Senior Cowboy wrestler Alfonso Hernandez earned a victory on Senior Night in Laramie.

For the first time this season the Wyoming Cowboy wrestlers lost a WWC dual, and only the second WWC dual loss in Mark Branch’s time at Wyoming. The North Dakota State Bison came to Laramie looking for a win and to boost their #22 ranking. Today was also senior day for the Cowboys who were honoring five Cowboy wrestlers who were here before Mark Branch arrived in Laramie. These guys were part of Steve Suder’s last recruiting class. LJ Helbig, Alfonso Hernandez, Kasey Garnhart, McCade Ford, and Michael Poulos were honored before the dual tonight for their commitment to Cowboy wrestling for the last 5 years. Garnhart and Poulos are the only Wyoming natives from that class, Garnhart from Ten Sleep, Poulos from Laramie.

The bright spot of the dual today was a huge upset win for Tyler Cox who was unranked going into the match and defeated #6 Trent Sprenkle of the Bison, 7-2. It was the 50th win of Cox’s career at UW. Cox put himself in good position today for WWC seeding. #13 Andy McCulley earned a win via pin today by taking down NDSUs Tanner Carlisle. In a big win tonight LJ Helbig ended his home dual career with a win over Kurtis Julson at 174, 3-2. Alfonso Hernandez kept on rolling with a 7-4 win over Kallen Kleinschmidt. Hernandez is the 4th ranked wrestler in his weight class nationally.

With the Pokes losing this dual to the Bison, 22-15, they will fall to 2-1 in WWC action. They will be back on mat Wednesday night in Greeley to take on Northern Colorado. The dual starts at 7:00pm in Butler-Hancock Pavilion.