The NMHU Cowboy Wrestling team is getting better every year, and in its third year of competition the Cowboys have once again improved upon the prior year’s performance. The Cowboys qualified three wrestlers for the NCAA National Tournament in Houston, Texas on 3/13-3/14 which betters the two qualifiers they had in 2008. Jesse Feinsod (174; Sr.; Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Jesse Boggs (Heavyweight; Jr.; Deming, N.M.) will make their second trip to the NCAA National Tournament as they were both qualifiers in 2008 and Luke McPeek (197; So.; Albuquerque, N.M.) will make his first trip to the national stage.
Jesse Feinsod
Feinsod started out the regional tournament as he made a statement by pinning his first opponent, Western State College’s Nick Ross in 56 seconds. In the semi-finals, Feinsod took on Chadron State College’s Brett Hunter. Feinsod would fall to Hunter by a 9-3 decision to send him to the consolation bracket. In the consolation bracket Feinsod faced Colorado School of Mines’ Ryan Swanson. Feinsod dominated Swanson by posting a 18-3 technical fall (4:27) which sent him into the third place match against his first round opponent WSC’s Nick Ross. Feinsod bettered his 2008 fourth place finish in regional’s as he defeated Western State College’s Nick Ross by pin (2:25) to take third place in the tournament and punch his ticket to the national tournament. Feinsod finished third in a very tough 174 pound weight class as four of the top six nationally ranked wrestlers compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Feinsod finished in eighth place in the 2008 national tournament which earned him All-American honors, he is looking to better his 2008 performance at nationals as he strives to become a two-time All-American for the Cowboys.
Jesse Boggs
Jesse Boggs started out the regional tournament on a sour note as he lost to Mesa State College’s Trevor Stapp in the first round by a 9-7 decision. Boggs had beaten Stapp earlier in the season by a 3-0 decision. With a first round loss, Boggs had some ground to cover as he was now in the consolation bracket and had to win three matches if he wanted to make it back to the national tournament, and Boggs did just that. Boggs went on to defeat Chadron State College’s Shane Odell (10-3 decision), Colorado School of Mines’ Bryan Stansbury (3-1 decision), and University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Derek Ross (6-4 decision) to make it to the third place match where he would face Adams State’s Jeff Schossow. Boggs would lose to Schossow by a 6-3 decision, but with a fourth place finish he solidified his second trip to the NCAA National Tournament. Boggs did not place in the 2008 national tournament and looks to come back to NMHU this season with some hardware.
Luke McPeek
Luke McPeek will be making his first trip to the NCAA National Tournament and as a sophomore it looks like it won’t be his last trip. McPeek had a breakout season for the Cowboys as he finished the season with a 25-14 record with a team high 10 pins. McPeek went into the regional tournament seeded fifth and pinned Grand Canyon University’s Adam Barnett (1:12) and upset the fourth seeded Torben Walters of Adams State College (10-8 decision). In the semi-final match, McPeek faced the number one seeded Donovan McMahill from Western State College and lost by a 15-3 major decision. That loss sent McPeek into the consolation bracket. McPeek would not let that setback stop him as he pinned Tony Chavariria of CSU-Pueblo (4:00) to make it to the third place match where he would face University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Matt Farrell. McPeek would eventually fall to Farrell by a 20-7 major decision, but with a fourth place finish he did just enough to qualify for the national tournament.
Nick Sanchez
NMHU’s Nick Sanchez just narrowly missed out on being the Cowboys fourth qualifier this season as Nick Sanchez (157; Jr.; Belen, N.M.) finished in fourth place but lost in the “true fourth” place match against University of Nebraska Kearney’s Keenan McCurdy by a 5-1 decision. Sanchez made a great comeback performance after he fell to Adams State’s Noomis Jones in the first round (12-1 major decision). Sanchez found himself having to win three matches if he wanted to go to the NCAA national Tournament. Sanchez posted three straight victories to make it to the third place match against Chase Walker of Mesa State College. Sanchez would fall to the number two seeded Walker by a 9-3 decision which forced a “true fourth” place match against McCurdy. A “true fourth” place where the fifth-place finisher can wrestle the fourth-place finisher if they haven’t met before.
As a team the Cowboys finished eighth overall with 51 total points. Western State College took the team crown with 121.5 points. Adams State College finished in second with 114 points and University of Nebraska-Kearney rounded out the top three with 104 points.
Click HERE for the Final Brackets from the 2009 NCAA West Regional
Click HERE for the Final Team Scores from the 2009 NCAA West Regional
GO COWBOYS!!!