GUNNISON, Colo.  The weekend on campus brings a pair of annual wrestling events to the Mountaineer Field House as the Mountaineer program on Friday hosts the Western Colorado Open followed by the 33rd Annual Tracy Borah Duals on Saturday.

The Open begins at noon, and its 10 weight brackets will mostly be filled with backups and redshirts from teams that have traveled to Gunnison for the Duals.

Saturday's Duals – with a lineup of eight teams – will be competed on three mats beginning at 9 a.m. Western will lead off the event at that time against Minot State (N.D.) University.

After a bye in the 10:30 a.m. round, the Mountaineers will take on Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference associate member Simon Fraser (British Columbia, Canda) University at 1 p.m. in the third round before concluding the day at 2:30 p.m. against the University of Findlay (Ohio).

Also competing in the Duals will be RMAC competitors Adams State University, Colorado Mesa University, Colorado State University Pueblo, and New Mexico Highlands University.

None of the teams at the Duals are ranked in the National Wrestling Coaches Association's top 25, but Western, Adams, Mesa, Findlay and Minot State are all receiving votes in the most recent ranking.

MAT NOTES

• Western placed 18th at the mid-December Midwest Duals, and Mountaineer Cole Hernandez is ranked No. 4 in the NWCA individual rankings at 174 pounds.
• Adams State was 16th at the Midwest Classic, and the Grizzlies' Ben Tonnessen is ranked ninth at 197 in the NWCA individual rankings.
• Colorado Mesa finished 14th at the Midwest Classic and has two wrestlers in the NWCA rankings. Jason Bynarowicz is sixth at 194, and Gabe Carranza is 11th at 197.
• CSU Pueblo did not attend the Midwest Classic, instead traveling to Peoria, Arizona, for the Cactus Duals where they went 2-1, including a 31-11 defeat of Simon Fraser.
• Findlay was 33rd at the Midwest Classic, and the Oilers' Graham Shore is 10th nationally at 125 pounds.
• Minot State was also not at the Classic but has compiled a 3-2 record heading into the Borah Duals.
• Highlands finished 44th at the Midwest Classic. The Cowboys are 2-3 overall, including a loss to Colorado School of Mines in RMAC action.
• Simon Fraser included a win over Arizona Christian while at the Cactus Duals, and enters the Borah Duals with a 3-2 overall record and an 0-1 RMAC mark after a loss to Pueblo in Arizona.

TRACY BORAH
The legendary Borah arrived at WCU in 1956 where he served as athletic director, head wrestling coach and assistant coach for both football and track upon his retirement in 1985.

As head wrestling coach, Borah guided 45 individual Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions, 30 All-Americans, seven national champions and back-to-back national championship teams in 1963 and 1964. The latter national championship squad was inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame in 2004. He also served on the National Wrestling Rules Committee and was the founder and director of the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Camp. Borah ran the camp for 22 years, which remains the longest running wrestling camp in the United States.

He also started the Colorado Collegiate Wrestling Championships and was president of the Mountain Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, which he incepted with three other wrestling colleagues. The MIWA was considered to be tougher than the NAIA national championships to many because not only were there several high-quality NCAA College Division teams, but the tournament also featured nationally ranked University Division teams.

During Borah's 18 years as athletic director, Western experienced one of the most successful football eras in the history of the RMAC. During this time, Bill Noxon coached the gridiron Mountaineers to eight RMAC titles in nine seasons. Borah was also responsible for starting Western's first athletic booster organization - the Century Club.

Some of Borah's crowning achievements are as follows: 

• Colorado High School Coaches Hall of Fame (1989)
• Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame (1995)
• NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame (1996)
• Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (1998)
• National Wrestling Hall of Fame Colorado Chapter (2000)
• RMAC Hall of Fame (2005)
• RMAC All-Century Team Coach (2009)

He was also awarded the Coach of the Year by the Colorado Wrestling Coaches Association and the College Educator of the Year in 1979. Tracy Borah Day was designated in Gunnison, Colo. on February 14, 1985, celebrating the accomplishments of which many individuals hold in high regard with respect to Borah. The Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame Room is dedicated in his honor.

In 1991, the Tracy Borah Invitational was born. The format changed to a dual event in 2007.