2009-10 WYOMING COWBOY WRESTLING
Northern Colorado and Nebraska Duals: The
Cowboys will return home to the UniWyo Sports Complex
in Laramie this Friday, Jan. 15, for a big Western Wrestling
Conference dual against much-improved rival Northern Colorado.
The match will begin at 7 p.m.
While the ?Pokes are 4-2 in duals this year, the Bears are a
deceiving 1-8.
UNCo. has very good talent at the 125-pound weight class
with three-time NCAA qualifi er, senior Tony Mustari; at the 141-
pound level with 2007 NCAA qualifi er, senior Kenny Hashimoto;
and at 157 pounds where junior Justin Gaethje has been in and
out of the national rankings all season. Hashimoto has been
injured during the past month and is questionable for the dual.
This will be the 74th meeting between the two Front Range
wrestling squads, which is the most against any opponent for
the UW program. Wyoming leads the all time series 43-29-1.
The last time the two teams matched up was Feb. 25, 2009, in
Greeley. The Cowboys narrowly escaped with a 21-15 win. The
Bears placed third (70 points) at the 2009 West Regional/WWC
Tournament, while the ?Pokes placed second (92.5).
Common opponents for the Cowboys and Bears this season
include Stanford and Oregon State. UW beat the Cardinal (25-9)
and lost to the Beavers (28-8), while UNCo. fell to Stanford (34-5)
and also lost to Oregon State (48-0).
Following that home dual, and for the second week in a row,
UW will immediately head out on the road, traveling east on I-80
to face the No. 15-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, on
Sunday, Jan. 17, at 1 p.m. (MT).
NU has struggled a bit lately and their dual record has
dropped to 8-5. The Huskers lost this last weekend at the NWCA
National Duals to No. 1 Iowa (33-3) and to Buffalo (18-17).
Still a very talented team, Nebraska is led by No. 2-ranked
senior Craig Brester at 197 pounds, No. 3-ranked senior Stephen
Dwyer at 174, as well as No. 11 sophomore Tucker Lane at
heavyweight.
UW and NU have met 41 times on the wrestling mat, with
Nebraska holding the series lead 28-13. The last meeting
between the two schools was No. 9, 2007, in Laramie, when the
No. 14-ranked Cornhuskers blanked the Cowboys by a score of
47-0.
The lone common opponent for Wyoming and Nebraska so
far this season has been North Carolina State, whom both teams
defeated, UW by a score of 26-15 and NU by a margin of 31-10.
The Cornhuskers have also beaten WWC schools North Dakota
State (33-9) and South Dakota State (46-6) this season, both of

whom the Cowboys have yet to wrestle.
Team Tidbits: Following are several notes from UW?s
2009-10 season to this point...
- Winning Big - Three Wyoming sophomores are winning
often and earning big bonus points along the way. Joe LeBlanc
(184 pounds) has an overall record of 24-3 with an incredible 19
bonus point margins. Nine of his wins have come by technical
fall, seven by way of fall and three by major decision. Michael
Martinez (125) has an overall record of 20-5 with seven of those
wins coming by way of major decision, two by technical fall.
Shane Onufer (165) is 16-4 overall with fi ve pins and fi ve major
decisions.
- Martinez Back in the Lineup - The Cowboys will get a
big boost to their lineup this coming week when No. 10-ranked
sophomore Michael Martinez returns at 125 pounds. Martinez
had missed the North Carolina State and Oregon State duals this
past week while clearing up academic eligibility issues from the
UW fall semester.