There will be a goodbye for the Northern Colorado wrestling team this weekend, but there’s little finality with the Bears’ last regular-season dual match.
UNC, a member of the Big 12 Conference in the sport, hosts conference opponent Air Force at 2 p.m. Sunday at Bank of Colorado Arena. The Bears (3-4 Big 12, 10-6) are receiving votes in a recent poll of Division I teams. Air Force (0-7 Big 12, 5-7 overall) is the only other Division I college wrestling program in the state.
The match is Senior Day for seven athletes, including graduate student Andrew Alirez, who will wrestle in his home city for the last time as a high school and college wrestler.
Alirez won four state championships at Greeley Central High, and he’s aiming for a second NCAA title this year. Alirez is ranked second nationally at 141 pounds as of Feb. 17, according to flowrestling.org.
He’ll be recognized Sunday with teammates Adam Busiello, Dyson Kunz, Rudy Lopez, Cameron Lucero, Clayton Ulrey and Jose Valdez.
Ulrey, a 165-pounder, came to UNC this year after three seasons at Virginia Tech. He was a three-time state placewinner during high school in Pennsylvania with two runner-up finishes.
Ulrey, 23, said he’s “super grateful” to have competed in the sport for the past 15 years.
“The last whole match of my entire career, not even college, really, high school, middle school, elementary. All that and it’s coming full circle,” he said.
The match does not represent the end of the season for the Bears. Far from it. A national championship is the goal for other UNC wrestlers.
University of Northern Colorado senior Clayton Ulrey, top, slams North Dakota State’s Boeden Greenley during the 165-pound match at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley on Jan. 17.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Junior Stevo Poulin is ranked 10th at 125, junior Dominick Serrano from Windsor is 13th at 133 and junior Vinny Zerban is 21st at 157.
“This is the point in the season where you pick it up even harder,” said Serrano, 22, who was a four-time state champion at Windsor. “It’s the end, but you can’t see it like it’s the end. You have to see it like it’s the beginning.”
The Big 12 Conference Championship is March 8-9 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From there, the Bears will know who advances to the NCAAs from March 20-22 in Philadelphia.
Serrano qualified for the NCAAs as the ninth seed at 133 pounds last year. He went 0-2 at the tournament with losses in the first round and in a consolation match.
Alirez, 24, is undefeated when wrestling in Greeley through high school and college. Alirez estimated he’s only lost about 10 bouts in those years.
Serrano and Alirez said they wanted to put on a good show and perform well for the Bank of Colorado Arena crowd. Bears coach Troy Nickerson and the athletes all hope for a large crowd Sunday. The recent stretch of cold weather is expected to break Friday, and high temperatures Sunday are predicted to be in the high 50s, according to the National Weather Service.
University of Northern Colorado’s Dominick Serrano celebrates after beating his Wyoming opponent in January 2024 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)“It does mean a lot to me because this will be my last match in Greeley ever,” Alirez said. “Just realizing that and try to take advantage of the moment, and really kind of soak it in and enjoy it and be able to run out of that tunnel one last time.”
Alirez is a Greeley guy. He was born and raised here, developed and practiced his skills here and his name and profile in the sport grew as he won at Greeley Central.
Alirez said his years at UNC have passed quickly and in a way the time has moved slowly. He started at UNC in 2019, and worked his way through injury and, like his peers, the COVID-19 pandemic. Alirez took an Olympic redshirt season last year to train for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
He said the years moved slowly because of the rigor of the sport. He calls wrestling the toughest sport in the world.
“If you were forced to compete every practice, every tournament, everything, I don’t think the human body could do more than six years of college wrestling without being completely broken,” Alirez said.
Looking back at the hard moments in his career, he now views them as good moments.
“A blink of an eye, and it’s gone,” Alirez added. “Going into my last (home) match, just being able to say that is like ‘wow.’ ”
University of Northern Colorado freshman Mikai Alirez works to get loose from his Cal Baptist opponent in the 133-pound match at Bank of Colorado Arena on Jan. 24. The Bears won the match 27-12. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Nickerson said the team is in a good place going into the final dual meet. The athletes didn’t wrestle to their potential last weekend at Wyoming, he added. The coaches focused on individual work earlier this week, and the athletes appeared to be in a “good mind space,” Nickerson said.
“I think they’re excited to just go compete at home,” he said. “I think competing at home is just a totally different environment, right? It’s something that they get excited for.”
Bears assistant coaches
Hall Jr. a part of 2025 class at Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame
Earl Hall Jr., an assistant since July 2021, will be inducted into the Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame in the spring.
Hall is among eight to be inducted Saturday, April 26 in Orlando. They are being honored for their outstanding accomplishments in the sport.
Earl Hall, right, faces an Oklahoma State opponent during an Iowa State wrestling match. Hall has been an assistant coach at Northern Colorado since July 2021. In April, he’ll be inducted into the Florida Wrestling Hall of Fame in Orlando. (Courtesy/Iowa State Athletics)Hall was a four-time Florida high school state champion, winning one at Homestead Senior High and three others at South Dade High School, both schools in Homestead, Florida, near Miami. He had a 208-2 record as a scholastic wrestler. Hall was the first wrestler in Miami-Dade County to win four state championships. At one point, he ranked 14th nationwide at 119 pounds.
In the off-season during high school, Earl earned several honors, titles and top-5 finishes in junior events including in Greco and freestyle wrestling.
Hall wrestled collegiately at Iowa State from 2013-2017. He spent 2012-13 training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
At Iowa State, Hall was a two-time All-American and a four-time qualifier for the NCAA Championships. He had a 39-12 record in Big 12 Conference duals, and he was a conference runner-up in 2015 and 2016.
Former Tigers wrestler joins Bears
Nickerson recently hired former Missouri wrestler Brock Mauller as an assistant coach. Mauller wrestled for the Tigers from 2018-24 at 149 and 157 pounds.
He was a three-time Mid-American Conference champion, a three-time NCAA All-American and five-time NCAA championship qualifier. He finished his collegiate career with a record of 118-19.
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