CHADRON, Neb. – After knocking off a nationally-ranked opponent in its home finale, Chadron State men's wrestling will have two duals in the same week for the first time this season as CSC's RMAC campaign continues. 

The Eagles (1-2 RMAC) will battle Adams State (3-3, 2-2 RMAC) on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Alamosa before a Saturday dual at noon against New Mexico Highlands (1-4, 0-4 RMAC) in Las Vegas, New Mexico two days later.

The duals will be live streamed for free on the RMAC Network with live results available on Trackwrestling.

Looking Back
Chadron State earned its first RMAC in dual win of the season in thrilling fashion, making a statement with a home win over No. 13-ranked Western Colorado.

RECAP: Western Colorado

The dual was tied at 17-17 entering the 285-pound match which served as the final bout of the night. With a packed Chicoine Center rising in volume, Northwest College transfer Cody Pinkerton earned a pin over Western's Riley Dean-Butt to clinch a six-point victory.

In addition to Pinkerton, James Davis (133 pounds), Cyrus Wells (141) and Keegan Gehlhausen (184) also won matches, with Torry Early (149), Tayten Gillette (165) earning bonus points with major decision victories.

Storybook End
Grad student Torry Early capped off his Chicoine Center career with a win over one of the nation's top wrestlers. 

As one of five CSC wrestlers commemorating his Senior Night during the WCU dual, Early defeated the No. 3-ranked 149-pound wrestler in the nation, WCU's Dean Noble, via an 11-3 major decision. 

The dual was scoreless through two periods before Early opened the floodgates, recording two near falls plus a takedown in the third period. Noble entered the match 12-1 on the season. 

After the win, Early is now 9-6 for the year and finds himself with a new national ranking this week from The Open Mat, which has him at No. 17 overall for 149 pounds.

National Rankings
Including Early, Chadron State now has four nationally ranked wrestlers in The Open Mat's national rankings, which update weekly and had the latest version released Wednesday morning. 

Hunter Jacobsen is ranked No. 14 at 125 pounds. The true freshman has a 13-6 record and may return to the lineup this week after missing CSC's last two duals.

James Davis remains at No. 19 in The Open Mat's rankings. Davis has been victorious in all three of Chadron State's duals this season, including a win over the wrestler ranked immediately behind him, Colorado Mesa's Oran Huff.

Early joins the rankings at No. 17 after being unranked last week (there are 20 ranked wrestlers per weight class). Noble dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 with the loss to Early.

Keegan Gehlhausen is Chadron State's highest-ranked wrestler, moving up one slot this week to No. 6 nationally according to The Open Mat. Gehlhausen has several marquee tournament performances on his resume, including a win at the UNK Open and a fifth-place finish at the Midwest Classic.  

The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), which ranks 15 wrestlers at each weight and most recently updated their rankings on January 20 (prior to the WCU dual), has two CSC wrestlers in their rankings – Jacobsen at No. 10 and Gehlhausen at No. 4.

Chadron State is just out of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA)'s top 25 rankings. The Eagles are quite literally the 26^th team, as they have the most points of any team in the "receiving votes" category. 

Three RMAC programs are ranked, led by Western Colorado at No. 13. Colorado School of Mines (No. 16) and Colorado Mesa (No. 25), the two teams to defeat Chadron State in duals this season, are also nationally ranked. 

Those rankings will certainly shuffle, as Western Colorado has now lost duals to both the Eagles and Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers and Colorado Mesa both remain undefeated in the RMAC.

Debut Coming?
A notable inclusion in Chadron State's probables list for this week is Mason Villwok, a true freshman from Elkhorn, Nebraska. 

Villwok has yet to compete in an official capacity for Chadron State, but placed second as an unattached wrestler to Eagles teammate Cody Pinkerton at 285 pounds during the DWU Open in November, a performance that won Pinkerton the RMAC Wrestler of the Week award. 

According to the probables sheet, Villwok may be dropping down from 285 to 197 to enter Chadron State's lineup. The Eagles have a potential need with Dominic Joyce, who started at 197 in each of CSC's first three duals, needing injury time during his most recent match.

Scouting the Grizzlies
Adams State has a 3-3 overall dual record with a 2-2 mark against RMAC opponents. In conference, ASU has defeated Simon Fraser 38-12 and New Mexico Highlands 45-3 and suffered losses to CSU Pueblo (22-19) and Colorado Mesa (20-18). 

Similarly to Chadron State's dual against the Mavericks, Adams State led through eight weights but suffered losses at 197 and 285 that allowed the Mavericks to flip the dual.

The Grizzlies are led by 125-pounder Isaiah Gamez, who is ranked No. 5 by the NWCA and The Open Mat. He finished second at 125 in the Midwest Classic, defeating CSC's Hunter Jacobsen, who he may see again Thursday. 

The Grizzlies have two other Open Mat-ranked wrestlers at 141 in No. 9 Angel Flores and 157 in No. 6 Aaden Valdez. 

Scouting the Cowboys
New Mexico Highlands is 2-4 overall, but 0-4 in RMAC competition. The Cowboys have dual wins over Otero College and Vanguard University but have dropped RMAC duals to Colorado Mesa (47-7), Western Colorado (47-3), Simon Fraser (29-28) and Adams State (45-3).

The Cowboys are led by first-year wrestling coach Chris Freije, who was previously the associate coach at Lander but is no stranger to the RMAC, competing as a student-athlete for Western Colorado before moving on to compete at Arizona State. 

The Cowboys do not have any nationally ranked wrestlers, but 165-pounder Ivan Smith raced out to a 9-1 start this season.

Projected Lineups
Here is a look at the projected lineups for the week. First, Chadron State's probables for both duals: 

 125: #10/14 Hunter Jacobsen (Fr.), 13-6
OR: Yusef Nelson (Gr.), 5-7
133: #19 James Davis (Gr.), 7-4
141: Cyrus Wells (R-So.), 11-8
OR: Skyler Geier-Dodson (R-So.), 4-4
149: #17 Torry Early (Gr.), 9-6
OR: Hunter Gilmore (R-Jr.), 5-5
157: Brandon Paredes (R-So.), 8-7
OR: Grady Fox (R-Fr.), 9-4
165: Tayten Gillette (R-So.), 11-7
OR: Jaziah Whaley (R-Jr.), 4-4
174: Logan Berger (R-So), 12-7
184: #4/6 Keegan Gehlhausen (R-Jr.), 11-2
197: Mason Villwok (Fr.), 0-0 attached
285: Cody Pinkerton (R-Jr.), 11-5
 
Here is Adams State's projected lineup for Thursday:
125: #5/#5 Isaiah Gamez, Jr.  
133: Adam Concepcion, R-Jr.
141: #9 Angel Flores, Gr. 
149: Kieran Thompson, Sr. 
157 #6 Aaden Valdez, R-Jr. 
165: Levi Deaguero, So. 
174: Daniel Long, So.
OR: Dallas Porter 
184: Sergio Zaragoza, Jr.  
197: Wil Aucoin, Jr. 
285: Abraham Garcia R-Jr.
OR: Ronan Melani
 
Here is New Mexico Highlands's projected lineup for Saturday:
125: Naythan Galbiso
133: Sam Eveland
141: Joe Misitano
149: John Baker 
157: Reed McCarty/Deklyn Miller
165: Ivan Smith
174: Angelo Maechtlin
184: Michael Santos 
197: Saul De Leon
285: Open
 
Coach's Corner
Chadron State coach Brett Hunter is entering his 14^th season as the head coach at his alma mater. Hunter is the reigning RMAC Coach of the Year and NWCA Region VI Coach of the Year.

Hunter and the Eagles are coming off a landmark 2024 season that saw the Eagles win their first RMAC wrestling title since 1995. The Eagles finished with a 10-1 overall dual record, including an undefeated 8-0 mark in RMAC duals, with two national tournament qualifiers. At CSC, Hunter has coached five All-American wrestlers and three individual regional champions. 

As a Chadron State student-athlete, Hunter holds the program record for most wins, finishing with a career record of 133-32. He is the school's only repeat national champion, winning NCAA titles at 165 pounds in 2007 and 174 pounds in 2009. Hunter was inducted into the Chadron State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024.