Boulder, CO (CSTV U-WIRE) -- It's safe to say that nobody on the Colorado club wrestling team can remember the last time CU hosted a meet.

Mostly because none of them were alive at the time.

Back when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and Devo was whippin' it, Colorado was saying goodbye to wrestling meets in Boulder. When CU decided to eliminate varsity wrestling from the athletic department in the early '80s, the sight of grapplers on campus disappeared along with it.

"I was 4 when that happened," head coach Richard Moutoux said. "I was a 4-year-old back in Virginia."

Moutoux, the team's first-year coach and an engineering grad student, led the Buffs into their second home meet of the season - and the second home meet in 25 years - last month. The Buffs faced off against 12 teams in the CU Recreation Center as part of the Colorado Tournament.

CU took home the trophy, beating out teams throughout wrestling's Southwestern Conference, home to some Big 12 schools.

For most of the squad, it was the first time wrestling in front of a home crowd.

"At our away matches it was a few parents who could make it and stuff like that," junior Darren Legge said, "but here we've got a chance to invite our friends and show them what we're about - what it is we work so hard for."

For the athletes on the mat, the home crowd provided more than just a showcase for the resurging sport. It gave them the extra oomph to win the match, Moutoux said.

"(The support) helps a lot," he said. "When you've got the crowd there, it always lifts your guys up a little."

A little lift is well deserved for a club team that had to experience its growing pains on the road.

"My first day of practice, there were five people," senior team captain Sean Baran said.

Baran joined at the infancy of the program. Although it had been two decades since the varsity wrestling team was dissolved, none of the club teams seemed to stick. They would be around for a brief period and then disappear.

Baran joined the program when former head coach Shane McGurk had just taken control. McGurk helped build the foundation for the club, Baran said, with solid coaching and by building CU's popularity through word of mouth.

McGurk left the team this year, citing conflicts with work. But the impression he left was strong enough to keep the wrestling team from dissolving again.

Now it was just a matter of letting everyone know that CU has a club wrestling team.

"It's just getting the word out and getting guys to come out," Baran said. "Basically it's just word of mouth. The more you hear about it the bigger it gets."

Nowadays, the wrestling team usually fetches between 16 and 18 wrestlers per practice, including one female, Jen Brouilette.

"It's been primarily guys noticing that 'hey, there's a wrestling club,'" Moutoux said.

The Buffs are able to fill most weight classes in meets and have become more competitive each year. The icing on the cake was to start hosting meets this year.

"Mainly it's just effort on the part of the officers," Legge said. "They really stepped up to help us put this tournament together, but mainly we just decided that these were things we wanted to do for the team."

A big help came in the form of the team's reclassification in the CU club sports system. The wrestling team moved from being a tier 5 sport to being a tier 4 last year, meaning that they were given more recognition by the club sports council.

"We get a little bit of money from club sports and some funding for nationals," Legge said. "Other than that we still do fundraising."

The support and the fundraising were enough for the wrestling team to start arranging its first meets this year. Before the Colorado Tournament, the Buffs hosted their first meet in a quarter-century, the CU-Colorado State Black and Gold Tournament, on Jan. 24.

CSU won seven of the 10 matches, winning by an overall score of 40-15.

"It was a loss, but we still look at it as a big success," Baran said.

The Buffs looked beyond the loss to the big step they made in the resurgence of the sport on the Boulder campus.

"We had a lot of turnout on both sides," Legge said. "It was very well attended and it was a very lively atmosphere."

The lively atmosphere moved on from the Rec Center to the National Collegiate Wrestling Association's nationals meet in Grand Rapids, Mich., last weekend.

The Buffs sent seven wrestlers to the nationals after qualifying at the Southwestern Conference Championship Meet a week earlier. Baran was the top finisher, going 2-2 and finishing in the top 16. Most other wrestlers were eliminated in two matches.

"We were definitely disappointed with our showing at Nationals, but it's a place to build from," Baran said. "The team has grown closer than we ever have been in previous years, we have two great coaches and next year will be even better."

Considering the late-night practices with just five wrestlers per night when he started, Baran said the season was a huge step forward for the return of wrestling at CU.

"We hosted two wrestling competitions at CU, the first since the varsity program was cut over two decades ago, and every wrestler improved during the season," he said. "This season has been a great success."

(C) 2006 Colorado Daily via CSTV U-WIRE