Mines Rookie Open [Live Results/Brackets]
Sunday, 10 a.m. - Steinhauer Fieldhouse - Golden, Colo.

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OREDIGGERS START NEW SEASON AT HOME
The new college wrestling season is upon us and Colorado School of Mines will start things off at home this weekend with the Mines Rookie Open at Steinhauer Fieldhouse. The Orediggers will have 10 attached entrants in the tournament, which attracts a large field of NCAA Division I, Division II, and juco competition. Live results and brackets will be available on TrackWrestling; there is no streaming video for the tournament.

FAN INFO
The Mines Rookie Open will start wrestling at 10 a.m. Sunday in Steinhauer Fieldhouse, with doors opening at 9 a.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children, seniors, and military, and free for kids under 12. Free parking is available in the parking garage located at 1400 Maple Street and in Lot S located at 1250 Maple Street. There is limited bleacher seating available and fans are encouraged to bring their own camp chairs or similar if they wish. Wrestling will take place across eight mats, and all brackets and mat assignments will appear on the TrackWrestling portal. 

OREDIGGER ENTRIES
Mines will have a mix of wrestlers both looking for mat experience and trying to move up the in the lineup at this weekend's Rookie Open, with 10 attached competitors across eight weight classes. Xander Sweeney (125), Yahir Chairez-Salazar (149), Valor Buck (165), Kaleb Valdez-Lemos (165), Timber Parlin (184), and Trevor Thorn (285) will all make their official Oredigger debuts, while veteran returners Elliot Kim (133), Jaron Mahler (157), Jeffery Morosini (197), and Cade Whish (285) get their seasons started as well. 

BACK ON THE MAT
When Yahir Chairez-Salazar begins his tournament in the 149-pound bracket on Sunday, it will mark another milestone in an incredible comeback story. A freshman who redshirted for both the wrestling and football teams in 2022-23, Chairez-Salazar was involved in a serious car accident in the summer of 2023 that caused an amputation of his left leg above the knee. Determined to keep wrestling, he got back on the mat earlier this year to train for his comeback - a journey that culminates with his return to the mat on Sunday. You can read more about Yahir's remarkable story here.  

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
The Orediggers have a home-heavy 2024-25 schedule with 11 dates in Golden, including a pair of tri-meets and the return of the Jack Hancock Duals. Mines fans will have plenty of opportunities to see the Orediggers both before and after the holiday break, including four straight home duals to start the season. After this weekend's Rookie Open, Mines will host a pair of tri-meets, first with Northeastern JC and Snow College on Nov. 8, and then with Fort Hays State and Otero College on Nov. 15, both starting at 4 p.m. in Volk Gym. The fall semester closes with tournament appearances at the Younes Hospitality Open (Kearney, Neb.) on Nov. 23, and the Midwest Classic (Indianapolis, Ind.) on Dec. 14-15. Mines picks up the new year with the Jack Hancock Duals in Volk Gym on Jan. 4 before starting the RMAC schedule on Jan. 10 against Chadron State at home.

IN THE POLLS
Mines starts the season ranked #20 in the NWCA's tournament rankings, and #23 and #22 in OpenMat's tournament dual rankings, respectively. Individually in the NWCA top-12s, Cody Thompson debuted at the #1 149-pounder in the nation with Grayston DiBlasi at #10; in the OpenMat top-20s, Thompson was #3 and DiBlasi #14 joined by Christian Lopez (#14 at 125), Jakob Smith (#16 at 157), and Wyatt Reisz (#15 at 174). Mines was selected fourth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll in October.

OREDIGGERS EARN RMAC AWARDS
Mines had five wrestlers named to the 2024 All-RMAC teams last winter, and all five return in 2024-25. Cody Thompson earned a spot on the first team, Wyatt Reisz was Freshman of the Year in addition to a second-team spot, Ryan Cody was also named to the second team, and Grayston DiBlasi and Christian Lopez were named honorable mention. Reisz was the first Freshman of the Year in program history.

LEADING THE WAY
Mines brings back starting experience at all 10 weight classes from last year, and of a dozen Orediggers with double-digit wins last season, all 12 of them are back led by Cody Thompson (25-3), Grayston DiBlasi (19-8), and Wyatt Reisz (19-8). Cade Whish (8) and Garrett Bakarich (7) led the team in falls a year ago while DiBlasi comes back as the program's active leader in career wins and pins with a 73-22 record and 24 falls. 

AT THE HELM
Head Coach Austin DeVoe is in his 12th season in charge of the Mines Wrestling program, having rebuilt the Orediggers into a national contender with a pair of RMAC titles, eight all-Americans, and eight Academic All-Americans in his tenure. With 76 dual wins under his belt, Mines has had seven consecutive winning dual seasons including the only three double-digit win seasons in program history, including tying the program wins record in 2022-23 with an 11-2 record. On the national stage, Mines has had team success as well including an 11th-place finish in 2022 which was the program's best finish since the 1990s.