC junior Brian Pitts (Rio Rancho, N.M.), now 11-12. Sharp, NMHU's top wrestler, took a 7-0 first period lead and improved to 9-3 with the victory. A National Junior College runner-up while at Northwestern Wyoming, Sharp is a Division I transfer from Northern Iowa.
Down 12-4 at that point, the Cowboys were looking like they would get back into the dual as Cowboy junior Jerry Garley took a 4-2 lead in the second period of his 149-pound match with Grizzly senior Dave Welanko (Clarkston, Mich.). Welanko then escaped and scored a late takedown, going into the third period with a 5-4 lead.
Welanko then reversed Garley to begin the third before pinning him 52 seconds into the stanza, giving ASC a 18-4 cushion. His win avenged a 9-4 set back to Garley in Saturday's Colorado Collegiate Invitational.
The Grizzlies kept rolling at 157 pounds as senior Scott Cleve (Escondido, Calif.) won his sixth straight match by a 15-0 technical fall margin over NMHU's Isaac Luna. Cleve, now 7-3, had a takedown in each period and racked up four near falls to end the match with the winless Cowboy with 30 seconds left in the second period.
Junior Dusty Vaughn (Montrose, Colo.) then wasted little time in pinning NMHU sophomore Damon Williams in the 165-pound match. Needing just 82 seconds to record his fifth win of the year, Vaughn (5-5) gave ASC a 29-4 lead with his second pin of the season.
The Grizzlies then went up 35-4 as Evan Copeland (Las Cruces, N.M.) moved up a weight class to receive a forfeit. Now 10-9, Copeland is ranked seventh in the nation at 165 pounds.
ASC junior James Reynolds (Monte Vista, Colo.) pushed ASC over the 40-point mark as he pinned Cowboy freshman Thomas Navarrette just 1:47 into the 184-pound match. Reynolds, wrestling up a weight class, had been named as the RMAC's Wrestler of the Week earlier in the day and has now won four straight and five of his last six matches.
The last forfeit of the night came at 197 pounds as normal 184-pound starter Josh Vialpando (Walsenburg, Colo.) moved to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in dual meets by receiving a forfeit at a higher weight class. That gave ASC a 47-4 lead.
ASC junior Casey Woodall (Morenci, Ariz.) then wrapped up the dual with a 15-6 major decision win over Cowboy junior Charles Saguil in the heavyweight match. Woodall weighed in at 197 pounds, but dominated the much-bigger Cowboy, scoring six of ASC's 14 takedowns while allowing just one to Saguil, who had finished third at Saturday's Colorado Collegiate Invitational.
The Grizzlies will face a tougher challenge on Friday as they host Division I Utah Valley State at 7 p.m. The Wolverines come into the dual with a 4-8 mark. Their probable lineup includes San Luis Valley products Daniel Polkowske (La Jara) and D.J. Meis (Alamosa).
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