Wyoming Wrestling Set to Begin Season with Cowboy Open
* University of Wyoming press release
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling squad will officially start their season on Saturday as they host the Cowboy Open at the War Memorial Fieldhouse. Wrestling is set to begin at 9 a.m. MT featuring a field the includes competitors from Air Force, Utah Valley, Northern Colorado and Oregon State.
“We are chomping at the bit to see these guys compete. We know our line-up will change quite a bit this year. We have a few guys out still healing up from some off-season injuries but this will open the door for some of our young guys to grab ahold of the opportunity and show us what they’ve got,” UW head wrestling coach Mark Branch said. “We are going to have to be patient and grow as the season progresses, but we feel great about some of the talent we have in our room and their ability to make name for themselves.
"The Cowboy will be a great place to start that process.”
The Cowboys enter the new campaign ranked 22nd as a team and are coming off of their first top-25 finish at the NCAA tournament since 2018 as they look to build on the momentum from a season ago.
Leading the Pokes at the Cowboy open will be Cole Moody who starts his season ranked 20th at 165 pounds looking to start the year with a bang after missing most of last season due to injury. Moody was the Big 12 runner-up in 2021 qualifying for his first career NCAA tournament as well.
Along with the returners, a handful of Pokes will be making their debut in the Brown and Gold at the Cowboy Open.
Jore Volk is set to compete in his first college tournament following an off season which saw him win the U20 U.S Freestyle National Championships as well as win the U20 Freestyle World Championships. Volk will be joined at 125 pounds by Garrett Ricks, who comes to Laramie after competing at Western Wyoming College where he was the 2022 NJCAA National Champion as well as a two-time NJCAA All-American.
In total five grapplers will be making their Wyoming debuts this Saturday.
This year’s cowboy open will feature competitors from all levels with athletes from Utah Valley, Air Force, Northern Colorado and Oregon State all set to compete. Division two stand out and No.11 ranked Colorado School of Mines is also set to compete on Saturday as well as Chadron State and NJCAA powerhouse Western Wyoming.
The Cowboy Open is set to kick off at 9 a.m. MT with a live stats and live video available on floarena and flowrestling.
Complete list of Cowboys Competing
125
Jore Volk
Garrett Ricks
133
Aidan Noonan
Josh Kyle
141
Darren Green
Job Greenwood
149
Chase Zollmann
Warren Carr
Ridge Briggs
Branden Pagurayan
157
Cooper Voorhees (Unatached)
Logan Ours
165
Cole Moody
Brett McIntosh
Hayden Lieb
174
Guillermo Escobedo
Kevin Anderson
184
Quayin Short (Unattached)
Tyce Raddon
Colby Huynh
285
Mason Ding
Kevin Zimmer
Terren Swartz
Bradley Moore
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