VETERAN PRESENCE

By Brandon Petersen

Brian Geiger walked onto the mat a weight class above his usual home and ended up delivering one of the most electric wins of Westcliff's first-ever Warrior Classic.

His overtime victory over Menlo wasn't pretty, wasn't clean and wasn't easy — but it was the kind of fight that defines early-season identity.

Geiger looked spent in the third period. Both wrestlers were drenched, slipping on ties, trading position with nothing clean to grab onto. But once it went to overtime, he said nothing in him wanted to retreat.

"I was feeling it towards the end. It was a hard match. I had to dig deep," Geiger said. "I was trying my best to listen to my coaches, but in there, it was just chaos. It was war. I was gassed. But once it was overtime, I just couldn't give up. I had to be the tougher person, the person who fought harder. I wasn't discouraged at all — I was ready to go."

The finish came fast. Geiger snapped into one of his favorite sequences — an over-under body lock into a trip on the overhook side — something he said he had only just sharpened earlier in the week.

"That's one of my favorites," he said. "I just got that on Wednesday. Got seven points. Once I locked my hands and hooked his foot, I just went for it."

The win capped an undefeated day for Geiger, who bumped up to face bigger bodies and still came away unbeaten.

While Geiger's overtime thriller stole the moment, the Warriors' most dominant presence was exactly who it has been all season: Joey Mora. Westcliff's electric grappler bumped up as well and bulldozed his way through the day with two pins, looking every bit the anchor of the lineup.

"Joey looked fantastic," head coach D'Rell Gist said. "He's wrestling with confidence, he's wrestling aggressively and he's setting the tone for everybody else."

Westcliff had other bright spots across the brackets, particularly among its younger wrestlers — a sign of depth Gist has been building toward since assembling this roster.

And that blend, Geiger said, is why this group feels different.

"The team has been awesome," he said. "There's a lot of young guys — a lot of freshmen — and it's their first time wrestling in college. And D'Rell did a good job bringing in older guys like me who came from JUCO, and some guys who wrestled Division I and still have eligibility. It's a good mix of more experienced guys mentoring the younger guys. The trajectory we're on, in a few years, we're going to be a really top-ranked program."

Gist echoed the sentiment, noting that the combination of experience, grit and raw talent is beginning to materialize in real matches — not just in practice.

Westcliff's first home event in program history delivered battles, breakthroughs and proof that the Warriors' room is starting to produce the kind of competitive toughness Gist built his program around.

"Today showed us a lot," Gist said. "We've got a team that fights."

Just ask Brian Geiger.