The Chadron State College wrestling team is hosting two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference duals this week. The Eagles will clash with Colorado Mesa at Gordon-Rushville Middle School on Thursday night and take on Western Colorado in the Nelson Physical Activity Center at CSC on Friday night.
Both matches are due to start at 6 o’clock, but either match could begin a bit later, CSC Coach Brett Hunter said. The Thursday match, at Gordon-Rushville Middle School, will follow the high school match scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. The Western Colorado dual will commence upon the conclusion of the opening session of the Chadron High Invitational Tournament that will be in the NPAC both Friday and Saturday.
Hunter is pleased to be taking the Eagles to his hometown of Rushville. He was a state champion wrestler for the Longhorns in 2002 and 2004 and won national championships for the Eagles in 2007 and 2009. He’s been CSC’s head coach since 2012.
The Eagles have a 3-4 dual record, including a 2-3 mark in the conference with wins over San Francisco State and New Mexico Highlands and losses to Colorado Mines, Adams State and Colorado State-Pueblo.
Colorado Mesa is 4-5 for the season and 0-2 in the RMAC after losing to Western State and San Francisco State.
The Western Mountaineers are 8-3 in dual action and 2-1 in the conference. Besides beating Mesa, they have topped San Francisco State, but lost to Colorado Mines.
Western’s star is 174-pounder Brandon Supernaw, who is No. 1 at that weight in the current NCAA II rankings after placing third at that weight at the national tournament last season.
Hunter said another standout for the Mountaineers is Konnor Schmidt, who finished sixth at 197 pounds at nationals last year. He is competing at 184 this season, but is not ranked at that weight so far.
The Mountaineers are 19th in the Division II team rankings
Mesa has two wrestlers ranked among the top 10 nationally. They are Eduardo Penha, 10th at 141 pounds, and Payton Tawater, sixth at 157. Tawater was not listed on the probable lineup headed into Thursday’s match.
The last two duals against Mesa, in January and December of 2017, were both 20-20 ties that CSC won by tiebreaker.
In the January match, the Eagles came back from down five points in the final bout at heavyweight when Cooper Cogdill teched his opponent in just one period. The deciding factor was most wins by pin, and CSC’s Taylor Summers had the only one that night.
In the December one, CSC again had the only pin, however that was balanced by the forfeit Mesa received at 197. The tiebreaker came down to most individual points, which CSC won 47-37.
Chadron State upended Western 18-17 in a January 2017 dual in Chadron, but the Mountaineers got the better of the Eagles the following December, by a score of 30-11.