LAS VEGAS, N.M.  -- Vanguard men's wrestling opened the new calendar year yesterday with three duals on the campus of New Mexico Highlands University.  VU beat Otero JC in the final contest of the day 30-20 but lost to Simon Fraser 27-16 and NMH 25-16.  The Lions are now 4-7 in duals on the season.
 
What Happened?  VU 16 SF 27
VU was open at 141 pounds and 149 pounds throughout the day but against Simon Fraser, things were even after two classes.  While Hector Hernandez was pinned by Marques Calapiz at 125 pounds, Robert Villegas pinned Nitin Kukreja in the first period at 133 pounds to make the dual score 6-6.  However, the middleweights went to the Redleafs, as Magnus McCrackin beat Caidence Turner at 157 pounds 13-4, Patrik Leder beat Mason Hernandez at 165 pounds 22-5, Peter McCrackin pinned Marquize Brown at 174 pounds, and Owen Gudmundson pinned Keagen Kroeger at 184 pounds.  Isaiah Hernandez got the Blue and Gold back on the board with a 12-3 win at 197 pounds over Ricky Feroce and Roman Torres pinned Anthony Bolanos in the heavyweight bout to end the dual.
 
VU 16 NMH 25
The first two weight classes gave each team three points, as Naythan Galbiso topped Hector Hernandez 7-1 followed by Villegas beating Samuel Eveland 11-8.  The dual was tied at 3-3 but NMH then picked up 12 points from the open classes.  Mason Hernandez was equal to Reed McCarty for most of the match, but McCarty escaped with a 4-3 decision at 157 pounds.  Rafa Marquez lost to Deklyn Miller 15-1 and Brown had a good fight with Ivan Smith Jr but lost 10-5.  Vanguard's response saw Kroeger get two takedowns to topple Angelo Maechtlen 6-4 and Isaiah Hernandez wreck Michael Santos 14-2.  Torres again concluded the event with a takedown, as he stuck Kioni Benally to the floor in the second period.
 
VU 30 OJC 20
With some great efforts throughout the day and some near misses on victories, Vanguard put it all together against Otero.  Hector Hernandez started the event with an 8-3 decision over Elijah Montalvan and Villegas won 10-5 over Joseff Rivera.  Though the squad went down 12-6 after the two open classes, Turner emerged and generated a pin within two minutes over Riley Robinson to tie the dual.  Dilan Ruiz put OJC back in front with a 16-1 win over Mason Hernandez, but VU was happy to collect open points at the next three classes to secure the victory.  Torres and Griffin LaRue closed the action with a defensive struggle, with each netting one escape, but LaRue got a bonus point at the end to swipe a 2-1 decision.
 
What was Said?  "Our guys wrestled well.  We were going into the weekend down by 12 pounts because some guys are injured or dealing with illness," said Head Coach Caleb Flores.  "We didn't let that get us down as we battled hard, highlighted by Isaiah and RJ going undefeated on the day.  We are looking forward to getting healthy before our next competition."
 
What's Next?  The Lions will get a couple of weeks to rest and train before participating in the inaugural Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at Menlo on Sunday, January 26.