GUNNISON, Colo.  Dean Noble is heading back to nationals, his invitation stamped by a third-place finish Saturday at the NCAA Division II Super Region VI Championships at Western Colorado's Mountaineer Field House.

Noble and the Mountaineers would finish third in the final team standings.

At the six regional tournaments across the country, the top three finishers in each of the 10 weight classes earn berths in the NCAA DII championships, which are on March 14-15 at Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

The Mountaineers were in five semifinal matches and seven 3rd/4th-place matches, with Noble earning advancement to the DII tournament via a thrilling 17-16 win over Colorado Mesa's Alex Castaneda in the 149-pound bracket's 3rd/4th-place match.

Noble surrendered an early takedown to Castaneda, who twice added 4-point nearfalls in the sequence before Noble pulled a reversal to get on the scoreboard himself.

Trailing 13-5 after the first period, Noble turned the tables in the second to pull in front of Castaneda, 17-15, entering the third.

Castaneda had the choice to start the period and selected the down position, securing an escape halfway through the period to pull within a point of Noble.

Noble managed to continue to put pressure on Castaneda and avoid any semblance of a stall call over the remaining minute, and thwarted Castaneda's final takedown attempt in the last moments to hold on for the one-point victory.

Vincent Cabral was one of the near misses for Western in the 3rd/4th matches. He and Owen Cline went into the third period of their match at 157 tied at 3-3. Cline started on the bottom and earned a quick escape for what turned out to be the deciding point in his 4-3 win.

Another close loss came in the 184-pound 3rd/4th match. Cole Gray earned the first takedown of the match but headed into the third period trailing by a point, 6-5, to Matthew Rodriguez from Fort Hays State.

Rodriguez also chose to start the third on the bottom and added a point on an escape 10 seconds in. Gray pushed for what would have been the winning takedown over the rest of the period, but Rodriguez avoided Gray's advances, though he picked up a stall warning late in the period, to steal a 7-5 win from Gray.

Sage Harrison advanced through the consolation side of the 197 bracket to earn his spot in the 3rd/4th match, but Harrison dropped a 5-0 decision to finish in fourth place.

Two matches earlier, Cole Hernandez also surrendered a five-point loss, dropping a 7-2 decision in the 3rd/4th match in the 174-pound bracket.

Both Roberto Estrada at 125 and Riley Butt at 285 wrestled through their respective consolation brackets, but each would lose their 3rd/4th-place matches to finish in fourth.

The Mountaineers scored 103 points during the day to earn their third-place finish. Nebraska-Kearney would take the team title with 159 points.

UP NEXT
Noble earned All-American honors last year at the national tournament with a seventh-place finish in his 149-pound bracket, and he will enter the 2025 championship looking to better that performance.